Xu De Jia

Our collection of Celadon ware comes from the studio of Taiwanese ceramicist Xu De Jia. Born in 1959, Mr Xu’s ceramics career began with teaware design across several traditional media, but eventually focused on Celadon. His pieces are crafted in hues of sky blue, green, linen and even black.

Each piece is distinguished by a network of beautiful crackles that deepen with use and with age.

Xu De Jia has won numerous awards both in Taiwan and his work is now displayed at the Ceramics Museum at Yingge outside Taipei.

Xu De Jia specializes in a type of celadon glazed ceramics refined during the Northern Song Dynasty of China.

Northern Song Dynasty was known for its five famous kilns. The most reputed amongst the five was the Imperial Ru Kiln, located at Linru County of Central China's Henan Province. Established by order of Emperor Huizong, the Imperial Ru Kiln produced porcelain in a soft sky blue celadon.

The Kiln’s fame comes from not only the quality of the pieces that were produced for use only by the ruling Imperial Family, but also from its short life-span of 20 years. The Ru Kiln was shut down with the dissolution of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Xu De Jia’s pieces are commissioned by us at the beginning of each calendar year. These commissions are hand crafted in his home studio in Yingge Township, Taiwan. The pieces are all hand turned, fired in a small kiln and hand-glazed.

While “Celadon” itself implies a greenish hue, celadon glazes can be produced in a range of colors including white, grey, blue and yellow. The characteristic coloration is produced by iron oxide in the glaze or the body of the clay itself, and only appears when the glaze is fired above 1260 celsius.

Because chemical instability makes the process difficult to replicate on a large scale, most commercially available celadon ware comes from pigmented glazes that produce little depth. Xu De Jia does not take such shortcuts. His pieces are also intentionally under-fired, giving the surface of his pieces a distinct “soft” feel.