Several Problems Of The Study On Early Dated Porcelain Of The Liao Dynasty

With the surge of the archaeological finds of the Liao Dynasty, a great deal of porcelains are excavated in the kiln sites and tombs located in the former Liao Empire land, which provide important materials for research on the Liao porcelains and political, economic and cultural communications among the Liao, the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty. There have been four early dated tombs in which porcelains were unearthed so far. These exquisite porcelains represent high level of porcelain manufacturing at that time, which mainly come from two sources, products made in the Liao and the imports from outside world. The porcelain kilns in the early Liao Dynasty involve Gangwa kiln in Chifeng, Longquanwu kiln in Beijing and Cijiawu kiln in Fangshan of Beijing where produced celadon. The initial kilns of the Liao Dynasty were built by workers robbed from Yan-Zhao region, and the craftsmen of the kilns were immigrants from the Central Plains, therefore, the Liao ceramics is the replanting of the Central Plains'technique tradition in nature, of which technique is similar to that of the Central Plains. The import porcelains kilns include Ding kiln in Quyang of the Five Dynasties, Yue kiln in Zhejiang and Xing kiln in Hebei of the Five Dynasties and the late Tang Dynasty. A series of elaborate porcelains with marks of"guan"(官),"xinguan"(新官)and"ying"(盈)were discovered, all of which are import products rather than products of official kilns some scholars affirm. The porcelains with marks of"guan", and"xinguan"were made in Ding kiln and"ying"porcelains were supplied by Xing kiln. Nothing in early dated porcelain of the Liao Dynasty is more typical than cockscomb-shaped kettle, which consist of rope-lift type and arc beam-lift type. The cockscomb-shaped kettle that is usually called is not an accurate name. It is a kind of conjecture with no evidence that someone considers cockscomb-shaped kettle as horse urinal. One of its exact names should be called lift pot. The impress of communication between China and the West could be found by the analysis of origin of cockscomb-shaped kettle. The cockscomb-shaped kettle evolved from fur-bag container was introduced from desert area, which is the outcome of communication between China and the West.