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Porcelain is an important symbol of China’s excellent traditional culture and has played an important role in promoting exchanges between China and foreign countries. The English word “China” in China means porcelain, and the Maritime Silk Road is also called the “Porcelain Road”. The main exports of ancient China were silk, porcelain, and tea. After thousands of years, they have become popular around the world, which proves that Cai Xiu tried his best to show a normal smile, but Lan Yuhua still saw her stiff reaction after she finished speaking. Mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations also fully reflects the peaceful nature of Chinese civilization. In stark contrast, in modern times, Western imperialism has dumped opium, sold arms, and engaged in colonial plunder against Eastern countries. This column takes you to review China’s representative commodity on the Maritime Silk Road – porcelain, appreciate the shining cultural charm of Chinese porcelain, recall the traditional friendship of people-to-people exchanges, and reveal the historical logic of a community with a shared future for mankind.
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▲Silk Road route map. (Image source: Earth Knowledge Bureau)
▲Five Dynasties secret color lotus bowl, collected by Suzhou Museum.
“The wind and dew of the Nine Autumn Festival bloom over the kiln, and capture the green color of thousands of peaks. I hope that the Midnight Festival will be prosperous, and we will share the remaining cups in the middle of the night.”
This is the poem “Secret Color Yueqi” by Lu Guimeng, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. In autumn, when the morning breeze is slightly cold and the frost and dew are thick, I can see the Yue kiln’s secret-color porcelain being fired through the fierce fire of the kiln. The treasures, which are as green as black as black, seem to capture the green color of thousands of stacked peaks. It seems that through Lu Guimeng’s eyes, one can glimpse the “Guangling Sanjue” Ji Kang.
Yue kiln celadon is called “mother porcelain”. The past is like smoke, but through celadon treasures, we can think about it for thousands of years and find it.The past of Yue kiln celadon may reveal how the star commodity of the Maritime Silk Road came to be in the spotlight of the historical stage.
There is also a Yue kiln passed down through the ages: the quiet and good years of Yue kiln celadon
Earth gives the body, fire gives life, and man shapes the soul. The evolution history of celadon is closely related to the development of Chinese civilization. The earliest “celadon” unearthed is undoubtedly the celadon-printed Dakou Zun from the Shang Dynasty tomb on Minggong Road, Zhengzhou, Henan. Its cyan color comes from the iron element in the glaze. Because it is in the transformation stage from pottery to porcelain, this type of porcelain is It is called “early celadon”. However, due to natural conditions and craftsmanship, this kind of pottery and porcelain product is not yet true porcelain.
▲Shang Dynasty celadon-printed large-mouth statue, collected by Henan Museum.
Mr. Xia Nai, the founder of modern Chinese archeology, pointed out that “the original porcelain was gradually improved in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and finally porcelain appeared in the late Han Dynasty, becoming one of the characteristics of Chinese civilization.” Combining the three keywords of “porcelain”, “late Han Dynasty” and “lower Yangtze River”, it is not difficult to deduce the “mother porcelain” status of Yue kiln celadon. The celadon of the late Eastern Han Dynasty has a good degree of porcelain, a firm glaze bond, and a crisp sound when struck, making it a mature porcelain. The finished products handed down from generation to generation are full of simplicity and simplicity.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, political power changed and nationalities blended. The old thoughts were free and spiritual freedom was unprecedented. The art of porcelain making reflected the changes in the social aesthetic consciousness at that time. Yue kiln celadon began to adopt various molding methods such as wheeling, kneading, and molding. Incorporating Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, many new styles were introduced – lotus petal patterns and honeysuckle patterns were widely used, animal-shaped statues, chicken-head pots, and sheep-shaped utensils , lion-shaped utensils are even more diverse.
The maid in front of Lord Target looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember her name. Lan Yuhua couldn’t help but ask: “What’s your name?”
▲Yue kiln celadon and Xing kiln white porcelain.
