Shima Lane Celadon Kiln Site

Shima Lane Celadon Kiln Site

The Shima Lane Celadon Kiln Site is a cultural heritage protection unit of Cixi City.

The Shima Lane Celadon Kiln Site is located in Baiyang Village, Guanhaiwei Town, Cixi City, on the southwestern shore of Baiyang Lake. It was discovered during the 1982 cultural relics survey, and in May of the same year, the People’s Government of Cixi County announced it as one of the first batch of cultural heritage protection units.

The kiln is built along the mountain, with a low central area and elevated sides, featuring thick accumulations of debris. The scattered area of porcelain fragments spans 10,000 square meters. The northern half of the site contains relics from the Tang and Five Dynasties periods. Products mainly include bowls with flared rims, flat bottoms, and wide, low ring feet, as well as jade-ring-foot bowls, lotus-mouth bowls, pitcher pots, melon-ribbed ewers, and various jars, bowls, gui vessels, and lamps. Glaze colors are predominantly bluish-yellow, with even, moist, and highly transparent glaze layers. Decorative patterns feature lotus flowers and medallion designs, with incised lines that are sparse and upright. The firing technique involved the use of saggars, and some products were fired in glazed ceramic saggars for superior quality. Some bowl bases and kiln tools bear inscribed characters such as “Ji” (auspicious) and “Ji” (mark). Some of the excavated bowls and ewers are identical to a collection of exquisite artifacts unearthed from the Ningbo Heyi Road site. The southern half of the site contains relics accumulated during the Northern Song Dynasty. Artifacts include bowls, jars, ewers, plates, cups, and cup stands, but they are coarsely made, with dull glaze colors and mostly plain surfaces, featuring only a small amount of decorative incised floral patterns.

In 1999 and 2002, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Cixi Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee jointly conducted two phases of rescue excavations at the site, covering an area of 925 square meters. They uncovered an early Northern Song Dynasty dragon kiln, a house foundation, and a glaze vat, obtaining a large number of celadon samples from the late Tang, Five Dynasties, and Northern Song periods. Among them, a piece of mi-se (secret color) porcelain plate matched one unearthed from the Famen Temple underground palace in Shaanxi. These discoveries provide valuable physical evidence for studying the structure of Yue Kiln furnaces, products from the late Tang to Northern Song periods, and for in-depth exploration of mi-se porcelain and related topics.