Characteristics of Yuanqing porcelain

Blue and white is a kind of colored porcelain, belongs to the underglaze color, it needs to be in 1300 degrees above the high temperature to burn successfully.It can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, from the excavated fragments, when there was a little colored blue-and-white porcelain, the Song and Jin Dynasty blue-and-white only as lines and other auxiliary decoration appears in the color porcelain, the earliest production of blue-and-white porcelain should be the Cizhou kiln, The blue-and-white porcelain produced by Cizhou kiln in Yuan Dynasty was also painted with makeup on the body, then painted with blue-and-white patterns, and then fired with glaze.In the real sense, the Yuan blue-and-white porcelain should have matured in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty.Yuanqing flowers are mainly produced in Jingdezhen, Yuxi, Jianshui and some minority areas in the south.Among them, Jingdezhen has the largest output and the best quality.

Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain has a rich variety of shapes, such as plum bottles, jade jug spring bottles, high cans, tower lid high cans, cover cans, Japanese jars, lampstand, flat bottle, pen holder, holding pot, plate, bowl and so on.Generally larger type, there are up to 70 cm above the lampstand and vases, but also small to 10 cm of wine pot, cups and so on.

Yuan blue-and-white porcelain has thick, thin body, large body is usually thicker, heavier.The porcelain soil in the village of Ma Cang near Jingdezhen is Ma Cang soil. Because there is more iron in the soil, the burned porcelain often has black and brown markings, and iron nodules are often found in the base and inner tire of the vessel.

The following according to the tire, glaze, modeling, decorative, five aspects of understanding:

The Fetal Body of the Oryza sativa L.

From the bottom of the large piece or the section of the residual organ, it can be observed that the fetal color is not white enough, the fetal quality is coarse and there are small pores (or sand eyes).Yuan blue-and-white porcelain, although the composition of alumina added in the tire, increased the firing temperature, but the degree of porcelain is not as fine as the Qing Dynasty porcelain body.When Yuan porcelain is made, the tire mud is not refined enough, most of the body of the object is not covered with glaze, and the so-called sand bottom is formed after firing.The edge of the sand bottom often appears to stick sand or iron spots.A small amount of materials in the soil containing iron, in the exposed parts of the objects are sintered iron oxide red, commonly known as” flint red “.There are also some plates on the bottom of the relatively light iron-red sand, artisans deliberately painted, and with the rotation of the spiral mark.

In Yuan Dynasty, Jingdezhen bottles, cans and other types of equipment, using segmented tire, and then used to bond with the mud from the adhesion of the surface often protruding, give a sense of unevenness, in the bottom of the device, abdomen, mouth and other parts of the fetal body contact marks more obvious performance.The general device of the foot edge is irregular, there is a bending phenomenon, which shows that the Yuan Dynasty tire is not careful to repair the billet, so it appears that the molding process is rough.But small utensils also have exquisite person, fetal quality appears white fine.The bottom body of the bowl is thick, the foot is exposed, the center is slightly protuberant, commonly known as” umbilical “shape, is actually the mark of drawing.Most of the bottom of the large pot wide circle foot, irregular, some of the bottom center has a shallow thread trace.The body of general large object is thick and thick.

ground glaze of Yuan blue-and-white porcelain

The ground glaze can be divided into blue-white glaze and egg-white glaze.The degree of blue-white glaze is not the same, some white in the pan-green, some white, some partial green, probably because of the glaze calcium, sodium, potassium content of the proportion of the relationship and kiln fire temperature impact.The blue and white glaze scope of the blue and white decoration, mostly imported cobalt material drawing.Green flower ground glaze is egg white glaze, the glaze surface is deep, not transparent, more smooth, multi-purpose domestic cobalt paint decoration.

