Site of the Huozhou Kiln

Site of the Huozhou Kiln

The Huozhou Kiln Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Site of the Huozhou Kiln

Site of the Huozhou Kiln (Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units)

Era: Song Dynasty

Location: Around Chen Village in the southwest of Huozhou City

The existing area is approximately 150,000 square meters. The cultural layer accumulation is about 1–3 meters thick. The main types of ware include bowls, plates, dishes, and tall-footed cups, as well as basins, bottles, lidded jars, pitchers, bowls, and incense burners. Decoration techniques include brownish glaze incised patterns, brownish glaze incised patterns with stamped designs, carved patterns, and stamped designs. Decorative motifs include pine and crane, fish, ducks, scrolling vines, flowers and plants, Taihu rocks, dragons, as well as text. The white porcelain of the Huozhou Kiln is mainly coarse ware, while among the fine white porcelain, the tall-footed cups, folded-rim plates, and dishes are relatively distinctive, with a pinkish-white body. In terms of firing techniques, aside from those stacked and fired with open rings, there are also pieces supported with sand padding, ring pads, and spur marks, particularly notable for those fired with five spur marks. Bowls come in black-glazed versions as well as those with black exteriors and white interiors. The foot rims and unglazed interior rings of the bowls are coated with a slip.

The bodies and glazes of the ware are white, with the interiors fully glazed and the exteriors only glazed partway down. The body is generally thinner at the rim and thicker at the base. The practice of stacking for firing and applying glaze only partway down the exterior was also relatively common in the Yuan Dynasty. Artifacts from the Huozhou Kiln have also been unearthed at the site of the Yuan Dynasty capital.

In May 2006, the Huozhou Kiln Site, as a heritage site from the Song to the Yuan periods, was approved by the State Council for inclusion in the Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units