Study on the compositional features of Longquan celadon with black body and Southern Song Guan wares from Laohudong using EDXRF

Abstract

The celadon with black body is a special and famous type of ceramic artifact in the Chinese history. They have crackled celadon glaze that was a notable typological features. Their bodies are noticeably darker in color than regular celadon wares. This type of ceramic wares mainly includes Southern Song Guan wares from Hangzhou and Longquan celadon with black body that might be classed as Ge wares. They were the top ceramic artifacts in ancient China and have been attracting many attentions. The wares from Longquan and Hangzhou have the similar appearance so that it is difficult to distinguish them from each other. In this paper, we collected some ceramic fragments of Longquan celadon with black body from two kiln sites (Xiaomei Town and Wayaoyang) and Southern Song Guan wares from Laohudong, Hangzhou. We applied the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis to find the similarities and differences in chemical composition between them. The results indicated that the bodies of Longquan and Southern Song Guan samples were made from porcelain stone. Although all their bodies look darker, the contents of coloring elements (iron and titanium) in them were different. The bodies from Laohudong have lower iron and higher titanium than Longquan samples. Their glazes are rich in lime, and the data indicated that the wood ash was the most likely source of the lime-rich component. Depending on the chemical composition of the sample, such as the concentration of manganese and rubidium, one can determine the provenance of samples produced in these three manufacturing sites.