Things You Must Know About Wu Jin Glaze

1. What is Wu Jin

Wujin glaze refers to pure black glaze. The term “Wu Jin” first appeared in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Wujin glazed porcelain was a precious type with a pure, dark, and glossy glaze. Due to its difficult firing process, the yield was low and very precious.

Although Jianzhan is famous for its beautiful and varied glaze colors, black glaze is the basic color of Jianzhan. High-quality black glaze Jianzhan is glossy, with a color like black paint and a delicate texture, which is known as Wujin glaze. Therefore, the name Wujin Jianzhan is a noble name bestowed upon black-glazed Jianzhan by modern people.

2.The Collection Value of Wujin Jianzhan

Wujin glaze has always been expensive in the collection industry, and its beauty is unparalleled, which has been recognized by collectors. More about Jianzhan Collection: Tenmoku tea cup collectors guide

3. Origin

As is well known, during the Song Dynasty, the Jianzhan cup was mainly based on the firing of Hare’s fur, Wu jin, Oil droplets, and Yohen tenmoku were likely to occur accidentally during the firing process of Hare’s fur. Therefore, only a small portion of the Jianzhan in the Song Dynasty, such as black gold, oil droplets, and obsidian, were used.

4. Characteristics of Wujin

1) Many of the glazed surfaces of Wujin Jianzhan are green and black, which is a characteristic of Wujin Jianzhan;

2) From the preserved ancient pottery or fragments, it can be observed that there are golden sand particles distributed on the glaze surface

3) Preciousness. In the Song Dynasty, over 1000 years ago, due to the poor airtightness of the dragon kiln used for firing Jianzhan, it was easy for air to enter, making it very difficult to fire pure black glaze.

5. Difficulties in firing black gold

The overall glaze layer of Wujin Jianzhan is thicker, and the glaze layer along the rim of the cup is thinner. The thicker the glaze is towards the bottom of the cup, the more shiny the glaze appears as black as paint.

The bubbles inside the glaze are small and numerous, distributed in a mist-like manner. Observing with a magnifying glass, some black glazes have scattered golden crystalline spots the size of sesame seeds, while others can see overlapping silver-white crystalline spots. These are all-natural and difficult to process artificially.