转载 定窑的英文介绍
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DING
WARE
The first person to correctly identify the
location of the Ding kilns is the Chinese scholar Yeh
Lingzhi(叶麟趾). In his book
(古今中外陶瓷汇编) written in 1934, he mentioned that the Ding kilns were
located in Jiancicun (澗磁村)
in Quyang County (曲阳县) of Hebei. Following the lead in his book, the
Japanese ceramics expert, Mr Fujio Koyama discovered the site in
1941. Besides Jiancicun (澗磁村) , the other Ding
kiln site in the Quyang County is Yan Chuancun
(燕川村). During the Song Dynasty,
Quyang county came under the jurisd
iction of Dingzhou (定州
).
The Chinese ceramics expert Chen Wanli
investigated the site in 1956 and excavations were carried out by
the Hebei Province Bueau of Culture in 1961-62.
It was established that Ding Kilns
started operation during Tang and ended in Yuan period.
Hebei Jing xing (井陉
), discovered more recently in the 1990s, also produced
Ding type wares. The good ones are hardly distinguishable
from those from Quyang area. But generally they are of
poorer quality with presence of dark spots in the glaze.
Similar type of dishes with
impressed garden scene were recovered from Jing Xing kiln
Due to the fame of Ding wares, there were many
kilns which made Ding type wares with carved and impressed motifs.
Among the more notables were Beijing Longquan wu
(北京龙泉务
) and Shanxi
(山西
) Pingding (平定
), Huozhou
(霍州
), Changzhi (长治
) and Hunyuan (浑源
).
Tang/5 Dynasties
Ding Wares
The most common product during the Early Tang
Period was an exterior yellow and interior white glaze ware with
grayish, coarse body. The body is coated with a layer of
white slip before application of the glaze. During
this early Tang phase of production, many kilns in in Northern
China produced similar products with yellow, white or
brownish glaze. They are hardly distinguishable and
difficult to attribute a particular piece to its actual production
site.
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Ding kiln
yellow glaze ewers
|
By the late Tang period, the Ding potters were
able to produce quality products which were imitation of the
celebrated Xing ware. The most typical vessel
copied was the bowl with yi-bi foot (玉壁底
) (ie base with a hole at the centre) and mouth rim with
a rolled lip. In the past, some of the better Ding bowls
were wrongly identified as Xing. Both the glaze of Xing and
Ding could be white or white with a tinge of green. This is the
result of reduction firing in the kiln using wood as the fuel. The
best Xing wares could be distinguished by their emaculate
finishing. However, those medium range products of Xing and
Ding are hard to tell apart. For the yi-bi bowls, both Xing
and Ding also produced those which were not glazed on the outer
base. The glazing of Xing wares is generally more even and
smooth. However, there are also those which like
Ding wares, have uneven traces of visible streaks, usually termed
'tear drops'. For more on Xing wares, please
read this.
Ding yi-bi bowls from a
Vietnam Wreck
During the 5 Dynasties, Ding bowls were
usually made in the shape of flowers with 3, 4 or 5 petals, with
last type being the most common. Most of the other vessels
such as vases and pots are usually plain without decorative motif.
Analysis showed that during the late Tang to 5
Dynasties period, Ding ware has the best paste and glaze which
deteriorated during the Song and Jin period.
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 |
Both bowls dated late Tang/5 Dynasties were excavaed from
the kiln in Quyang county
|
Ding wares from the late Tang
period onwards were exported overseas. Some of them were
excavated in Southeast Asia and found in shipwrecks.
Some of the yi-bi bowls from the Belitung shipwreck were
identified as from Ding kiln. The Belitung
shipwreck is dated to A.D. 826 based on a Changsha bowl with a date
of 2nd year of Baoli.
There are also some white wares in the Cirebon
shipwreck which consisted of mainly Yue wares from the Zhejiang
Province. In the
cargo, there is a Yue bowl with a inscribed cyclical date
'wu chen' (戊辰
) and a factory mark of
'Xu Ji Shao' (徐记烧
). Chinese experts on Yue
wares confirmed a dating of 968 A.D for the cargo.
That would place the cargo in the very
early point of the Northern Song Dynasty. (Song Dynasty was
founded in 960 A.D). Some Hebei ceramics experts upon physical
inspections of some of the Cirebon white wares, were of the view
that they were Ding wares.
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| Ding wares from the Cirebon Wreck |
Song/Jin
Ding Wares
By Early Northern Song, Ding kilns were
producing its distinctive type of white wares and replaced Xing as
the major producer of Northern white wares. Excavations
showed that Ding kilns started producing those famous
transparent glassy ivory tone ware by the beginning of Northern
Song Dynasty. The ivory tone of the glaze was the result of
firing in slight oxidation atmosphere. Coal started
to replace wood as the fuel for firing. (Past experiments
carried out by the Chinese scientist showed that after the ivory
tone shards were re-fired under reduction atmosphere, the tone of
the glaze became a light bluish tone much like those of qingbai
wares.)
During the 5 Dynasties and Northern Song
Period, Ding ware had achieved such a reputation that the
wares were selected as local tribute gifts to the imperial court.
Indication of the imperial connection were inscriptions
(usually on the base) such as 'guan (官
)' & 'xin guan (新官
)' and
name of halls in the imperial palace such as Jingyuan (
禁苑
)', 'Juxiu
(聚秀
'),'Cishou (慈寿
)', 'Deshou (德寿
)' and '
Fenghua (奉华
)'. They are usually
incised after manufacturing and hence unglazed. There are also
marks of departments in the imperial palace such as
'Shanyao Ju (尚药局
)' ie Department in
charge of medicine for imperial household and 'Shanshi ju
(尚食局)
', ie Department in charge of food
for imperial household. Marks of those two departments were incised
and glazed during the manufacturing process.
