The ruins of an ancient kiln in the Cizhou Kiln Salt Shop Site Museum. Photo by Liu Pengju
In 1918, the people of Julu County (now Julu County, Xingtai) found some antiquities when digging wells. An ancient city of the Song Dynasty buried underground for more than 800 years has emerged from this.
In 1920, the Tianjin Museum published the "Julu Song Ware Collection" after investigating the ruins of Julu Song City, disclosing the Cizhou kiln porcelain. In July 1921, the National Museum of History excavated the ancient city of Julu, and the Cizhou kiln porcelain obtained was highly valued by the academic community. Since 1950, the Palace Museum in Beijing has discovered as many as 29 new kiln sites. Since 1958, archaeologists have carried out archaeological investigations and excavations on the kiln sites of the Cizhou kiln system in the broad sense nationwide.
In 1981, Japan, the United States, Britain and Canada held the "Cizhou Kiln International Symposium" in Indiana, and toured the collection of Cizhou kiln products in the United States, and published the "Cizhou Kiln Catalogue" and "International Cizhou Kiln Symposium Proceedings", which set off a research boom in the international Cizhou kiln. In 1985, Handan Ceramics Company took the lead in establishing the Cizhou Kiln Research Association, held many academic conferences, and achieved fruitful research results. So far, "Cizhou kiln" has been widely recognized by scholars at home and abroad in the academic circles. Over the years, the understanding of Cizhou kiln has been deepened, and the ancient Cizhou kiln has continued to write legends and stand again in the world.
Ming Dynasty Cizhou kiln bowl. Photo courtesy of Dai Jianbing
The people's Cizhou kiln
Ceramics is a treasure of China and an important business card of Chinese civilization. Among them, Cizhou kiln is the most common kiln in China's ceramic firing sites in the past dynasties. It takes root in the folk and creatively integrates the beautiful imagery and words of the Chinese nation into the design, manufacture and decoration of porcelain, so as to integrate the beautiful life of the people into the hearts of the people with the beauty of simplicity that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Historically, there is a lack of documentation of Cizhou kiln porcelain. Zhang Xuan, a Ming scholar, wrote: "However, the Cizhou kiln of Zhangde Mansion in Henan Province is called 'magnetic' ear. Today, it doesn't matter what kiln makes it, and all the pottery is called 'magnetic'. That is to say, the common people call all porcelain "magnetic" among the people. This is an honor that no other kiln site has.
The foothills of the Taihang Mountains and the Yellow River Basin, where the Cizhou kiln is located, are important birthplaces of Chinese civilization. As an important daily necessities, porcelain can reflect the spiritual life and aesthetic interest of the Chinese nation on a larger scale. Cizhou kiln is a folk kiln, in the material is committed to the commoner, on the one hand, it can improve the convenience and taste of the people's life, on the other hand, because of the wide spread and become the folk basis of the "Gongyu" ware firing process such as Xing kiln, Ding kiln, Yue kiln, Jianyao kiln.
Historically, the folk kiln has always been of humble status and high pressure to survive, but at the same time, it also has the freedom to not be bound by the court, the government and fashion. In the balance between survival and freedom, learning and innovation, demand and supply, Cizhou kiln has become a model of learning from the world's famous kilns and always innovating. It can be said that without the Cizhou kiln, China's ceramics would not be so dazzling.
The people like Cizhou kiln, and the products of Cizhou kiln are mainly people's daily necessities. Such as bottles, basins, bowls, pots, jars, altars, bowls, plates, pillows, boxes, tripods, pots, bottles, jars, stoves, pillows, incense burners, lamps, candlesticks, oil lamps, oil pots, plum bottles, wall hangings and various children's toys, as well as architectural glazed tiles, ridged beasts, three-color glazed bricks, etc., more than 2,000 varieties.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Cizhou kiln porcelain sales channels spread throughout the whole area of Hebei Province, the north and central parts of Henan Province, the western part of Shandong Province, and the southeast of Shanxi Province, and radiated to the whole country. In 1946, the Pengcheng Porcelain Factory was established to resume ceramic production. By 1948, there were 202 porcelain kilns and 2,632 workers in Pengcheng. At that time, people commented: "The porcelain industry is a kind of centralized industrial production in Taihang." It not only solves the life of most of the people in the county, but also supplies the household utensils of the masses in all parts of North China and builds the society. Subsequently, Cizhou kiln porcelain was gradually sold to Northeast China, Hong Kong, Gansu and other places.
