Upcoming public lecture at the UCL Institute of Archaeology by Shan Huang, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
North China in the sixth century AD saw a major transformation of glazed ceramic technology from dark glazed terracotta wares towards translucent white porcelain. But the process of this dramatic transformation is unclear, due to insufficient understanding of the archaeological material. The lecture will focus on the typo-chronology of three major categories of glazed ceramic discovered in sixth century North China and their manufacturing technologies. Chemical and mineralogical compositions of the body and the glaze, glazing method, firing temperature and atmosphere were studied by optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermal expansion measurement. These provide insights into the pathways of innovation of lead-glazed wares, of the transfer of ash-glazed stoneware technology from the South and the emergence of the earliest white porcelain. On this basis, the social dynamic that drove the transformation of the ceramic technology and its impact on the succeeding period are discussed.
