Page 135 - 一色，一切色—釉瓷幻化“承色”之美

All Longquan wares, from the highest quality to the lowest “seconds”, were fired in the same style of kiln. This
was the famous “dragon kiln” of south China, that was essentially a narrow tunnel built up a low slope, that
employed wood as a fuel. A tall chimney stood at the top end, and because of its slope the dragon kiln could
funnel heat upwards. Dragon kilns needed to have shelters built over them to minimise effects of rain on kiln
temperature. The dragon kilns of Longquan were among the most productive in the whole of China and their
structures could be huge. In the Northern Song dynasty they ranged from 70 to 80 metres in length, while in
the Southern Song they were shorter, about 30 to 50 metres long. Wares were stacked on floor of the tunnel,
either on shallow steps, or with their supports steadied by a bed of quartz grit.
By the Southern Song, dragon kilns operated by first lighting a fire in the main firebox at the bottom end, which
slowly fired ceramics in the lowest section. The firebox was then bricked up, with a small air-gap left. Next
fuel was added in sequence through stoke holes on the sides of the ascending kiln, commencing at the first
port. When this area of the kiln reached full heat, side stoking transferred to the next stokehole, a metre or
so up the kiln. The firebox would then be sealed and air allowed to enter the kiln through the last-used stoke
hole. The process would be repeated until the whole kiln was fired, at which point all the ports would be sealed
and the kiln allowed to cool. Using this procedure, firing of the successive ports took place rapidly, sometimes
taking as little as half-an-hour per port. A typical small dragon kiln (about 30 metres in length) might take 24
hours to fire and 24 hours to cool down, while a longer kiln (about 42 metres in length) might take 36 hours
to fire and 72 hours before it could be unpacked. While side stoking was an enormous help in equalising
temperatures along the length of dragon kilns, the heating of these kilns still remained uneven from roof to
floor. The natural tendency of hot gases to rise, together with difficulties in setting wares in high stacks (which
left considerable space at the top of the setting where flames would preferentially flow) meant that the lower
①
parts of the settings were often badly under-fired . This is the reason that there is such a variation of quality
in Longquan wares, and why this zun jar represents a rare minority of top-quality pieces that survived the firing
in perfect condition.

The shape of the jar is significant, because it copies an ancient bronze shape that first appeared during the
Shang dynasty (about 1520-1010 BC). The vessel has been assigned the name zun 尊 and it was used as a
ritual container to hold alcohol, and to keep it warm. Zun were shaped like tall goblets, with no handles or legs,
the mouth flaring outwards. They were made of bronze that had been constructed using piece moulds, their
sections joined together and ornamented with raised ribs. These features are copied faithfully on this Southern
Song dynasty Longquan vessel. Its profile copies a Bronze Age original, and the shaped ribs of clay that have
been applied to all three sections of the jar imitate the raised ribs on metal. It is probable that the jar did
not copy an actual bronze, but rather a drawing. Catalogues of archaic bronzes illustrated with line drawings
first appeared during the Northern Song dynasty, thereby circulating visual information widely. Judging from
present-day practice at Chinese kilns, simple drawings were probably made from those printed catalogues, for
the potters to work from.
Why was this ancient metal shape copied in ceramic during the Song dynasty? There is one chief reason, and
it is because educated scholars had profound reverence for the past. The Song dynasty was the great age
of the bureaucrat, and there was a large and ever-growing market for scholarly objects. The memory of the
preceding Five Dynasties period (AD 907-960) led the first emperors of Song to reduce the power of the
military, and to encourage a governing class of well-educated, civilian administrators. An important learned
pursuit was the collecting and appreciation of works of art, and of antiquities. Intellectuals had developed a
new school of philosophy, that fostered a mistrustful view of the recent past. The Han (206 BC-AD 220) and
the Tang (AD 618-906) were two of the most powerful dynasties in Chinese history, but Song dynasty scholars
—

①: Rose Kerr (ed.) and Nigel Wood, Ceramic Technology. Volume 5 Part 12 of Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China
(Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp.252-3, 357-359, 572-581.