The Archaeological Study Of Turquoise-glazed Ceramics And Fahua Ware

In the mid-late period of Jin dynasty, turquoise glaze, a type of glaze melting under800degreeto1100degree with bronze as the colorant, was successfully produced in North China. In the Yuandynasty, because of the favor-blue fashion and the close connection between China and IslamicWorld, the technique of turquoise-glazed ceramics developed into another level. Under thiscircumstance, a new type ceramics has appear in Shanxi---fahua ware. Ming dynasty especially themid-term was a period of great prosperity for turquoise-glazed ceramics and fahua ware withcomplex and various decoration and bright beautiful glaze color as the feature.Despite of the relevant works done by other scholars, there is no detailed study on turquoise-glazed ceramics and fahua ware. This paper is aim to conduct a systematic research on this subjectbased on the material of Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasty thorough collected from archaeologicalexcavation in China and museums’ collection in China and abroad. The paper is divided into fourchapters.The first chapter is to review the previous researches and historical document records on theturquoise-glazed ceramics and fahua ware as well as summarizing the materials excavated in Chinaand from the museums’collection.The second chapter is to conduct typological analysis on turquoise-glazed ceramics and fahuaware in Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasty respectively and then summarize the characteristics of eachphrase.The third chapter is to introduce kiln sites producing turquoise-glazed ceramics and fahua warein two different group—the North region and the South as well as discussing the difference of claybody, the chemical components of glaze and the main decoration techniques in different sites anddifferent era.The fourth chapter is to discover the origin of turquoise glaze based on the discovery of Islamicturquoise glaze and the similarity of chemical components of glaze between the two and then explainwhy turquoise glaze became popular in Yuan dynasty from the aspect of social prevailing trend andthe connection with Islamic world. The further study about the connection between the developmentof Chinese blue-glazed ceramics in three period—Tang, Yuan and Ming dynasty and Islamic glazedpottery is the last part of the paper.