Eighth century AD. After the Tang Dynasty experienced the prosperous age of Kaiyuan Tianbao, the "spring night rain" entered the "falling flower season": the Anshi Rebellion suddenly became popular.
At this time, in Changsha Tongguan, in a hilly ancient city village, fires were burning far and near. The kiln workers dug a dragon-shaped kiln into the mountains and used mountain firewood to bake porcelain. This firing created the everlasting Changsha kiln. Changsha kiln became the place where underglaze color was created in the world, ushering in a great era for the ceramic industry.
Previously, there were only blue and white single-color porcelain in the world, but the craftsmen of Changsha kiln created various underglaze colors on porcelain, especially red. The red color suddenly appeared in the Changsha kilns in the Tang Dynasty. Although it was rare and perhaps accidental, it was born in a legitimate way. The utensils produced by Changsha Kiln at that time were inscribed with poems, proverbs and advertisements. A few years ago, Mr. Xiao Xiang, a senior cultural scholar, wrote "The Abandoned Children of Tang Poetry", specializing in the study of poetry on Changsha kiln porcelain. After reading it, it is eye-opening and refreshing. Teacher Xiao Xiang thus became the chief confidant of Chinese porcelain poetry.
Changsha kiln porcelain production technology includes embossing and painting, and the paintings have various titles. What is particularly strange is that in this uninformed ancient city and village, many porcelains reflecting northern life and West Asian culture were produced. Like camels, elephants, and barbarians riding and shooting. The porcelain has the words "God is Great" written in Arabic. At that time, Changsha kiln porcelain set sail from the Xiangjiang River, entered Dongting Lake, and followed the Yangtze River to the sea as far as Africa. It can be seen that in the Tang Dynasty, Changsha was connected to the Maritime Silk Road leading to South Asia and North Africa. Eastern and Western Europe discovered Changsha kiln porcelain successively, which became an ironclad proof of friendly exchanges for thousands of years.
In the late Tang Dynasty, Changsha Kiln always exploited its strengths and avoided weaknesses when faced with porcelain from other places such as Yue Kiln and Xing Kiln. For example, when the soil was not as good as other manufacturers, the kiln workers produced porcelain toys that were not available on the market, and produced small products for working life in the lake area, such as net pendants and oil lamps. And it can be produced at will according to user requirements, always following a particularly cheap production and sales route. The market is full of vitality and booming. Not arrogant at all, not stubborn at all, showing flexible and practical wisdom. Main Achievements The main achievement of Changsha Tongguan Kiln is the huge breakthrough in underglaze painting, which changed the traditional single-color glaze and engraving, scratching or decal technology in the past, and opened up new ways for the decoration of later generations of porcelain.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the Changsha Tongguan kiln wares were extensively decorated with text, which was a major innovation at the time. The Tang Dynasty Changsha Tongguan kiln poetry holding pot shown on this website, with the cursive writing on the front of it saying "People have a generous heart, will not seek fame and fortune" is a representative work in this regard. Very few Tang Dynasty ink writings have been handed down to this day, but we can see many Tang Dynasty handwritings on many Changsha Tongguan Kiln utensils, especially on the Changsha Tongguan Kiln pots. This pair of contemporary scholars studies the writings of the Tang Dynasty and even the social life history of the Tang Dynasty. All are of great benefit.