The picture shows the porcelain unearthed from the Shabu kiln site exhibited at the Huangyan District Museum in Taizhou City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan.
In the history of Chinese ceramics, the Yue kiln in eastern Zhejiang and the Longquan kiln in southwest Zhejiang have each led for hundreds of years, and there is a "missing link" between the two. The latest archaeological results show that the Shabu kiln in Huangyan, Taizhou, eastern Zhejiang, was an important hub for the two famous celadon kilns to complete the "baton handover" in the Northern Song Dynasty about 1,000 years ago. This discovery also "fills in the blanks" for China's ceramic archaeology.
The picture shows a fragment of porcelain unearthed from the Shabu kiln site on display at the Huangyan District Museum in Taizhou City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan.
The Shabu kiln site is located in Shabu Town and Gaoqiao Street, Huangyan District, Taizhou City, which was first discovered in 1956 and is now a national key cultural relics protection unit. In 2018, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Huangyan District Museum discovered a total of 9 sites through active archaeological investigations. From 2019 to 2023, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with the Huangyan District Museum, Peking University and the Palace Museum, has continuously carried out active archaeological excavations and obtained important results.
The picture shows the ruins of the Zhujialing kiln site in the Shabu kiln site group. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan.
At the expert demonstration meeting on the archaeological excavation of Huangyan Shabu kiln held on December 24, Xie Xiying, associate researcher in charge of the archaeological project of Shabu kiln of Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the production history of Shabu kiln began in the late Tang Dynasty and ended in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the most valuable period for research was the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty. In the past five years, archaeologists have excavated the Zhujialing kiln site and the Fenghuangshan kiln site in the kiln site group, and basically constructed the chronological sequence of Shabu kiln from the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty to the early Southern Song Dynasty that lasted for more than 100 years.
The picture shows the ruins of the dragon kiln of the Song Dynasty found at the site of the Zhujialing kiln. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan.
Except for 2020, the remaining four years of excavation work were carried out at the Zhujialing kiln site. Archaeologists have found the ruins of two dragon kilns, the remains of many porcelain-making processes, and a large number of porcelain, kiln furniture and other relics. They constitute a complete kiln production operation chain in four stages, such as material preparation, molding, firing, and disposal. Among them, a dragon kiln is more than 70 meters long, which is the longest Song Dynasty dragon kiln site found in Zhejiang. In 2019, archaeologists also discovered the ruins of two dragon kilns at the Fenghuangshan kiln site, as well as a large number of relics such as porcelain and kiln furniture.
The picture shows the porcelain unearthed from the Shabu kiln site exhibited at the Huangyan District Museum in Taizhou City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan.
Most of the large number of porcelain unearthed this time is celadon. At present, Shabu kiln porcelain has been unearthed at many important sites in China, and there are also clues to the export of Shabu kiln porcelain overseas. Ding Yu, a researcher at Peking University's School of Archaeology and Museums, said that the fine porcelain in Shabu kiln represented the highest level of Chinese porcelain at that time, and also provided a new basis for studying China's porcelain exports in the 11th century.
The picture shows the porcelain unearthed from the Shabu kiln site exhibited at the Huangyan District Museum in Taizhou City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan.
From the perspective of vessel type, pattern and firing technology, Shabu kiln celadon generally inherits the tradition of Yue kiln celadon. At the same time, some of the processes it uses are also similar to the subsequent Longquan kiln celadon. Xie Xiying said that some Shabu kiln celadon also reflects the reference of Shaanxi Yaozhou kiln and Wenzhou Ou kiln, and some porcelain is similar to Hebei Dingyao porcelain sauce glazed porcelain. These have witnessed the full exchange of ceramic culture between the north and the south during the Northern Song Dynasty.
The picture shows the porcelain unearthed from the Shabu kiln site exhibited at the Huangyan District Museum in Taizhou City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Yuan.
At the demonstration meeting held on the same day, experts from many universities and cultural institutions fully evaluated the value of the archaeological achievements of Shabu kiln. Shen Yueming, a professor at the Department of Culture and Museums at Fudan University, believes that this discovery fills the gap in the development of celadon from the Yue kiln to the Longquan kiln in the history of Chinese porcelain, and at the same time, it also provides an important clue for the study of the history of the Maritime Silk Road. Wang Guangyao, a researcher at the Palace Museum, said that in addition to "filling in the blanks", the Shabu kiln site also witnessed the exchange between the northern porcelain industry and the Zhejiang porcelain industry during the Northern Song Dynasty, reflecting the Song Dynasty's emphasis on reconstructing ritual music and cultural unity. Researcher Sun Xinmin, president of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Society, said that the discovery revealed a relatively complete remains of the Song Dynasty kiln industry, unearthed a batch of high-quality unearthed porcelain, broke through the previous view that "Zhejiang ** porcelain declined in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty", improved the development sequence of Yue kiln celadon, and also built a complete system of celadon production in the Song Dynasty in Zhejiang. (Reporter Feng Yuan).