The Palace Museum in Beijing has opened its doors to a new exhibition that will enable visitors to explore the history and mystery surrounding one of China's most famous types of porcelain wares: Ge ware.
The Golden Thread, Iron Wire exhibition is currently being held at the Western Side Hall of the Palace of Prolonged Happiness until August 31, 2018.
Ge wares, also known as 'Older Brother' wares, are considered one of the five great types of porcelain wares of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) along with Ru, Ding, Jun, and Guan wares.
Since the original kiln where these wares were first produced remains uncovered, Ge wares remain a topic of heated discussion among historians and researchers all over the world.
The current exhibition is the last in a series of exhibitions of the five great Song wares held by the museum since 2010. A total of 113 original and replica ceramics are on display, accompanied by a selection of porcelain chips and restored wares chosen from six other Chinese museums and cultural relic institutions in order to give visitors a window into the history of these famous wares.
The ceramic collection at the Palace Museum is famous for both the quality and quantity of its relics. Most of the ceramics were originally part of the collection that was passed down through numerous Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors.
The exhibition is divided into three sections: extant and unearthed Ge wares, an investigation into the possible site of the Ge kiln and an introduction to the impact these wares had on the art of porcelain making.
Golden Thread, Iron Wire
The exhibition, Golden Thread, Iron Wire, is named after one of the defining features of Ge ware - the numerous cracks, or crackle, that appears throughout the glaze layer of the wares.
The body of a Ge bowl or plate can come in a variety of colors such as bluish gray, powdery cyan and beige, while the cracks mainly come in two colors: a dark grey and a yellowish color. The dark grey cracks tend to be rather large, while the yellowish colored cracks tend to be more fine and thin, hence the name Golden Thread, Iron Wire.