Top sherd with Medicine
Bureau (尚药局) mark, lower with Guan mark
Bowl with Guan mark in
Dingzhou museum
By the early Northern Song
Period, Ding kilns were able to produce a wide varieties of wares,
such as ewers, vases, jars, incense burners and pillows. The
favourite decorative motif of this period was elaborate relief
lotus carvings, especially popular on kendis, jar and bowls.
Kendi (Kundika) was a particularly popular vessel during
the early Northern Song period. Some of the best
and representative Ding vessels of this period were recovered from
the chamber below the pagoda of the Jing Zhi
temple (静志寺).
They are now housed in the Dingzhou Museum. Some of the
pieces are shown below.
Ding wares in
Dingzhou Museum
During this phase, Ding
potters also applied fine incised motifs to some of the wares.
All those decorative elements and techniques showed the
strong influence of Yue Ware of Zhejiang. By the the Mid
Northern Song period, the Yaozhou and Yue style carved
floral motif with combed lines were also adopted by the Ding
potters.
Ding potters further
experimented and developed the carving/incising method and by late
Mid/early Northern Song Period, a distinctive form of carved
outline with incised parellel line were used for some part of the
floral motif. T
he carving/incising is fluent and spontaneous.
Carved lotus petals could also still be found during the
late Northern Song period. However, the petals are more
slender and finishing more rough compared with those of the earlier
period.
Plates and bowls constituted
the main production items. Common motifs include
various form of floral sprays, ducks in lily pond, twin-fish among,
infants among foliage, and etc.
Song Meiping with
carved and combed floral motif in Beijing palace
Museum
Mid Northern Song
Ding Spittoon with carved floral motif in Beijing palace
Museum
Mid Northern Song
infant shaped pillow in Beijing palace Museum
But it was the molded motif,
first introduced during the Mid Northern Song period, which was
usually associated with Ding wares. The molded technique
gained popularity during the late Northern Song and replaced the
carving method as the main decorative technique during the
Jin period. Usually the interior of the bowls and
plates are densely decorated with molded motif. The outline
of the motif is sharp, fluent and lively on the good quality
pieces. They represented the highest standard of molded motif
achieved by ancient potters. The use of mold also opened
the way for more sophisticated and elaborate decorations,
standardisation of the finished products and reduction of
wastage.
During the Jin Dynasty, molded
motif became the main decorative technique and production volume
was huge. Only a relatively small number of wares with
carved motif continued to be produced. The motifs
were more carelessly and sketchily executed as compared with the
earlier works.
There were also lower
quality type of bowls/plates produced using the stacking method.
There is an unglazed ring on the interior of such item, on
which rest the foot of another bowl/plate. Stacking
firing method which maximises the use of space, was used by many
other Northern kilns since the Jin period.
Ding's Innovative
inverted firing Method
One of the most important contributions of the
Ding potters was the invention of the inverted firing Method.
It was subsequently adopted by many kilns including
Jingdezhen.
The inherent problem of warping when firing
the thin Ding bowls and plates in upright position prompted the
potters to look for solution. The potters devised the method of
firing the vessels upside down. To do so, it is necessary to scrap
away the glaze on the rim so that they do not stick to the saggar.
This method enabled the spreading of the weight of the vessels over
a wider area and solved the problem of warped vessels. An
added advantage is that it increases production volume.
An interesting change to the foot of the bowls and plates
also took placed subsequently. During the Jin period,
the foot of the bowls/plate is short or even totally almost
non-existent. This increased the stacking space and further
increased production volume. The stacking method also
requires the standardisation of the size of the bowls and plates.
The use of moulds facilitated the standardisation of the
size. Elaborate and attractive relief molded decorations
were also impressed on the the plates and bowls more expeditiously.
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 |
| Stacking rings and example showing the bowls damaged
during firing |
\
Main features of
Late Northern Song/Jin Ding ware
To summarise, the typical late Northern
Song/Jin Ding ware possesses the following
characteristics:
- very hard white body made from fine
kaolin-type clay
- glassy ivory tone glaze with very little
crazing
- yellow streaks commonly known as 'tear
drops'. This is caused by the streaks of glaze which run
down towards the foot after the ware is dipped in
glaze.
- the glaze on the rim of bowls and plates
are scrapped off leaving an unglazed rim after firing. The
unglaze rim is sometime covered with metal band.
Other types of Ding Wares
From the mid Northern Song
onward, there were also black and brown/red Ding Wares.
Both black and red colors were derived from glaze with iron oxide.
Some have gold-leaf motif baked on at a low temperature.
In Hangzhou, the building construction
activities in the last few decades have uncovered many fragments of
Ding wares. An interesting type found recently was
fragments of bowls/plates with outer wall in biscuit and coated
with lacquer.
Example with outer biscuit
wall coated with lacquer
Being essentially a folk kiln,
the Ding kiln owners were sensitive to market demands.
Cizhou type wares, produced in many Hebei, Henan and Shanxi kilns,
commanded a huge Northern China consumer markets. To
capture a slice of that market, the Jin Ding potters also produced
some cizhou type wares. Some known examples included
pillows decorated using sgraffito and/or carved/incised
techniques.
Cizhou type Ding
wares in Dingzhou museum
References:
1.
定窑
-
穆青
2 中国陶瓷-定窑 上海人民美术出版社
3
The Chinese potter by Margaret Medley
Written by: N K
Koh (25 Mar 2008) updated 15 Dec
2010
