Artistic Traditions p.31-47

7/27/2019 Artistic Traditions p.31-47

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The first archeological findings of Chinese ware in Samarra, Iraq, took place in19111913 and were quite asensation. Samarra was the capital of the Abbasid Ca-liphate and flourished between 834 and 883, which is the late Tang period. Howev-er, in Fustat, Egypt, in the 1930s many fragments of Chinese porcelain ware werefound, which back then could not be properly qualified in chronological order.Only comparison to the properly dated findings from the Chinese tombs allowed

proving, that the pieces from Fustat and Samarra actually came from Tang manu-factures producingyue type of porcelain. The next excavation teams that workedin Fustat (Fustat-C site) in 196972 made adiscovery of anew type of porcelainthat was similar to the ones from Samarra. Except foryue celadons, there were alsoshards/whole wares of the following types: qingbai, ding,sancai, Cizhou porcelain,and blue-white from Yuan and Ming times. Gyllensvrd1 stated that in general, onemay say, the Chinese ceramics identified among all of these pieces (in Fustat), hadsome characteristic designs and shapes. The fact that they were not popular among

the ones used in China as well as among the export wares made for the customersin other parts of the world, indicates that they were made in China especially forthe Fustat customers.

Gyllensvrd2 in his first part of the report from Fustat describes the followingware, dividing them into two groups:

1. Those that arrived in Fustat between late 9th to 1169 being the year of burnsand ruin for the city. The wares include: yue, porcelain from Tang and FiveDynasties,ying qing (qing bai), ding;

1 Gyllensvrd (1973: 92).2 Gyllensvrd (1973: 9293).


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2. Northern celadon, longquan, cizhou, and porcelain from Yuan and Ming Dy-nasties.

Before we learn more about the Fustat finds and their characteristics, we shouldknow what their short story was in the country of their origin.

During the Tang Dynasty period celadons prospered and began to be producedin agreater number, hence some people wrongly associate this time period as thebeginning of celadons and porcelain in general. The authors of the IllustratedDictionary of Old Ceramics3 state that during Sui and Tang times local manufac-tures prospered better and the technology was relatively well developed. Amongthe famous places where the celadon porcelain was produced were: Yueyao (),Wuzhouyao (), Ouyao (), Yuezhouyao (), Hongzhouyao (), Shouzhouyao (), Changshayao (), and other. The celadon

wares of theyueyao type were compared by the poets to the thousand peaks (that)have been despoiled of their bright color4, tender lotus leaves full of dewdrops,and even to ancient moss-eaten bronze mirrors.5

The praised by poets yue celadons were made in Zhejiang. Pei Guanhui6 be-lieves that the beginnings ofyue celadons reach to the Eastern Han Dynasty, SixDynasties is their evolution, and the time between Tang and beginnings of Song isthe peak of their development, however, in the late Northern Song Dynasty aslowprocess of fading away occurred. The other names given toyue by some authorities

with whom Gompertz7

and the author of this article do not agree with are: protoyue and green ceramics (to describe celadons from the times before Tang Dynas-ty). It has to be clarified that there is adifference between Han low temperaturelead glaze ware andyue that is fired in high temperature and has aceladon glaze.

Pei Guanghui8 characterizes shapes, colors of the glazes, and bodies of the yueceladons from the Eastern Han Dynasty in the following words: During the East-ern Han Dynasty the following shapes were introduced: bowls, small tea cups, pans,guan type of jars, cups with ears, hu type of jars with flared mouths, bells, vessels forbrush washing, vessels in the shapes of tigers, water containers ofyu type, incenseburners, and other. The decorations were: relief lines, waves, knockers, heads and

3 Feng (2002: 52).4 It is afragment of the poem by Lu Guimeng () titled: (Mise Yue Qi);Mise

(type) ofYue Vessels. Translated by Bushell, quoted in Gompertz (1980: 35).5 Both fragments are quotations from the poem by Xu Yin () titled: (Gong

Yu Mise Cha Zhan); More (Than) aTribute of aSmallMiseTea Cup. Translated by Bushell, quotedin Gompertz (1980: 35).

6 Pei (2002: 14).7 Gompertz (1980: 35 [footnote]). To my mind as well this kind of distinction seems absolutely

redundant, since theyue celadons present asmooth development process from the beginning of theirexistence to the peak of their production.

8 Pei (2002: 14).


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legs of beasts, and so on. The bodies were solid and elegant in white-gray color.The even color of the glaze was light green and while touching was like a glasssubstance. Bodies were integrated with glazes and the fall off was very rare. Asto the glaze application, it was, except for rare cases of huge vessels, done by theimmersion in glaze, which caused that it did not reach the bottom of the exteriorparts of the body.

