PORCELAIN

Jun ware: 鈞窯
Ding porcelain: 定瓷
Ru ware: 汝窯
Guan ware: 官窯
Ge ware: 哥窯
Celadon: 青磁
Jian ware: 建陽窯
Blue-and white: 青花瓷
Jing De Zhen: 景德鎮


Jun ware (鈞窯): a distinct blue celadon-type with opalescence caused by variations in the kiln-temperature during a slow heating-up and gradual cooling-off period in the firing, allowing the glaze to remain viscous for a long time. As with Celadon, there is iron in the material, which gives the blueish hues, and often traces of copper which render purplish streaks.

[鈞窯 gwan yiu. 鈞 gwan: thirty catty (斤) measure. 窯 yiu: kiln, oven.
斤 gan: catty; approx one pound US. Shrewd. Second person singular honorific. 擔 daam: one hundred catties; a carrying pole load. 兩 leung: tael; one sixteenth of a catty, though in modern usage an ounce, set at fifty grammes.]


Ding porcelain (定瓷): Ivory or cream-hued products famous from the Tang Dynasty (唐代)onwards.

[定瓷 deng chi. 定 deng, ding: fixed, assured. Decide, ascertain, settle. 瓷 chi: porcelain.
唐 tong: vain bragging, posturing.
唐代 tong doi: Tang dynasty 618 - 907. 大唐 daai tong: Tang Dynasty.
長安 cheung on: Chang'an: 'long peace', name of Tang capital city.
唐詩 tong si: poems from the Tang period.
李白 lei baak: Li Po, 701 - 762. 李 lei: wild plum. Judge.
杜甫 dou fu: Du Fu, 712 - 770. 杜 dou: stop, restrict, cause to halt. 甫 fu, pou: distance of ten li. Begin, man, father.
孟浩然 maang hou yin: Meng Haoran, 689 - 740. 孟 maang: first in series. Prominent. 浩 hou: great, abundant, vast. 然 yin: most assuredly, indeed!
白居易 baak geui yik: Bai Juyi, 772 - 846. 居 geui: live, dwell, reside. Stay at. 易 yi, yik: changes; easy.
王維 wong wai: Wang Wei, 701 - 761. 維 wai: maintain, safeguard, preserve; continue tradition.
杜牧 dou muk: Du Mu, 803 - 852. 牧 muk: breed livestock, tend cattle.
黃鶴樓 wong hok lau: Yellow Crane Tower, a famous landmark mentioned in a poem by 崔顥 (died 754), (cite: 人去樓空' the people have gone and the tower is empty'; the past will not return).
崔 cheui: high, lofty, supreme. 顥 hou: luminous, hoary.

Note: the Yellow Crane Tower is also the location from whence Li Po famously bade farewell to Meng Haoran as mentioned in this quatrain: 故人西辭黃鶴樓，煙花三月下揚州；孤帆遠影碧空盡，惟見長江天際流。 "Gu yan sai chi wong hok lau, yin faa saam yuet haa yeung jau; gu faan yuen ying bik hung jeun, wai kin cheung gong tin jai lau."

