In fact, folk imitations of Xuande's ruby-red monk's hat teapots are very beautiful, but no one has ever been able to imitate the bright red color.
It is a bright red with real gem luster, even better than Chinese red.
Although ordinary people cannot own antique-level treasure pots, they can collect a fake at home and place it in the living room or study room.
It's also very beautiful.
Chen Wenzhe went a step further. He was dissatisfied with the inferior products made by the private sector, so he simply made one himself.
The shape of the monk's hat pot is inherently difficult to make, and with the pure ruby red glaze, it is also not easy to bake.
Especially bright red, bright ruby red with gem luster is even more difficult to fire.
Such porcelain,
He definitely wanted to make one, but unfortunately he could only make one.
Because of a monk's hat pot,
Just connecting the tire is very troublesome, not to mention that it needs to be well designed.
Fortunately it was an imitation, so he only had to make a copy according to the proportions of the vessel in the picture.
What needs to be mentioned here is that bright red soil is also particularly important in making this kind of Xuande ruby red glazed porcelain.
The use of bright red clay actually began during the Yongle period.
Therefore, in the Yongle Dynasty, some people commented at that time: "Yongle was fired by the imperial government during the Xuande period, and it is still the most expensive. At that time, brown eyes and sweet whites were common, with sumac and green as decoration, and bright red as the treasure."
It can be seen from here that at that time, sweet white was a common thing, and bright red was a rare treasure.
Later generations also called Yongle bright red, ruby red or treasure-burning red.
Because the red glaze is the sacrificial vessel used in the sun altar to worship heaven, it is also called sacrificial red.
According to the literature, “for the red sacrifice, the glaze color is made of western rubies.
The bright red light is dazzling."
Zhao Ruzhen's "Guide to Antiques" states that "the red glaze of the Ming Dynasty is thicker and forms a wood grain, which is like sharp peaks and repeated waves. It looks awe-inspiring but deep, and is called chicken wing wood grain."
It is difficult to say whether this Yongle red glazed porcelain used imported red gemstones, but there are indeed historical records of "fresh red earth" in the late Ming Dynasty.
After the Jiajing period, almost all red glaze firings stopped. This is the reason.
So what kind of soil is bright red soil? In fact, the truth is very simple.
After modern scientific research, this kind of bright red soil is believed to be a natural copper oxide mineral that can be directly fired into a bright red glaze.
Perhaps it is one of the many kinds of gemstones abundant in Southeast Asia that Zheng He brought back from his voyages to the West.
Of course, this ruby is by no means a ruby in the gemological sense.
Pigeon's blood red like that is extremely precious and cannot be used to make porcelain.
Therefore, bright red soil is most likely a low-grade red gemstone similar to garnet, which was difficult to distinguish in ancient times.
Modern production of copper red glaze,
It involves calcining copper on a fire and scraping the calcined copper oxide powder into the glaze.
The proportion of copper oxide in the copper red glaze is only a few percent.
Belongs to trace elements.
If the copper oxide is not ground finely enough, the hair color will not be bright, and defects such as moss spots and green spots will easily appear.
The best copper-red glaze does not have green moss spots, the unavoidable defects of early underglaze red porcelain.
This is also the reason why red glaze was invented to replace underglaze red.
Underglaze red is copper red as a pigment, which is painted directly on the porcelain body blank, and then covered with transparent glaze and fired at high temperature.
Historically, there was a technique of removing red from underglaze and white from underglaze, which was to apply copper red on the porcelain body and the ground around the decorative pattern to create the effect of red ground and white flowers.
This is closely related to the later Xuande red-glazed white flower porcelain.
But if you have seen the real thing, you will know that this kind of craftsmanship is not beautiful. The reason is that the color is not good, so I did not continue to bake it later.
The bright red glaze of Yongle was improved on the basis of the red and white underglaze painting.
Of course, none of this is actually important. What is important is that during this period, Chen Wenzhe clearly understood what fresh red soil is.
What he can know, will the seniors in the domestic ceramics industry know?
Therefore, although the bright red soil has disappeared since the Jiajing period, our descendants have artificially synthesized more useful bright red soil.
To put it bluntly, it is just some natural copper ore. After crushing and grinding, it is prepared in a suitable proportion. This way it is more convenient and easier to succeed in firing ruby red glaze.
This is the power of modern technology. At this time, Chen Wenzhe not only had fresh red soil, but it was also ground very finely.
After the ruby red porcelain is made in this way, the color will be better and brighter when fired in the kiln, and the glaze layer will be very even and there will be no defects.
It is because of these advantages that Chen Wenzhe tried firing several times and was able to perfectly produce the ruby red porcelain he wanted.
But even so, he used bits and pieces of time and worked for a week before he finished making a ruby red glazed monk's hat pot.
Of course, during this period, he could not make all the ruby red monk's hat pots, nor could he only make Chinese red porcelain or red glazed porcelain from past dynasties.
During this process, he also made a lot of Ru kiln wares, enamelware, Tang Sancai, and other single-color glaze porcelain.
To make various kinds of porcelain with complex craftsmanship, you must find every opportunity and make rational use of time.
This one needs to be dried, so make another one.
The same variety has been put into the kiln once, or is being put into the kiln for the second time.
Then he would change to another species and continue working, since he couldn't be idle anyway.
In this way, Chen Wenzhe continued to produce batches of classic porcelain in rotation.
But on this day, he felt that he had almost completed the research on Xuande ruby red glaze and was about to finish it.
After looking at the specially prepared glaze, I saw that a lot of gemstone materials could be used in it, including some of various gemstones.
There aren't many left now, but there are still some. This stuff can't be wasted, after all, it's too troublesome to prepare.
Besides, the cost is also very expensive, and it would be a pity to waste it.
So, he made another jade pot and spring vase.
This time there wasn't much soil left, so the bottle he made was extremely thin.
He remembered that during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, there seemed to be a secretly carved ruby red jade vase handed down.
This bottle has a delicate texture, a sharp and regular shape, a sweet white glaze with Tian characters inscribed on it, and a regular style of writing.
It was made by the supervisor of the Chenghua Palace Building Office in the Ming Dynasty. It is a royal artifact and the porcelain used is of extremely high grade. It is a genuine product of the Chenghua first-class official kiln in the Ming Dynasty.
Also, it is the Tianzi style. This type of Ming Dynasty Chenghua porcelain can be said to be a famous brand among famous brands. It is very popular among modern collectors, and Chen Wenzhe is no exception.
It's a pity that he has never seen such famous brand porcelain.
This ruby red glazed jade pot spring vase is really floating.
Not to mention the glaze color, but the carcass is as thin as paper. People who see it really feel like it is an illusion.
Once you see it clearly and touch it in your hands, you will think that it is a treasure given to us by God.