Song porcelain-- the extreme Aesthetics

Why do you like porcelain? Perhaps it is because a piece of porcelain is a collection of all the elements of heaven and earth in ancient China: porcelain clay excavated from the ground, shaped in water (water), enamel containing minerals (gold), burning with wood (wood), rebirth in the fire (fire). A piece of porcelain, covering all the characteristics of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, appears in front of us, but its temperament is as warm and flawless as jade. After thousands of years, the Chinese tried every means to perfect this gentle thing, until the Song Dynasty, this ultimate aesthetic reached its peak.

Ru kiln azure glaze string pattern bottle

Song Dynasty is an incomparably gorgeous dynasty in Chinese history, but the gorgeous light is accompanied by the pain of darkness. The real subjugation of the country for the first time in Chinese history has wiped out the Central Plains of Menghua. Although the Han people re-established a new dynasty nearly a hundred years later, that rare literati temperament has disappeared.

In the prosperous scene in the painting along the River during the Qingming Festival,

people naturally miss the era when the economy and culture developed side by side, so this kind of nostalgia has permeated every corner of the country. As the carrier of Chinese culture, porcelain naturally continues the recollection of that time. Whether it is the Ming Dynasty of the Han regime of the Qing Dynasty or the Manchu regime, the imitation of porcelain in the Song Dynasty has never stopped.

Fangge glaze bowl, Ming Xuande

and the legendary five famous kilns (Brother Ru Guan Junding) all embody the elegance and elegance in the prosperous age, fleeting classics, when we see this porcelain again, maybe we only need a glimpse of it.

Ru kiln:

when you see Ru kiln porcelain, you can understand what warm and moist it is. Some people say that the color of Ru porcelain is azure, but it is still slightly lighter than that of the sky.

Ru kiln celadon glaze three-legged bottle Cheng pan, Song Dynasty, the Palace Museum

even in the Song Dynasty, Ru porcelain was beset with difficulties in firing, so Ru porcelain handed down from generation to generation has been wandering over the years. Now there are only 65 pieces left. The Ru kiln was open for only 20 years, and Ru porcelain was already very rare in the Southern Song Dynasty. There are 21 pieces of Ru porcelain in the Taipei Palace Museum, 17 pieces in the Palace Museum in Beijing, 8 pieces in the Shanghai Museum, 7 pieces from the British David Foundation (Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art), and about 10 pieces of other pieces scattered in museums and private collections of the United States and Japan.

Ru porcelain Lotus Bowl, Song, Taipei Imperial Museum

the lotus bowl pictured above should be used to warm wine, that is to say, there should be a matching Ru porcelain wine pot. But with the twists and turns of the years, I don't know where the wine pot has gone.

if we visit the website of the Palace Museum in Taipei, we will find that the background picture of the website is the crack on the surface of the lotus bowl and Ru porcelain. This shows the status of Ru porcelain in Chinese culture.

so, there are less than 70 pieces of such precious Ru kiln porcelain in the poor world. if someone is holding a porcelain bowl or something to fool you into being a Ru kiln, do you know what to do? Nod and leave. Your luck is not so good, the chance of meeting Song Dynasty Ru porcelain in the street is about 1/10000000, less than.

to sum up, the Ru kiln is a light blue surface with finely cracked ice. As for the reasons for the formation of these glazes, everyone can find them on the Internet, so I won't repeat them here.

Ruyao daffodils basin,

Guanyao

Guanyao round washing, Song, Beijing Palace Museum

compared with Ru Kiln, the cracks in Guan Kiln look more obvious. Within a certain distance, the surface of the Ru kiln looks traceless, but the official kiln seems to be covered with ice.

the green glaze marigold of Guan Kiln, Song, Beijing Palace Museum

in terms of color, because the firing of Guan Kiln follows the southward migration of the capital of the Song Dynasty, it takes a relatively long time, and the colors are also different from moon white, pink blue, azure, and emerald green.

Guanyao big bottle, Song, Beijing Palace Museum

GE Yao:

GE Yao is relatively easy to distinguish because it has quite characteristics.

GE Yao Bowl, Song, the Palace Museum in Beijing

the ice crack on the surface of GE Yao is so obvious that it almost seems to be painted on purpose. But if we look closely, we will see that there is a fine brown texture between these black contours. And this black and brown texture is an important basis for determining whether porcelain is a GE kiln (imitation GE kiln)-gold wire.

