New insights into Changsha glaze (9–10 century) based on chemical composition and strontium isotope ratio

Abstract

The Changsha kiln was a well-known export porcelain kiln rising in the late Tang Dynasty (9–10 the century) in China. Its wares were exported to at least 20 countries and regions. Changsha kiln became the bearer of economic and cultural exchanges between China and the West at that time. Due to different geological conditions, white glazed porcelain was mainly produce in the northern kilns and greenish glazed porcelain was mainly produce in the southern kilns. Changsha kiln, located in the south, fired transparent lime glazes in the early stage, and later developed into the firing of transparent and opaque lime polychrome glazes, which became a producer of high-temperature polychrome glazes in the larger pattern of “greenish in the South and white in the North” in the Tang Dynasty. In the middle Tang Dynasty, the society was turbulent, and a large number of people in northern China migrated to the south. Did the glaze making technology in the north have an impact on the Changsha kiln in the south? In view of this, the glaze technology of the Changsha kilns, especially the possibility of adding quartz mineral to the opaque glaze raw materials, were discussed, based on chemical composition and strontium isotope ration. The influence of northern glaze practice at the Changsha kiln was also considered.