The famousyue celadons from Tang times come from Shanglin Hu ().Materials which were used for making them as well as the glaze were the same asdescribed above. However differences can be seen in shapes and designs. Long,stretched bottoms, decoration made with amold or incised, and alarge variety ofdecoration motives are characteristic features. The most popular design was lotusflower, usually cut or formed in relief petals along the exterior sides of vessels. Other

decorations include: dragons with clouds and waves (carved or formed in relief ),butterflies, phoenixes, parrots, birds, fish, or begonias. There are some plain vessels,for which the only decoration are loop handles, flaring mouth in vases, or a chick-en-head sprout in the early ware from Six Dynasties times. As Gompertz9 states,large numbers of Shanglin Hu wares were exported to Persia and Egypt, whereshards and even complete vessels were excavated. During the times of Tang and FiveDynasties there were so-called miseci (; secret color porcelain) produced.

Shang Xiangtao10 explains the term miseci in the following words: During the

Tang and Five Dynasties times, among the yueyao celadons the most appreciatedby people are miseci. Whymiseci? The traditional historical sources from Tang,Five Dynasties, and Song include many records. There is one version previouslyquite popular: During the Five Dynasties times the ruler of Wuyue Qian Miao,ordered firing of porcelain for the special use of kings lineage named Qian, whichwas supposed to serve as atribute from the central plains to the court. Ordinarypeople could not use it, therefore this kind ofyueyaoporcelain was named miseci(secret color porcelain). However, many academic circles and specialists in theirscientific works object: mise existed already during Tang times and were not formedin Wuyue from Qian linage initiative! So, actually confused people debate over thequestion why mise is acolor for nearly 1100 years and each of them defends his/her own views. In April 1987 in Shanxi province an archeologist found 16 pieces ofyueyao celadons at one of the Fufeng prefectures temple. At the same time, in therecords of consecrated utensils at the temple it was clearly stated, that this group ofporcelain vessels were miseci. Two pieces from this miseci group were yellow-greenand the other greenish translucent and shining glaze. The found miseci were the

9 Gompertz (1980: 50).10 Shang (2003: 123).


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cast iron evidence that explained the endless disputes in the field of ceramics, at thesame time explaining that during the Tang times there were miseci manufactures,which reached the peak of production in Five Dynasties times. Therefore, it canbe seen that within avery long time people knew little about their true colors

partially because of the mi word, meaning secret. In reality mise indicate

rareyueyao celadons of delicate and charming greenish-blue glaze.Miseci originallyindicatedyueyao celadons of the highest quality from the Tang Dynasty times.

The finest Shanglin Hu wares were made from the Five Dynasties to early Songtimes and the tribute in in form of Wuyue porcelain lasted till at least 1068. 11When Wuyue center was falling slowly into decline, a simultaneous process oftransferring manufactures to Kaifeng vicinity and Lonquan occurred. After thatWuyue kilns were degraded to small, regional factories. According to Gompertz12,

there is agroup ofyue ware being a

transitional form between Tang/Song which

cannot be classified as Shanglin Hu or other ware. In the Western countries andJapan they are usually assigned to the yue ware from Zhejiang province, possiblyearlylongquanware made in early Song times. The characteristic features of thesewares include light grey body (lighter than Shanglin Hu wares) and firing, as incase of typicalyueware on three small lumps or acircular ring. Gompertz13 adds,giving adetailed description of this interesting kind of wares: The form and dec-oration show Tang derivation, being split up and divided horizontally except on

some specimens which seem to be of later date. The vases nearly always have twosmall loops on the shoulder beside the neck; their bodies are often divided intopanels, usually five in number as in Tang wares. () the grey ware is among themost graceful of early Chinese porcelains; its elegance of form is complementedby apale bluish or greyish-green glaze, so that some pieces have an almost whiteappearance. There is one more kind of ware similar to Shanglin Hu. It was made inHuangyan and is one of the finest amongyueware. Their thin porcellanous bodiesare very hard and covered with moss-green glaze. The typical forms are coveredboxes, bowls, dishes, urns, and cups decorated exquisitely by incision with the floralor animal motives of peonies, chrysanthemums, lilies, lotuses, parrots, Mandarinducks, and phoenixes.14

Yue celadons production faded away during the Northern Song Dynasty times.According to Pei Guanghui15 the most important reason for it was competitionform the new centers such as Ruyao (), Guanyao () in Bianjing (),

11 Gompertz (1980: 62).12 Gompertz (1980: 62).13 Gompertz (1980: 66).14 Gompertz (1980: 68).15 Pei (2002: 32).


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Diaoyao (), or Dingyao (). Yue celadons did not present the same splen-dor as before. They became unified, the bodies were uncompleted with many im-purities and air bubbles, the well-known and characteristic shades of green andblue colors of the glaze were not found any more. Potters did not improve theirskills anymore and that lead to abandonment of production of these once famousceladons.

