Pottery fired by the Imperial Court. In Japan, the term “kan-yō” is sometimes used to refer to the ceramics produced in Owari Province (Aichi Prefecture) during the Heian period (794-1185), and in later times, the official kilns of the various domains of the Edo period (1603-1868) were sometimes referred to as kan-yō. This is a misappropriation of the Chinese term “guan-yao,” and here I will discuss the Chinese guan-yao. The Chinese imperial court kilns are extremely old, and there are many references to the production of various types of earthenware at the imperial court in ancient times, such as “Shun-tao was righteous” and “He-bin ni tsukko-jikkaku-jikkaku-jikkaku-jikkaku-jikkaku. Although it is unclear when the name “official kilns” originated, the “Guan Proverbs” by Lu Gakzhong of the Song dynasty (960-1279) mentions that during the reign of Emperor Inzong of the Northern Song dynasty (1022-1633), there were more than ten kilns and officials who supervised kilns, and the “Song Hui Jian” contains a section on kiln affairs, indicating that kilns were directly controlled by the imperial court during the Northern Song period. However, it is not known whether these kilns produced fine wares that would fit today’s concept of official kilns. Most likely, the majority of the wares were made of building materials, such as vessels and roof tiles. The Song Hui Yao states, “The kilns in the east and west of the capital are in charge of making earthenware and tile vessels for use in building and repair work. This type of official kiln probably existed in the Tang and Six Dynasties before the Song dynasty, and even as far back as the Han dynasty. In the Northern Song dynasty, the imperial court vessels were initially ordered from the Ding kilns, secret color kilns, and Ru kilns, but later good clay and skilled potters were recruited from Jijing (Kaifeng, Henan Province), where the court was located, to produce the wares. This was probably the beginning of the imperial kilns. The so-called “Ru ware” mentioned in “Qing Po Magazine” is probably of this type. However, forbidden kilns at court, or official kilns that were not official kilns, were ordered to be fired at the location of the kiln, and it is certain that this type of pottery already existed before the Tang dynasty. Although details of the pre-Tang period are not known, it is well known that the Ciba kiln of the 5th dynasty (907-9600) received an order from the Ciba sect of the Later Zhou dynasty for a rainbow blue color, and that the secret color kilns of the 5th dynasty were also ordered by the Wuyue king Qian, as is clearly evidenced by the poem “Secret Color Bowl” by Xu Tora in Gongyu. In the early Song dynasty (960-1279), the Qian clan presented several secret-color bowls and plates to the Emperor Taizong and other emperors, as is also shown in the “Song Kaiyan”. The “Jingdezhen Pottery Record,” Vol. 5, states that Jingdezhen was ordered to make pottery during the Jingde period of the Song dynasty (104-7). In the same book, the section on Huo kilns states that in the fourth year of the Tang Dynasty (621), a new commoner, Huo Zhongchuang, and others were commanded to manufacture and promote the production of pottery. It also states that in the first year of the Zide era (583) of the Six Dynasties of the Chen Dynasty, Jingdezhen was ordered to present a cornerstone to the capital, Jiankang.
In the Northern Song dynasty, as described above, secret color kilns were mainly used at the imperial court. In the middle Northern Song period, the Jingdezhen kilns were also used, and the Ru kilns and Ding kilns were probably used as well. The kilns that have been referred to as Ru Guan kilns in recent times are thought to be of this type. The kilns similar to imperial kilns, or imperial garden ware, were made by the Ru kiln makers, as described above. In the Southern Song dynasty, the chief eunuch Shao Chengchang, the head of the forbidden palace in Hangzhou, made pottery in the style of the old Sijing ware. This is called Shunaiji Guan Kiln. There are various theories as to the origin of this kiln, but since it was modeled after the official kilns of Sijing, it is thought that the shape and glaze, not to mention the clay, were similar to those of the old Ru kilns, the so-called “homogeneous kilns” of the Ru kilns. Therefore, it is not far-fetched to imagine that they later came to resemble these under the influence of the relatively proximate Longquan kilns. Although the period cannot be determined, in the late Southern Song dynasty, the kiln was moved outside the palace to a location under the suburban platform for firing. Research by Otani Kouzui and others has largely clarified that its products are a type of celadon with large open pieces, as in the case of the Gue kiln. The Yuan dynasty lasted only seven or eighty years, and the Yuan court was not interested in pottery, so the details are unknown. However, in “Jingdezhen Ceramic Records,” Vol. 5, it is written, “The Song dynasty’s governor was reappointed to the post of governor, and at the time of Taiching, he again took control of ceramics using the jurisdiction of the main road. The original imperial vessels were made by the people. “The clay is always white and haniwa, and the texture is thin.
The clay is always white and clayey, the texture is thin and thin, and there are many small feet. The vessels with large feet are usually of fine material. There are also high-footed vessels with grudges, gravels such as kabash and tziguan, horseshoe-shaped boards, and cups of various styles. All of the vessels are inscribed with the Chinese characters for the cardinal points. In those days, the people also imitated and made their own pottery, but the ones that they contributed were selected ten out of a thousand and one out of a hundred, and were not the ones that the people should have chosen at the end of time.
The official kilns of the Ming and Qing dynasties were mainly located in Jingdezhen, and there are a thousand different types of vessels with different styles and patterns. The bottom of these vessels are said to be marked with the year of manufacture in a double circle. There are exceptions, however, such as Kangxi (1662-1722), which forbade the signing of annotations for a certain period of time. The exception is for those who had a signature such as the name of a palace in the imperial household, for example, Jixiu Palace, or the name of the imperial family, for example, Qianqiangsai. There is also a type of excellent pottery called kogetsuken. According to one theory, this type of pottery was fired in a kiln set up in the palace. The quality of this pottery is like that of a fee, and it is very different from other official kilns, which may be the case. However, these are exceptions to the rule, and it is likely that both the Ming and Qing dynasties rarely produced imperial kilns.
During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, a kiln was built in Beijing and materials were collected for the firing of porcelain, but this was never done.
Guan ware (Southern Song) celadon flower vase, Guan ware (Northern Song) celadon incense burner This is said to be due to the opposition of the Jingdezhen Pottery Guild. This is seen in a document by D’Entrecoeur in Buchel’s “Ori-entalCeramicArt. According to the Ming Dynasty Classic and other sources, in 1393 (Hongwu 26), a kiln was set up in Gyeongsi with potters and materials, but it was soon moved to Jingdezhen, Duzhou, and other areas. However, there seem to have been a variety of kilns for firing roof tiles in the vicinity of Jingzhi. The Linqing kilns, Suzhou kilns, Caiqun kilns, and Wuqing County kilns all seem to have been used for tile firing. In addition, the porcelain kilns of the Zizhou and Huangzhou kilns were exclusively used to make red wine bottles and rims for holding wine. According to the “Zizhou Zhi,” a position of official was established and a supervisor went to these kilns on business, so these kilns can be considered as a type of official kilns. The same is probably true of the other kilns mentioned above. In short, a kangyo is a kiln that is symmetrical to a civilian kiln, and a goyō is also a name that is symmetrical to a kangyo. And Gogama is the most exquisite of the official kilns. The above follows Ozaki Awamori’s theory, but see the sections on Hongwu, Yongle, Xuande Seihua Hongji, Jingde, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Tenkei, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Douguang, Hamfeng, Tongji, Guangxu, and Xuanzong kilns for more information on Ming and Qing government kilns.
