Longquan celadon

Longquan celadon refers to celadon to have produced in Longguan kilns which were largely located in the Zhejiang prefecture, China of the same name. With those in other prefectures the total of discovered kiln sites is over two hundred, making the Longquan celadon production area one of the largest historical ceramic centers in all of China.

Overview

Celadon production had a long history at Longquan and related sites, but it was not until the Five Dynasties and Northern Song period that production of scale truly began.
Five Dynasty wares displayed a variety of shapes and carved finishes with the characteristic "Yuezhou" glaze. In the Northern Song period the Dayao kiln site alone produced wares at twenty-three separate kilns. This being said the era of greatest ceramic production was not until the Southern Song 南宋 , and periods.

Longquan celadons thus were an important part of China's export economy for over five-hundred years. From the twentieth century native and foreign enthusiasts and scholars have flocked to the kiln sites. Among modern Chinese scholars themselves, the main kiln sites were first systematically investigated by Chen Wanli in 1927 and 1934. According to local gazetteer entries two celebrated ceramicists and brothers, Zhang Shengyi and Zhang Shenger , worked at the main Dayao kilns The ''Longquan Prefecture Gazetteer'' noted that their celadon reached jade-like perfection. Thus began the Ming period tradition of dividing the best Longquan wares into Elder Brother and Younger Brother categories. Elder Brother ware was thought to be the Geyao crackle glaze ware treasured by collectors throughout history. Recently this confusion has begun to resolve itself with excavations of the Hangzhou official ware kilns and others.

Southern Song celadons display the greatest variety of shape and glaze color. tea masters and collectors have treasured examples with a decidedly bluish glaze which they have termed "kinutaseiji" . Chinese collectors have perhaps enjoyed a greater variety of Longquan ware and devised a special vocabulary to describe them such as ''meizi ching'' or “plum green” celadon. After the Southern Song period Lonquan celadon experienced an expansion of production with a lessening of quality. However even the stoutly potted celadons of the Ming period have had their imitators at Jingdezhen and in Japan. Scholarly appreciation of Longquan celadon experienced great progress with the discovery of a sunken trade vessel in Sinan County off the Korean coast in 1976. It was discovered that finely finished Southern Song style celadon was manufactured well into the Mongol or Yuan period.

Bibliography

*Zhejiang Light Industry Office, ''A Study of Longquan Celadon'', Wenwu Publishing House, Beijing, 1989.
*National Museum of Korea, ''Special exhibition of Cultural Relics Found Off the Coast of Korea'', Samhwa Publishing Co., Seoul, 1977.
*Hanaoka and Barberri trans., Masahiko Sato, ''Chinese Ceramics: A Short History'', Weatherhill, New York and Tokyo, 1978.