The Colour of the Oryza sativa

Overall divided into two tones, one is gray-blue, lighter, one is dark blue, more showy.Traditional concept, the color of blue for domestic materials, blue color for imported materials.The blue-and-blue pattern painted by domestic cobalt material is gray-blue, and the black-and-brown spots are less, such as the blue-and-red color when manganese is too high.Imported cobalt painted blue-and-white with a deep color, and purple or black-brown light spots, some black-and-brown spots show “tin.””Tin” is a natural luster in dark brown spots, and has a concave-convex feeling, is due to blue and white raw materials in the high temperature firing process and glaze melting when the changes in the atmosphere of the kiln.”Tin” also appears in modern imitations of the flower, but the observation of the imitation “tin” as if a silver-gray film applied to the blue-and-black spots, some of the more dense spots, a sense of rigidity.Whether domestic materials or imported materials, the overall picture blue-and-white decorative color by the influence of kiln temperature has varying depth of change, but with a magnifying glass to observe, give a clear and deep feeling.As Mr. Xu Ming described a blue-and-white plum vase, “Look at the blue-and-white color, it is’ alive ‘, in the rich place has a fresh’ flowing ‘.”

. ..the shape of the ivy flower.

Yuan blue-and-white porcelain shape unique.From the production process, at this time appeared a thick body of huge body, such as large cans, large bottles, large plates, large bowls, and so on.But there are also fine works, such as the thin body of the high-foot bowl, high-foot cup, Yi, disk and so on.In Yuan society, the blue-and-white porcelain has not become the necessity of the court or people’s daily life, except for wine utensils, bright ware, the main products are export, so the shape of the blue-and-white porcelain has certain particularity, the reason is to meet the needs of users of different regions and different living habits.Big cans, large bottles, large plates, and large bowls are large food utensils specially produced to adapt to the habit of sitting on the ground and eating together in large numbers of Muslims in Islamic countries.production at Yuan timeSmall vessels such as small pots, small bottles, small pots are sold to the Philippines.According to the archaeological data, many small pieces of blue-and-white porcelain were made to meet the needs of burial in Southeast Asia.In addition to export, the Yuanqinghua producers in order to conform to the social customs of the Yuan Dynasty also produced small and medium-sized bottles, furnaces, Bishan, high-foot bowls, connector, and so on.In general, it can be combined into five broad categories.

1. Canisters: Large can, including three types of high, low, and eight-sided, with a cover usually up to 60 cm or more.Small pot, including four-series square mouth, double-line melon rhombus, double-line bulging mouth, shoulder and abdomen double-series lip mouth, body height is generally 7 ~ 8 cm;And a drum-covered can.The octagon is the original innovation.

2. Bottle: There are plum bottle, jade pot spring bottle, garlic bottle, animal ear bottle, halberd ear bottle, and other four-series flat bottle with rich characteristics of the times and tower cap bottle, among which plum bottle, jade pot spring bottle is more common.Plum bottle with a cap, inside a tube-shaped mouth, with the bottle firmly covered.

3. Casserole: There are three kinds of pots, which are Fengliu pot, pear-shaped pot and holding pot.

4. Bowl: roughly two kinds, one for high-foot bowl (open, mouth), one for large bowl, diameter up to 40 cm above.The tall foot cup body is smaller, the height is only 10 centimeters or so, also has the target cup name.Large bowl diameter is generally above 30 cm.

5. Disk: There are large market (diameter 45 cm above), medium plate (aperture is generally about 30 cm), small plate (aperture 15 cm or so).Folding along the flower mouth is common.

In addition, there are tripod, water pot, censer, guanyin and so on.In short, the shape of the Yuan blue and white porcelain has both grand and magnificent big tools, but also beautiful and clever small tools, no matter what type of tools are beautiful shape, simple and dignified.

. ..the garnish of a blue-and-white flower.

The decoration of yuanqing flower includes decorative techniques, pattern composition and decorative subject matter.Jingdezhen Pottery workers in Yuan Dynasty further innovated on the basis of inheriting the achievements of porcelain making in Tang and Song dynasties, which made up for the lack of rough craftsmanship and made Yuan Qing Hua more exquisite.

1. Decorative techniques: Blue and white flowers with carved flowers, printing, porcelain plastic, relief and other techniques, painting to give full play to the artistic effect of blue and white, blue and white flowers, or blue and white lines painted for several styles.In decoration, craftsmen use different techniques in combination with different types of instruments, some use two, three methods to cooperate or several methods concentrated in one, rough and powerful cut lines, printing lines round and durable, the effect of relief strong stereoscopic.In addition, it should be noted that the Yuan blue and white decorative painting methods to flat, combined with hook, crack, dot, dyeing techniques, strong lines, showing the Yuan Dynasty craftsmen superb painting skills.

