By Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

 

 

       The archaeological excavation and drilling exploration at the Juntai Kiln site in Yuzhou, conducted in 1970s as an important and thorough one for cooperating the fundamental construction, supplied a great number of archaeological data for researching the scale, layout, firing history, wares kinds and characteristics, firing craft, decorating art and essence of the Juntai Kiln. According to the overlaying and breaking relationship among the accumulated layers, the Juntai Kilns made its debut in the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, culminated in the late Northern Song Dynasty and reached its final after the Jin invaders captured Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Juntai Kilns, boasting of great scale, wealthy repertoire, exquisite craftsmanship and top firing skills, were not only cherished by the commons, but also treasured by the imperial household and as the imperial kilns exclusively serving the royal families in the late Northern Song Dynasty, the Juntai Kilns exceeded all other contemporaries. The exploration and excavation discloses that within a total area of more than 300,000 square meters, a perfect layout was once drawn. From the Huaibang Guild – hall to the west of the ancient Jun altar, the wares decorated with black designs on white background, employing the Cizhou Kilns skills, were shaped and fired. From the Eight Trigrams Cave to the east of the ancient Jun altar, the products for the civil use, including the ying qing ones and utilizing the Ru Kilns crafts, were produced. From the Yamen Street to the southeast of the ancient Jun altar, i.e., the front yard of the Yuzhou Pharmaceutical Factory, the black temmoku ones were fired. From the northeastern corner to the east of the Zhengzhou – Nanyang freeway, the porcelain under the Jun Kilns style were excavated. The accumulated levels with a thickness of around 1.5 to more than 2 meters reveal the great prosperity of the unbroken firing process through the whole Northern Song Dynasty. The wealthy breaking and overlaying relations among the remains and the great number of ceramic samples collected could support strongly the research on the stages of the firing progress, the development and change of the wares, the craftsmanship and the artistic styles.

       The excavation proves that the Juntai Kilns not only produced wares for the Northern Song royal household, but also met the civil demand by making the Ru Kiln style, ying qing; black temmoku, black design on white ground under the Cizhou Kiln styles, yellow patterns on white glaze, carving patterns set off by pearl – like ground, mixed clay, mixed glaze and colorfully glazed earthenware named Songsancai. The discoveries also include firing furnaces, wares – shaped places, wells, ash pits, a great number of porcelain pieces of all kinds, a number of kiln equipments, such as saggars, cushioning biscuits and rings, saw – like supporting rings and moulds for printing, and 2 relatively intact furnaces exclusively for firing wares under the Jun Kiln style, which are especially important.

       The Juntai Kilns in Yuzhou, as an archaeological excavation report, including more than 200，000 characters, more than 70 drawing figures, 116 colorful plates and 56 black – white plates, is made of the forewords, the first chapter for the general introduction, the second chapter for the kilns in the Northern Song Dynasty, the third chapter for the remains from the other dynasties, the fourth chapter for chemical composition and physical quality of the Jun wares, the fifth chapter for the discussions on some related topics and the sixth chapter as an epilogue. The report contributes a classified introduction on all remains and artifacts, a detailed description on the shapes, crafts, glaze and decoration of all styles, a particular analysis on the interrelationship, skill exchange and mutual stimulation among the different kiln styles, and a more valuable scientific testing on the glaze and clay recipe, chemical composition and firing temperature, which reveals that the Jun pieces excavated from the site and the handed down Jun pieces from the Song Dynasty collected by the Palace Museum share the same glaze and clay composition, same shapes, same firing skill and yaobian (Couldn’t be forecast, but desired changes happening in the firing course, caused by some kind of skills from experience) and thus discloses that the Jun Kiln among the five great celebrated Song kilns should be at the ancient Jun altar in Yuzhou. Discovered in an archaeological investigation, a square xuanhetongbao (coin minted in the xuanhe reign of huizong emperor in the Northern Song Dynasty) coin model, spotted by a drop of the Jun style glaze and made of the Jun kaolin, strongly supports that the Jun Kilns at the ancient Jun altar be the imperial ones in the reigns of huizong emperor in the Northern Song Dynasty.