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Date: | Wed, 3 Aug 2005 12:59:10 -0400 |
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The "winter green" Celadon ceramics did not actually "end" in production in
South China, only the trade system got disrupted by civil war and economic
depressions in America and Europe. Although the general concensus has Celadon
terminating in the 1920s or early 1930s, it continued in use in China. After a
particularly interesting SHA session at Philadelphia in 1983, I visited San
Francisco Chinatown and bought a shoe box full of small Celadon cups and spoons.
The sales clerk told me the buyer found them in factory kitchens in southern
China and that he died during one purchasing trip, so the pieces on the table
were all they expected to receive. She said Celadon continued in use by common
families long after the export business ended.
The pieces from San Francisco Chinatown are not as refined as the examples we
excavate in 19th century American contexts. I found the glaze cruder and the
porcelaneous ceramic walls a tad thicker. There were still the blue maker's
marks and etched owner's marks on those small specimens.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
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