Deqing is located in the hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta, with Shanghai in the east, Hangzhou in the south, Tianmu foothills in the west and Taihu Lake in the north. Deqing has a long history and a rich collection of humanities. It has nurtured a large number of historical and cultural celebrities, such as Shen Yue, a famous writer in the Southern Dynasties, Meng Jiao, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, and Yu Yue, a master of Confucian classics.
Deqing is the hometown of "Deqing Kiln" porcelain in the history of China ceramics. For a long time, cultural relics departments and professionals have devoted themselves to the investigation, discovery and protection of ancient kiln sites, and nearly 100 ancient kiln sites have been newly discovered. These ancient kiln sites went up to the Shang Dynasty, through the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the Han and Six Dynasties, and down to the Tang and Song Dynasties, which proved that the ancient Deqing porcelain industry lasted for more than 2,000 years, which was beyond the reach of kilns in other parts of the country. Deqing Kiln is a famous kiln system with a long history and its own system in China. Among them, the most dazzling site group of Shang and Zhou primitive celadon kilns is the only one seen in China so far. Its technical achievements and kiln transformation technology are the outstanding cultural heritage of the motherland, and are valuable physical materials for studying the origin of celadon in China and even the world.
In May 2007, an archaeological team composed of the Palace Museum, Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Deqing Museum conducted a large-scale archaeological excavation of the original celadon kiln site burned in Zhouzhi, Shanxi during the Spring and Autumn Period in Shizhai Natural Village, Longsheng Village, Deqing County Economic Development Zone. And made a great discovery: this kiln site is the only kiln site excavated in China so far to build a kiln to burn primitive celadon, which provides important evidence for exploring the origin of the dragon kiln, because the dragon kiln is known as the cradle of celadon.
From June 5438+ 10 in 2007 to March 2008, Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with Deqing County Museum, excavated a kiln site more than 2,000 years ago in Dongshan Natural Village, Longsheng Village, Deqing County Economic Development Zone. Seven kiln sites were discovered in the excavation of Tingziqiao, and a large number of primitive celadon ritual vessels, musical instruments imitating bronzes and various kiln furniture were unearthed. According to the excavation data, Tingziqiao kiln site was the kiln site where high-grade porcelain for life and funeral was burned for the royal family and upper-class nobles during the Warring States Period. The excavation work has made great achievements, which is of great academic significance for studying the development history of China ceramics, especially the origin of mature celadon in China.
Since the 1980s, especially at the beginning of this century, a large number of high-quality primitive celadon with bronze-like primitive celadon ritual vessels and musical instruments have been unearthed in some tombs of Yue nobles in Shaoxing, Hangzhou, Yuhang, Changxing, Anji and Haiyan, Zhejiang. In 2005, more than 500 original celadon ritual vessels and 140 original celadon musical instruments imitating bronzes were unearthed in the Tomb of Yue nobles in Hongshan, Wuxi, one of the "Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China", which shocked the archaeological and ancient ceramics circles. According to the analysis of the grades and uses of these porcelains, experts believe that the porcelains with such high specifications, which were only used in the tombs of princes and nobles more than 2,000 years ago, are by no means ordinary folk kilns, and probably come from the "official kilns" of the Yue royal family.
The archaeological excavation of Deqing Tingziqiao kiln site finally solved this question. Archaeology has unearthed a large number of bronze-like ritual vessels and musical instruments. Its firing technology is higher than that of many late porcelain kilns, and its quality can be comparable to that of mature celadon after the Eastern Han Dynasty. The types of artifacts almost include all kinds of primitive celadon ritual vessels and musical instruments unearthed in the tombs of large Yue nobles in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in recent years, which are exactly the same as the bronze-like primitive celadon ritual vessels and musical instruments unearthed in the tomb of Yue nobles in Hongshan, Wuxi. This shows that the excavation of Tingziqiao kiln site has found a clear origin and kiln mouth for bronze-like primitive celadon ritual vessels and musical instruments in the tombs of Yue nobles in recent years, and confirmed that the "official kiln" dedicated to firing high-grade porcelain for life and funeral for the royal family and upper-class nobles in the Warring States period was in Deqing. Compared with folk kilns, official kilns are workshops for firing porcelain. Mainly customized high-grade porcelain for the royal family, and the technology represented the highest level of porcelain making at that time.
Experts believe that the kiln site of Tingziqiao in Deqing was an "official kiln" in Yue during the Warring States Period, which was thousands of years earlier than the official kiln recognized by academic circles in the past. Comparing the mature celadon of Shanghai Institute of Silicate, China Academy of Sciences, we can see from the physical and chemical data that the mature celadon was fired in Deqing as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the mature celadon in China can be at least 500 years earlier. Previously, it was generally believed that Xiaoxiantan kiln site in Shangyu was the earliest mature celadon producing area in China.