Hebei Normal University repairs porcelain pillows. Photo courtesy of Dai Jianbing
Historical Cizhou kiln
Cizhou kiln is endless, and it is the ancient kiln with the longest firing history in China.
Historically, the literature records about Cizhou kiln and Cizhou kiln porcelain appeared in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Cao Mingzhong's "Gegu Yao", Wang Zuo's "New Gegu Yao", Xie Zhaoqian's "Five Miscellaneous Quirks", the early Qing Dynasty's "Cizhou Chronicles", "Ming Huidian", Zhu Yan's "Tao Shuo" and other books, all have records of only a few words. Archaeological excavations have scientifically revealed the brilliant history of Cizhou kilns.
The foothills of the Taihang Mountains are one of the earliest birthplaces of pottery in the world. The Cishan cultural site discovered in Handan in 1972 is only 20 kilometers away from the main kiln site of Cizhou kiln. The site is located in the southeast of Cishan Village, southwest of Wu'an City, Handan, and is the earliest place where grain millet, domestic chickens and walnuts were found in the world. The ancestors of Cishan made a large amount of pottery. In the Han Dynasty, the Cizhou area has mastered the firing method of low-temperature glazed pottery, and the pottery has the phenomenon of coating white pottery, which has laid the foundation for the subsequent development of white porcelain and white makeup clay technology.
During the Warring States Period, "Handan pottery in the Zhao State was the best in its quality", and these pottery showed regional sustainability in terms of variety, craftsmanship, modeling, and decorative characteristics. From the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, although the time was short, the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain completed the evolution of gray pottery, glazed pottery to celadon, in addition to white clay porcelain, but also fired black porcelain, celadon. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the five dynasties completed the transformation from celadon to white porcelain.
In the Song Dynasty, Cizhou kiln artifacts embellished the life of the Song people with their practical shapes and beautiful decorations. Song Jinyuan Cizhou kiln center kiln Guantai kiln, the quality of raw materials is not high, and the tires are mostly gray or gray-brown, so the makeup soil is used. From the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty to the early Jin Dynasty, the Guantai kiln was greatly developed, and the middle and late Jin Dynasty reached full prosperity.
The Guantai kiln declined in the Yuan Dynasty, an important reason is that the main raw material resources will be exhausted, and the nearby Pengcheng is rich in resources and has gradually become the representative of the Cizhou kiln.
In the Ming Dynasty, the scale of Pengcheng kiln area was greatly expanded, and the kiln mouth spread throughout Pengcheng Town. The product decoration is still dominated by black flowers on white ground, and at the same time, there is a trend of colorful development, such as black flowers on white ground, brown color on white ground, black color on white ground, black glaze, peacock blue underglaze black flowers, five colors, three colors and other decorative techniques, but also imitate other famous kilns. In addition, architectural ceramics are developing extremely fast. In the Ming Dynasty, Pengcheng "Guantan Factory", the wine jar wine jar wine bottle was transported along the Fuyang River boat to pay tribute.
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Pengcheng Cizhou kiln once again entered a period of prosperity. "Cizhou Chronicles" recorded, "Pengcheng Fuyuan residents are good at pottery jars, boats and vehicles, sold in other counties". However, the Cizhou earthquake in the tenth year of Daoguang (1830) razed the kiln to the ground, and the production of the Cizhou kiln was devastated. However, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were still more than 130 cylinder magnetic kilns and more than 1,000 porcelain workers in Pengcheng Town.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Cizhou kiln began to improve. The General Administration of Crafts of Zhili organized the restoration and improvement of Cizhou kilns, and learned and imitated Jingdezhen porcelain. Cizhou kiln once sent more than 60 people to Jingdezhen, Jingdezhen also sent technical potters to Cizhou kiln to teach skills. According to relevant records, in 1923, Pengcheng had 235 porcelain kilns, 30 cylinder kilns, more than 5,000 kilns, with an annual output of 10 million bowls and 700,000 cylinders, which were marketed in 13 provinces and Beijing-Tianjin.
