Qiaojiayao 乔家窑
Qiaojiayao is a pottery house founded in 1483 at Yangcheng, Shanxi, making household porcelain and Qiao Fahua art ware — Fahua ware, a colour-glazed pottery outlined in raised lines of clay. The county gazetteer, quoted in official materials, records Qiao work on the roof crowns of the Forbidden City and the Ming Tombs and Qiao Fahua pieces held by the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The house is a China Time-honored Brand, designated in 2024.
- Founded
- 1483
- Origin
- Yangcheng Shanxi, China
- Category
- 陶瓷烧制
- Status
- China Time-honored Brand
- Designated
- 2024-02-01 Ministry of Commerce
The House, in Full
The House
The Qiao family kiln was founded at Yangcheng in 1483, and from that time the family's glazed-tile work and Fahua work moved from maturity into their flourishing years. Official materials set out the surviving commissions: roof ornaments for the Tangdi temple fired by Qiao Yun with his sons Qiao Bin and Qiao Feng in 1483; glazed members of the Sarira pagoda at Haihui temple in 1525; tiles for the Dongyue temple at Runcheng by Qiao Shifu and his nephew Qiao Yongfeng in 1567; a glazed screen wall for the Guandi temple fired by Qiao Shihu and others in 1578; and the glazed pagoda of Shousheng temple, built by Qiao Yongfeng with his sons Qiao Changyuan and Qiao Changzheng in 1609.
Production fell off in the late Ming and early Qing and revived again in the Qing; official materials record the house as widely known in the Republican era. In 1956 the house was merged into the Yangcheng Houzeyao ceramics cooperative under joint public-private operation and ran as a state works. After further changes it was reorganized in 2003 as Yangcheng Qiaofeng Ceramics Co., Ltd., making household porcelain and Qiao Fahua art porcelain for more than twenty provinces; in 2019 it was divided, and Yangcheng Xusheng Ceramics Technology Co., Ltd. carries the house on.
From 2006 the Qiao descendants worked to recover the ancestors' technique. The Qiao Fahua traditional hand craft was listed as Shanxi provincial intangible cultural heritage in 2011, and at the provincial culture exposition in December 2019 Fahua ware was named one of the Three Treasures of Shanxi.
What They Make
Household porcelain and Qiao Fahua art ware. Fahua is colour-glazed pottery outlined with raised lines of clay (lixian), in blues, whites, yellows, greens, and purples; official materials also record flat colour washes, openwork, carving, and applied relief among its decoration. The working steps are set out on the Fahua ware craft page.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1483 | Qiaojiayao is founded at Yangcheng |
| 1609 | The Qiao family builds the glazed pagoda of Shousheng temple |
| 1956 | The house joins a joint public-private ceramics cooperative |
| 2003 | Yangcheng Qiaofeng Ceramics Co., Ltd. is formed |
| 2011 | The Qiao Fahua technique is listed as Shanxi provincial intangible cultural heritage |
| 2024 | Named a China Time-honored Brand |
Passing It On
Qiao Jiasheng, born 1945, the house's present-generation inheritor, learned the family craft as a child, entered the ceramics factory in 1958, and began restoration research on the Qiao Fahua technique in 2006; his work is collected by the Shanxi Museum. Qiao Xiangping, born 1966, is recorded as the eleventh-generation inheritor of the house and a representative inheritor of the Qiao Fahua technique; her work is also held by the Shanxi Museum.
Source: official materials published by Yangcheng Xusheng Ceramics Technology Co., Ltd. Translated and condensed from the house's own record; no information has been added.
Sources
Historical facts on this page come from Official materials published by Yangcheng Xusheng Ceramics Technology Co., Ltd. Designation recorded 2024-02-01. This page is editorial content; it is not a product listing and nothing here is an offer for sale.
Independence. Time-Honored Goods is an independent multi-brand store. We are not the official site of Qiaojiayao, and we do not speak for the house. See Independence & Sourcing.