Geyao sunflower washing, Beijing Palace Museum

Jun Yao:  

if the characteristics of The E kiln are already obvious, Jthe un kiln simply has its halo. Take a look at the porcelain of several Jun kilns. I'm sure you won't admit your mistake when you see something similar in the future.

Jun kiln rose-purple glaze four-legged flowerpot holder, Northern Song Dynasty, Beijing Palace Museum

Jun kiln rose-purple glaze sunflower pot, Northern Song Dynasty, Beijing Palace Museum

color is not fixed, as if rendered in water, or like sunset We can probably conclude that it is the style of Jun kiln. In addition to this large area of painting, there is also a relatively elegant style, which is to add a color spot on the surface of the object, as if it were inadvertently painted.

Jun Yao Sky Blue Glaze Purple Red spot Bowl, Northern Song-Jin, Beijing Palace Museum

Jun kiln sky blue glaze purple-red spot three-legged furnace, Northern Song Dynasty-Jin, Beijing Palace Museum

Jun kiln sky blue glaze purple-red spot two-ear gourd bottle, Northern Song Dynasty-Jin, Beijing Palace Museum

compared to the conservative, atmospheric and stable Ru kiln style, the Jun kiln is more informal. And because of the uncertainty of the Jun kiln, it is almost impossible to copy a Jun kiln in the Song Dynasty. Because of this, there are very few real Song Dynasty antique Jun kilns on the market. If you don't buy it, it must be a fake. The era of picking up leaks in the five famous kilns has passed.

Ding kiln:

The Ding kiln has a long history and can be regarded as the inheritance of the Xing kiln in the Tang Dynasty. The color of the Xing kiln and Ding kiln was mainly white, which lasted from the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty. At first, Ding kiln was regarded as a civilian kiln, that is, an unofficial firing site. However, it was later incorporated into the official kiln by the Song Dynasty, so both quality and aesthetics have been greatly improved. Many people have seen the masterpiece of Dingyao, which is the children's pillow.

Ding kiln white glaze child pillow, Song, Beijing Palace Museum

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children's pillow is a very classic modeling design, so there are many imitations in later generations, such as this one in Ming Dynasty:

Pengcheng kiln imitation kiln white glaze child pillow, Ming, Beijing Palace Museum

looks pretty good, but the overall shape appears unstable. If you sleep on your neck, you may have to be careful when you tilt your head.

of course, in addition to this classic pillow, Ding Kiln has other types of porcelain. The general feature is white with a black edge.

Pingyao white glaze printing peony lotus flower pattern plate, Song, Beijing Palace Museum

Pingyao White Glaze Bowl, Northern Song Dynasty, Beijing Palace Museum

Pingyao White Glaze Bowl, Northern Song Dynasty, Beijing Palace Museum

you can see from the bowl above that another feature of Dingyao is the dark engraved pattern. Since Ding Kiln was chosen as the official kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty, there are naturally some official classic shapes. For example, the three-legged bottle in the front of the Ru kiln or the marigold in the official kiln.

Pingyao white glaze string pattern three-legged bottle, Northern Song Dynasty, Beijing Palace Museum

Pingyao white glaze marigold, Song, Beijing Palace Museum

the above is the most basic overview of the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty. Although today these kilns have long disappeared, the artifacts that have been preserved bear witness to the most splendid culture in China more than a thousand years ago.

the porcelain of the Song Dynasty pays attention to shape and proportion, which is different from the beauty of later blue and white porcelain and the complexity of other colored porcelain. The emperor of the Song Dynasty, with a very high aesthetic taste, created the most brilliant chapter in the history of Chinese porcelain in the era of economic and cultural development of the whole country.

Song Huizong and Zhao Kui

that is, at that time, due to the invention of movable type printing and the compass, Chinese characters were read by more people, thus the official career of imperial examinations; more Chinese ships found their way, thus forming the Maritime Silk Road. Chinese porcelain, along with ships drifting across the sea, together with tea and silk, pushed China's economy to the forefront of the world. Perhaps when the emperor of the Song Dynasty was enjoying playing with this porcelain, he had no idea that his own Central Plains empire would end so miserably.