The authors16 of the Illustrated Dictionary of Old Ceramics describe fate ofthe Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties celadons in the following way:

The connection between celadons from Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties and sociallife tightened. Especially vessels of practical use such as: bowls, plates, hujars,guanjars, vases, small cups, small cups with ahandle, ink containers, headrests, or othereveryday use utensils became the main stream of production. Among the methods

of decorative motives application there were: traditional cuts, carves, applications,stamping, and other techniques emphasizing flowers, meandering climbing plantsstems, lotus petals, animals, plants, and everyday scenes with people. Additionallythe high temperature products were decorated on and under glaze, which startedanew way in porcelain decoration. Because of the fact that during Sui, Tang, andFive Dynasties times porcelain was produced in afull scale, agreat change occurredin porcelain manufacture distribution. The situation of new rival in the form ofwhite porcelain form Xinyao (in Hebei Province) toward Yueyao traditional ce-ladons center fighting for the position of an equal opponent, formed into: in the

south celadons, in the north white porcelain. However, the celadons still hadthe leading position in the production of porcelain during that time.

Amongyue ware that reached Fustat there are four types of which the mostcommon are bowls and dishes (in different shapes), cups and stem cups. Jars andewers were not that common17:

1. Plain glazed,2. With incised/engraved decoration,3. With cut and molded decoration along with incised details,

4. With pierced decoration along with incised details.As to the plain glazed ware, they are characterized in the following manner:

The sherds of vessels without any decoration are not the most frequent amongYeh yao, but in this group the shapes are more varied. Bowls, dishes, cups, stem-cups, vases, jars and ewers can be identified, and the difference in technical qualityis considerable. Thus the ware, potting and glaze are all different. The body can bebrownish-grey, more buff-coloured, dark or light grey depending on clay and firing.The olive-coloured glaze also varies in shades of yellow, brown, green or blue. In

16 Feng (2002: 52).17 Gyllensvrd (1973: 92).


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some cases the glaze is even and smooth without crackling, more often glassy andminutely crackled, sometimes somewhat uneven.18

To theyue ware with incised decoration group belong bowls and dishes in dif-

ferent sizes. The interesting fact is that there was only one shard from ajar/ewerand one from afigurine of aseated lion. The usual colors of the bodies are gray and

pale yellowish brown. The glaze differs in shades from bluish to yellow olive colorand is either smooth without crackling or minutely crackled. In general one maysay that theyueware with incised decoration found in Fustat present high artisticand technical quality.19

Yue with carved and incised design is described by Gyllensvrd20 as follows:

This group is characterized by adecoration with carved outlines and incised details,which makes the design appear realistic and three-dimensional. The most commonvessels in the category are again bowls and dishes on spreading foot-rims or onsunken bases. () The whole interior of the bowls or dishes is covered with onemotif aflower rosette which most probably is aconventionalized peony.As to yue ware with pierced and incised decoration, Gyllensvrd21 describes

arepresentative being ashallow bowl with concave base, spreading foot-rim androunded sides. The interior of the object is decorated with incised peony scroll, twoflowers, and feathery leaves, all curved in S-shape. The sides were decorated withaconventional deeply carved scroll of leaves.

As to the porcelain from Tang and 10th century that reached Egypt, Gyllens-vrd22 states: The latest excavations at Fostat have brought to light many sherdsof porcelain which undoubtedly should be dated to Tang and the Five Dynasties.The first find to create asensation was abottle-shaped vase or flask. The fragmentswere put together into an almost complete vessel which showed great similaritieswith Liao porcelain and which had to be dated to the 10th century. In the sectionof the excavation area where finds of early Islamic art were made, Chinese porce-lain was also met with in the same layers. Many sherds, together with glass and

Near Eastern ceramics, wood, bone and even coins which were datable to the 8 th

18 Gyllensvrd (1973: 93). The unevenness of glaze on yue type of porcelain described byGyllensvrd is also typical for the earlier celadons (Han-Jin Dynasties). However it is also visibleamong the Tang or later ware. Gyllensvrd dates some of the shards as Tang or 10 th century. Tangpotters mastered gradually the application of glaze. To my mind it is also possible, that the ware madefor the Fustat customers could have been made in a careless manner on purpose. The other possibilityis that some kind of selection process took place (at least at the beginning) and the inferior qualityvessels were sent to Fustat, opposed to the high quality ones for the home market.

19 Gyllensvrd (1973: 96).20 Gyllensvrd (1973: 99100).21 Gyllensvrd (1973: 103, compare with plate 11).22 Gyllensvrd (1973: 104105).


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and 9th centuries came from the sanitarian pits. () with regard to the porcelainfrom Tang and the 10th century, it is obvious that the shapes and decorations areof aspecific type, which was not common among that made for the home market.Again, the customer must have preferred these types.

