The Ru kiln (Yao), which was located in Linru County of Central Chinas Henan Province in northern China, produced beautiful celadon porcelain for the Song Dynasty’s Royal Family and Court for about twenty years ending in 1127, and the pieces which were made there are collectively call Ru Ware or Ru Yao (kiln) porcelain. There are roughly 65 remaining original pieces known in the world and are among the most valuable of all Chinese porcelain wares with one 900-year-old bowl (used for brush washing) selling at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for HK$208 million or US$26.7 million in 2012. Iron oxide present in the glaze produced colors from nearly white to robin’s egg with each piece developing its own fine, irregular network of lines called crackles, or crazing, caused when the glaze cools and contracts faster than the body giving each piece its own unique pattern. Today a few skilled Chinese porcelain makers produce beautiful pieces reminiscent of the original Ru Yao wares using modern techniques including reduction and oxidative stages, exquisite glazes high in iron oxide, and a two temperature firing at 800°C and then 1300°C. Perhaps some of them will also last 900 years.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 06:08:34 +0000
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