Colored glaze firing techniques

Colored glaze, namely low-temperature lead-glazed pottery, is usually used for architectural decoration.

Lead-glazed pottery appeared as household utensils and funerary figurines in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) and embraced a prominent role in architectural developments in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). 

Shanxi province is China's primary producer of colored glaze and boasts a long history of colored glaze art. Over thousands of years, the province's colored glaze firing techniques have been passed down from generation to generation.

Due to this long and distinguished history, there are many excellent works and outstanding craftspeople in the province.

The production of colored glaze is widely distributed in Shanxi, with areas like Taiyuan city, Yangcheng county and Hejin and Jiexiu county-level cities having a more significant influence. Taiyuan started producing colored glaze during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and the Su family is the most famous for firing colored glaze.

Colored-glaze tiles [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A colored glaze statue [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]