When one looks at shards that are not typical for the local ceramic centers, someobvious questions arise. One becomes to wonder where the pieces come from, or/and where they were manufactured. Gyllensvrd23 tries to answer to these questionsby stating:

All the Yeh ware was undoubtedly produced in Chekiang, and some could havebeen made in Ching-t Chen in Kiangsi where this ware has been found. SouthernChina was the logical source for the ceramics exported to the Near East in the 9 thcentury from ports like Canton, Lung-pien near Hanoi, Chuan-chou and Yeng-

chou. This could also be expected in the case of the porcelain. From recent exca-vations and investigations of kiln sites in South China, it has been confirmed thatporcelain was made in this part of the country from Tang onwards. In 1966 theauthor had the opportunity of visiting several ancient kilns near Ching-t Chen,including one from Tang. The wasters of two lobed bowls which had becomefused together in the firing, comes from this kiln, and this type of vessel in sugaryware with bluish tinted glaze, which comes very close those described from Fostat.All kinds of so-called ying ching or ching pai ware can be picked up at many kilnsin the same area, and obviously most of the early porcelain made for export comes

from Kiangsi. There is every reason to believe that even the porcelain from Tangand the Five Dynasties made for export, emanated from Southern China.

Theying qingor qingbai (light blue/green or bluish/greenish white) porce-lains characteristic feature is clear glaze which has light bluish tone that becomesdarker when it is accumulated in intaglio designs. Valenstein24 notices that theybegan to be produced by the 11th century and lasted at least till the middle of the14th century. Their bodies are usually translucent, white colored and fine grained.The designs, showing an interesting relationship to the dingware and Northern

celadons, were made by incision, combing, carving and (at the end of the SouthernSong Dynasty times) impressed in molds.25 As to the vicinity of their manufacturesValenstein26 writes:

Although they are reported to have been found at kilns as far north as Henan Prov-ince, qingbaiporcelains are basically indigenous to southern China. They have beenfound, frequently along with celadons, white-, and/or black-glazed wares, at kilnsites in almost every province south of the Yangtze River. Jiangxi Province was the

23 Gyllensvrd (1973: 110).24 Valenstein (1989: 110).25 Valenstein (1989: 109).26 Valenstein (1989: 109110).


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major source, and it is probable that kilns in the vicinity of Jingdezhen were respon-sible for the greatest volume and best quality.

Qingbai wares from Song and Yuan Dynasties times were important finds at

Fustat. Gyllensvrd27

wrote:A vast material was also collected during the latestexcavations (). The most frequent type of vessel identified among the ying chingsherds is again avariety of bowls, dishes and cups. Only afew sherds can belongto jars, abox and some kind of afigure, which confirms the impression that theceramics imported from China were really used in Egypt. Among the ying chingsherds are some that have been mended and used again, proving that nothing wasthrown away before it was really necessary. Mending the damaged pieces provesthat the Egyptians greatly admired and valued Chinese porcelain.

Gyllensvrd28 divides theying qingware from Fustat finds into three groups:1. Plain glazed ware,2. Ware with incised decoration, sometimes combined with carving,3. Ware with molded decoration.All of them are of high quality, both technical and artistic. Characteristic fea-

tures are sugary and thin translucent glaze minutely crackled or without crackling,in the color of light blue or green.29

The plain glazed ware shards are not numerous. Gyllensvrd30 suggests that thecustomers in Egypt must have preferred ceramics with some decoration on it. As

to the second group, ying qingwith carved and incised decoration, most of themare decorated with floral designs. Yue wares come with relief decoration made bycarving and incising. All shards are fragments of bowls with rounded sides andflat bases, typical for this kind of ware. Ying qingwith molded decoration are rareamong the Fustat finds.

The other kind of ware that reached Fustat was ding (). The characteristicfeatures of this type of porcelain are the color from ivory white to other shades ofwhite (sometimes also other colors31) and high quality. The usual decoration mo-

tives are flower scrolls made either by incision/molding or by underglaze paintingwith iron compounds that formed one color design and contrasted with the whitebackground. High quality along the fact that this ware was produced south-westfrom Beijing were probably the reasons for which dingware was the first one thatwas in the official imperial use.Dingporcelain influenced other kinds of ware andwere copied by many manufactures.

27 Gyllensvrd (1973: 111).28 Gyllensvrd (1973: 111).29 Gyllensvrd (1973: 111).30 Gyllensvrd (1973: 111).31 Valenstein (1989: 9899).


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Gyllensvrd32 notices that:

Since the Sung period Ting yao has been considered the most sophisticated of allSung porcelains, and is the most admired by the Chinese. The finest specimens of

this refined ware were inherited in families, and did not leave China until the pres-ent century. It is, therefore, understandable that very few Ting vessels of good qual-ity are to be found among export wares in the Near East or anywhere else. Amongall the thousands of sherds from Fostat, it has been difficult to pick out any realTing yao. There are less than ten pieces, and they can be described rather shortly.

During Song Dynasty in comparison with the Tang times China became moreclosed and reluctant to accept influence from outside. In such an introvert countrythe manufacturers found inspiration in nature, influence of which can be found inmany aspects of the artistic activity.

The celadons created in the times of Song Dynasty are divided into North-ern and Southern. The most important centers of production in the north wereYaozhou (), Baofeng (), and Linru (), and in the south Longquan(). The Northern China willingly copied achievements of the Zhejiang andneighboring provinces potters.

