| Description |
A written record from the Ming dynasty mentions that Ge ware is known as one of the five classic wares of the Song dynasty. There is a legend that in a village of Liutian in Longquan, Zhejiang Province, there were brothers named Zhang Sheng Yi and Zhang Sheng Er who were skillful potters and it was at the kiln of the elder brother, Sheng Yi, where Ge ware was produced (Ge in Chinese means "elder brother"). The unglazed tips of the lip and the foot ring exposing the clay body (known as zikou tiezu or "purple mouth and iron foot" from the hue of each part), which is also found in Southern Song Guan ware, and the numerous crackles on the body are some of the typical features of this ware. Sherds similar to the examples attributed to Ge ware were unearthed from the Yuan dynasty strata of the Laohudong kiln site in Hangzhou. Some scholars surmise that the black-bodied celadon from the Southern Song dynasty discovered at the Xikou and Xiaomei kilns of Longquan may be Ge ware. Works attributed to Ge ware must be carefully examined, however, as copies of Ge ware were produced at the Jingdezhen kilns during the Ming and Qing dynasties and some of these later copies might have been confused with the authentic Ge ware. |
