Chenghua Doucai Porcelain
When it comes to Doucai in ancient porcelain, many people will naturally think of the Ming Dynasty Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup, which is the most famous and legendary.
The legend of the sky-high price of the Dou Cai leaks
In 1949, Mr. Qiu Yanzhi, a great collector in Hong Kong, picked up a big leak and bought a pair of Chenghua Dou Cai chickens for more than 1,000 Hong Kong dollars. Nowadays, decades after the collection of chicken vat cups is in full swing, this pair of chicken vat cups has caused a huge stir. It has become the talk of the Tibetan world and has become a typical legend of "picking up leaks" and "exorbitant prices". Among the chicken bowl cups bought for more than 1,000 Hong Kong dollars, one sold for 4.18 million Hong Kong dollars and the other for 5.28 million yuan, setting a new record for Chinese porcelain that year. Later, the one worth 5.28 million yuan was collected by the British Museum, and the other one was sold for 29.17 million Hong Kong dollars at Sotheby's auction in 1999, once again breaking the record of the year. Chenghua Doucai became famous and became the official official of all generations. It is the leader of the kiln and has aroused great enthusiasm among collectors. Even a residual Chenghua Dou Cai Tianzi jar was auctioned at Sotheby's in London in 2001 for a high price of approximately RMB 11.3 million. It is precisely because of the "sky-high price" that the collecting community has taken a new look at Chenghua Doucai. It is precisely because of the legend of "picking up leaks" that people from all walks of life have begun to be keen on "making up" stories. In short, the Chenghua Doucai official kiln, which is a national treasure, is in You can find traces of it at any antique stall, and its authenticity is obvious. Of course, whether it is a chicken jar cup or a Tianzi jar, there are not too few of them in existence. There are more than 20 chicken jar cups in the Forbidden City, and the National Palace Museum in Taipei also has a collection. However, the emergence of so many Chenghua fighting colors among the people is obviously not in line with reality. Therefore, tracing the origin of Chenghua fighting colors from their artistic characteristics and eliminating the fake while retaining the true is a blessing for both the friends who love collecting and the whole society.
The colorful porcelain of the Ming Dynasty was magnificent and colorful, with a wide variety of varieties, and there were countless fine products in the palace. Such painted porcelain has a long history in the development history of Chinese ceramics. The emergence of doucai was gradually formed on the basis of inheriting and developing traditional painted porcelain. Expert leaders from Hanhai, Beijing, visit our Gu Yuzhai from time to time to help collectors identify their collections correctly. High-quality items can also be sent for free for auction. For more information, please collect 1 30 13 03 21 35
The varieties of white-on-black porcelain, white-glazed red-green porcelain, and white-glazed green porcelain produced by the Cizhou kiln are undoubtedly the forerunners of the multi-colored porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Doucai, also known as Doucai, was created and fired during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. It is a decorative variety that combines underglaze color and overglaze color. Doucai is a pre-fired underglaze blue and white porcelain at high temperature. Mineral pigments are used for secondary coloring to fill the gaps left by the blue and white pattern and the spaces within the blue and white outlines. Then it is baked in a small kiln at low temperature. Baked. Doucai, with its brilliant and colorful tones and calm and sophisticated colors, formed a decorative style in line with the aesthetic taste of the Ming Dynasty. According to historical documents, fighting colors began in Xuande of the Ming Dynasty, but the real objects are rare. Doucai during the Chenghua period was the most highly regarded, and it was also called "kiln color" or "five colors of blue and white" in Ming and Qing literature. The designs of Chenghua doucai porcelain handed down from ancient times are simple and concise, and the content is mainly flowers, birds, and figures. The overglaze color is transparent and bright, rich in color, and has extremely high artistic value. Specimens should be collected by Jin Jing.