The Northern celadons were similar in simplicity and archaic shapes to the Hanandyueware from the Six Dynasties times. Their quality was lower thanyue andthe other characteristic features were loop handles and decorative motives of lotus

petals directed downwards. Northern celadons at the beginning of their existencewere created under abig influence ofyueware, their shapes are analogical, and thecut designs very similar. The main differences are in glaze colors dark olive forthe Northern ware and pale green or/and young leaves greens foryueware. Addi-tionally, Northern celadons were decorated by cuts, not likeyue by molding. Yuefoot-rims were more solid and baked in brown color. Concluding from the abovecomparison, it is easy to agree with Gompertz33, that the Northern celadons aredirect inheritors ofyue ware.

The other characteristic features of the Northern celadons were elegant forms,lines of which were changing from convexity to concavity. Bowls had typical shapes,often conoidal, were placed on low foots, rarely had rims. Among the other shapesof vessels there are: small plates, tea cups on stems, lid boxes, cylindrical or pearshaped slim vases, ovoid, globular vases and jars, incense burners with three or morefeet, lamps, headrests, and sometimes people and animal figurines. The translucentolive green glaze of the Northern celadons was put sparingly. At the beginning theNorthern wares were not decorated or it was done fragmentarily. However the

32 Gyllensvrd (1973: 117).33 Gompertz (1980: 108).


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typical Northern celadons have relatively dense carved decoration, which lines weredeeper, so that they could present the quasi relief effect and the whole compositionhad amore three-dimensional view. Details on the petals or leaves were addedby combing. Molded decorations were introduced later and were mainly used onbowls, plates, and boxes, but not on the perpendicular surfaces. Designs made inthis way were more complex in comparison with the carved ones, usually presenteddense floral motives and waves, often with conventionalized flowers. Images ofboys, animals or birds, fish or shells were many times put along the decorations,which were sometimes divided into composition parts. In case of bowls, the outsideparts and the rim were left blank.

The most important representatives of the Northern celadons are the Yaozhou() wares from agroup of kilns located near Tongchuan () in Shanxi Prov-

ince. This center was built in Tang times and was active during Song Dynasty,when the big scale production was characterized by agreat variety of shapes andtechniques. Yaozhou wares were fired in coal kilns and their bodies were made ofgrey clay, which after firing changed colors into the shades of yellowish to olivebrown. During the Jin Dynasty times Yaozhou manufactures also produced beau-tiful celadons in simple, round shapes with minimal or no decoration, very light,with whitish body and translucent, light green glaze filled with small air bubbles.

Northern and Southern celadons differ not only in the geographical place of

production but also in decoration. The most important representatives of theSouthern celadons are longquan wares. The name longquan comes from the re-gion in southwest Zhejiang. Valenstein34 informs that till this time there were hun-dreds of kilns discovered in that area. They were localized in afew places, amongwhich the biggest agglomerations were Dayao () and Jincun (). It provesthat these places must have been the most engaged ones in the celadon production.Longquan celadons expert, Shi Shaohua35, in his publication focused on this type ofware, notices that the beginnings of their production must be looked for in ThreeKingdoms times. A solid support for this thesis is over five hundred kilns fromthis period found in the vicinity of south Zhejiang: close to Longquan, Jinning(), Yunhe (), Qingtian (), Wencheng () and other places. ShiShaohua36 writes:

In these times celadons from Longquan, even though they were not enough formed,as in case ofyue into asystem of celadon kilns their production was still for thenew coming longquan celadon times only an embryonic and primary form. Eventhough they had characteristic for theyueware features, still, it is auniversal, mutual

34 Valenstein (1989: 99).35 Shi (2005: 2).36 Shi (2005: 3).


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influence that all of the manufactures in the early stage have on each other usingcharacteristic for the current times features.

Thus, longquan celadons from the Song Dynasty times should be perceived as

the successors of the previous epochs legacy, and not as isolated from their sourceof origin wares.37 This author also thinks, that the fade ofyue celadons allowedfor longquan development38. In the times of Northern Song Dynastylongquan ce-ladons were decorated by using translucent green glaze put on the designs carvedin the bodies. One of the kilns found in Jincun in the region of Longquan was ableto fire, as Valenstein39 states, from 20 to 25 thousand vessels at atime. During theSouthern Dynasty times the typical longquan celadons with characteristic, mistyglaze that reminded polished jade were produced. The bodies of longquan wareswere made of gray clay, sometimes of the quality close to the white, clear porcelain(in the European sense). The uncovered by the glaze elements of the vessels tintedinto the characteristic red brick color, because they contained iron, which reactedwith oxygen during the process of cooling down. This effect was eagerly used andusually apair of relief fish or dragon was left uncovered by the glaze, so that afterthe firing they could contrast with the green background. An example of suchavessel is made in Yuan Dynasty times, with the decoration of the dragon, flowersand clouds in the biscuit relief, pan from Sir Percival David Foundation.

