37 Ching-Ling Wang OEN J A COAT OF COLOUR: MONOCHROME GLAZES ON CHINESE CERAMICS Ceramic glaze is a vitreous substance that fuses to the porcelain body through firing. The glaze has practical and aesthetic functions, namely, to make a vessel waterproof as well to colour and decorate it. One could almost say that ceramics are ‘clothed’ in glaze. Primitive celadon was fired at high temperatures after the application of ash-glaze, which is made from wood or plant ash and contains potash and lime. This type of early green-glazed stoneware was only produced in southeast China but was widely distributed. The Yue kilns in northern Zhejiang, active since the Han dynasty, produced their finest wares in the 9th and 10th centuries: delicate objects with exquisite jade-like glazes termed ‘secret colour’ (mise). The celadon glaze used in Longquan produced a broad range of blue-green to pastel green tones. Parallel to the southern celadon, the kilns in Northern China also manufactured exquisite celadon types. Jun-ware, mainly made in Yu county in Henan province, was coated with a thick and opaque bright sky-blue glaze that resulted from the use of iron and copper pigments and WISSELING IN HET PAVIL the careful regulation of the kiln temperature. During firing the spots of copper oxidized in the glaze to produce crimson and purple splashes. The Yaozhou kilns in Shaanxi province produced a variety of ceramics, but they were best known for their green-glazed stoneware normally covered with olive-green glaze. Carving and incising the surface caused variances in the thickness of the glaze, resulting in different tones. Northern China is also famous for white stoneware. The fame of Tang- dynasty (618-907) snow-like Xin-ware is comparable to the jade-like Yue-ware from the south. Ding-ware has a body of fine, dense, white clay, often translucent, which takes on an orange tint when light shines through it. The transparent glaze can take on a range of shades of white, from ‘ivory white’ to ‘powder white’ or ‘earth white’. Cizhou-ware tends to be somewhat rough and was made for daily use rather than for decoration. The grey stoneware bodies of Cizhou wares were first covered with a white slip to create a lighter and smoother surface over which a transparent glaze was then applied. The southern kilns of Dehua in Fujian province have long been famous for their excellent porcelain, the so-called blanc de Chine. This porcelain is characterised by a rich, glossy transparent glaze, pooling in recesses and without crackle. The colour of blanc de Chine wares can vary from an ivory or creamy-white to a slightly bluish- or greyish-white. The porcelain capital Jingdezhen not only produced white porcelain but also the .