2. Composition methods: It can be roughly divided into two types: plump and sparse.

Full type of decoration, whether round, cutlery, the whole instrument is covered by blue and white decorative, some of the body is covered with blue and white decorative decoration up to 8 layers, in order to highlight the magnificent feeling of the Yuan blue and white.Another form of full-flower decoration is through the body to roll branches or sea lines for the ground, prominent white patterns or on the ground lines on the diamond curve to open the light, open the light to draw a theme of the decoration.This kind of plump design method is mostly embodied on octagonal device, which seems complicated, but in fact it is arranged in order, and has strong aesthetic effect and age style.

Shulang type of decoration, no matter the circle, cut the blue and white patterns are made up of individual patterns, decorative screen sparse, lively and natural.For example, the blue-and-white dragon-shaped jade pot of the Toyo Ceramics Museum in Osaka City, Japan, draws a dragon-coiled body, the picture is simple, giving the dragon a sense of freedom in the infinite space, and the visual effect is excellent.Another kind of Shu Lang pattern decoration is realistic or freehand porcelain painting, the picture is more open.There are a number of folk supplies and funerals of the blue and white decoration is more simple and bold, with lines quickly painted patterns, can be said to be a one-shot, unique.

There are several kinds of standard in the decoration of the Yuan Dynasty, thus forming the characteristics of the decoration of the Yuan Dynasty:

The deformation lotus petal pattern, commonly known as” the eight big yards”, whether round, the cutter often with 8 lotus petals for decoration belt, in each petal and painting a variety of patterns, there are flowers, clouds, flame, miscellaneous treasures, and so on.Lotus petal painting style is more obvious in the Yuan Dynasty, with a thick line and a thin line parallel to outline lines, each petal is not connected, leaving a certain gap.

In Yuan Dynasty, lotus and peony were the main decorative patterns of flowers, followed by chrysanthemum.The flower and leaf forms of these three flowers are fixed, and the leaves of the peony flower are plump, pointed and braided.Lotus flower leaves have gourd-shaped leaves with double wings.The leaves of the chrysanthemum flower are pentadactylous.All three flowers are naturally white-edged without filling in color.

(3) Mast flower is a unique decoration in the blue and white flowers, five-petaled florets, leaflike twine flowers are used for edge decoration.Experts have demonstrated that the flower is an alias mushroom flower, which is said to be a favorite flower of Buddha.

Most of the outer wall of the blue and white plate and bottle, pot shoulder decorated with tangled lotus pattern, the outer wall of the lotus for six more see.

The bottle, the pot shoulder often has the blue and white cloud head pattern, is called “the cloud shoulder”.The cloud head pattern is decorated with sea horse, sea lotus, fold branch flower, Lin Lin and so on, also known as the vertical cloud pattern, is a very special decoration on the Yuanqing flower, rare in other times.

A two-sided continuous pattern composed of spray and sea water, in the fine lines of the sea water lines painted with thick solid lines to draw waves, forming a distinctive Yuan Dynasty sea water patterns.

The banana leaf pattern often makes the edge ornament or the decorative belt between the pattern decoration, the drawing method pays special attention to portrays the banana leaf edge line with the thick line, uses the thin line to depict the leaf vein.

3. The subject matter of the decoration:

Plants: peony pattern, lotus pattern, chrysanthemum pattern, pine and bamboo plum pattern, moon and plum pattern, etc.In addition to the above main flowers, in the combination of the pattern also appear morning glory, camellia, crabapple flowers, rose flowers, date flowers and day lily, ganoderma lucidum, plantain or bamboo stone grapes, fruits, insects and other images.

Animals: dragon, phoenix, unicorn, alga, mandarin duck lying lotus, peacock, deer, seahorse and so on.Among them the Yuan Dynasty dragon pattern is very characteristic, the body is elongated such as snake, the head is flat long shape, double horn, open mouth teeth, slender neck, four legs thin thin, tendon concave and convex, claw three fingers, four fingers or five fingers, separate strong, elbow hair, tail bristles are all in flame shape.

