Jianyan is a kiln in China that has been famous for a long time as the main producer of Tianmu tea bowls called “Jian Chan”. The kiln is located in Jianyang County, Fujian Province, so it is called Jianyao, but the kiln is not limited to this one place. It would be difficult to determine the detailed family registers of these bowls. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that these areas generally produced black-glazed tenmoku bowls from the Northern Song to Yuan dynasties, and that the Jian kilns are collectively called Jian kilns after the kilns in Jianyang County, which was one of the largest kiln sites in these areas. The main products produced at the Jian kilns were so-called tenmoku tea bowls covered with black glaze with high iron content, and depending on the firing conditions, the ferric oxide in the glaze formed or flowed down, resulting in different types of cups such as rabbit cup, oil drop tenmoku, and yohhen tenmoku. This area is also famous for producing white wares called “Baijian” or “Bai Koryo” with tawny glaze after the Ming Dynasty.
