Drinking is an indispensable part of life. Of course, people will drink more wine in the festivals. From the first day of a year to the end, people can get a name for drinking. In the new year, people will drink for toso; Beginning in the spring, the emperor will grant wines to his courtiers; Clear and bright, people will toast to their ancestors ....the first day of November, people all drink together as a meeting of stove; the last night of the year, families unite to stay up and drink and sing together.

This vase is painted with brown motifs on the whole body, except four open spaces painted with four images on its belly. These images describe four drinking statements of a topless drinker who wears a hood: pre-drinking, drunk slightly, get blotto and sleepy. This vase was unearthed at Guangdong Foshan city Lanshi tomb in 1964. It may be a product of the Cizhou kiln system in Foshan city in the Northern Song Dynasty. And it also reflects on Cizhou kiln porcelain of the drinking habits.

Picture Six Brown Glazed character plum vase High 31cm, mouth diameter 6.7cm The 67th picture of Selected Pottery from Guangdong Provincial Museum, edited by Guangdong Provincial Museum, Cultural Relic Press

The reflections on Cizhou kiln of wine varieties in the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty

There are abundant kinds of wines in the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty. Famous brands in Northern Song Dynasty are: “Wuling Taoyuan (the land of peach blossoms) wine”, which is brewed by distiller's yeast of high quality in Wuling Taoyuan and sticky rice; “Ruilu (the symbol of auspicious) wine”, which is brewed by Osmanthus fragrans in Guilin; “White sheep wine”, or “lamb wine”, which is admired by many high officials and noble lords; ….; “Feng yeast wine”, which is brewed in Guilin town of Sichuan province.

Drinking fashion in the Southern Song Dynasty is not weakening. The varieties of wines won’t be inferior competing with the Northern Song Dynasty. The vintage wines in the Southern Song Dynasty written in Old Story in Society are as follows: “rose wine”, “roving fragrance” come out of royal library; “given faint scent”, “miss spring” from gifted library; …. Because of the flourishing drinking habits, the varieties in the Song Dynasty are a large amount, the output is extremely huge.

The abundant wine varieties are decorated on Cizhou kiln porcelain in handwriting by workers - write the name of wine on the porcelain in colored glaze. They are mainly “pure pear flower”, “green bamboo”, “red pear blossom”, “white autumn dewdrop”, “white lotus flower”, “golden wave sliver dewdrop”, “lamb wine” and so on. Look at picture seven. We can find the important influence on decoration of Cizhou kiln porcelain from wine varieties.

Picture Seven Yuan Dynasty Black “Pure Pear Flower” Painted on White Evase Pot Stored at Handan Museum High 14.5cm, Belly diameter 15.5cm, bottom diameter 7.3cm Page 38 of Cizhou-Handan-Cizhou Kiln Porcelain Exhibition, edited by Western Han Nanyue King Museum, unpublished book