Jin Dynasty Cizhou kiln white ground black ink bamboo tiger pattern pillow (taken on January 18, 2024 in Haifeng Town, Huanghua City, Cangzhou). Photo by Hebei Daily reporter Gong Zhenglong
Cizhou kiln of the world
In 1934, Mr. Ye Lintoe's book "Compilation of Ancient and Modern Chinese and Foreign Ceramics" clearly pointed out that Pengcheng Town, Cixian County, Hebei Province was the site of the ancient Cizhou kiln. In particular, it is pointed out that the white makeup soil is the basic feature of Cizhou kiln. At the same time, it is believed that Boshan kiln, Xiao kiln (white clay kiln), Jizhou kiln and other kilns have the characteristics of "similar to Cizhou", which lays the foundation for the definition of "Cizhou kiln system" in the future.
In 1951, Chen Wanli, a famous archaeologist, was waiting for a boat at the old ferry port in Guantai Town, Cixian County, staring at the cornfield under his feet. It was a large 50,000-square-meter ancient kiln site by the river. As a result, the world-famous Cizhou kiln site makes people re-acquaint! So far, more than 200 ancient kilns have been found in Guantai Town and Pengcheng Town, which are densely stacked.
Cizhou kiln is the spirit of the northern white ground black flower ceramics, and there are such style products in the north and south of the Yellow River. Since the Song Dynasty, the export of Cizhou kiln porcelain has promoted the prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road. The Jin and Yuan dynasties were the heyday of Cizhou kilns, and the production capacity was greatly improved, and the output of the Yuan Dynasty reached a historical peak, and Cizhou kiln porcelain was widely spread in the world.
Ancient Cizhou kiln porcelain mainly rely on waterway transportation, the Zhanghe River, Fuyang River shipping in the territory of the Grand Canal, the products can go directly to the sea in the north, can also be re-exported in the south, best-selling north and south, sold overseas, so far some ancient cultural sites in North Africa can also find traces of Cizhou kiln porcelain. Many trade ports in the world, the excavation of shipwreck sites on the ocean seabed, and the archaeology of porcelain cellars in many places all show that Cizhou kiln porcelain has become a sought-after commodity in Chinese and foreign trade circulation.
With the export of trade, the production and decoration technology of Cizhou kiln gradually spread overseas. South Korea is the first country to be influenced by the decorative techniques of the Cizhou kiln, in 1976 South Korea discovered a shipwreck of the Yuan Dynasty, salvaged a lot of porcelain, including a lot of Cizhou kiln porcelain. In the 12th century, Goryeo porcelain and Ciju kiln porcelain making techniques have many common characteristics, such as black painted flowers and white makeup clay. In the 13th century, "Goryeo painting", the shape and pattern imitate the white ground and black flower technology of Cizhou kiln. During the Joseon Dynasty in the 15th century, the powdered sand ware showed the profound influence of the Cizhou kiln. The Korean celadon inlay technique is the continuation and development of the Cizhou kiln technique, and the iron painting, printing, calligraphy and painting decoration of the brush are the same as the Cizhou kiln.
In the 60s of the 20th century, Cizhou kiln porcelain pieces were unearthed on the Fukuoka Railway in Kyushu, Japan. In recent years, Tokyo, Kyoto, Japan has also unearthed Cizhou kiln porcelain pieces. Japan has long incorporated the Cishu kiln technique into ceramic production, creating a series of local style works such as "Eikatsu" and "Eshino". Japan has also designated the Song Dynasty Cizhou kiln black flower folded branch peony vase in the collection of the Eisei Bunko and the Cizhou kiln dragon vase in the collection of the White Crane Museum as "Important Cultural Properties of Japan".
In Thailand (Siam), around the 12th century, pottery began to be fired at the kilns in the northern part of Sangkhalok, and it was common to apply makeup soil on the womb and then paint and glaze it. The main products of the post-Sukhothai kiln are iron-painted fish-patterned plates, bowls and jade pots, and the decorative ceramic molds of Thailand from the 13th to 15th centuries are very close to those of the Cizhou kiln.
