Carmine-red porcelain will produce a pink hue when the gold content in the glaze is one ten thousandth;
When the gold content is 2/10,000, it produces a ruby hue.
If the temperature is lowered, the ruby color will appear at certain points.
If the temperature is gradually lowered, the red color will gradually become tinged with purple, and finally turn into purple, purple-green, green, and finally light cyan.
Therefore, carmine red porcelain is actually a kind of porcelain that is very difficult to make.
The difficulty is that its color is not only related to the composition of the glaze, but also to the control of the temperature inside the kiln, as well as the influence of atmosphere changes and the weather outside the kiln.
These factors can be big or small, but they control the fate of whether the carmine can be successfully fired.
These key technologies all came from a few pieces of porcelain that Chen Wenzhe had picked up.
After this period of research, he has thoroughly studied the craftsmanship of those porcelains.
So now that he was doing the Rouge Red Ground, he had the confidence in his heart, so he naturally did it very quickly.
"Boss, it's hard to control the color, right?" Zhang Gu asked.
"It's okay. Gold powder, firing temperature, etc. all have an impact on the color. You have to be willing to learn. When it comes to firing in the kiln, you can follow along and learn. For this kind of gold glaze firing, when should it be reached?
The temperature is all very particular, and it cannot be wrong at all. If it is wrong, you will not know what the color will be like when it is fired."
"Can this plum vase be made into ruby red?"
Looking at Chen Wenzhe, Zhang Gu was still a little confused.
After all, Chen Wenzhe is too confident, right? If he were an outsider, he wouldn't doubt anything just because of Chen Wenzhe's reputation.
However, he is an expert after all, and only an expert can know how difficult it is to make carmine red porcelain.
"I can handle the raw materials pretty well. I will tell you some key points when it comes to firing. As long as you understand those, you should be confident in controlling the color."
Seeing that Zhang Gu had hit the point, he also knew the difficulty of firing carmine red porcelain, and Chen Wenzhe didn't mind teaching him more.
The biggest fear when teaching others the inheritance is that they don’t even know what the key points are.
"You make another chrysanthemum petal plate. I suddenly remembered that a pink chrysanthemum petal plate from the Yongzheng period seems very beautiful and classic. Now that I have made it, I will make a few more pieces at once."
"Okay, I've also heard of that chrysanthemum petal plate!"
Zhang Gu was indeed very familiar with porcelain from the third and third dynasties of the Qing Dynasty. Chen Wenzhe knew what he was talking about when he mentioned it.
The carmine red porcelain of the Yongzheng period was already very mature. After all, those who know a little about Emperor Yongzheng know that he was an emperor who preferred pink, which can be seen from the pastels.
The carmine red glaze chrysanthemum petal dish mentioned by Chen Wenzhe was also fired during this period.
The porcelain looks like a blooming chrysanthemum petal in appearance, and its shape is like a plate, so it is called chrysanthemum petal plate.
The names chosen by the ancients were more appropriate to the actual objects, but this also makes it easier for us to recognize them.
The entire shape of this porcelain is carmine red glaze, the curved wall is very shallow, the size of the petals on the plate wall is evenly distributed, the carcass is fine and dense, the carcass is thin, moist and translucent.
Therefore, this piece of porcelain is just a prototype, and it is still difficult to make it.
Now that Chen Wenzhe has nothing to do, it is also a test for Zhang Gu to see what his real skills are.
The plate is easy to make, but the chrysanthemum petal plate is a bit difficult to make. If it is the Yongzheng chrysanthemum petal plate, the difficulty will be even higher.
However, it seems that Zhang Gu is doing quite well now. Although the speed is a bit slower, he can do it fairly smoothly.
The chrysanthemum petal plate is one of the plate types. Because the plate body is made into a chrysanthemum shape, it is definitely much more difficult to make than an ordinary plate.
It’s good if it can be made, and it’s good if it can be made in a regular shape.
If you can still make the carcass delicate, dense, thin, moist and translucent, then you are an extremely expert.
Chen Wenzhe was doing his own thing while watching Zhang Gu do it. Unexpectedly, he did really well.
Although it is still a little bit thinner, stronger, finer, more translucent and smooth compared to the Yongzheng official kiln, it is already a technology of clay refining and embryo refining.
Although Zhang Gu has solid basic skills, he is still far behind Chen Wenzhe who can reach master level in all processes.
Now that he is taking a comprehensive examination of the school, some of his shortcomings are beginning to be exposed.
However, as long as you do more of these things, you will eventually improve them.
Just like this time, Zhang Gu made thirty-six pieces in one go, obviously a set of twelve pieces, and made three sets in total.
Just from this point, it can be seen that Zhang Gu really understands the chrysanthemum petal plate, and even more understands the Yongzheng chrysanthemum petal plate!
This type of chrysanthemum petal plate was fired in Song Ge Kiln, Jin Ding Kiln and Yuan Longquan Kiln, but it became more popular in the Yongzheng Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty.
This kind of porcelain is commonly made of pastel and single-color glaze products. According to the archives of the Manufacturing Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, in the 11th year of Yongzheng's reign (1733), forty pieces of each of the twelve color-axis chrysanthemum-style plates were ordered to be fired.
Throughout the Qing Dynasty's imperial aesthetics, things from the Yongzheng period focused on a kind of implicit beauty.
Especially the porcelain from the entire dynasty at that time is now held by collectors for comparison with those from the Qianlong period.
It can also be seen from this that the porcelain of the Yongzheng Dynasty is no worse than that of the Qianlong Dynasty.
Nowadays, some people like Qianlong porcelain because it is gorgeous and beautiful enough.
Moreover, the production level has reached an unprecedented level. Every treasure produced during the Qianlong period is very beautiful and exudes a sense of wealth.
But many professional collectors are particularly interested in antique porcelain from the Yongzheng period.
Many professionals describe it this way: The porcelain of the Song Dynasty pays attention to the subtle beauty, and the restrained character is fully reflected in the porcelain.
By the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng's porcelain was the closest representative to Song porcelain, and the degree of imitation was well received by everyone.
The chrysanthemum petal plate specially ordered by Yongzheng. The set of plates is composed of 12 colors of porcelain. The production level is extremely high and it is a high-quality product ordered by the emperor in the official kiln.
Throughout historical records, a total of 40 sets of chrysanthemum petals ordered by Yongzheng were made.
Nowadays, these 40 sets have been distributed all over the world, and it is difficult to collect a few complete sets of 12 sets.
The "Twelve-Color Glazed Chrysanthemum Plate" from the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty has a unique and beautiful shape, which is more in line with the aesthetics of the ancients at that time.
Judging from the time, the Chrysanthemum Petal Plate is undoubtedly the most famous and most praised work by future generations.
It is well-made and has a well-documented historical background in antique culture, so this set of plates is naturally a high-priced item.
The current valuation exceeds 15 million, and it continues to increase year by year.
This kind of price is very common for porcelain, but it is very rare for plates, especially single-color glazed plates.
Twelve colors, each with its own unique beauty.
Combined into a set, there are only forty pieces of each variety.
Such complete sets of porcelain are very rare throughout the five thousand years of Chinese history.