page_title: Tiger Cave Kiln
section_title: Excavations at the site
hierarchical_section_title: Tiger Cave Kiln / Excavations at the site
caption_attribution_description: English: Southern Song Guan Kiln Double layer vase, in Southern Song Guan Kiln Museum.
context_page_description: Archaeological excavations at the Tiger Cave Kiln at Hangzhou in the Chinese province of Zhejiang have helped to identify one site of origin of the important ceramic wares of the Southern Song dynasty known as Guan ware, meaning "official" ware, which were made for the exclusive use of the imperial court.
  The Tiger Cave Kiln and other associated ceramic ware sites have come under the control of Hangzhou Southern Song Guan Kiln Museum located in the west area of Turtle Hill of Yuhuang Mountain in Hangzhou, providing a detailed appreciation of the history and aesthetics of some of China's most celebrated ceramics; the museum also contains many ceramics of other origins.
  In 1127, under pressure from invading Jurchens, the Northern Song court was driven south of the Yangtze River and in 1138 established a new capital at Hangzhou, in modern Zhejiang province.
context_section_description: From 1998 to 2001 the Hangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology [杭州市文物考古所] excavated the Laohudong (Tiger Cave) Kiln. The results have rewritten Chinese ceramic history and solved mysteries that have haunted the field for literally hundreds of years. Excavated shards fall within the historical range of the Southern Song (1127-1279) to the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). The Southern Song celadon sherds show clearly that the Tiger cave Kiln was the ceramic production site for Southern Song Guan (official) ware. Tiger Cave is a seven hundred meter area located between Phoenix Mountain and Nine Flowers Mountain. The site is not more than a hundred meters from the north wall area of the Southern Song Imperial City area. Likewise it is two and a half miles from another Song production area known as the Jiaotanxia Kiln [郊坛下窑]. 
  The discovery of the Kiln site took place on September 20, 1996 after an extensive archeological search of the area. Southern Song shards display shapes that correspond to ritual vessels such as celadon vases and incense burners. Clearly the original objects were intended for palace use. The shards are primarily of a powder blue color. Next in number are those of a honey tint. The celadon shards display a rich thick glaze with prominent crackle and crazing. Clearly the kiln site is the long lost Official Ceramic Ware site referred to in historical texts as the Xiuneisi Official Ware Kiln [修内司窑]. The Mongol Period strata of the archaeological site perhaps solves another long standing ceramic history mystery i.e. that of Ge ware. After the fall of the Southern Song court and the unification of the Chinese nation under Mongol rule the Tiger Kiln maintained production. A portion of the ceramic production of this period continued to be celadon ware in the official (guan) ware style. This conforms to period historical references.
caption: Fragmentary double layer vase
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE C182 Digital Camera", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Rating": "0", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "15764", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2768", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/8", "EXIF FNumber": "29/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "198", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:11:22 15:17:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:11:22 15:17:19", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3", "EXIF ApertureValue": "307/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "307/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "57/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "960", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "15622", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "200", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "32", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "1"}