The Appreciation of Blue-and-White Porcelain in the Ming Dynasty

Ming Chongzhen (A. D.1628-1644, Mingsi Zong Zhu Youqian No.) lasted 17 years, the state decline, Jingdezhen state kiln in the state of disuse, only the kiln continued production, then there was still a large number of porcelain export.The quality of porcelain is obviously declining.From the history of porcelain-making in Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chongzhen Qinghua was in the turning point from the later period of Wanli to the early period of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty.

Chongzhen Qinghua used kaolin to make the fetus, the quality of most rough, loose.The foetus is grayish white.Fetal body is generally thick, a small number of products body thin, high degree of porcelain.The glaze layer is thin, the glaze surface is not smooth, the glossiness is not strong, the glaze color is white, also has the cyan gray, the part also opens the slice.It is popular to apply a circle of paste-colored glaze (i. e., paste-glaze opening) along the edge of the object.

The circling feet are generally shorter, and the outer edge of the tread is blocked by a lot of whorls.Large bowl circle foot wall inner wall has a deeper “two-story platform” shape dig foot mark.In addition to part of the plate, bowl, the general foot is higher foot, foot outside the lower side of no glaze, foot inside also no glaze.The disk, the bowl has the jump knife mark, some sole leaves the small platform, the kiln dregs, the chicken heart bulge and the flint red patch.Cylinders, flower grips, jars, etc. are usually made of fine sand, some of which can see the strings left by the whipping.

The blue and white color material uses the stone blue, appears the color stability.The best color of the bright green, most of the tone dim, there are faint scattered, fainting serious impact on the decoration, resulting in the pattern lines confused, at this time green vase, pot, stove, inkstone, plate, bowl, always visible.Blue and white flower faint, have the defect phenomenon of leakage glaze.Some of the thick band has black-brown spots, but different from the Yuan Dynasty, the early Ming color, black spots do not penetrate into the fetal bones, feel no bumpy situation.

Daily use: hand cup, tea cup, elephant leg bottle, barrel bottle, six sides can, lotus seed jar, bowl, dish, pot, wash, pot, pot, pot, jar, zun, pen, pen, inkstone, etc.

Temple utensils are: flower glasses, candlestick, pot-type furnace, drum-type furnace, water purification bowl, and so on.

The blue-and-white porcelain of this period was decorated with dark flowers, and in the mouth of some cutters, the underglaze part of the foot was undercut.In painting, often in the mouth of objects, the foot painted banana leaf patterns, landscape figure patterns painted more than the sun, cloud mostly painted into parentheses clouds, grass lines multi-thin lines drawn into a small hook-shaped, multi-screen matching with poetry, in the poem next to a copy of calligraphy and painting of the seal, there are square or round, This was obviously influenced by the calligraphy and painting of the time.

The painting technique adopts the traditional single-line flat coating and light tracing method, with single-line flat painting as the main method, and the lines are smooth;The lines of light-painted blue and white are scrawled, the pen is weak and hasty.Chongzhen Dynasty created a similar Chinese painting in the light ink color of the use of ink pen, the picture is very poetic, has been affected to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the composition of the layout is basically similar to the Tianqi Dynasty, the content of the painting-based, a large number of deformation, exaggeration or simple writing techniques, the picture is bold and unrestrained.

The decoration subject matter is extensive, the content is rich.How rich is the meaning of the pattern decoration.Landscape painting is the most common theme of this period, the content is very life-like, painting meaning has the charm of the late Ming Dynasty Chinese painting, the picture is more than ancient poetry, thatched hut, grass pavilion, boat bridge, fishing, woodcutter, kao shi, scholars, scholars love chrysanthemum, Dunyi love lotus, bamboo forest seven Xian, Tang monk take scriptures and so on.The traditional subjects are: dragon pattern, phoenix and bird pattern, phoenix pattern, unicorn pattern, lion peony pattern, flat chi pattern, tiger pattern, ox pattern, horse pattern, crane pattern, fish pattern, rabbit pattern, pine deer wasp monkey pattern, aquamarine pattern, mandarin duck lotus pattern, pine bamboo plum pattern, grape pattern, folded branch flower pattern, tangled branch flower pattern, and twined flower pattern, The baby plays the pattern, the arrowhead pattern, the Dao horse figure pattern, the Fushan Shouhai grain, the ganoderma lucidum totem the treasure grain, the belt embroidering ball pattern, eight immortal, the drooping willow, the moon shadow, the Bo Gu and so on.

Chongzhen Qinghua also has some unique decorative patterns, such as” Red Wall Fu “full text and the eastern slope of the Red Wall map, Luting wild duck, goose palm shape (triangle) leaf peony, oblate large fruit, inside the foot of the cloud added with the Swastika cloud, a variety of flying silk dragon decorative belt, rain and snow pine ball tapestry belt, Filled with vines of tangled grapes, dead-wood jackdaws, blooming orchid flowers, and so on.

Chongzhen blue-and-white porcelain on this year’s number is not much, there are a large number of Jiyu, Tang, Zhai, variant seal and window format inscriptions are also common.In addition occasionally see official writing inscriptions.

The inscriptions in the Ji language include “blessing”, “longevity”, “kindness”,” expensive “,” elegance “,” good things for wealth “,” good things for good quality “,” jade hall “and so on.Zhai Tang money is often written in the heart of the bowl, such as” Xiang Feng Tang “,” Yu Si Tang “,” Bo Gu Zhai “,” Yu Xiangzhai “,” turquoise residence “and so on, bowl bottom common” white jade “,” Yiyao “,” piece jade “as well as silver ingots, Fang Sheng, rabbits and so on.