The "Five Great Kilns" Crackle Glaze Tea Cup Set

The Five Great Kilns (or the Five Famous Kilns) is a generic term for Chinese ceramics which were produced starting from the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279).

With this set of 5 tea cups, the artist aims to imitate each style of the Five Great Kilns:

• Guan Ware (Guanyao): grey-blue coloured glaze
• Ge Ware (Geyao): green colour glaze.
• Ru Ware (Ruyao): blue colour glaze. The colour is often described as ‘duck egg blue’ by the Chinese.
• Jun Ware (Junyao): blue or purple coloured glaze.
• Ding Ware (Dingyao): white-greyish body with transparent glaze.

The glazing of some of the cups in this set have a deliberate crackle effect (or “Craquelure”). Such crackle glaze is only on the outside layer of the cup, while the inner layer is dense and strong.

Notes

• The craquelure isn't highly visible when the tea cups are new, but very gradually the structure will become darker as the colour of tea will fill up the space between the cracks.
• As this is a handmade artisan product, which is baked in high temperature in the oven, the color appearance may differ from the images on this page. When you buy multiple sets, there may also be a color difference when you compare the sets against each other.