Further random mentions:
 蘇軾 sou sik: Su Shi, 1037 - 1101, also known as Su Dongpo 蘇東坡, one of the three Su essayists and literateurs (三蘇).
蘇 sou: revive, ressurect. Soviet. 軾 sik: bar at the front of a sedan chair; lean-upon, support (noun).
陸羽 luk yü: Lu Yu, 733 - 804. Famous tea author. 陸 luk: land, continent. Realm. 羽 yü: feather, plume. Mnemonic for the scholars, esp. in Confucian ceremonial.
韓愈 hon yü: Han Yu, 768 - 824. Famous essayist and poet. 韓 hon: fence. Korea. 愈 yü: ever more, even more. Continually more.
琵琶行 pei paa haang: 'song of the lute' - famous poem by Bai Juyi (白居易).
 韃靼 taat daat: tatars; the characters are purely phonetic. Nowadays called 塔塔.
唐末 tong mut: the final years of tang, from the end of the ninth century onwards.
張旭 cheung yuk: Chang Xu, famous poet and calligrapher known for his grass script (草書). 張 cheung: stretch, expand. 旭 yuk: sunrising, brilliant. Radiance.
唐宋八大家 tong sung baat daai ga: the eight famous exemplars of tang and Sung dynasty essays; 韓愈 (Han Yu), 柳宗元 (Liu Zongyuan), 歐陽修 (Ouyang Xiu), 蘇洵 (Su Xuan), 蘇軾 (Su Shi), 蘇轍 (Su Zhe), 王安石 (Wang Anshi), and 曾鞏 (Zeng Gong).
修 sau: decorate, embellish; repair, fix, build. Cultivate literature. Write. Study.
蘇洵 sou seun: Su Xuan, 1009 - 1066; father of 蘇軾 and 蘇轍.
蘇軾 sou sik: Su Dongpo, 1037 - 1101; sou tung po (東坡 eastern slope).
蘇轍 sou chit: Su Zhe, 1039 - 1112. 轍 chit: wagon ruts.
曾鞏 chang gung: Zeng Gong, 1019 - 1083. 曾 chang, jang: already. Past tense marker. 鞏 gung: bound, secured; firm.
楊玉環 yeung yuk waan: Yang Yuhuan, 719 - 756; also known as Yang Kueifei (楊貴妃), the chubby temptress whose machinations as imperial consort wrecked the realm. Strangled by the army during the Anlushan rebellion (安史之亂).
歐陽詢 au yeung suen: Ouyang Xun, one of the four first greats among the Tang poets (唐初四大家).
柳宗元 lau jung yuen; Liu Zongyuan, 773 - 819; tang literateur, proponent of the classical writing style (古文運動, 復古). 女皇帝 neui wong dai: empress; referring to Wu Zetian (武則天 mou jak tin), 624 - 705, in power 690 - 705.
曌 jiu: grapheme invented as personal name by Wu Zetian.
武 mou: martial, warlike. 則 jak: rule, law, regulation.
卿 hing: noble, high-ranking official. Term of married endearment. term used by the emperor for subjects.
總監 jung gaam: commissioner, local governor. 總 jung: altogether, in toto. 監 gaam: supervise, control.
三藏 saam jong: Tripitaka, Bhuddist scholar who travelled to India.
藏 jong: hide, conceal, store up. Book collection.
李商隱 lei sueng yan: Li Shangyin, 813 - 858. 隱 yan: hide, conceal.
唐玄宗 tong yün chung: Emperor Hsuan Tsung, 685 - 762, rein 712 - 756.
玄 yün: deep, profound. 宗 chung: lineage, ancestral.


Ru ware (汝窯): Beautiful pale blue crackly glaze with hue variations. The iron oxide in the glaze becomes greenish and blueish when fired in a reducing atmosphere. Ru wares vary from off-white to beautiful pale blues, with brownish crackling due to the different expansion rates of the body and the glaze.

[汝窯 yü yiu. 汝 yü: you, thou.]


Guan ware (官窯): Thin-walled thick glazed porcelains made under court supervision from the Sung Dynasty (宋朝), more particularly Southern Sung. The body is brown or greyish brown, the luminescent glaze itself a velvety enamelesque with bold crackles, in shades of white, off-yellow, faint greens, or pale pale blues.

[官窯 gun yiu. 官 gun: official, government. 宋朝 sung chiu: Song, 960 - 1279.]


Ge ware (哥窯): Related to Guan ware, and developed during late Song - early Yuan. Jing De Zhen. Both crackled blueish-glazed ware and yellowish glaze with bold dark crackles interspersed with lighter reddish hairlines. Note: large pattern crackle. From Chekiang (浙江).

