Hundred years of elegant one peak green: fine blue-and-white porcelain is such as made?

The development of Chinese ceramics has gone through a long process from pottery, primitive porcelain to porcelain, and the time series has been developed into the Yuan Dynasty. All the processes of porcelain-making have been completed, and tradition and innovation are always re-emerging on the ceramic stage.

blue-and-white anemone jar

Height: 28.2 cm

Dongyang Ceramics Collection in Osaka, Japan

Yuan Qinghua is a splendid flower on the cultural stage of the Yuan Dynasty.Although under the rule of the Mongol regime, the dynasty was less than a century old, but it was indeed a thrilling moment in the history of Chinese ceramics.The main contribution was the blue-and-white porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty.

We were shocked when we strolled through the Topkap Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.There are more than 40 Yuan-hua porcelain hidden here, and pieces exquisite and elegant.

rhombic disk with flower pattern of Yuan-qing-hua twined twigs

Diameter: 45.8 cm

British Museum

The blue-and-white porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty can be summed up in a very poetic word, that is, “hundred years of elegant and one peak of green”, but in the face of today’s Chinese porcelain, we have to think about a lot of things.

Yuanjingdezhen kiln, blue-and-white sea water, white dragon pattern, plum vase.

Yuan Qing Hua dragon and phoenix pattern cover plum vase

In addition to foetus, glaze and blue-and-white materials, the firing process is also a very important part of the porcelain manufacturing industry.After the Yuan Dynasty, the porcelain-making industry in Jingdezhen was as the French missionaries who came to Jingdezhen described it: “Smoke covered the clouds during the day, and the kiln fire reddened the night sky”.

Yuan Dynasty Jiang Qi “Tao Ji” the opening cloud: “Jingdetao, the last three hundred.” Yuan blue and white porcelain firing success, in addition to depends on the body, glaze, blue and white materials, firing process kiln system, kiln fire, burning methods are also very important part.

Yuan Qing flower, dotted, military pattern, jade pot, spring vase.

Mantou kiln model

From the present archaeological discovery, Jingdezhen Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain kiln fired mainly is the steamed bread kiln and the dragon kiln.Mantou kiln, also known as” round kiln “, was adopted as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Mantou kiln was widely used in Jingdezhen during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.Some kilns have a flat, horseshoe-shaped or horseshoe-shaped kiln.Bantou kiln is a semi-inverted flame kiln, flame from the chamber to the top of the kiln, and then back to the kiln bed, smoke from the vent, flue through the chimney.It is characterized by the formation of reducing atmosphere in the kiln.

In Jingdezhen, more steamed bread kilns have been found in the ruins of Zhushan Imperial Kiln and Hutian Kiln, among which there are more than 15 kilns at the site of Zhushan Imperial Kiln.In 1965, Mr. Liu Xinyuan of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, discovered the fragments of Yuan Qinghua market in Hutian kiln.

Longyao model

Longyao is the Yuan Qinghua another kiln system, more according to mountain situation and build, at present found the earliest is Zhejiang Shangyu area, the Shang Dynasty began to use.Longyao shape large, can control the reduction flame.In 2008 in Jingdezhen Liyang village porcelain mountain porcelain kiln site found the Yuan Dynasty kiln site, including the Yuan Dynasty late Longyao furnace, the length of 24.3 meters, the widest 4 meters, the kiln found many sagges, and also found in the Ming Dynasty early gourd kiln.It is proved that the Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain and red porcelain in glaze were made here.

Cartridge burning is the burning method of Yuanqinghua porcelain. Before box loading, the bottom of the pot is covered with dregs, which are usually mixed with cased dregs or kaolin dregs of rice husk ash.Yuan Dynasty Jiang Qi “Tao Ji” recorded the origin of the box, mold raw materials: “… can only for the box, mold, work and miscellaneous with a device.” Yuan Dynasty Qinghua big things into a funnel-style box, known as the “big box.”A small box is called a flat-bottomed box.

Yuan Qinghua lion ball-shaped jade pot, spring vase

Yuan Qing Hua, bamboo and plum pattern, hexagonal jar

Tang Ying, the potter of the Qing Dynasty, said: “As a result of porcelain, kiln fire is the source of the fire.”If kiln-making prepares space hardware for porcelain firing, kiln-temperature is the most important software.The kiln temperature plays an important role in the firing of Yuanqing porcelain.In order to test the effect of the kiln’s mild firing, the ancients invented the “fire” (i.e., the temperature of the furnace, the temperature of the light or standard test piece).

According to Chen Yaocheng’s research results in 1978, the firing temperature of Qinghua in Song Dynasty was about 1270 ° C.The firing temperature of Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain was between 1200 ° C and 1300 ° C.Huang Yunpeng, Mr. Huang Bin in the Yuan Dynasty Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain firing process, said: If the simple “binary formula” method to prepare the tire material, porcelain billet after reducing flame 1280 ° C after the burning obviously burn, only to increase the appropriate amount of potassium, sodium to reduce the firing temperature, Only then can burn out the high-quality porcelain tyre.

Yuan Qing Hua Xiao He Yue follow-up Han Xin Mei Ping

Yuan Qing Hua Yun Long get out beads, tangled branches peony belt cover, big can

Yuan Qing Hua Yun Long to catch the pearl grain big pot

Leila Hammer, a senior researcher at Iran’s National Museum, said that kaolin can be cooked at 1500 ° C and that by adding a moderate amount of feldspar, the temperature can be reduced to between 1140 and 1250 ° C.At this temperature, the quartz in the clay melts and combines with kaolin to form an extremely white and solid porcelain.

Yuan Qing flower, folding branches, flower pattern, jade pot, spring vase

The firing of a piece of blue-and-white porcelain is an indispensable organic whole in terms of its craft, material selection and firing techniques.After the firing of the delicate Yuan blue-and-white porcelain, it began to go abroad along the “Silk Road” and became an important foreign trade commodity of the Yuan Dynasty.Jiang Qi, “Tao Ji” in the words: “kiln fire has stopped, business to sell. Transactions, the owner of the tooth.