The Cizhou kiln style was introduced to Thailand and is said to be "made by Annam (Vietnamese) potters", which shows that Annam culture is deeply influenced by China. The pottery-making technology of the Central Plains was transmitted to Annam very early, and the porcelain-making technology and style of the past dynasties came from China. The Yuan Dynasty attacked Annam, and the potters of Annam took refuge in Siam, and soon Cizhou kiln-like porcelain appeared in Thailand.
The Cizhou kiln porcelain collection is also cosmopolitan. In addition to the large collections of museums on the Korean Peninsula, Japan and Southeast Asian countries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States, the Jimei Museum in France, and the British Museum in the United Kingdom all have a certain number of fine porcelain from Cizhou kiln.
A large number of archaeological materials and museum collections around the world show that Cizhou kilns have made important contributions to the production of ceramics in China and the world. A northern folk kiln is endless, branching out, from Cizhou to the world, creating a miracle of ceramics!
Korean porcelain in the style of the Ciju kiln. Photo courtesy of Dai Jianbing
Innovative Cizhou kiln
Skill is the embodiment of "the unity of nature and man", and it is also the source of innovation. The production techniques of Cizhou kiln follow the logic of nature and condense the wisdom and sweat of the Chinese.
Since the Ming Dynasty, the reason why Pengcheng has become the largest cylinder production base in the country is to benefit from the unique natural resources. Cizhou green soil, cylinder soil resources are abundant, high iron content, porcelain tire is mostly gray or gray-brown, potters creatively use white makeup soil, when the green billet is dried to a certain extent, use pouring, dipping, dipping, coating and other methods, apply white makeup soil slurry on the surface of the utensils, cover with white transparent glaze on the outside after drying, and produce makeup white porcelain. Use a single piece of bamboo, wood, and animal horns to scratch flowers on the porcelain fetus, and there are also those who use grate shapers to draw flowers in rows, and there are those who scratch flowers on the plain tire before applying makeup soil, and there are also those who draw flowers after applying makeup soil...... This reflects the Chinese view of nature.
Cizhou kiln is the starting point of the colorful ceramic world technology in the future. The ancients used various pigments to paint on pottery very early, limited to people's understanding of porcelain glaze, and early porcelain was basically monochrome glaze. The Tang Dynasty people pursued the ultimate white porcelain, the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty worked the monochrome, and the Cizhou kiln used the white makeup soil to break the world's monochrome, the porcelain surface waited for the craftsman's description, and the world was alive between black and white. This is the first great creation of Cizhou kiln. Since then, it has opened a new world for the development of porcelain in the world.
The techniques created by Cizhou kilns involve various fields of the ceramic manufacturing process. With the basic characteristics of white makeup soil, Cizhou kiln has created a variety of decorative techniques, such as carved flowers, cut flowers, black flowers on white ground, and painted flowers under glaze on white ground. In particular, the white ground and black flowers broke through the limitations of the monochrome glaze of the five official kilns in the Song Dynasty, combining traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy skills and porcelain-making techniques, presenting the spiritual world of the Chinese in front of the world. More importantly, it opened the way for the emergence and development of Yuan blue and white and colorful porcelain in the future.
Cizhou kiln replaced a large number of daily necessities made of other materials with porcelain, and adopted the characteristics of bronze, stone, lacquer, wood, bamboo and other utensils to evolve into exquisite and practical, ever-changing, and non-definite porcelain. All utensils that can be replaced by ceramic utensils in the lives of the people, such as bowls, jars, jars, bottles, plates, etc., are made of ceramic firing as much as possible. These have greatly improved the quality of life of the people, added interest to the lives of the people, and have rich cultural connotations.
Since the Ming Dynasty, Cizhou kiln has adopted a unique "distribution system" in ceramic production management. In the production process, the kiln owner and the craftsman distribute the finished product shipment in kind according to their respective cost inputs, and the practice is that the kiln owner and the craftsman divide the fired porcelain goods into two. The kiln owner gets two shares, the craftsman gets one share, and the kiln goods obtained by the craftsman are divided into ten parts, the bowlmaker gets four shares, and the remaining six shares are redistributed according to the level of technology and the size of the output. Craftsmen and kiln owners share the product, from the supply of raw materials to the production of ceramics, each step of the labor required is included in the distribution ratio and participates in the distribution.
