Sky-blue (Tianqing) Glaze

Origin

Tianqing (天青), “sky blue”, names the pale blue glazes associated with Song-dynasty Ru ware. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen’s imperial kilns developed their own sky-blue glazes in imitation of these Song surfaces.

The Jingdezhen interpretation

The Jingdezhen Taolu (景德镇陶录), or Records of Jingdezhen Ceramics, describes the colour of these imperial imitations as celadon with a blue lustre. According to the maker, a small addition of cobalt helps bring out the blue in the Jingdezhen version.

Relation to celadon

Tianqing belongs to the wider family of celadon-type glazes, whose colour depends on glaze composition, thickness and firing atmosphere.