Hengyang Kiln Site

Hengyang Kiln Site

The Hengyang Kiln Site is a cultural relic protection unit of Hunan Province.

The Hengyang Kiln Site is located within the territories of Songmu Township and Chashan Town.

It dates back to the Tang to Song dynasties. Located in Chashan, Hengyang City, and Xinnan, Hengyang County, this is one of the kiln sites of the southern Hunan celadon series.

This kiln was discovered in 1973, situated on both banks of the Xiang River in the northern suburbs of Hengyang City, in the areas of Liangjiahe, Liuyanghe, Jiangjiahe, and Luohansi in Chashan Township. The riverbanks here are steep, the mountains undulate, weeds grow thickly, and ancient trees tower overhead. Ceramic fragments are hidden among the overgrown weeds, while some piles of rubble are largely exposed.

The kilns produced celadon ware, mostly plain without colored decoration. The glaze colors include bluish-gray, lotus leaf green, bean green, shrimp blue, or bluish hues tinged with yellow, some with a jade-like luster. The body color is mainly iron gray and purplish gray, resembling semi-ceramic, semi-porcelain products, though some have a grayish-white body color, indicating they were fired from porcelain clay with a relatively high degree of vitrification. Darker body colors often had a layer of white slip applied to the exterior before glazing, with the glaze covering the base. The surface was not painted, though some bowls and dishes had impressed floral patterns on the foot ring of the body, all covered with a transparent thin glaze. This “full-glaze” technique with impressed decorations on the base is rare among other kilns.

Products from the Chashan Kiln varied: some workshops focused on bowls and dishes, others on pots and jars, with pots accounting for about two-thirds of those made in Liangjiahe. Some bowls and dishes have impressed patterns of flying butterflies, lotuses, or medallion flowers on their foot rings. Representative items include celadon openwork double-spouted spouted pitchers with flared mouths, and wide-mouthed flat-bellied pitchers. Kiln furniture includes gray, open-mouthed saggars, and ring-shaped supports about 7 cm in diameter, usually with five nipples.

High-footed cups, flared-mouth double-spouted pitchers, and similar vessels were commonly found in tombs dating to the Five Dynasties period within the province. This indicates that the Hengyang Kiln was a large-scale celadon production site during the Tang to Song periods, holding significant importance for the study of local society, economy, and related issues.

On October 10, 1983, the People's Government of Hunan Province designated it as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit, with the designation number 126-1.