mel jacobson on thu 23 feb 06
in our iron saga study, having a group of
the old pots in our possession was important.
joe sent me a selection of these bowls.
(nice to have the real thing..not looking through
the glass at a museum.)
several things were noted.
1. there were several glazes on each pot. i could
observe a distinct line on the underside of the pot
that clearly showed that the pots were dipped in
at least two glazes. one brown, one black. the black
being much more glossy. the hare's fur results from the
black glaze slipping off the brown glaze, exposing the
run lines. (note: much more complex then that, but a simple
observation.)
2. each bowl had a sharp lip cut into the pot about one inch+ above
the ring foot. it was a `glaze` catcher. as the glaze flowed
down the side of the pot it collected at the catcher and rolled
off into the sagger. the foot ring was protected and not melted into the
base of the sagger. (from shards we see this did not always work,
in fact, rick mahaffey fold me of a friend of his who found a sagger
in a drainage ditch, with the pot fired into it's base.) many of these
pots had that wonderful undulating glaze at the base, or drips. the clay
body was rich in
iron, dark brown, but not reduced. this has confused many western
potters as they see the dark brown clay on the fired pot and assume
reduction. not the case.
3. these pots were fired in a very clean atmosphere. remember,
they were fired in individual saggers. wood fired, but clean.
and, it appears they were fired very hot. we also think many of
them were fired a second time...as they may have not had a proper
heat session...so, just light them up again. this was an industrial
kiln city. (i re/fired over a hundred of our study pots. they were
always much better the second time around.) the deep undulations
and drips sure indicate that these pots were fired very hot. (or, for a
very long time, or, maybe both.
frank hamer has said that they were fired very fast, maybe
four hours per chamber, and very hot...maybe cone 12+.
it is hard to understand how efficient these kilns were.
(joe found an article done by frank just this year. it was published
in like 1970.)
also note that some of the kilns in jian were over 300 meters
long..individual chambers, going up hill. as one would deduce,
the pots were getting very warm while waiting to be fired in
their chamber. and it took days to cool.
there are millions of shards in the area. the hills around jian look
like ski hills. they are piles of shards. now tree covered. and,
they are now mining the piles. milllions upon millions of broken
pots. the standard kitchen ware was not signed. but, joe
has many examples of pots with signatures that were not standard
hare's fur...they had horsetail designs, white slip, and scratch patters
oil spot..
it is believed that a number of pots were made as taxes to the
ruling families in the north. nice pots/signed.
joe has been to the kiln site at jian many times. his on site
study has been more than critical to our knowledge of this
classic ceramic period. his almost now, 40 years of study of this pottery style
is full of information and first hand investigation. (he did not do his
research on the internet.) my job has been to use his materials and
then make pots that reflect
my understanding of his research, yet are really melpots. it was not my
job to
do chemistry or physics. my job was to be like an old chinese potter.
do the work, fire them. joe wanted an experienced potter
to finally solve this problem. he did not need another researcher.
i was lucky, right off the bat. but, then..`luck is prepaid`.
mel
"Luck is prepaid."
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://my.pclink.com/~melpots3
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