Because of the extraordinary value of Chenghua doucai, it has also become the focus of ceramic counterfeiters. Therefore, collectors must practice their internal skills and improve their identification ability before purchasing. The artistic style of Chenghua Doucai is unique and is not difficult to master with a little analysis and more specimens. The author once saw a Chenghua doucai Tianzi jar. Judging from the characteristics of the shape and design, it does have the characteristics of Chenghua doucai. However, if you look closely at the glaze, you can see that the glaze is bright and the colors are frivolous and subtle. There are many adhesions in places, which is undoubtedly a new imitation. The Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup, which appeared at this year's Spring Festival auction, is a representative work of treasures. The cup has an open mouth slightly tilted, the bottom of the mouth gradually converges, a flat bottom and a high foot. The cup body is small, with flexible contours, straight within the curve, and straight within the curve, showing a dignified, graceful, elegant and graceful charm. The outer wall of the cup is decorated with two groups of hens, surrounded by lake rocks, roses and orchids, creating a scene of early spring. There is no glaze around the sole of the foot. On the inner wall of the high sole is the six-character inscription "Ming Dynasty Chenghua Year System" in blue and white regular script. Compare it with the new imitation Tianzi jar to identify the authenticity.
Of course, collecting requires not only looking at more specimens, but also avoiding confusion and distinguishing categories. In addition to the famous Doucai porcelain of the Chenghua Dynasty, there were also colored porcelain and single-color glaze varieties inherited from the Xuande period, including blue and white glaze, blue and white glaze, blue and white with peacock green glaze, blue and white glaze with yellow glaze, blue glaze with white flower, and white glaze. Glaze sauce flower, white glaze red color, white glaze yellow color, white glaze green color, plain three colors, enamel flower, imitation glaze, white glaze, yellow glaze, blue glaze, red glaze, etc.; their production techniques are all very delicate, but It is rare to see it handed down from generation to generation. Therefore, it is easy to be regarded as a doucai. Although it has the same collection value, the market price is very different. The commercial value and appreciation potential of Chenghua doucai porcelain has always been very considerable, and it has a very long history of collection and investment. Because it is a treasure for the royal family, the products are few and exquisite. In the Wanli Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, the value of Chenghua doucai doubled. The book "Wanli Yehuobian" of the Ming Dynasty wrote: "The kilns of this dynasty are decorated with five colors between blue and white on a white ground. They are the best in ancient and modern times. The ones from Xuan kiln are the most expensive. Recently, it has been built into a kiln, which is above the Xuan Kiln." "As for the kiln utensils, the most expensive ones are Cheng Hua, and the second most expensive ones are Xuande. The cups are worth just a few gold at the beginning. But when they come to the capital, they will be made into kilns and sprinkled with cups worth hundreds of gold each. I will stick out my tongue and be unable to put them down." Early Qing Dynasty Cheng Zhe also said in "Rongcha Li Shuo" that "Shenzong's fashionable food emperor, a pair of cups, is worth one hundred thousand." In the early Qing Dynasty, Zhu Yizun recorded in more detail in "The Exposure of the Book Pavilion": "The Wanli ware asked for a lot of gold. "Two, those who have succeeded in Xuande will be given double the salary. The chicken pot must be made of platinum and five hangings. Those who are powerful will cherish it." People in the Ming Dynasty regarded Chenghua Dou Cai as a treasure, and people in Qing Dynasty regarded Chenghua Dou Cai as Gongbi. , the emperors and upper aristocrats especially valued it. According to the archives of the manufacturing offices of various government offices in the Qing Dynasty, "On April 13, the seventh year of Yongzheng's reign, a pair of five-color porcelain jars (without lids) were handed over to Cheng Kiln. According to the order, this jar was given to Nian Yao to have a lid added, and it was fired in this way. Make a few pairs", which shows the love of emperors and nobles for fighting colors. When talking about porcelain collection and investment, people will talk about the 230 million yuan blue and white jar from the Yuan Dynasty. In fact, in terms of weight-to-price ratio, area-to-price ratio, and auction records, the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup is even better. When it comes to collecting and returning porcelain, timing matters. In recent years, the porcelain collection market has been flooded with counterfeits. Coupled with the impact of the financial crisis, the number of people interested in porcelain has decreased, and prices have fallen.