[哥窯 go yiu. 哥 go: elder brother. 元朝 yuen chiu: Mongol Dynasty, 1279 - 1368. 元 yuen: first, whole dollar, origin. 朝 chiu: dynasty, court, morning. 浙江 chit gong: Chekiang Province. 浙 chit: twisty river, Abbreviation of Chekiang. 江 gong: river. 瓯 au: drinking bowl, cup. Shallow rimmed tray. Ancient name for Wenchow (溫州). 岙 ou: montane terrace, level area in the hills. Island. Often used in Chekiang and Fukien place names. 温 wan: lukewarm, warmish. Soft, tender. Review, revise, redact. Epidemic. 州 jau: state; administrative region.]


Celadon (青磁):The famous greenish - blueish - yellow-brownish hue range is because of iron oxides, the reduction firing makes it crackly. This was most famously manufactured at the Long Guan kilns (Longguan: 龍泉) in Chitkong province (Zhejiang: 浙江), which is south of Shanghai. It was also produced at King Tak Chan (Jingdezhen: 景徳鎮), as well as in Korea and Japan. It is still made in all those places.


Jian ware (建陽窯): blackware and rabbits fur from Kien-Yang (建陽) in Nanping Prefecture (南平), Fukien Province (福建省).


Blue and white ware (青花): White porcelain with cobalt oxide decorative patterns sealed-in by a clear glaze. The blue pigment was usually somewhat impure, which added character and a glowing quality, especially with faint bleeding past the lines during firing. Notable from the Ming Period (明代) onward, often exported.


Rabbit's fur (兔毫): Often called 'partridge pattern glaze' (鹧鸪斑釉), these are usually black or dark brown (黑釉) tea-bowls (茶碗) from the Kienyang kiln (建陽窯黑釉) created during the Sung Dynasty, with striations and streaks like partridge feathers (鹧鸪羽毛) caused by iron oxide "curdling" in the glaze during firing. Prized variations include greyish rabbit fur (灰兔毫), yellow rabbit fur (黃兔毫), silver rabbit fur (銀兔毫), and gold rabbit fur (金兔毫).

[兔毫 tou hou: rabbit's fur; thin-streaked glaze pattern. 兔 tou: rabbit. 毫 hou: fine hair or fur.
鹧鸪斑釉 je gu baan yau: partridge stripe glaze. 鹧鸪 je gu: partridge. 鸪 gu: Formosan pigeon.
斑 baan: pattern, striped effect. Mariegation, mottles, freckles.
色斑 sik baan: stain, splotch, freckle. 雀斑 jeuk baan: freckles (sparrow spots). 雀 jeuk: sparrow. 釉 yau: pottery or porcelian glaze.
黑釉 hak yau: black glaze ware.  建陽窯黑釉 gin yeung yiu hak yau.   鹧鸪羽毛 je gu yü mou.  茶碗 chaa wun: tea bowl.   羽毛 yü mou: feathers, plumage.   灰兔毫 fui tou hou: ashy-grey rabbit fur glaze.   灰 fui: ashy, dust, grey.   黃兔毫 wong tou hou.   銀兔毫 ngaan tou hou.  金兔毫) kam tou hou.]


Oil-spot (油點瓷 or 天目釉) is technically a variation of rabbit's fur, in which the glaze is applied thickly, and as the red iron oxide molecules release oxygen they head to the surface, where the oxygen escapes and traces of iron are left, creating spots. Really thick glazes require a higher proportion of feldspar to stiffen so that they do not run and fuse the ceramic objects to the surfaces within the kiln on which they were placed. At extremely high temperatures, the glaze flows down, creating the rabbit fur effect; naturally these products will have a relatively thin glaze compared to oil-spot, and often the foot is comparatively tall and bare.



Imperial yellow, aka mustard yellow enamel (黄搪瓷): In Chinese the various constituents are not differentiated, but you should know that so-called 'imperial yellow' is lead-antimonate -- three parts lead oxide, one part powdered quartz, plus oxides and binders -- fired at a lower temperature than porcelain glazes, and hence not safe for food service. But the result is beautiful, and vessels with an interior free of the enamel (in other words with a white porcelainous glaze) should be safe. Often called 'soft yellow' (嬌黄).




NOTE: no slight tickle