Tea Cup with Tray Made in the Ru Kiln

Song Dynasty

Diameter: 16.8 cm


The Ru Yao Kiln was one of the Five Famous Kilns in the Song Dynasty. However, only as few as about 90 pieces of products have been kept till today, about twenty of them are reserved in Taipei, others can be seen in the museums in Beijing, Shanghai, Britain and some pravite collectors.

The Ru Yao Kiln made blue glaze porcelain as their major product. It also produced royal utilities in the Song court, including bowls, plates, dishes and basins. The roughcast was gray colored and the glaze was sky-blue. There were also other colors such as egg-white, tea-green and pea-green. The glaze layer was very thin and translucent. This was because it was created under a relatively low temperature at 1200 degrees. If the temperature was a little higher the glaze will be transparent. The glaze was very hard though, usually showed some very time squamous pattern. The porcelains were heated on steel racks or nails, so there was no glaze on the spot where the surface touched the nail. There were always some white spot close to the bottom of the porcelain, called the "Seasame White". the seasame white is another trademark of the Ru Porcelain.

Background Knowledge: History of China

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