Speaking of the earliest porcelain in China, the earliest celadon-glazed porcelain appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was made of porcelain clay. Finely fired porcelain is a specialty of the Han people. Primitive porcelain was developed from pottery and was first seen at the Shang Dynasty site in Erligang, Zhengzhou. Celadon-glazed porcelain appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The early porcelain was mainly celadon. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it developed into two major porcelain systems, celadon and white porcelain, which were mainly monochromatic glazes. They also produced porcelain with engraving, scratching, printing, decals, carving, openwork and holes. Pattern decoration techniques. The porcelain production technology of the Five Dynasties was superb, and the Henan Chai Kiln belonging to the Northern Porcelain System has the reputation of "a tile is worth a thousand pieces of gold".
The Chai kiln was the official kiln of Chai Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Legend has it that Zhou Shizong required the Chai kiln to produce porcelain that was "as thin as paper, as bright as a mirror, and as loud as a chime. When the rain passes, the sky becomes blue and the clouds break the virginity. This color will be a symbol of the future." ". But so far, no artifacts from the firewood kiln have been seen or excavated. The southern porcelain system is famous for its "secret color porcelain" from Yue Kiln.
The six major celadon kilns of the Tang Dynasty: Yuezhou Kiln, Dingzhou Kiln, Wuzhou Kiln, Yuezhou Kiln, Shouzhou Kiln, and Hongzhou Kiln. The celadon glaze produced in these six kilns has the best color, and they were later called the six major celadon kilns in the Tang Dynasty. The six major kilns that produced celadon (Yuezhou Kiln, Dingzhou Kiln, Wuzhou Kiln, Yuezhou Kiln, Shouzhou Kiln, and Hongzhou Kiln), plus the Xingzhou Kiln that produced white porcelain, are collectively called the Tang Dynasty. Seven major porcelain kilns.
Song Dynasty porcelain is characterized by single-color glazes of various colors. The glaze can be made with ice cracks, and can be fired in kiln to change color and have double-sided colors, underglaze green, underglaze red, etc. The famous "porcelain capital" Jingdezhen got its name from the production of porcelain for the court during the Jingde period of Song Dynasty (1004-1007 AD). The selected porcelain clay must be white and fine, the porcelain produced must be thin, white as jade, and good at making exquisite flowers. Printed porcelain and colorful gilded porcelain were popular in Yuan Dynasty porcelain.
In the Ming Dynasty, "white background blue and white porcelain" was popular. Celadon has "shadow blue". The porcelain is extremely thin, with dragon flowers carved secretly, which can be seen on the surface and inside, and the pattern is slightly cyan. There is also "Jihong porcelain", which is named after the porcelain color is like the color of Jihong after rain. The color of the kiln has developed from one color to three colors: kiln turning red, kiln turning green, and kiln turning purple.
The Qing Dynasty produced "colored porcelain" with novel designs and luxurious porcelain colors. The "enamel porcelain" and "famous porcelain" were outstanding, as well as the "azure glaze", which imitated the color of wood kiln porcelain of the Five Dynasties. There are also Ji red porcelain and Ji celadon porcelain. Today's famous porcelain production areas include: Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, famous for blue and white porcelain, blue and white exquisite porcelain, color glazed porcelain and pastel porcelain. Tangshan in Hebei Province, Changzhi in Shanxi Province, and Shiwan in Guangzhou can all use traditional techniques and modern technical equipment to fire various kinds of porcelain. In addition, there are Jun porcelain from Yu County, Henan, red porcelain from Liling, Hunan, Ru porcelain from Linru, celadon from Longquan, Zhejiang, etc.
It is actually a good idea to intervene at the right time, and Chenghua Doucai will definitely become the next "Yuan blue and white jar" to shock the collecting world.
After the emergence of primitive porcelain in the Shang Dynasty, through the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Eastern Han Dynasty, it experienced changes and development from 1600 to 1700 years, gradually becoming mature from immaturity.
Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, most of the porcelain produced from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties was celadon. These celadon are finely processed, hard in texture, non-absorbent, and have a layer of cyan vitreous glaze on the surface. This high-level porcelain-making technology marks that Chinese porcelain production has entered a new era.
my country's white glazed porcelain originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and by the Sui Dynasty, it had developed to a mature stage. There were new developments in the Tang Dynasty. The firing temperature of porcelain reaches 1200°C, and the whiteness of porcelain reaches over 70, which is close to the standard of modern high-end fine porcelain. This achievement laid the foundation for the development of underglaze and overglaze porcelain.
