A Brief Analysis of the Production and Circulation of Glass Containers from the Wei, Jin to the Sui and Tang DynastiesGlassware; Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties; Sui and Tang Dynasties

Abstract

During the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, sodium-calcium glass technology and container blowing techniques were introduced to China from overseas, but they were not widely disseminated, and there are relatively few archaeological findings. Domestic glass production was still dominated by small decorative items, with a high proportion of lead content, and its external circulation was relatively limited. In the Sui and Tang periods, with the comprehensive advancement of technological innovation, the production and circulation of domestic glass containers showed a significant increase in both quantity and range. The quantities of sodium-calcium and lead glass were comparable, and they had been exported to the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula. The former was in the midst of the "Taika Reforms," with a larger volume of circulation, while the latter was influenced by the Tang-Silla War, resulting in few such archaeological remains being unearthed. On the other hand, during the Wei and Jin periods, Roman glass was circulating in the world, and there were no small number of such remains in China and the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese archipelago, due to geographical location and relations with Korea, did not see such artifacts. During the Six Dynasties period, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Sassanian Persia became the new center of glass manufacturing, and its products were circulated along the Silk Road. Entering the Sui and Tang periods, with the rise of the Islamic world, Islamic glass replaced Sassanian glass and was widely circulated, with a relatively large number of finds in China. The Japanese Yamato government had close relations with the Tang and Silla, allowing foreign glass to be introduced. However, after the war, the Tang and Silla became distant, and thus Islamic glass did not circulate in the Korean Peninsula.