White porcelain - Hakuji

Japanese: 白磁 - はくじ

A general term for porcelain made by applying a transparent glaze to a white porcelain base. It was invented in _China , but its origin was celadon, and white porcelain was made by removing the iron from the celadon base and glaze. The base is actually made from white clay with a structure called kaolinite _Al2O3・_2SiO2・_2H2O , which is mainly composed of silica and aluminum, and a transparent glaze made from iron-free plant ash and kaolinite is applied, and then fired in a reducing flame at over 1250℃.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

China

Among the artifacts excavated from the tomb of Kudi Huiluo (Shouyang County, Shanxi Province), who died in 562 (Taining 2) during the Northern Qi period, there is a white base coated with a low-fired lead glaze (which is transparent without the addition of a coloring agent). It appears that the invention of high-fired glazes was invented soon after, as a white porcelain jar and bowl were excavated from the tomb of Fan Sui (Anyang County, Henan Province), who died in 575 (Wuping 6), suggesting that the 560s and 570s were the origins of white porcelain. It can be surmised that white porcelain was created against the backdrop of the rise of national fortunes in northern China, where there was no tradition of high-fired glazed ceramics prior to the 6th century. Therefore, during the following Sui, Tang and Song dynasties, northern China became the main production area of white porcelain, and famous kilns such as the Xingzhou kiln of the Tang dynasty and the Ding kiln of the Tang and Song dynasties were produced. The Ding kiln of the Northern Song dynasty in particular produced excellent works that represent the peak of white porcelain, and saw the perfection of white porcelain in the form of noble and exquisite masterpieces with a tooth-white color.

Meanwhile, white porcelain began to be fired in Jiangnan during the Five Dynasties period, and around 1000, at the beginning of the Northern Song dynasty, the Jingdezhen kilns in Jiangxi Province actively fired blue-and-white porcelain with a blue glaze, known as shadow blue, which formed a new school of its own. White porcelain kilns in Fujian and Guangdong also emerged and fired a similar range of blue-and-white porcelain, which was exported as far as East Africa. Jizhou kilns, Chaozhou kilns, and Dehua kilns were also major white porcelain kilns during the Song dynasty. During the Yuan dynasty, the Jingdezhen kilns fired white porcelain for use in the imperial court and were known as Shufu kilns. In the latter half of the Yuan dynasty, blue and white porcelain (blue and white) began, in which designs were added to a white porcelain base using cobalt pigment, and underglaze red porcelain was developed using copper. In the Ming dynasty, red porcelain (five colors), in which overglaze painting was applied, also developed, and Jingdezhen's growth was remarkable. White porcelain came to be used as the base for these painted porcelains and dropped from the mainstream, but in the Jingdezhen kilns that fired imperial vessels, white porcelain was valued as the basis for ritual vessels during both the Ming and Qing dynasties. The official kiln white porcelain of the early Ming period in particular is a famous piece of porcelain with a rich glaze like white jade. During the Qing dynasty, mass production began in kilns across the country, along with Jingdezhen, and white porcelain became widely used as an everyday item.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

Korea

White porcelain was produced from an early period, and in the 9th to 10th centuries, whiter pottery was fired in what is now Incheon Metropolitan City, and in the 12th century during the Goryeo period, a small number of beautiful white porcelain pieces were test-fired in Yucheon-ri, Buan County, Jeollabuk-do, and some of the pieces were inlaid with red clay patterns. These are the porcelains that are highly valued today as Goryeo white porcelain. The Yi dynasty, founded in 1392, looked up to the Ming dynasty as its suzerain, and so it followed in the footsteps of the Mingguan kiln white porcelain, and pure white porcelain was fired at the official kilns in Gwangju County, Gyeonggi-do from the 15th century until the 20th century. In particular, the white porcelain fired at Bunwon kiln in the later period, around the 18th century, can be said to be the pinnacle of pure beauty.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

Japan

It is said that Korean potters who came to Kitakyushu during the Bunroku-Keicho War at the end of the 16th century brought this technique to Japan, and that around 1616 (Genwa 2), white porcelain ore was discovered in Izumiyama, Arita (Saga Prefecture), and Ri Sanpei fired it. At that time, painted white porcelain was already in its heyday around the world, and there was almost nothing worth seeing as pure white porcelain; everything was used as a base for painted porcelain. Soon, mass production of white porcelain and blue-and-white porcelain began in Arita, and red-glazed ware also began to be produced. Kakiemon's nigoshide white porcelain is famous as a base for red-glazed ware. White porcelain was also produced in Kokutani, Himetani, Hirado, Satsuma and other places. During the Bunka and Bunsei eras (1804-1830) at the end of the Edo period, it was produced all over Japan and became popular as an everyday item, but in the Meiji era, Seifu Yohei III of Kyoto pursued the beauty of white porcelain and established a pinnacle of its success.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

others

White porcelain was produced in Vietnam in the 14th century, but the base was semi-porcelain. Since then, it has been applied with blue and white glaze, and although some white porcelain with a white veneer has been fired, it has not become mainstream.

