From Ruzhou Kiln Fire to World Showcase
When Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty gazed at the sky blue rising from the kiln fire, perhaps he had never imagined that nearly a thousand years later, this glaze color of “rain over the sky blue clouds breaking through” would cross oceans and bloom with new brilliance in the shop windows of New York, Tokyo, and Dubai. The journey of Chinese Ru porcelain to the sea is not only a journey of artifacts, but also a global dialogue of Eastern aesthetics.
The preciousness of Ru porcelain lies in the adherence to the seventy-two processes.
The unique fragrant gray clay in Ruzhou, Henan needs to be kneaded and twisted a hundred times, the glaze made from agate powder needs to settle in water for a hundred days, and the temperature error of the wood fired kiln fire cannot exceed 5 ℃ – such strictness makes every finished product a miracle favored by the kiln god.
When European collectors first touched the glaze of Ru porcelain “like jade rather than jade”, they not only passed the aesthetic code of the Northern Song court, but also the Chinese philosophy of “harmony between man and nature”.
At the experience store in Ginza, Tokyo, young craftsmen incorporated the curvature of traditional tea cups into the design of coffee cups, creating a wonderful harmony between the sky blue glaze and the amber color of hand brewed coffee;
In the suites of a seven star hotel in Dubai, the “Silk Road Series” Ru porcelain vase echoes the glaze color with Persian patterns, telling the story of civilization blending; At Milan Design Week, the installation art of Ru porcelain combined with metal and glass amazed Western designers that “Eastern minimalism is so avant-garde”.
This is not a simple replication, but a translation of culture. Customized “Wabi Sabi style” tea utensils for the Japanese market, retaining the sky green color scheme while simplifying the lines; The “Breakfast Aesthetics” series aimed at Europe and America allows Ru porcelain plates to elegantly accommodate toast and sunshine. TikTok bloggers brew coffee with Ru porcelain tea sets, Instagram influencers fill tulips with Ru porcelain flower vessels, and ancient craftsmanship embraces the world with a youthful attitude.
From the “masterpieces” exhibition at the British Museum to the million dollar hammer price at New York auctions, from high-end collectors’ private study rooms to ordinary people’s dining tables, Ru Ci is reshaping the world’s understanding of Chinese craftsmanship with its gentle power.
When the eyes of different civilizations simultaneously fall on that sky blue, a millennium long aesthetic resonance is unfolding globally.