In June 2020, the Cizhou Kiln Salt Shop Site Museum imitated the ancient works of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Photo by Liu Pengju
Cizhou kiln of culture
The Cizhou kiln makes the porcelain depicted, and the potters make it three-dimensional through various techniques, forming a two-dimensional and three-dimensional art world.
The Cizhou kiln of the Song Dynasty took black and white as the main carrier, and creatively applied the elements of Chinese folk favorite words, folk customs, literature, music, painting, games, education and other elements to porcelain decoration, and porcelain became the carrier of history, culture and art. From the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China, this tradition did not change due to the appearance of blue and white or multi-porcelain enamel, but continued until the Republic of China.
Chinese calligraphy has the characteristics of beautiful glyphs, beautiful meanings, and beautiful sounds. Most of the bowls, plates, bottles, jars and other porcelain fired in Cizhou kiln are painted with single words, or phrases, or idioms, or poems, songs, and sentences, or the content of hundreds of family names, etc., and there are also many porcelain bowls and porcelain plates with eight Si Pa in the Yuan Dynasty, Manchu and foreign letters in the Qing Dynasty.
In terms of text decoration, Cizhou kiln porcelain has a lot of content that expresses the wisdom of the Chinese, such as folk ballads and proverbs, exhortations, philosophies, auspicious words, blessings, etc., the common ones are "the world is peaceful", "there are guests asking about the floating world, wordless refers to falling flowers", "lonely pavilion rain stays people", "turtle crane", "home country yong'an", "town house is auspicious", "heaven and earth is auspicious", "cattle and sheep thousand mouths", "red flower full courtyard", "moral purity", "wind flowers and snow moon", "fushou kangning", "endless streams", "family and noble sons, the door is good and high", "family and country are always safe", "fortune and benefit the city". "Fortune and treasure" and so on.
The scenery writing of Cizhou kiln porcelain is also a major feature. For example, "Jiangtian twilight snow", "Smoke Temple evening bell", "snow full of mountains in the high priesthood", some decorative words also express the feeling of life...... These words are close to the people, close to life, and artistically reflect life and emotions.
In addition to words, there are also pictures. Traditional Chinese paintings pursue simplicity and subtlety in expression, and the same is true for the pictures on Cizhou kiln porcelain. These pictures conveyed the orthodox values of the time and were intended to preach to the world. The collision of painting and decoration stimulates each other's growth, and finally makes the decoration techniques of Cizhou kiln unique in the world, forming an artistic style that is unrestrained, vigorous and bold, and chic and free, leaving rich historical and folk images for the world.
During the Song and Jin dynasties, the decoration techniques of Cizhou kiln broke out, and the techniques of scratching, defloration, inlay, pearl ground, printing, black painting, red and green color were colorful. With extremely chic techniques and superb painting skills, the painter painted the familiar market scenery, flowers, birds, fish and insects, rare birds and animals, landscape characters, opera stories, poems and songs, aphorisms and proverbs, infant play acrobatics, word riddles, etc., on porcelain, which had a profound impact on the world's ceramics.
The decorative themes of Cizhou kiln wares mainly include flower patterns, birds and beast patterns, fish and grass patterns, character landscape patterns, text patterns, pearl ground patterns, abstract patterns, relief patterns and other types. Animal patterns, character patterns and common baby play patterns are fresh and approachable, highlighting the depiction of expressions, vivid and expressive, and have a strong appeal.
The new era has opened a new chapter in history. Cixian and Pengcheng are surrounded by mountains and rivers, with beautiful scenery and abundant resources. There is not only the Cizhou Kiln Salt Shop Site Museum in Fengfeng Mining Area, Handan City, which displays the ancient ceramic culture, but also the pottery studio that innovates ancient porcelain art from time to time, and the characteristic ancient villages full of rich Cizhou kiln art atmosphere. Cizhou kiln, which has a long history and glorious culture, has a strong vitality, and the millennium kiln fire is endless, and it is writing a new legend. (Dai Jianbing)
Pay attention to Hebei News Network to understand the latest news in Hebei.