From Fame to Oblivion to Re-evaluation: The Surprising Trajectory of the Yaozhou Kilns

From fame to oblivion to re-evaluation sums up in a nutshell the outstanding story of the Yaozhou kilns. The term ‘Yaozhou ware’ is associated with a type of greenware (qingci in Chinese or, to use a connoisseur’s French word, celadon) characterised by vivid designs carved or impressed under a transparent olive-green glaze (cat. no. 12). This variety, viewed as the ‘signature’ product of manufacture at Huangpuzhen, Tongchuanshi, Shaanxi province, is neither the only one nor the first. The association of this style with the Yaozhou kilns and the identification of the Huangpuzhen factory as the leading one (rather than the manufacture at Linruxian, Henan province) were suggested only at the end of the 1950s. Before then, this type of Yaozhou greenware was broadly classified as ‘northern celadon’. The name ‘Yaozhou’ had not been lost. It appeared in a few of the many written sources compiled at least since the Song dynasty (960–1279). Nobody knew what Yaozhou ware looked like, however, and scholars and collectors concentrated mainly on the so-called ‘five famous wares of the Song dynasty’, Longquan greenware and of course Jingdezhen porcelain. But by the very end of the 20th century the Yaozhou site was the best excavated kiln in China, thanks to its size and completeness. This allowed us to piece together the ceramic centre’s development from its establishment in the Tang dynasty (618–907) to its demise under the Mongol regime (1234–1368) and, more importantly, demonstrate the truly groundbreaking technological achievements of the Yaozhou potters. The following reconstructs the development of the Yaozhou kilns based on archaeological evidence and laboratory analysis, as well as written documents.