One of the characteristics by which one can easily distinguish Northern cel-

adons from the Southern ones are simple, undimming the decorations shapes. Theglazes of the ware from Longquan and other Southern celadons were put in manylayers, which made them thick and filled with small air bubbles hence they were lesstranslucent and mistier. The most popular colors were pale greenish blue and bluegreen. When the potters from the south wanted to emphasize the decoration whichwas the glaze itself, they made sparse or no motives. Among the small amount ofdecorations there were: relief pairs of fish, dragons, clouds, or lotus petals. Theeffect was better seen on the smooth, formed surfaces, stressed by the characteristic

puckers made in the champlev technique or formed in amold. Decorations ofthe referring to the ancient bronze vessels are mainly geometric motives or animal

masks. The main shapes and types of the vessels from the south are usually: cal-ligraphy utensils (such as ink rubbing stones), incense burners, vases, plates, urns,resembling the made of nephrite congtubes, and bronze vessels such as zun,gu, lior ding. Celadons from Longquan were admired not only in China, but also in theother countries of the world.

37 Shi (2005: 3).38 Shi (2005: 3).39 Valenstein (1989: 99).


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It is worth mentioning that not only during Song, but also Yuan and MingDynasties times agreat number of ware was exported to the neighboring countries,as well as to the Near East. Among the ware that reached Fustat, according to Gyl-lensvrds report40, there are:

1. Northern celadon, plain ware,2. Northern celadon with incised designs,3. Northern Songlongquan celadon with incised designs,4. Northern Songlongquan celadon with carved lotus petals,5. Southern Songlongquan ware,6. Dishes, bowls, and cups with vertically fluted sides,7. Plain wares of Southern Songlongquan,8. Yuan and Early Minglongquan celadon,

9. Minglongquan yao.As to the first group, Gyllensvrd classifies them as Northern celadon. They are

shards of four bowls, all of them of high quality. One bowl has dark gray body andsmooth, not crackled glaze in greenish blue color. The other interesting shard hasawhite slip41 and glaze in olive color.

Group two, Northern celadon with incised designs, is represented by bowls indifferent sizes. The decoration itself is close to the dingandying qingware, the glazeis olive colored and the body dark grey.

A few shards with scrolled floral design, that belong to bowls and an ewer, rep-resent the group number three longquan celadon with incised designs. Details arecombed or dotted and the glaze is in bluish green color similar to longquan. As tothe ewer, only apiece of asmall ornament from the shoulder is preserved. It is inthe shape oflingzhi and the body is grey, covered with bluish green glaze.

As to the Northern Song longquan celadon with carved lotus petals Gyllens-vrd42 characterizes them as follows:

We have traced a link between Northern Celadon from Shensi and Honan andearly Lung-chun ware with incised floral design. There is also another parallel inthe decoration of the early Yeh yao and celadon found in the south. In Part Iofthis report Igave adetailed description of bowls, dishes, ewers and vases in Yehyao and white porcelain which were decorated on the exterior with carved lotuspetals (). The shards found at Fostat prove that the lotus petal design of aspecialtype was popular in the Islamic world. The petals are carved in high relief with an

40 Gyllensvrd (1975: 93117).41 The use of slip in case of Chinese Northern celadon ware was not common simply because the

clay was of good quality and it did not require any other covering, except for glaze alone, to hide thebody color or its impurities. The dark body color and the use of slip might indicate that the ware wasnot made in the usual for Northern celadon manufacture and could be an imitation.

42 Gyllensvrd (1975: 99100).


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accentuated midrib on the board petals. These are in two whorls, the outer partlyoverlapping the inner. This type of sharply cut petal creates the impression of anopen lotus chalice. It is not surprising to find the same pattern on early Lung-chunbowls and dishes made for the Islamic world. Among the Lung-chun sherds found

in Fostat there is one group with carved board petals which should be dated toNorthern Song.

In case of the Southern Songlongquanware found in Fustat the most commonshape that predominate is abowl with lotus petals design placed on the exteriorsides. The other is ashallow bowl with rounded, conical sides and thin foot-rim,often beveled.43

The Fustat finds tell us that probably after the phase of sending examplegoods, there appeared another one that was supposed to satisfy the specific need for

aspecific kind of ware. An example of such apractice is described by Gyllensvrd44:During the closer examination of all the fragments from lotus bowls found in Fostatit became obvious that the greatest quantity belonged to bowls of amuch largersize than those common in Chinese and Western collections. About 75% could bedetermined as belonging to vessels measuring between 160240 mm. in diameter,220 mm. being the most usual. This is again an example of the Islamic customersdesire for larger vessels than those used in China.