The characters in Yuan Qing Hua are ingenious and combined with drama, and the plot of famous historical characters is transplanted into the porcelain picture to present a new artistic realm, which is unparalleled in other times.The main subjects are General Meng Tian, Zhou Yafu Xiliu Camp, Wenji Gui Han, Zhaojun out, Xiao He chasing Han Xin, three friends, the savior, Tao Yuanming love chrysanthemum and so on.

In addition, the decorative patterns of Yuan Dynasty porcelain and Buddhist art have been combined, Lianban, Lotus, Zanbao and so on almost become the decorative content of Yuan Qinghua porcelain, indicating the impact of Buddhist art on arts and crafts.

Yuan Qing Hua’s general knowledge

An ancient writing carved, marked, printed, or written on porcelain to indicate the age, use, and name of the craftsman, or to praise the work of others.Very few of them have brought money with them. A pair of blue-and-white elephant-ear bottles from the Great Vide Art Foundation of England (1351) have been collected for 11 years, with a total of 5 lines of 62 words written in useful blue-and-white: “Xinzhou Road, Yushan County, Shuncheng County, Jingtang Church in the town of the religious disciples Zhang Wenjin, a pair of incense vases, pray for the family Qing Ji, children peace. As of April 11, remember. Xingyuan ancestral hall, a marshal Hu Jingyi make a confession.” This is specially written on the supply of the support style, The name and specific age of the donor are of great reference significance in identifying the age of the object.It is the year number of the Emperor Shundi at the end of Yuan Dynasty. This pair of bottles should be the representative work of the late Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain.

In addition, there are some blue-and-white porcelain in the bottom or in the Chinese calligraphy or one or two words, some in the heart of the bowl inscriptions inscriptions in the blue-and-white.In 1980, a blue-and-white cursive book with high cup bottom was unearthed in Gaoan County, Jiangxi Province. “Life is always drunk for a hundred years, and there are thirty-six thousand pieces of” poems, poetic and unrestrained, which accords with the character of the nomadic people of Yuan Dynasty.

Finally, we should mention the Chinese Yuan-qing-hua ware hidden in the Artbiel Temple of Iran.Some of these objects are written or drilled into Arabic at the bottom or the shin. According to experts, the Arabic language is the name of the King Abbas of Iran or the dedication of the Abbas title, as well as Tibetan symbols.Abbas, the 16th century king of Iran, dedicated the Chinese Yuan Qing Hua to the temple collection, can be seen in the Islamic country’s worship of Yuan Qing Hua.But through the analysis of Iranian experts confirmed that the Yuan Qinghua artifacts on the seal-style version of the Persian, inferred to be signature, may be a craftsman’s own work of the name.

Yuan Qinghua has a history of more than 600 years, so the surface of the glaze is not only warm and moist like jade, but also looks old, deep and beautiful. It is very casual in the performance of the shape, body and figure, which is very important in the art of “only knowing, not telling”.Ancient art, whether color, shape, and all times have different styles, new imitations of the best, but also imitated it can not be the brand of the era, the so-called “vision” in today’s scientific determination can not completely solve the problem is still very important.

In recent years, from the social point of view, has formed a large group of Yuanqing flower research, they have rich practical experience, found many catalogues do not have new type, new varieties and new material specimens, also published a lot of good papers, The research on the blue-and-white porcelain of Yuan Dynasty was further promoted.

The Hutian kiln in Jingdezhen in Yuan Dynasty successfully fired blue-and-white porcelain.There are more than 100 blue-and-white porcelain unearthed in Yuan Dynasty and more than 200 blue-and-white porcelain scattered all over the world.

Yuan blue-and-white porcelain has opened up a new era of transition from plain porcelain to colored porcelain.OtherFu LiBlue, strong shape,The style of painting is bold and unrestrained, and the levels of painting are varied.The Chinese people’s deep aesthetic thought is demonstrated with the right vision, its burning success is an epoch-making event in Chinese history, has become the most national characteristics of China’s porcelain.