Modern and Contemporary Porcelain from China and Japan
Approximately a hundred centuries ago, as our ancestors threw clay into the flames, pottery was born – it marked that humans entered the Neolithic Age.
This art of flame and earth exists widely in human civilizations, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, from Etruria to Rome. Meanwhile, in the Far East, someone has discovered the real secret between the two.
In the 3rd century AD, as a craftsman carefully put glazed objects into the kiln, the metal elements in the glaze were fired by a fierce flame, and finally formed a transparent hard shell on the surface, as beautiful as the lustrous jade.
The first porcelain in history was born in this way.
The beauty of porcelain is so fascinating that it spreads all over the world along trade routes. Countless nobles, monarchs, and even emperors were eager to lay their hands on them. However, for thousands of years, the secret of porcelain had been kept by this mysterious country in the East, just like the most loyal followers of Tantric Buddhism.
People even call it by the name of the country – china.
Further east to this Far East country, in the land of the sunrise, people were trying to unravel its mystery as well. In Japan, with the influence of Zen and its unique aesthetics, porcelain assumed a completely different form entering people’s lives.
Today, the secret of porcelain has been known to the world. This material is still showing its great vitality. Countless craftsmen rely on it to carry out their aesthetic beliefs; people become believers of the flame and earth, one after another.
Just like our ancestors did.
约100个世纪前，随着我们的先人将泥土投入烈焰之中，陶器诞生了，敲响了人类步入新石器时代的钟声。
这种火与土的艺术广泛存在于人类的文明之中，从美索不达米亚的平原到埃及，从伊特鲁里亚到罗马……然而在遥远的极东之地，有人发现了两者真正的秘密。
公元3世纪，随着某位工匠小心翼翼地把施有釉料的器物放进窑炉，釉中的金属元素经过烈焰的煅烧，最终在器物表面形成了坚硬而剔透的外壳，如温润的玉石一般美丽。
历史上第一件瓷器就这样诞生了。
瓷器的美令人着迷，它沿着商路传遍世界……纵使令人心驰神往，无数贵族、君主，乃至帝王都想得到他们，然而在之后长达千年的时间里，瓷器的秘密一直被这个神秘的东方国度所持有，一如密教最忠实的信徒。
人们甚至以这个国家的名字来称呼它——china.
在这极东之地更往东的日出之地，也有人正在尝试揭开它的奥秘。日本，在禅宗精神以及其独有的审美加持下，瓷器以完全不同的形态进入了人们的视野。
时至今日，瓷器的秘密已为世界所知晓。然而这种材质依旧在展现着它强大的生命力。无数工匠依托它贯彻自己的美学信仰，前赴后继地成为火与土的信徒。
一如我们的祖先那样。