| Abstract: | Red and green color porcelain (Honglvcai) is an important type of polychrome porcelains invented in North China during Song and Jin Dynasties. One of its great successes is its red decoration painted on the surface of glaze and fired at low temperature. Raman spectroscopy and X‐ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) at Fe K‐edge, were used to characterize the microstructure of red decorations from Song and Jin Dynasties to Ming Dynasty. The analyzing results on eight samples showed that hematite (α‐Fe2O3) was the main chromogenic substance in red decorations from different dynasties, which indicated a similar technological skill among the investigated samples. The oxidation state of iron in red decorations was determined to be mainly trivalent, indicating that red decorations were fired under oxidizing atmosphere. Besides, it was found that the hematite (α‐Fe2O3) in red decorations had a distorted structure, which was presumed to be an important factor influencing the color of red decorations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