Song Dynasty porcelain has made new improvements in terms of body quality, glaze and production technology, and the porcelain firing technology has reached a fully mature level. In terms of process technology, there is a clear division of labor, which is an important stage in the development of my country's porcelain. There were many famous kilns in the Song Dynasty that were famous both at home and abroad. Yaozhou kiln, Cizhou kiln, Jingdezhen kiln, Longquan kiln, Yue kiln, Jian kiln and Ru, Guan, Ge, Jun and Ding kilns, known as the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty, all have their own unique products. style. The products of Yaozhou kiln (Tongchuan, Shaanxi) are exquisite, with very thin fetal bones and uniform glaze layers; the Cizhou kiln (Pengcheng, Hebei) uses magnet mud as the base, so the porcelain is also called porcelain. Cizhou kiln mostly produces white porcelain and black flower porcelain; Jingdezhen kiln's products are thin in quality, smooth in color, exquisite in light, and their high whiteness and light transmittance are promoted as one of the representative works of Song porcelain; Longquan kiln's products are mostly pink Green or emerald green, the glaze color is beautiful and bright; the porcelain fired by Yue kiln is thin, delicate and beautiful in luster; the black porcelain produced by Jian kiln is one of the famous porcelains of the Song Dynasty, and the black glaze is as bright as paint; Ru kiln is one of the five major porcelains in the Song Dynasty The crown of the famous kilns, the porcelain glaze color is mainly light blue, and the color is clear and moist; the existence of the official kiln has always been a controversial issue. Generally, scholars believe that the official kiln is the Bianjing official kiln. The kiln was located in Bianjing and fired porcelain for the palace; Brother Where the kiln was fired has always been a matter of controversy. According to the analysis of various data, the Ge kiln is most likely to be fired together with the official kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty; the Jun kiln produces more colored porcelain, with carmine red being the best, green and ink-colored porcelain; the Ding kiln produces Porcelain has a fine body, thin and shiny quality, moist porcelain color, and white glaze like powder, so it is called Fending or Baiding.
The successful firing of exquisite white glazes and single-color glaze porcelain using copper as the coloring agent in the Ming Dynasty made the porcelain of the Ming Dynasty rich and colorful. The diversification of glazing methods for porcelain in the Ming Dynasty marked the continuous improvement of China's porcelain-making technology. During the Chenghua period, "ducai", which added overglaze color within the outline of the underglaze blue and white, was first fired. During the Jiajing and Wanli periods, the multicolored paintings were fired without blue and white outlines and directly painted with a variety of colors. They are all famous treasures. . The porcelain of the Qing Dynasty was further developed on the basis of the outstanding achievements of the Ming Dynasty, and the porcelain making technology reached a glorious state. The plain three-color and five-color paintings of the Kangxi period, and the pastels and enamel colors of the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods are all famous at home and abroad.
In the Ming Dynasty, a kind of porcelain was fired by adding overglaze color within the outline of underglaze blue and white. Because the underglaze blue and white and the overglaze color painting competed for the beauty, it was named "ducai".
A kind of porcelain with imitation copper body painted enamel effect in the Qing Dynasty. Enamel color is also called "material color".
The relationship between porcelain and pottery is inseparable.
When partially mixed with kaolin (or natural glazes such as feldspar, quartz, lime, etc.) and other raw materials containing natural color components such as copper oxide, iron oxide, and lead oxide, when the pottery is sintered, it will naturally form a layer on the surface of the pottery. Thin glaze (this is how Shigaraki ware first appeared in Japan.) In Chinese history, before the Ming Dynasty, Chinese porcelain was mainly plain porcelain (porcelain without decorative patterns, with the purity of color as the standard of quality). After the Ming Dynasty, painted porcelain became the main popular porcelain. Another porcelain-making country, Japan, has also developed its unique tea wares with the tea ceremony cultural circle.