Historically, the production time of cowpea red porcelain was short, so the number handed down was very small, and it has always been the target of collectors.
The Jincheng Museum collects a Kangxi cowpea red glaze Taibai statue. Its glaze color is red and green, showing the uniqueness of peach blossoms in spring.
As Hong Beijiang, a Qing Dynasty poet, said in his poem: "Green is like the spring water at the beginning of the day, red is like the morning glow."
Most of the cowpea reds handed down from generation to generation are small pieces. Generally, the bottoms of the vessels have the official kiln inscription "Made in the Kangxi Year of the Qing Dynasty" in three lines and six characters in regular script. They are mainly study utensils used by the Kangxi court.
Although a small amount was fired during the Yongzheng period, the glaze color was gray.
After Yongzheng, it has been difficult to see.
Among the more famous cowpea red porcelain, in addition to the previous Kangxi Taibai Zun, there is also a brush washer.
The cowpea red glaze was also from the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, with a height of 3.9cm, a diameter of 8.2cm, and a foot diameter of 7.5cm.
I have been making a lot of Ru kiln brush washers recently, and now I am making a Kangxi cowpea red brush washer. For Chen Wenzhe, it is a piece of cake.
However, you need to pay attention when applying glaze.
This pen washes the mouth and circles the feet.
It has white glaze on the inside and cowpea red glaze on the outside, with green moss spots.
The sole of the foot is glazed with white glaze, and the blue and white inscription "Kangxi Year of the Qing Dynasty" is written in three lines and six characters in regular script.
Because cowpea red glaze is a high-temperature color glaze with variable colors, which is fired with a reducing flame, during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, cowpea red porcelain was also a valuable variety among copper red glazes.
Its basic color is like the red of ripe cowpeas, but this is the basic color.
After the cowpea red ware embryo is made and fired in the kiln, the results are different.
As mentioned before, after the cowpea red porcelain is successfully fired, the finished product can be divided into superior and inferior products.
The distinction between high and low is based on color. Due to the influence of the firing atmosphere, the color of cowpea red glaze changes ever-changing.
After it is finally fired, the effect may be good or bad.
Whether it is good or bad can definitely be distinguished by whether it is beautiful or not.
Therefore, cowpea red glaze is difficult to control. It is really colorful and ever-changing.
If it is a good direction change, there are usually several situations.
Or there are dense spots of dark red in the hazy pink;
Or the dark red gradually fades into light red;
Or the area is slightly light yellow or light green;
Others have a blush among the dark and light greens, showing the interest of being covered with moss in the spring waves of peach blossoms.
These changes are all caused by a series of factors such as the composition characteristics of the glaze and the changes in glaze viscosity.
As long as you grasp this point, the color of the final fired product will still be different, but you won’t get it too many times.
After all, Chen Wenzhe has experience. He must avoid the gray and black uneven "donkey liver, horse lung" color, and try his best to make the glaze color bright and bright, the whole body is one color, clean and flawless, and red like the morning glow.
The root of all this is that red glazed porcelain contains an appropriate amount of copper.
This right amount is the key.
Chen Wenzhe clearly knows that in order to successfully fire good cowpea red porcelain, the copper content of the prepared glaze must be between 0.3% and 0.5%.
In this way, it will burn bright red in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere.
This kind of cowpea red glaze will give people a more profound aesthetic feeling visually.
It is because of its unique beauty that Chen Wenzhe fired a batch of rare cowpea red porcelain while making apple green glaze and apple celadon glaze.
And to achieve this, you need to start to let it change, and kiln change will occur.
At this time, the goal becomes as green as spring water.
Apple green is a kiln variation of cowpea red. The glazed moss green is connected into sheets with a blush in between, which is similar to the rich color of fresh apples.
If you want a perfect apple green glaze, you still need to control the copper content.
Under normal circumstances, the cowpea red fired by jdz should all be light red.
But when the process conditions change, a large number of green spots sometimes appear in the red area, or even connect into one.
This kind of green spots are called "apple green".
Burning cowpeas from red to apple green was regarded as a strange thing by the ancients, so it was called kiln transformation.
Many modern studies have revealed its secrets.
Wherever apple green appears, the copper content is several times higher than the red parts of the same vessel.
This shows that the formation of apple green is due to the enrichment of copper in local areas.
Apple green is named after its color is close to that of fresh green apples. This color has no obvious irritation to the human eye.
The "kiln-changed" color of cowpea red, if the moss green on the glaze is connected into pieces with a blush in between, is similar to the rich color of fresh apples, this is the top apple celadon glaze.
The mechanism of fruit green coloring is that the product is accidentally oxidized in the final stage of the kiln, and the copper turns into copper oxide, causing most or all of the glaze to turn green.
Apple green can be said to be a failure of cowpea red, but it has the peculiarity of being "covered with moss and spreading among the spring waves of peach blossoms", making it a very precious variety.
If you thoroughly study the key points inside, if you want to bake apple green or apple green, there will be no problem at all.
Therefore, it was not difficult at all for Chen Wenzhe to make kiln-turned porcelain like apple green.
Just increase the copper content in the glaze. Other firing processes are the same as cowpea red porcelain. At most, the temperature is different when it is fired in the kiln.
After finishing the production of cowpea red and apple green porcelain, the next step is the most classic Lang Kiln red and Lang Kiln green.
Lang Kiln porcelain is a successful product created by Lang Tingji, who served as governor of Xijiang during the Kangxi period.
Because he loved ancient ceramics and was very knowledgeable about them, Emperor Kangxi gave full play to his expertise.
During the seven years from the 44th year to the 51st year of Kangxi's reign, he shouldered the post of the porcelain governor of Jingzhen. Therefore, the products of the Jingzhen Royal Kiln Factory during this period were all called Lang Kiln.
Lang kiln green is made of lime glaze containing copper oxide, which appears green in the oxidizing atmosphere and is a verdigris glaze.
Usually after glazing, it is fired at a high temperature of about 1300 degrees.
However, due to the complexity of the process, the firing temperature is extremely difficult to control. To produce ideal emerald green glazed porcelain, the yield is extremely low.
Therefore, the quantity in existence is very small, and the products are often mainly small pieces.
Judging from the existing porcelain pieces and actual objects, Lang Kiln Green has the following obvious characteristics.
The green glaze layer of Lang kiln is uniform and thin, the glaze color is stable, emerald green, bright and gorgeous, the glaze surface has a strong glass-like luster, and it seems to have a jade-like feeling.
Then there are the "fly wings" and "langbuliu" mentioned before.
The characteristics of the green glaze of Hesitation Lang Kiln are too obvious, so even if the Lang Kiln ware has no money left, it is still recognized by the world as an official kiln ware.
Generally, official kiln wares from the Qing Dynasty must have this dynasty designation, but Lang Kiln Green does not.
Of course, the Langyao red porcelain does not have the official kiln mark, but the collectors all recognize it as a unique official kiln ware without the mark.
Since this is also a copper red glaze, the firing and kiln changes are not much different from those of cowpea red, so firing Lang kiln wares is easier for Chen Wenzhe.