Appreciation of Porcelain in Hongwu Period of Ming Dynasty-Blue-and-white Porcelain and Red in Glaze

The Ming-Hong-Wu blue-and-white porcelain is the treasure of Chinese ceramic art and the mainstream of Chinese porcelain production at that time.

The porcelain of the Hongwu period was not only the style of Yuan Dynasty, but also the development of new style, showing the unique style of the transitional period.The jade pot spring bottle and executes the pot from the Yuan Dynasty the thin long body and evolves into the coarse and abundant round, the big deity, the double ears bottle, the pier bowl, the army holds, the crescent mouth and the fold edge, the rhombus mouth big plate class, both simple and solemn, also has the more delicate mellow dish, the bowl.Its decoration technology, the internal Yangwen printing, the outer wall with blue and white decoration, is the Yuan Dynasty Xifu kiln and Yuanqinghua technology continued.In 1964 and 1984, a large number of porcelain remnants were unearthed at the ruins of the Yuan and Ming palaces of the Imperial Palace in Nanjing, which showed that at this time there were blue-flowered Yunlong plates, outer-wall blue-flowered flowers, inner-wall patterned dragons, and three long-legged Ruyi cloud patterns.After the Yongle, Xuande and even Zhengde, Jiajing use this decoration, but Hongwu Ruyi shape cloud long tail, appears to float smoothly.

Hongwu green flower is different from the typical pure green flower, and it is different from the typical Yongle and Xuande green flower with its own characteristics.The Ming Dynasty Yongle, Xuande Qinghua mostly imported Sumai blue material fired, the color of the back flowers decorated with a little bit of silver black crystal spots.This kind of green material is rich in iron and low in manganese.Facts have proved that if the green flower material is not covered under the glaze, it will be black, similar to the work of Yao Zhou kiln in the Tang Dynasty white black; if covered under the glaze, the finished product will be gray-blue.

In the shape of more or less inherited the Yuan Dynasty’s ancient style of the palace porcelain, especially the kilns, such as skipping plates, bowls, the middle of the lower body gradually thick, some of the same as the Yuan porcelain, or broken waist, or the center of the body left a stack of burning pad traces.Ornamental kiln is some innovation, the intention is to get rid of the heavy style of Yuan porcelain, for the beautiful elegant Yongle porcelain has laid the foundation.

Hongwu blue and white porcelain is not as rich as Yuan blue and white porcelain, large pieces of utensils more, the main varieties are very large bowl, big lid can, rhombus mouth, rhombus mouth large plate, pear-shaped pot, holding pot, jade pot spring bottle, melon rim pot, pomegranate, high foot cup, censer and so on.

The decorative patterns selected by Hongwu Qing-hua were monotonous compared with the adjacent dynasties before and after. All kinds of creases, twining flowers and flowers were used the most, and some animal patterns, such as dragon and phoenix patterns, were also used.In addition, courtyard lake stone, stone fence plantain, old cold three friends, mandarin duck pond, ganoderma grain and so on are also common.In the Yuan Dynasty, algal fish patterns were rarely seen in the usual drama stories.The bowl, the bottom heart has the book cursive blessing, the longevity character.There is also a use of internal printing, outside the decoration of blue and white practice.

The main patterns of Hongwu blue and white flowers are dragon, stone, peony, plum, bamboo, pine, chrysanthemum, camellia, rose, lotus, banana, sea water and so on.Auxiliary decoration has curly grass grain, twining branch ganoderma lucidum grain, double layer lotus leaf grain, honeysuckle grass grain, back grain, Ruyi cloud grain, treasure phase mass pattern and so on.

