Ancient Jingdezhen chinaware bonanza ( 2004-01-09 10:13) (China Daily) Chinaware un-earthed in
China's porcelain capital of Jingdezhen went on public display last Thursday for
the first time in Nanchang, the capital of East China's Jiangxi Province.
The pieces came from an excavation started in October 2002 by archaeologists
from Jingdezhen, provincial archaeology institutions and Peking University.
Among the thousands of items unearthed, the most notable were 70 painted
vases, censers, bowls and containers, said Li Yiping, deputy head of the
Jingdezhen Archaeological Institute of Porcelain.
The items include a 10-centimetre high chalice with a diameter of 16
centimetres, which was made during the reign of Emperor Yongle (1402-24), which
bears an inscription indicating the time of manufacture, said Li.
Jingdezhen has a porcelain-making history of more than 1,700 years and is
still one of China's biggest producers and exporters of porcelain products.
The city has many imperial kilns dating back to the Yuan (1271-1368), Ming
(1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Thousands of ancient porcelain items
have been found in the remains of the kilns over the past 20
years.
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