The imperial enamel vessels of the Qing Dynasty are top-notch in terms of material and workmanship.
It can be said that every piece of enamelware is exquisite, luxurious, sophisticated and versatile.
You can imagine the exquisiteness of Zadao craft porcelain that is comparable to enamelware!
Like enamel, this process is quite labor-intensive. In the records of the Imperial Household Office of the Qing Dynasty, this newly created pattern was called "the icing on the cake", and Jingzhen artists called it pahua.
Among them, pastel-rolled porcelain (pahua) organically combines pastel and rolling techniques to form a perfect match.
The characteristics of pastel porcelain are that the yin and yang are prominent in the picture, the color is clear, the three-dimensional effect is strong, and the color is soft, elegant and bright.
The so-called rolling road is to apply a layer of color material evenly on the white tire, such as red, yellow, purple, carmine, etc., and then use a tool shaped like a rust flower needle on the color material.
Usually, thin phoenix tail patterns are drawn out, and finally they are decorated with flowers, birds, landscapes and other patterns or consecrated patterns.
Nowadays, the rolling process technology has become increasingly mature, and the yield rate has also been greatly improved.
In today's Jingzhen market, it is not difficult to see ceramic products made by rolling mills, from large brand stores to small street stalls.
However, it is rare to see truly well-made porcelain, especially well-made pastel rolled porcelain.
Of course, being rare does not mean that it is not uncommon. For example, the pastel rolled porcelain from the Qianlong period was not only well made, but also top-notch.
Chen Wenzhe knows a kind of pastel-rolled porcelain from the Qianlong period with the highest craftsmanship.
Therefore, don’t underestimate any category of porcelain. There are only good or bad ones, and there are no categories that stretch your crotch.
Seeing the pastel flower vase made by Zhang Gu, Chen Wenzhe was so happy that he couldn't help but make a vase.
Forget about the hollow revolving bottle in his collection worth hundreds of millions, it was too troublesome to make.
However, it is not difficult at all to make an ordinary bottle just by using the pastel lining technique.
Among them, the most difficult or complicated one is the tying process, but this kind of bottle is really beautiful when made.
Chen Wenzhe also imitated a piece of porcelain from the Qianlong period, and it was one of the finest pieces.
The Qianlong Dynasty was the golden period for the development of ancient Chinese ceramics. The official kiln porcelain of this period was famous for its rich variety and exquisite production.
In particular, the pastel-rolled porcelain invented by Qianlong in his early years was a wonderful flower in his garden.
Weird people are definitely in the minority, so why do they seem to have become famous all of a sudden recently? And they are everywhere?
Over the years, pastel rolled porcelain has been favored by people, but in recent years, the market price has been rising year by year.
This is the reason why a kind of porcelain is suddenly so popular among people!
At the 2011 Chinese porcelain and handicrafts auction held in Fubi, Hong Kong, a long-necked gourd vase with light yellow ground and foreign colors from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty and the icing on the cake with the "Longevity" picture was sold for more than 250 million Hong Kong dollars, setting a record for Qing Dynasty porcelain auctions.
historical records.
This piece of porcelain has a lot of history. The gourd is a very favorite type of vessel in ancient China. Because gourd is a homophonic word for "Fu Lu", it is loved by both the people and the royal family.
This long-neck gourd vase was originally kept in the Yuanmingyuan, the royal palace of the Qing Dynasty. It was a royal porcelain and a display vessel.
However, in 1860, the Second Opium War broke out. Emperor Xianfeng, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty at that time, rushed to the Chengde Summer Resort in a hurry and surrendered the huge sacred city to the British and French forces.
Under the iron heel of the British and French allied forces, the Old Summer Palace became an important place for bandits to rob.
The British and French forces carried out a massive looting in the Old Summer Palace and looted many precious treasures.
Some larger and precious porcelains were actually broken and thrown to the ground.
This small long-neck gourd bottle luckily escaped being smashed, but it was still robbed out of China.
After the British and French allied forces brutally looted the Old Summer Palace, they even used arson to burn this world-famous garden to the ground.
In 2010, this long-neck gourd bottle appeared at the auction of Sufubi in Hong Kong.
After dozens of bidding rounds, the long-neck gourd bottle was finally sold for more than 250 million Hong Kong dollars, setting a new record in the history of Chinese porcelain auctions.
Why does a bottle sell for such a high price? First of all, it must be because it is beautiful!
On top of being beautiful, you can easily find countless advantages, such as grandeur.
This should be considered one of the standards for many high-priced porcelains during the Qianlong period, right? Those that can sell for sky-high prices will definitely let you see the prosperous era of Qianlong at a glance!
Let’s not talk about whether it was a truly prosperous period or not. Let’s talk about this series of bottles. From them, you can see that the porcelain production technology of that era must have been at its peak.
So why did such a piece of pastel rolled porcelain sell for a sky-high price of 250 million?
Is it just because of its beauty? Of course not, it also has its ultimate craftsmanship.
In fact, in the final analysis, the process is complicated and ordinary people cannot do it.
So how difficult is the process of pastel rolled porcelain? Just think of the filigree enamel and enamel color processes.
As mentioned before, the process technology of pastel rolled porcelain has only been perfected in recent decades. Only the pastel rolled porcelain can be considered qualified. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the production of this kind of porcelain must have been a
A difficult task.
Let’s talk about this long-necked gourd vase with light yellow ground color and icing on the cake, which dates from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Its production process is no worse than that of an enamel-colored porcelain.
In the Qing Dynasty, when Jingzhen imperial porcelain craftsmen adopted and became familiar with the painting techniques pioneered in the early years of Qianlong, this luxurious and complicated decorative technique - "Roading Brocade" gradually matured and became highly respected.
This technique of using fine needles to carve curly grass patterns, phoenix tail patterns and flower patterns on the glaze to express the "brocade ground" effect was finally perfected in Jingzhen.
The long-neck gourd vase copied by Chen Wenzhe is a masterpiece of this period.
The patterns painted on the bottles are bright and varied in color, overlapping and interlaced, with exquisite composition and detailed and colorful patterns.
The full name of this long-neck gourd bottle is relatively long, but through some words in the name, we can know that the color of this gourd bottle is light yellow, and it uses enamel technology from the West.
Its pattern is the icing on the cake, which means longevity and boundless longevity. The gourd shape has never been used before.
To imitate such a piece of porcelain, the craftsmanship is not the most difficult, but the materials are the most difficult.
Since it is an official kiln ware, it is still comparable to enamel-colored porcelain, so the materials and craftsmanship must be of the highest quality.
You should know that in the early Qianlong period, pastel rolled porcelain was a new overglaze color variety created by the unremitting efforts of Tang Ying, the pottery supervisor, and JDZ craftsmen, who drew on the porcelain body painting enamel production process.
It is fired at the JDZ Royal Kiln Factory. Under the strict organization of the pottery supervisors, the best porcelain raw materials and the best craftsmen from JDZ and surrounding areas are gathered together to make it with meticulous workmanship.