Inheritance relationship between Zhanggongxiang kiln celadon and Ru Guan celadon: Comments on the rationality of Raman Ip value evaluating firing temperature

• Published in: Archaeometry Vol. 65; no. 2; pp. 247 - 258
• Main Authors: Wu, Bo, Zhao, Weijuan, Zhao, Hong, Ren, Xiao, Liu, Xiaomin, Zhang, Bin, Li, Bo, Zhao, Dan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.04.2023
• Subjects: Advantages; celadon; Ceramics; Excavation; firing temperature; inheritance relationship; Inheritances; Ip value; Ru Guan kiln; Thermal expansion; Zhanggongxiang kiln
• ISSN: 0003-813X; 1475-4754
• DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12821

The development of Chinese ceramics culminated during the Song dynasty. At this time, exquisite celadon works emerged, such as Ru Guan celadon and Southern Song dynasty official kiln celadon, which exhibited the glory of their era. Since the excavation of Zhanggongxiang kiln celadon in Ruzhou city, Henan province, China, it has been attracting widespread scholarly attention at home and abroad. Most scholars have suggested that Zhanggongxiang is the official kiln of the Northern Song dynasty. In this paper, taking the celadon unearthed from the Zhanggongxiang kiln as a sample, the combination of laser Raman spectrum and thermal expansion methods is used to study the inheritance relationship between Zhanggongxiang celadon and Ru Guan celadon in the firing process. Meanwhile, the rationality of using Raman Ip value to evaluate the firing temperature of ceramics is reviewed. The main conclusions are as follows. First, the firing temperature of Zhanggongxiang celadon with various glaze colours is quite different, whereas the firing temperature of the same glaze colour is similar, thereby inheriting the firing technology of Ru Guan porcelain. Second, the Ip value of glaze cannot evaluate the firing temperature of porcelain with similar firing temperature. The Ip value corresponds to a range, within which it does not fully conform to the rule that the larger the Ip value, the higher the firing temperature. The Ip value is also associated with the formulation in addition to firing temperature. It is applicable to evaluating porcelains with a similar formulation but a large temperature difference.