Jian ware

Forms, use and context#

They were most prized in the Song dynasty, when powdered tea was whisked to a pale froth and Song tea writers recommended a dark bowl to show it off. Streaked 'hare's fur' glazes are the best-known type. The kiln site is a nationally protected site (2001) and the firing craft is on China's national intangible heritage list (2011).

Body#

Iron-rich local clay; the fired body is described as light-coloured under the dark glaze.⁴

Glazes#

Methods#

1. Glaze English Wikipedia describes the glaze as a clay similar to the body, fluxed with wood ash.⁴
2. Firing Fired in saggars in long dragon kilns built on slopes; one excavated kiln was almost 150 m long, most under 100 m. English Wikipedia gives about 1,300 °C in an oxidising atmosphere.⁴
3. Main stages today Raw-material preparation, wheel throwing, glazing and firing (原料加工、拉坯、上釉、烧制).¹

With tea#

• Cai Xiang (Northern Song) writes that tea looks best in a dark bowl, that Jianan bowls are thick-walled and hold heat, and that tea contestants do not use bluish-white bowls.⁵
• Emperor Huizong's 大觀茶論 prefers a blue-black bowl with clear 'jade hair' streaks, and asks for a fairly deep, slightly wide base so the froth stands and the whisk can move freely.⁶
• The Met describes bowls of this type as used to serve tea whisked into a white foam.⁷

Reference objects#

Context#

Known in Japan as tenmoku (天目), after Mount Tianmu; Japanese reception is context only on this site.⁴

Periods#

1. Tang – YuanRange of activity given by English Wikipedia (9th to 14th century), with the peak in the Song.⁴
2. late Five Dynasties / early Northern Song – MingChinese Wikipedia says Jian bowls were first made at the end of the Five Dynasties or the start of the Northern Song, at first mostly plain black (烏金釉); became tribute ware after Jian'an was made a tribute-tea area with the Beiyuan gardens; and declined in the Ming as tea drinking changed. Wikipedia's statement; its only cited source is a web article that was not read.⁸
3. SongThe heritage record calls Jian one of the eight great kilns of the Song.¹
4. 1970s – presentThe heritage record says the craft had been lost for more than 800 years; revival work began in the 1970s, and hare's fur, oil spot and other glazes were reproduced, with yaobian reported in the 1990s.¹

Kiln sites#

Heritage listings#

In other traditions#

Jian names a Chinese kiln tradition. Tenmoku is a broader Japanese term that can include bowls attributed to several Chinese kilns and examples made in Japan.^{9Q50 · PDF 97–98}

Tea bowl

Related#