A Must-Visit! The Top-Tier Glazed Pottery Feast Hidden in a County-Level Museum in Shanxi

The annual International Museum Day is just around the corner! This time, let me introduce to you a beautiful museum hidden in a small county town in Shanxi - the Jiexiu Museum! Jiexiu in Shanxi is known as the 'Hometown of Chinese Glazed Pottery,' and Jiexiu glazed pottery holds an important position in the history of glazed art heritage. To this day, a large number of glazed relics with unique local cultural characteristics are still preserved in the region! Located on the basement level of the museum, the 'Jiexiu Glazed Art Exhibition' features nearly a hundred exhibits, most of which are architectural remnants replaced during the restoration of ancient buildings such as the Jiexiu Hou Earth Temple, Wuyue Temple, and City God Temple. Although they are remnants, they still reflect the high level of Jiexiu glazed art and its beauty during the Ming and Qing dynasties! Among them, the following three exhibits left the deepest impression on me! 1. The treasure of the museum, a two-meter-tall, one-ton yellow-green-blue glazed pottery chiwen (ridge beast) from the main hall of the Yuanshen Temple in Shitun Village, Hongshan Town! This chiwen, with its mouth open to swallow the ridge and a beast sculpted on its back, has a giant dragon spiraling upwards, with blue glaze on its back fin and tail, and golden yellow glaze on its scales, with the swallowing beast mainly in yellow-green glaze. The bright colors and varied shapes represent the highest level of Ming dynasty Jiexiu glazed products! 2. A Ming dynasty yellow glazed ridge beast component, its name is 'Xiezhi' (a mythological creature), with a pair of big, black, and innocent eyes, looking both aggrieved and adorable, like a simple and honest emoji package, which has also made it popular on the internet as a 'minor cultural relic'! 3. A yellow and blue glazed pottery ridge decoration with four lions lifting a vase, originally the top decoration of the bell and drum tower of the Jiexiu Wuyue Temple. There was originally a treasure vase in the middle of the four lions, symbolizing 'peace and tranquility at all times, in all seasons, and for generations to come'! Today, a replica of this glazed sculpture, 6.6 meters high with a base, standing nearly 10 meters tall in total, has been recreated by Jiexiu's intangible cultural heritage craftsmen in the Sanxian Square outside the museum, dazzlingly gorgeous and full of vitality!