Ru Kiln - a famous imperial kiln ordered by Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji of the Northern Song Dynasty. Only a hundred pieces have been handed down. It suddenly disappeared when it was at its peak, and the kiln site remains a mystery to this day.
Until that shooting, I picked up several Buddha heads in the ruins and on the edge of the ruins - demolded and incomplete. The locals called them "good karma clay". Some have been glazed and have a dull luster; some are just stoneware, rough and hard, as if they have been thrown away.
The strange thing is that there has never been anything like this in the archaeological record. They do not belong to any known kiln mouth, nor are they included in any artifact system, but they appear here.
At that moment, I realized: what I saw might not be an ordinary relic, but some trace that had been missed.
Starting from this clue, I traced the history of Ru Kiln, from scattered documentary records, to dilapidated ruins, to artifacts scattered overseas. A story about power, aesthetics and "disappearance" slowly emerged.
Why is the emperor obsessed with "Azure"? Why do kiln workers remain anonymous all their lives? Was that extinguished kiln fire an accident, or was it already destined?
When all the clues were put together, I realized that the disappearance of the kiln might have been chosen by people and arranged by history from the beginning.