As to the dishes, bowls and cups with vertically fluted sides the most frequent

design of the longquan porcelain found in Fustat are lotus petals. They were puton the exterior sides of the vessels and sometimes they resemble chrysanthemumflowers with the characteristic narrow petals that become rounded at the top. Thischaracteristic design was very popular not only on Northern celadon, but also onying qingand dingware.45 As to other designs, there also are dishes with apair ofapplied fish adesign that was later on willingly copied in the Islamic world.

Plain wares of Southern Song lonquan, as Gyllensvrd46 notices, were mainlymade for the domestic use and for this reason they have not been found among theshards excavated in Fustat. However some pieces could be classified as SouthernSonglongquanware. The group is containing of several bowls, avase, potiche jar,box and cover, dish, and acup. The characteristic features are: body in the shadesof gray from light to dark and thickly applied glazes in the shades from grayishblue, through bluish green to grayish green, sometimes finely crackled.

Yuan and early Ming longquan celadons are characterized by Gyllensvrd47 inthe following manner:

43 Gyllensvrd (1975: 101).44

Gyllensvrd (1975: 102).45 Gyllensvrd (1975: 105).46 Gyllensvrd (1975: 107).47 Gyllensvrd (1975: 110).


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It is still impossible to draw adistinct border-line between the lotus or chrysan-themum bowls and dishes from Southern Sung and those from Yan. Especiallyregarding the export wares for the Islamic world, the shapes and patterns acceptedduring Southern Sung did not change under anew dynasty but instead continued.() The main types are big dishes, trays and bowls richly decorated, but also somecharacteristic shapes without any decoration at all.

Among the group of the Minglongquanware presented by Gyllensvrd48, thereare dishes and bowls. Most of them have rounded sides and flower shaped or fo-liated, raised lip. He gives the following overall impression of the Ming longquanceladons: Except for the big dishes and bowls described, there were comparativelyfew types of Ming celadon vessels found at Fostat. Big jars, vases or incense-burnerswith high relief patterns are not among the sherds Istudied. Stem-cups, tripodsand other typical Chinese shapes are not represented either, and the brown-spottedso-called tobi-seji is missing. Again, it proves that the Egyptian Islamic custom-ers were not interested in these kinds of ware. Their preference was concentratedaround big dishes, bowls or simple bowls with decoration made by molding orstamping.49

As it was mentioned above, the Chinese porcelain and ceramics were subjectsof numerous influence and imitation in the outside countries. Authors of En-cyclopedia of World Art50 indicate that the Chinese wares transported via land

or sea influenced potters in the Islamic countries, which led to the fact that theyimproved their own techniques. It happened mainly in 9th, 12th, and 15th centuries.Due to the lack of kaolin clay in the Islamic countries, it was impossible to createthere real porcelain in the Chinese style.

The potters from the Islamic countries at the beginning decorated their vesselsmainly using lead glazes in different colors, so that they could meet the growingdemand for imitated porcelain and other ceramics from China that according tothe Arabic historians reached Bagdad around year 800.51 Fragments of Chinesevessels together with various Iraqi wares made using experimental techniques were

found in Samarra, north to Bagdad. They were for example vessels partially coveredwith lead glaze, firstly decorated withsgraffito technique along with spots and flowlines of glazes in such colors as: green, yellow-brown, and purple. They imitatedthe Chinese sancai wares; some with white tin glazes, undecorated had the samebursting shape as the Chinese porcelain cups. Some of them were painted on glaze

48 Gyllensvrd (1975: 115116).49 Gyllensvrd (1975: 115116).50 Encyclopedia of World Art(1964: 248).51 Encyclopedia of World Art(1964: 248).


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with the motives of ribbon, palm tree with plaits in blue, green, violet colors, andsome painted on glaze with luster colors.52

Concluding the above mentioned information, in the so-called Muslim Worldthesancai wares were mostly copied in 9th and 10th century and soon celadons inEgypt. In the Fatimid rule period (9691171) there was so-called ceramic renais-sance. Preparation of siliceous alkaline glazes caused that it was possible to usecolors other than white and translucent green. Such colors as turquoise, honeybrown, and manganese violet were used from there on. Colors and shapes of theChinese wares were imitated and by increasing the amount of quartz as well as theadmixture of white clay in the bodies the effect of whitening was obtained. TheEgyptian potters since the second half of the 10th century eagerly imitated notonly shapes, but also colors of the finest celadons and other Chinese porcelain.

The bodies were decorated by cutting or modeling in forms and presented designsknown from the imported vessels from China.

The authors of Encyclopedia of World Art53 say, that despite the fact that theChinese wares since the beginning of their existence on the Middle East market,influenced the technique and less than that the shapes of vessels, the Chinese dec-orative motives were rarely imitated. It was not before the year 1300, when Chinaand Iran were under the rule of Mongols, that the traditional motives of dragon,phoenix, lotus, and clouds were put along with the traditional motives known in

the Islamic art. An even vaster wave of copying of the Chinese designs and colorshappened in the second half of the 14th century, when the main export good wasthe blue-white porcelain.

