Quantitative analysis the similarity of appearance color of white porcelain in xing and ding kilns based on chromaticity

Abstract

As the famous white porcelain kilns in ancient China, Xing Kiln and Ding Kiln have similarity appearance because they have similarities of modeling and firing methods of utensils during their development, but their colors are still described through eye observation, and no scientific comparative analysis has been conducted. Colorimetry has the advantage of quantitative analysis in studying the color of ceramic compared with the traditional naked eye observation description. Therefore, the representative samples of white porcelain of Xing and Ding Kilns from Tang Dynasty to Jin Dynasty were selected for colorimetric analysis with CIE. The color similarity and changes of the two kilns in different times were analyzed, the results showed that appearance color of the samples from the Xing and Ding Kilns are similar to that observed by the naked eye. Moreover, the results show two different color types of the samples in the Tang dynasty from both Ding and Xing kilns. Type II is typical of northern white porcelain as previous studies, but type I is closer to greenish white porcelain. They were found, and this was supposed to be the result of Ding Kiln’s imitation of the Xing Kiln in its early days. However, since Xing Kiln has been discontinued in Song Dynasty, only type II was found in the white porcelain of Xing Kiln and Ding Kiln after Tang Dynasty.