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"Shiwan art does not stand apart from the common people, as do many works from the better known kilns of Dehua and Jingdezhen, as perfected sytylized intellectual objects. Possibly that is one reason why the Shiwan products have rarely been appreciated by the scholars and intelligentsia. Perhaps this deficit can be rectified by accepting the work for what it is rather than be invidious comparisons against classical art. It speaks its own message and that is unique"

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Author Topic: Shiwan Ceramics Waste Materials and Kiln Accidents Create Unequaled Variety in Flambe Glaze  (Read 59 times)

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GeorgeI

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Shiwan Ceramics Waste Materials and Kiln Accidents Create Unequaled Variety in Flambe Glaze ( Cat Nos, 18-27)

(Shiwan Ceramics, Beauty, Color and Passion)
tinyurl.com/10i4f46u

Foshan's concept of putting waste materials to good use was central to the development of Shiwan art pottery. Whether of not there is any truth in the oral tradition that some of the Shiwan potter ancestors came from the Jun kilns in Henan Province, it is certain that the range of color, and variation in flambe glazed developed by the Shiwan potters is much greater than that seen in Jun ware, or for that matter flambe glazes produced anywhere else. The generally poor economic conditions of the potters would encourage stringent use of all materials without waste (as compared with the imperially supported kilns), but also creative use of waste materials such as the mirrors from discarded opera costumes or rust shaved off old watch springs.

Added to these ingredients was the interaction of the potters with the inconstant conditions of the dragon kilns, always adding an incalculable element. This incalculable element could, of course, ruin a glaze, but sometimes (such as 68) added a miraculously fitting touch, the fire's contribution to the artistic creation.

These conditions resulted in the creation of a myriad of unique glazes ( 18-27) and an appreciation for kiln accidents such as the "melastoma flower" (19) glaze which was misfiring of "pomegranate red".

The creation of imaginative names for these varied glazes was as much the domain of the dealers and collectors as of the potters themselves, who proudly state that even they did not know all the names given to their glazes. Names such as tiger skin, leopard skin, pomegranate red, peacock's feather, and sesame seed were coined to describe both color and configuration. In like fasion the glaze of the figure holding a bamboo pipe (24) was named red date red by collector Albert Cheng, who noticed its similarity to the red dates he was serving. The glaze on the seated Lohan (25) defied the ability of the exhibit organizers to describe, hence they have left its naming up to the ingenuity of the viewers of the exhibition.









« Last Edit: February 11, 2021, 02:09:00 am by GeorgeI »
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