Yue ware

Forms, use and context#

Famous for its jade-like olive-green glaze ('capturing the emerald colour of a thousand peaks'), bi-disc foot bowls (玉璧底碗), and the imperial 'Mise' ('secret-colour' 秘色瓷) tribute celadons sealed in 874 CE inside the Famen Temple underground palace.

Body#

Fine grey porcellanous stoneware body firing smooth and dense under a translucent iron-oxide celadon glaze.¹

Glazes#

Yue celadons have green glazes; mise is a historically specific designation whose identification depends on excavated groups and documents. Research on late-Tang and Five-Dynasties sherds from Housi’ao discusses porcelain saggars as firing equipment. That evidence does not mean the bowls were deposited inside firing saggars at Famen Temple. Keep the kiln process and the dated temple deposit distinct. 2021, pp. 121–127

How can a glaze name be connected to a surviving vessel? At Famen Temple the written inventory names mise bowls and dishes. Reading its categories alongside the excavated ceramics gives the term a firmer basis than matching a photograph to a shade of green.^{PDF 38–40}

Periods#

1. Eastern Han / Six Dynasties – Northern SongEarly celadon ewers (鸡首壶) in the Jin and Southern Dynasties; ranked first for tea bowls in the Tang by Lu Yu; imperial Mise celadon (秘色瓷) tribute in the late Tang and Five Dynasties (Wuyue kingdom).¹

Kiln sites#

Related#