journal article·2025-09-01Open access

Study on the morphology and structure of ε-Fe2O3 crystals in Chinese sauce wares (960–1279 CE)

Tian Wang, Senwei Xia, Zhao Ren, Clement Hole, Fen Wang, Jianfeng Zhu, Ying Wang, Hongjie Luo, Qiang Li, Philippe Sciau

npj Heritage Science· Volume 13· Issue 1

Abstract

Sauce glazed wares, one of the most representative Fe-based glazed wares manufactured during the Song Dynasty, are characterized by the yellowish- to reddish-brown color with hue varying with the angle incidence of the light. In this work, representative sauce fragments from different kilns were systematically analyzed by multiple imaging and spectroscopic techniques. The results show that the glaze color is derived from the microsize dendritic ε-Fe 2 O 3 crystals in the glazes. The crystals are distributed in the whole glaze with obvious multi-layers, enhancing the coloring ability. Besides, numerous magnetite were observed in the glaze cross-section, giving rise to darken the glaze. In addition, the dendritic crystals are composed of comb-like secondary branches with an offset of hundreds of nanometers. Such a selective oriented structure could react with the incident light to generate structural color, giving rise to the glaze appearing angular heterochromism.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Iron oxide chemistry and applications

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