The Great Treasury of Cultural Relics in the Palace Museum: Two Song Dynasty Porcelains (Part 2)

Author: Li Huibing, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: The Song Dynasty was a prosperous period for the development of Chinese porcelain industry, with kilns scattered across northern and southern regions. In terms of production nature, there were imperial kilns and civilian kilns; geographically, they were divided into northern and southern kilns. The imperial porcelain pieces in circulation are most abundant in the collections of the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Palace Museum in Taipei. The number and quality of Song Dynasty imperial porcelain pieces published in this volume are unparalleled compared to general catalogs. For the convenience of readers, The Porcelain of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties is divided into two volumes. It first categorizes them by northern and southern regions, followed by imperial and civilian kilns. The first volume includes northern porcelain, such as pieces from the Ru, Jun, Ding, Yaozhou, and Cizhou kiln systems, as well as porcelain from the Jin, Liao, and Western Xia dynasties. The second volume features southern porcelain from the Ge, Guan, Yue, Longquan, Jingdezhen, and Jian kiln systems. Song Dynasty civilian porcelain holds an extremely important position in the history of Chinese porcelain. If the imperial kilns of the Song Dynasty can be likened to high-brow art, then the civilian kilns can be called a vibrant tapestry of diverse styles. The development of both imperial and civilian kilns constitutes the entirety of Song Dynasty porcelain culture, reaching the pinnacle of Chinese porcelain aesthetics.