Analysis of CizhouMonochrome Green Enamels and Lead Glazes From Guantai Kiln in Northern China, Song to Jin Dynasty
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II9.5.1
Analysis Of Cizhou Monochrome Green Enamels and Lead Glazes From Guantai Kiln in Northern China, Song to Jin Dynasty Wei Liu and Blythe McCarthy1 Dept. of Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, PR China; 1 Freer Gallery of Art/Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C. 20560 USA ABSTRACT The composition and microstructure of Cizhou monochrome overglaze enamels, the first known form of overglazed enamels in China, and green lead glazes from Guantai kiln were determined. Although microstructure and thickness of the enamels were very similar to those found for the single layer lead glazes, lead contents were lower. Enamels from the later part of the twelfth century formed a narrower compositional grouping than the lead glazes, indicating that increased control of the technology was attained. The monochrome enamels are thicker and have a composition distinct from that published for later painted enamels from sites other than Guantai. Increased viscosity and decreased values of thermal expansion coefficients were calculated for Guantai enamels relative to the glazes. An attempt to promote adhesion and reduce crawling may have caused the use of lower lead in the enamels relative to the single layer lead glazes.
INTRODUCTION Guantai kiln in Hebei Province in northern China is located along the Zhang River. It operated from late Zhou to late Yuan dynasty and was excavated, cooperatively, by Peking University, the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Research Institute, and the Handan Regional Cultural Relics Protection and Management Agency in 1987[1,2]. The archaeologists defined four periods in their excavation: period 1- N. Song dynasty, period 2 -N. Song to Jin dynasty, period three - Jin dynasty, and Period 4 - Jin to Yuan dynasty. Low temperature lead-silicate glazed wares first appeared in the kiln's production in the early phase of period 2, 1068A.D.1100A.D. From the later phase of period 2, 1101A.D.-1148A.D. through the third period, 1149A.D.-1219 A.D., a ware was produced with a low fired, green, lead-silicate glaze (enamel) applied to the entire surface over a higher fired transparent glaze. This enamel is found on undecorated objects and those with carved slip layers and/or painted black pigment underneath the high fired glaze. This enameled ware, the first known example in China of the application of a low temperature enamel over a high fired glaze, is believed to be an integral step in the development of the Chinese overglaze enameling techniques that were perfected in southern China in the later Yuan and Ming dynasties[3-5]. There are scattered analyses of Cizhou overglaze green enamels in the literature[3,6-10], but most of the published analyses are from wares with designs painted in red and green or painted in red, green and yellow (both of which are termed red-green wares in Chinese) that first appeared in the Jin dynasty, with few analyses of the earlier monochrome green wares[11,12].
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The similarity of the green enamels to lead glazed wares found at the
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