In the end, white porcelain could not be created in Western Asia, but stimulated by the Japanese export of Imari ware, it was first produced at the Meissen kiln in Germany in the 1710s, and white porcelain kilns sprang up all over Europe. A soft white porcelain called bone china was also produced, but it did not match the artistic merit of the Orient, and so it continued to be used primarily as a white porcelain base for painted porcelain.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

"Complete Collection of World Ceramics 12: Song Dynasty" and "Complete Collection of World Ceramics 19: Yi Dynasty" (1977, 1980, Shogakukan)

Blue and white porcelain Bodhisattva statue
Jingdezhen Kiln, Yuan Dynasty (14th century), height 29.8cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art ">

Blue and white porcelain Bodhisattva statue

Blue and white longevity cup
Jingdezhen Kiln, Ming Dynasty (early 17th century), height 5.1 x diameter 9.5 cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Blue and white longevity cup

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

白色磁胎に透明釉(とうめいゆう)をかけた磁器の総称。中国で発明されたが、その母体は青磁で、青磁の素地(きじ)と釉(うわぐすり)の中から鉄分を除去して白磁がつくられた。実際にはカオリナイトAl₂O₃・2SiO₂・2H₂Oとよばれる組織をもつ、ケイ酸とアルミニウムを主成分とする白色の粘土で素地をつくり、鉄分を含まぬ植物灰とカオリナイトから精製した透明釉をかけ、1250℃以上の還元炎で焼き上げる。

［矢部良明］

中国

北斉(ほくせい)時代の562年（太寧2）に没した庫狄廻洛(こてきかいらく)の墓（山西省寿陽県）の出土品に、低火度の鉛釉（呈色剤を入れないと透明体である）を白素地に施したものがみえる。ほどなく高火度釉のくふうがなされたらしく、575年（武平6）に没した范粋の墓（河南省安陽県）から白磁壺(つぼ)と碗(わん)が出土していることから、560～570年代が白磁の濫觴(らんしょう)期といえよう。6世紀以前には高火度釉陶磁の伝統がまったくなかった華北の地で、国運の隆盛を背景に白磁が創造されたと推察できる。したがって、続く隋(ずい)・唐・宋(そう)時代は華北が白磁の主産地となり、唐代の邢州窯(けいしゅうよう)、唐・宋時代の定窯(ていよう)などの名窯が輩出した。とくに北宋時代の定窯では、白磁の絶頂期を示す優作が焼かれ、牙白(がはく)色の高貴絶妙な名品に白磁の完成をみたのである。

　一方、江南で白磁が焼かれ始めたのは五代のころで、北宋初頭の1000年ごろ、江西省の景徳鎮窯(けいとくちんよう)で釉薬に青みのある青白磁、いわゆる影青(いんちん)が盛んに焼かれて一派を形成し、福建、広東(カントン)の白磁窯も台頭して一様に青白磁を焼き、東アフリカにまでも輸出された。吉州窯、潮州窯、徳化窯なども宋代の大きな白磁窯である。元代には景徳鎮窯で宮中の御用品としての白磁が焼かれ、枢府(すうふ)窯の名で知られる。元代後半、白磁の素地にコバルト顔料(がんりょう)で文様を加えた染付(そめつけ)（青花(せいか)）が始まり、銅で釉裏紅(ゆうりこう)を開発し、さらに明(みん)代になると上絵付(うわえつけ)を施した赤絵（五彩）も発達して、景徳鎮の成長は目覚ましいものがあった。白磁はこれら絵付磁器の素地として使われるようになり、主流の座は降りたが、宮廷御器を焼く景徳鎮窯では、明代・清(しん)代とも白磁は祭器の基本として重視されていた。とくに明前期の官窯白磁は、白玉のような滋潤な釉調の名磁である。清代では景徳鎮とともに各地の窯で量産が行われ、白磁は一般の日用品として広く普及した。

［矢部良明］

朝鮮

白磁づくりは早くから手がけられ、9～10世紀ごろに、現在の仁川(じんせん)広域市において、陶胎で、白みの勝った焼物が焼かれ、高麗(こうらい)時代の12世紀には全羅北道扶安(ふあん)郡柳川里では美しい白磁がわずかながら試焼され、一部には赤土の象眼(ぞうがん)文様をもつ象眼白磁も認められる。これらが世に高麗白磁として珍重されるものである。1392年に建国された李(り)王朝は明朝を宗主国と仰いだため、明官窯白磁の流れをくみ、京畿道広州郡の官窯では純良な白磁が15世紀以来20世紀に至るまで焼造された。とくに後期の18世紀ごろ分院窯で焼かれた白磁は、清楚(せいそ)な美の頂点ともいえるものである。

［矢部良明］

日本

16世紀末の文禄(ぶんろく)・慶長(けいちょう)の役のおり、北九州にきた朝鮮の陶工がその技術を伝えたといわれ、1616年（元和2）ごろ、有田の泉山(いずみやま)（佐賀県）に白磁鉱が発見されて李参平(りさんぺい)が焼造したとされる。当時すでに世界は絵付白磁の全盛期で、純然たる白磁にはほとんどみるべきものがなく、すべては絵付磁器のための素地としたもので、有田でもまもなく白磁・染付の量産が始まり、また赤絵も制作されるようになった。赤絵の素地としての柿右衛門(かきえもん)の濁し手(で)の白磁は名高い。また古九谷(こくたに)、姫谷(ひめたに)などのほか、平戸や薩摩(さつま)などでも白磁が焼かれ、幕末の文化・文政年間（1804～30）には日本各地でつくられ、日用品として普及したが、明治になって京都の3代目清風(せいふう)与平が白磁の美を追求して一つの頂点を樹立した。

［矢部良明］