Compared with the patterns of Yuan Dynasty, Hongwu Qinghua has shown some characteristics of its own times, such as the level of decoration began to decrease, the leaves of camellia leaves and banana leaves white leaves do not fill the color, passionflower leaves and peony leaves generally reduced, obviously thin, and produce deformation, Some leaves have obvious acuminate phenomenon.The chrysanthemum lines are painted into flat ellipsoid, which has the characteristics of the times.Most of the creased or tangled lotus lines were screw-shaped, while the most twisted lotus lines in Yuan Dynasty were cucurbit-shaped.At the same time, the shape of the leaves in Yuan Dynasty was larger, and the leaves were larger than those in Hongwu.The layout of the pattern gradually became sparse, began to change the Yuan Dynasty decorative multi-level, full of pattern style.

Most of the dragon patterns are painted with clouds and dragons. The image is not as fierce as the Yuan Dynasty.The faucet is small, thin neck, boa body, make take-off shape, the head portrays simple, single angle or double angle, the faucet has the hair that sweep backward mostly, later picture has vertical hair.Claw has three claw to five claw, three claw more, between the claws drawn more separate, in the shape of a wheel.Scale is small circular arc, left white edge, three-dimensional strong sense.Often accompanied by moire, cloud-shaped thick short, in the form of a pictograph arrangement, bent to one side.

It is similar to the Yuan Dynasty. It leaves white on one side of the lotus petals at the top of the flower. It shows the interval between the petals and the level of the flowers. The leaves around the patch are the thin, screw-shaped curly leaves, which are more realistic than those in the Yuan Dynasty.

Banana leaves broad and plump, banana leaf center of the main stem double-line hook drawn into a parallel vertical line, white in the middle not filled with color, two banana leaves stacked between a banana leaf, leaf tip slightly round, leaf edge painted into a fine and dense saw-tooth shape, contour line with a compound pen rendering.

Lotus flower stamens have pomegranate-shaped, round, round flower stamens with beaded lines around them.Petals painted gramineous or deformable in lotus shape.Leaves smaller than the Yuan Dynasty, like screw-shaped.

The chrysanthemum pattern takes the flat chrysanthemum as many, the flat chrysanthemum grain appears the circle, the flower center draws the oblique net or the spiral shape.The outer part of the stamen is drawn with a double-line hook.Petals have two and three layers, the innermost is small white petals, only line trace without color; outer petals fill color, each petal top and one side left white edge, showing the level of petals.Chrysanthemum leaves generally painted gourd-shaped, leaves on both sides of one or two bifurcations, showing a more lively picture.

Hongwu Qinghua official kiln ware has not seen a year so far.There is only one plum vase, shoulder seal book “Chun Shou” word.The kiln blue-and-white ware also did not have a year’s worth.

In the glaze red tangled branch peony pattern holding pot is in the Ming Dynasty Hong Wu blue and white porcelain implement good work, the shape is graceful, the pattern decoration layout is dense, the description is meticulous, the height is 32 centimeters, the caliber 7.3 centimeters, the full diameter 11 centimeters.

The mouth, neck, shoulder, abdomen, circling foot of the ampulla.The pot body is made of jade pot spring type, one side of the pot body is placed curved slender kettle flow, and with a cloud plate-shaped decoration to connect with the pot body, the other side is placed a crank, connected between the neck and abdomen, the upper end of the handle is placed a small series.Pot through body painted glaze red pattern, lip and mouth painted back a week, the neck layered painted focal leaf pattern, back lines, tangled branch ganoderma grain each week, the abdomen full painting tangled branches peony pattern, ketchup also full of tangled branches flowers, pot handle painted tangled gardenia flower and other patterns, near the foot for a week deformation lotus leaf pattern, The outer wall of the foot is painted with grass grain.Foot full of white glaze, no money.

This pot shape is beautiful, the pattern adorns the line fluently, one at a time becomes.In the decorative style of the Yuan Dynasty to change the decorative decoration of the dense features, the layout is increasingly sparse, the use of layers of decorative techniques, rough painting without losing neat, has a distinct characteristics of the times.

During the Hongwu period of Ming Dynasty, most of the red porcelain in glaze was made up of large plates, bowls, jars, jade jugs, plum bottles, holding pots, etc.The red hair color in this period is not very bright, mostly in the gray-black color of red, this pot of hair color is more bright and pure, is a rare treasure.