From a purely historical and cultural perspective, bronzes from the late Shang Dynasty already have great significance for collection and investment.
This kind of thing, whether it is imitated into porcelain or bronze, is of high value.
Of course, if you want to imitate this kind of thing from the late Shang Dynasty, you must not imitate it from the late Shang Dynasty, otherwise it will have no value at all.
As for bronze production, Chen Wenzhe is also professional.
Nowadays, if you want to imitate, you must imitate porcelain, and it is not difficult to imitate.
Now that we know the evolution process of flower goblets, we naturally want to imitate everything we can.
At this time, Chen Wenzhe mainly made Ru kiln flower goblets. Other varieties, such as multicolored flower goblets and blue and white flower goblets, could be imitated by workers in the factory.
Zhang Gu, in particular, is very spiritual. With a little guidance from Chen Wenzhe, he can do what he wants.
Since Zhang Gu had the idea of learning, Chen Wenzhe did not hesitate to give advice.
"I make celadon. If you are interested, why don't you make some blue and white porcelain, pastels, or simply make colorful flower cups?"
Seeing that Zhang Gu's skills were good, Chen Wenzhe made a request. He really wanted to see Zhang Gu's level.
"Okay boss, please give me some advice." Zhang Gu was not polite at all.
Isn’t the reason why he came to South Vietnam just to see his boss often? He came here just to receive guidance from his boss!
Now that he has seen Chen Wenzhe's level of making Ru porcelain, Zhang Gu is already astonished.
As for his own imitation of Ru porcelain, he feels that it is still far behind.
But he is very confident in making blue and white porcelain and multicolored porcelain.
"We have all kinds of blue and white materials here, and we also have a complete range of kaolin, so you can make blue and white flower cups, pastels, and multicolored flower cups! If you are confident, starting from the Ru porcelain flower cups in the Northern Song Dynasty to the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, all I can make a few copies!”
Seeing that Zhang Gu has enough confidence, Chen Wenzhe continues to increase the difficulty.
The several dynasties he just mentioned all made flower goblets, but the ones made in each dynasty were different, and even the names were not necessarily the same.
Just one goblet, from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, there are many types of goblets. It can be said that from ancient times to the present, the goblets of each period are different.
The goblet was originally a container used for drinking in ancient times and was also used as a ritual vessel.
This kind of thing has round feet, an open mouth, a long body, and a trumpet shape at the mouth and bottom.
Gu first appeared in the Erligang culture, but became very rare by the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was popular in the Shang Dynasty and the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
Porcelain vases imitating bronze goblets, commonly known as "flower goblets", were popular in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Of course, this does not mean that there were no flower goblets in the Song Dynasty, but it was not called that name at that time, and it was not very popular at that time.
This thing is a bit like the jade pot spring bottle in wine vessels. Was there no jade pot spring bottle before the Yuan Dynasty?
Definitely not. Although the Yuan Dynasty is said to have created and burned jade pots, there must have been similar types before, but they were not fired on a large scale.
Flower goblets are similar. They must have existed before, but there were only a few of them, and they have not been specifically divided into one category.
Let’s talk about flower goblets. With the continuous improvement of porcelain firing technology, the shapes of porcelain have become more abundant. Porcelain is used in many furnishings and has begun to have certain practical functions.
After the development of Jiajing and Wanli dynasties in the Ming Dynasty, the shapes of flower goblets became more diverse.
Formal flower glasses began in the Yuan Dynasty and were mainly popular from Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty and Wanli to Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty.
In addition to being used for display, early flower goblets were mostly used among the people for flower arrangement and hall decoration.
The shape of the flower goblet is elegant, dignified and generous, with rich line changes.
There are two common types: colorful flower cups and blue and white flower cups. The decorative themes include character stories, folklore, twining flowers or flowers and birds, etc.
The characteristics of the flower goblets are very obvious. The flower goblets of the Ming Dynasty were mainly three-section, with a trumpet mouth at the top, a bulging belly in the middle, and a phoenix tail at the bottom. The shape of the flower goblets is simple and elegant.
Among the common Ming Dynasty flower vases, the five colors are the most valuable.
Generally, they show the characteristics of dense decoration, clear layers, bright colors and tough style.
In fact, the porcelain variety of flower cups was actually produced in large quantities in the early Qing Dynasty, and it was mainly popular in the Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Qianlong periods.
With the decline of porcelain from the late Qianlong period and Jiaqing period, this variety has gradually disappeared.
Of course, whether there is one or not, whether it is called Huagu or not, there are works of Huagu in different periods.
Whether it is called a flower goblet or not is not important. What is important is that bronze goblets were imitated during the Ru kiln period of the Song Dynasty. No matter what this kind of porcelain was called in ancient times, in the eyes of modern people, it is a flower goblet.
Now, by looking at flower gulets from different periods, you can appreciate the changes in artistic styles and shapes of different periods.
While appreciating its artistic beauty, if you want to imitate it, you must understand the historical evolution of the flower goblet.
From the color, glaze, shape, and carcass, we can identify the varieties of different periods. On the contrary, we can also reproduce the fine products of each era based on the characteristics of each period.
Zhang Gu is very spiritual, and with a little guidance from Chen Wenzhe, he actually got started.
Coupled with his profound knowledge of porcelain making, the flower cups he made are really good.
Among them, the two best ones are an imitation of a blue-and-white landscape figure vase from Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, and the other is an imitation of a rare fine Yongzheng blue-glazed vase.
After working for a long time, Chen Wenzhe made a series of celadon flower gobs. When Chen Wenzhe stopped, he found that Zhang Gu's imitation was very professional.
At least when he took a quick look, he didn't find much of a problem.
Whether it is the choice of glaze, the characteristics of the decoration, or the color of the glaze, everything is done perfectly.
Just like the Shunzhi porcelain, the Shunzhi porcelain of this period was in the transitional stage from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, and its shape, glaze, and decoration all had distinct transitional characteristics.
The flower goblet imitated by Zhang Gu has a simple shape and bluish-white enamel;
The mouth of the utensil is glazed with sauce-yellow glaze in different shades.
The key point here is that the yellow glaze mouth is an important feature of the Shunzhi period.
Most of the paintings on the flower gu of this period were mainly "mountains, rocks, flowers and birds".
The blue and white materials used were made from Zhejiang during this period, and the base of the circle was changed from the beveled shape of the Ming Dynasty to the rounded loach back.
The official kiln porcelain is all blue and white, with double-line regular script inscriptions of "Shunzhi Year System of the Qing Dynasty" and "Shunzhi Year System".
Folk kilns often write the inscriptions of the year of the zodiac, the year of the zodiac, and the fine utensils of the Yutang.
The output of porcelain during this period was not small, so the existing quantity is relatively large.
In terms of the decorative layout of the patterns, another main feature is that the lower part of the vessel is often painted with banana leaf patterns.
As for the shape of the vessel, the opening angle of the rim is smaller than other similar varieties of the same era!
There is no obvious protruding part in the middle of the vessel, and the integrity is strong. The height of the vessel is in the middle.
Although this is an ordinary type of porcelain, even a bit popular, it must be said that it is not easy to imitate it to this extent.
It can also be seen from this that Zhang Gu is careful.
Look at the Yongzheng flower goblet again. The Yongzheng period was the prosperous period of the Qing Dynasty, and porcelain production reached the highest level in history.
This is a very rare Yongzheng flower vase. It is light, handsome, exquisite and charming.
It doesn’t matter if it’s well made, it’s mainly the type of vessel like the flower goblet, which was even rarer in the Yongzheng period.