Whether described by ancient Chinese as a ‘full moon dyed with spring water’, or dubbed ‘celadon’ by Westerners after a character who wore pale green costume in a romantic 17th-century French play, these green-glazed ceramics have been widely appreciated since they emerged around 200 CE in China.
The glaze ranges from blue-green and greyish-green throughto olive and yellow. The key to the colour is the small amount of iron oxide added to the glaze, fired under a reducing atmosphere. The lustrous translucency and soft sheen of Song dynasty green wares give them a visual and tactile quality similar to that of jade, a stone much loved by Chinese.
A great number of kilns in northern and southern China produced celadon wares over the centuries. Famous examples include Yue ware, Longquan ware, Guan ware in the south, and Yaozhou ware in the north. The production of these wares was initially intended for imperial and common use in China, but from the 1200s their popularity spread to markets as far afield as East Asia, East Africa and the Arab world.
