Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.47

v1.c6.47

Regions. The *Wu du fu* (*Wu Capital Rhapsody*) which was written by Zuo Si (whose style name was Taichong) in the Western Jin dynasty mentions that “glaze and jade are precious”. Volume XI of *Yi qie jing yin yi* (*Sounds and Meanings of All Sutras*) written by Hui Lin in the Tang Dynasty refers to it as “natural treasure in dark green, clear and bright, which cannot be refined by the common stones and fires in the world.” The technology for firing glaze was introduced in China from the Western Regions in the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Volume CII entitled *Legend of the Western Regions* of the *Wei shu* (*Book of the Wei Dynasty*) records the following in the time of Northern Wei’s Emperor Tuoba Tao. "(Emperor Shizu) was on the throne, one man from the Kushana country (Great Yueshi Country) did business in the capital. He could cast stone into a five-coloured glaze. He demonstrated it in the capital by collecting ores from the mountains and casting it on the stone. The casting was successful and the end product was brighter and more beautiful than the western glaze. He was then summoned to the imperial palace which could hold over 100 people and all were surprised to see its bright colours and thought that it was made by god. From then on, the Chinese glaze was considered inferior and people didn’t value it.” The technology for firing glaze was introduced into Luoyang from the Great Kushana Empire in the northwest of India and Central Asia, during the Northern Wei Dynasty. It thus appears to have certainly originated in India. Five-coloured glazes fired with this technology can be favourably compared with the ones imported from the western regions. From the Northern Wei Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Chinese craftsmen gradually mastered the art of making fake and imitation glazes. Volume XVIII of *Yi qie* jing yin yi (*Sounds and Meanings of All Sutras*) points out that “glazes are blue/ green treasures, and there are authentic and fake ones. It is difficult to obtain authentic glazes which are made by foreign countries. Fake glazes are refined from stone in the country and dyed into five colours.” From then on, glazes became an essential component of decoration and have been found fused in the construction of palaces, temples, mausoleums and other such representative architecture of ancient and modern China. The technology for firing glaze developed then has more or less remained the same till the present time.