"Mandarin furnace" in Thang Long Imperial Citadel

“Mandarin furnace” in Thang Long Imperial Citadel

12/12/2023

Archaeological relics in the Thang Long Imperial Citadel area show that, right in the central area of Thang Long Imperial Citadel, there were also ceramic kilns specializing in serving the royal palace. People call these “mandarin kilns” to distinguish them from “people’s kilns” that specialize in producing popular ceramics to serve the common people.

Among the archaeological relics found at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel archaeological site are firing bags, ceramic production tools and traces of ceramic kilns along with many ceramic waste products such as fragments and fragments. products are distorted, defective or over-fired… This archaeological discovery has contributed to proving that, since ancient times, the skill level of Thang Long ceramics workers has reached a level of mastery. can produce ceramic products with excellent quality, colors and sophisticated decorations that are no less than high-end ceramics of the Song Dynasty. In other words, it is proof that Vietnamese people can make high-end products only for the king and royal palace, completely unlike the thinking and reasoning of many people before. It is believed that all high-quality ceramics for the king and royal palace in the past had to be imported from abroad.

Among the ceramics that show the “class” of the potters in the “mandarin kilns” of ancient Thang Long, thin bone ceramics stand out.

With thin bone ceramics, viewers can easily feel overwhelmed by the unimaginable sophistication of Thang Long potters many centuries ago. In these objects, the ceramic bone is even as thin as an eggshell, and light can pass through easily. Even though they are so thin, the inner wall of these items is still embossed with the image of a pair of dragons with 5 claws, with the word Quan embossed in the middle of the bottom. According to ceramic experts, this type of thin bone ceramic has glaze covering the bottom and rim of the base. The base is also very thin and the edge of the base rim is rounded, unlike thin bone ceramics in other places that are often beveled and glazed on the edge of the base rim.

These types of ceramics are of extremely high quality, not only because of the excellent quality of the ceramic, but also because of the elaborate, sophisticated and extremely elegant decoration. The decorative strokes are all very thin and small, showing the superior craftsmanship of Thang Long potters at that time. Not only that, people also see decorative drawings decorated with real gold on ceramics. This is a high-level ceramic production technique that few countries in the world could do at that time.

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