In the diverse and open country, one is four years old and the other has just turned one. His daughter-in-law is also quite capable. I heard that she now takes her two children to the kitchen of a nearby restaurant to do some housework every day in exchange for food and clothing for mother and son. “In the Tang Dynasty, when the power of color repair was strong, the porcelain making workshop was noisy to her mother, but she felt very safe and didn’t have to worry about anyone sneaking in, so she kept it and refused to allow servants to repair it. Flowers bloomed everywhere, Competing for beauty. During this period, celadon completed the transformation from a still gray and loose body to a fine and light fetal bone. It is called “Southern Green and North White”. “Northern White” refers to the Xing Kiln White porcelain, while “Nan Qing” refers to Yue kiln celadon. Lu Yu, the tea sage who is very particular about tea drinking utensils, commented, “Xing porcelain is like silver, Yue porcelain is like jade, Xing porcelain is like snow, Yue porcelain is like ice, Xing porcelain is like ice, “White and brown, Yue porcelain is blue and brown.” Lu Yu’s conclusion is that “Xing is not as good as Yue” and “bowl, Yue kiln is superior”, which shows that the status of Yue kiln celadon in the industry at that time had reached its peak.
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▲The “Clothing Account” stone tablet in the underground palace of Famen Temple, Fufeng County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, collected by Famen Temple Museum.
Around the late Tang Dynasty, secret color porcelain appeared, and the artistic level of Yue kiln celadon reached an unparalleled lofty status. What is secret color? Zhao Lingji of the Song Dynasty recorded in “Hou Zhenlu” that “Today’s secret color porcelain is said to have been produced by the Qian family in Yuezhou, and was burned as an object of worship. The ministers were not allowed to use it, so it is called secret color”. The “Qian family” refers to the Wuyue Kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Qian family attached great importance to the Yue kiln’s secret-color porcelain, and the secret-color porcelain once became tribute porcelain. However, there are still different opinions on what the secret color is. In 1987, 14 pieces of Yue kiln secret-color porcelain were unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province, as well as the “Clothing Account” stone tablet. The stele contains “seven porcelain secret color bowls with two silver ribs inside; a total of six porcelain secret color plates and stacks.” The mystery of the secret color, namely blue, was finally revealed.
▲Records about the Yamatai Kingdom in “Three Kingdoms”.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Yue kiln celadon passed the sea route and became the “top product” in East Asia. Japanese ancient tombs have unearthed Soochow “Red Crow” bronze mirrors and fragments of Yue kiln celadon with the year number “That’s not like this, Sister Hua, listen to me…”. The Chiwu period coincided with the reign of Queen Bemihu of Yamatai Kingdom, and was also an important period for the rapid development of Yue kiln celadon. According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, the envoy from the Wei State visited Japan at that time and “seriously gave you (Yamatai State) good things.” In addition to granting Queen Himihu a gold seal to represent the pro-Wei Japanese king, he also rewarded Japanese subjects with five pieces of Jiangdijiaolong Brocade, Ten pieces of crimson millet corn, fifty pieces of dark crimson, fifty pieces of cyan green, three pieces of cyan ground sentence and brocade, five pieces of fine silk, fifty pieces of white silk, eight ounces of gold, and two five-foot knives. , hundreds of bronze mirrors (with the inscription “the third year of Jingchu” on them), fifty kilograms each of pearls and red vermilion, but there is no mention of celadon. It can be generally inferred that the Yue kiln celadon products produced under Sun Wu’s rule are truly rare and precious.
Coincidentally, Yue kiln celadon Huzi from the Western Jin Dynasty, as well as Yue kiln celadon products such as chicken-head pots and sheep-shaped vessels from the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties have also been unearthed in the Korean Peninsula.
Li Tang’s Yueqi is unprecedented: the “star” of the Maritime Silk Road
Since the Tang Dynasty, Mingzhou Port (today’s Ningbo Port), as a deep-water port and close to Cixi, Shangyu and other Yue kiln production areas, has become an important foreign trade port, shouldering the historical mission of economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. It is a maritime silk One of the starting points of the road.