During the Mamluk rule period (14th-15th century) colors and designs (includ-ing the Chinese motives of dragon, lotus petals, fish), cracks, decorations cut underglaze or grooving modeled in forms filled with glaze, were imitated in Egypt.54 Theceramic bodies were mainly made of quartz and white clay. It should be pointed outthat using the native materials forced the necessity of making the bodies thicker inorder to prevent fractures. The fractures of the shards are rough; they present usingquartz paste with the addition of clay in different colors. However, the glazes, dueto the use of clay for bodies in bad quality, are mainly clouded with tin and put inthick layers, which allowed hiding this defect. The colors of glazes are from lightgreen, olive, through dark green tones to dark turquoise. It should be noted that thetin glazes colored with copper compounds are the fundamental imitation elementtoward the Chinese celadons.

52 Encyclopedia of World Art(1964: 248).53 Encyclopedia of World Art(1964: 250).54 An example here could be acup from Cairo, Egypt from 13th-15th century, modeled in form,

currently in Louvre, photographed in: Soustiel (1985: 128).


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Celadons were imitated in Iran in the 14th century. The Iranian potters eagerlycopied the longquan wares using the popular motive of relief fish placed on cups.An example could be a cup from Kerman in Iran from the first half of the 14 thcentury with decoration of celadon glaze and three relief fish.55 Another exampleis a small cup with the relief decoration of one fish, originated from Iran, madein late 14th or 15th century.56 An interesting thing is that the Iranian potters notonly imitated the Chinese ware, but also the Indian ones. An example of such anastonishing mixture done by the Safavid potters using the Indian shape and Chi-nese celadon glaze is the jar probably from Isfahan.57 The Iranian wares presentanalogy to the imported there Chinese vessels, not only in respect of materials,but also the characteristic for the Northern celadons decoration cut in the bodiesand next covered with athick layer of translucent glaze. The most popular motivesthat were used are: animals, arabesque floral plaits, and inscriptions. Sometimes,for the translucency effect, they perforated the walls of avessel and filled themwith fluid glaze. It is worth mentioning that this method (called in China: decoration of unhusked rice) was intercepted by the Chinese who havebeen using it in decorating the blue-white porcelain from the Ming Dynasty timestill now.

From the first finds in Samarra, through Fustat-C site excavations till the onesbeing done at this time, Chinese porcelain proves to be present in different cul-

tures. Chinese celadons were not only asubject of constant admiration from thefamous poets to connoisseurs and everyday users in the place of their origin, butalso abroad. The beauty of designs, glaze colors, and shapes inspired the Islamicpotters to first imitate and then try to mix it with the local ware. The exportedwares knew no borders long before we got used to it.

B

Canby 1999 = Sheila R Canby, The Golden Age of Persian Art 15011722, London: British

Museum Press, 1999.Encyclopedia of World Art1964 =Encyclopedia of World Art,vol. III, New York: McGraw-Hill,

1964.Fehvri 1973 = Gza Fehvri, Islamic Pottery. A Comprehensive Study Based on the Barlow

Collection, London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1973.Feng 2002 = Xianming Feng (ed.), Zhongguo gu taoci tu dian (Il-

lustrated Dictionary of Ancient Chinese Ceramics), Beijing: Wenwu chuban she, 2002.

55 Presented in: Fehvri (1973: leaf 68, illustration 163 a, b, and the description on page 125).56 Illustrated in: Grube (1976: 279).57 Printed in: Canby (1999:157).


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Gompertz 1980 = Gompertz G.St.G.M., Chinese Celadon Wares, London: Faber & Faber, 1980.Grube 1976, Ernst J. Grube,Islamic Pottery of the Eight to Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collec-

tion, London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1976.Gyllensvrd 1973 = Bo Gyllensvrd, Recent Finds of Chinese Ceramics at Fostat. I, Bulletin

of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 45, 1973, pp. 91171.Gyllensvrd 1975 = Bo Gyllensvrd, Recent Finds of Chinese Ceramics at Fostat. II, Bulletin

of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no 47, 1975, pp. 93117.Pei 2002 = Guanghui Pei,Zhongguo gudai ming ci jianshang daxi. (Compendium and Appreciation of Famous Ancient Chinese Porcelain) Yue zhouqingci, fuzhou: Fujian meishu chuban she.,:, 2002.

Shang 2003 = Xiangtao Shang, Zhongguo gaogu qingci jian cang (Collecting and Appreciation of Elegant and Simple Chinese Celadons). Tianjin:Baihua wenyi chuban she, 2003.

Shi 2005 = Shaohua Shi , Longquan qingci shangxi (Appreciation of

Longquan Celadons). Beijing: Xueyuan chuban she, 2005.Soustiel 1985 = Jean Soustiel = La cramique islamique, Paris: Office du Livre S.A., Fribourg

(Suisse), 1985.Valenstein 1989 = Suzanne G. Valenstein,A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, The Metropolitan

Museum of Art, New York: H. N. Abrams, 1989.

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