via World Archaeology, 12 June 2023: This paper analyzes the economic significance of China’s Longquan celadon industry, prevalent during the Southern Song to early Ming dynasties, using archaeological data to explore its production, consumption, and organization.
This paper examines the Longquan celadon industry, located in Zhejiang province in China, which flourished mainly between the Southern Song and early Ming dynasties. The products of this industry are found on archaeological sites across China and the Indian Ocean. This paper attempts a quantified analysis of the development of the industry based on archaeological data, focussing on four aspects: production, domestic consumption, overseas consumption and, to a lesser degree, workshop organisation. Although much of the data is still problematic, and many of the conclusions drawn are necessarily, therefore, tentative, these are the only data available. They allow us at least to demonstrate the value and timeliness of the approach by charting the development of this industry and by arguing that the close integration of the four aspects examined indicates that the Longquan celadon industry was an industry of considerable economic significance across much of the Indian Ocean.