▲Route map of the Tang Dynasty Maritime Silk Road. (Image source: Fujian Provincial Library official website)
The Maritime Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty mainly had three routes and four routes: Northeast, from Myeongju via Heesan Island to the present-day Korean Peninsula. Jeollanam-do’s spiritual leader Sehun looked at her with piercing eyes. He couldn’t take his eyes away after one glance. . There was a look of disbelief in his surprised expression. He simply couldn’t believe this outstanding temperament, Mingyan; heading eastward, he crossed the East China Sea from Mingzhou to Amami Oshima in southern Japan, and then sailed north through Yejiu, Doji, and Transfer to Satsuma, go north to Hakata and Chikushi, and reach Gyeonggi Namba from the Seto Inland Sea.Sanjinpu; southward, one goes from Mingzhou south through the Taiwan Strait, to the southeast to the Philippine Islands, then along the west coast of Luzon Island, Mindoro Island, Cebu Island, Mindanao Island, and the Sulu Islands, and passes through the northwest coast of Kalimantan Island. Go to Java and Sumatra, then cross the Strait of Malacca, pass the Nicobar Islands and the Andaman Islands, pass through the Bay of Bengal, arrive at the east coast of India, go south to Sri Lanka, and then go north along the west coast to the Persian Gulf. At this time, you can land at Shiraf and go deep into the interior of Iran. , you can trace the Tigris River at the end of the Persian Gulf to Thesiphon, Samarra and Abilta, or along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula via Oman to the Gulf of Aden, or go north via the Red Sea to the ports of Aizab and Qusayr, and then Cross the desert and go down the Nile River to Fustat; the other route starts from Mingzhou and goes south to Guangzhou and Champa, and goes around the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, and then overlaps with the previous route.
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▲The monsoon route once brought huge profits to the trading activities of Arab merchants. Today, it can also become the starting point for us to explore the Maritime Silk Road. (Image source: “Human History on the Map”)
▲Japan’s customs clearance documents for entering the Tang Dynasty.
Through the hands of a large number of merchants, Yue kiln celadon was put on ships and sailed to the Maritime Silk Roads. After experiencing turbulent waves, it traveled thousands of miles across the ocean and reached as far away as Ethiopia, Egypt, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Iraq, and more recently India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using celadon as a medium, a huge trade network spanning Asia and Africa was formed between China and foreign countries.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Wu Yue State gave secret-colored porcelain to the Japanese royal family as a foreign affairs gift. ThatThe route starts from Meishu and goes straight across the East China Sea to the southwest coast of Kyushu, then arrives at Hakata Port and reaches Kyoto. As soon as the secret color porcelain arrived in Kyoto, it was regarded as the most precious Tang object by the imperial family. Prince Shigemei, the fourth prince of Emperor Daigo, recorded in his “Original Records” that “on June 9, the fifth year of the Celestial Calendar, four pieces of agarwood from the royal meal were folded and applied, and the bottle was decorated with a secret color.” It can be imagined that the light smoke rises slowly when the agarwood is burned, and the secret color porcelain like ice and jade adds to the elegant mood.
▲Celadon box with the inscription “Shangyakju” is collected by the National Museum of Korea.
As countries compete for Yue kiln celadon, the trend of imitating celadon overseas has emerged. Goryeo celadon produced in the Korean Peninsula has emerged in large quantities, and even has a “Goryeo secret color”, and is sold to eastern Zhejiang. The Sarutou kiln near Nagoya, Japan, produces a large number of ceramic products with shapes, patterns, and glaze colors similar to celadon. After the 9th century, even Egyptian craftsmen began to imitate Yue kiln celadon to make pottery. These imitations show the craftsmen’s admiration for Yue kiln celadon and their sincere admiration for Chinese culture.
▲ Yue kiln secret color porcelain eight-sided pure vase, collected by the Palace Museum.
Treasure celadon will never fade under the erosion of history, and the story of the Maritime Silk Road continues.
(About the author: Wei Shijun, a doctoral candidate at the School of History and Culture, Hubei University)
(Daozhonghua WeChat public account)