Black Glaze - A Light in the History of Porcelain Lo Hau Lam Black porcelain is often neglected in the history of ceramics, except for the tea culture in the Song Dynasty. Glazed black porcelain is seldom favoured and paid attention by people. Although black glaze is not as beautiful as pastel and contending colour, nor as famous as celadon and white porcelain, black porcelain is also an indispensable part in the history of Chinese ceramics. Glaze: The glaze surface is black or dark brown. The main colouring agents of the black glaze are iron oxide and a small amount or trace amount of oxidising colorants such as manganese, cobalt, copper and chromium. Generally, the proportion of iron oxide in the glaze of reddish brown or dark brown porcelain is about 8%. If the glaze layer is thickened to 1.5 mm, the fired glaze colour is pure black. With iron as colouring agent, the coating is about 1.5 mm thick, and it is pure black after oxidising flame roasting. In accordance with archaeological evidence, the earliest black glaze porcelain was unearthed in the 170-year-old tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty (the tomb of Cao Shi in Haoxian County) in Jianning County, Anhui Province. Most of the black glazed porcelain found in the tombs are simple in shape and rough in making, which are the products of the original porcelain making method. During the Six Dynasties period, black glazed porcelain was prosperous and thriving. The Deqing kiln site found in Deqing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province has a large number of physical specimens for reference. It once unearthed black glazed porcelain with complete firing, full