Chapter 1189: One of the Few Ding Kiln Black Glazes
When we talked about Ding kiln in the past, we all knew how good the white porcelain of Ding kiln was. The ivory white of the white porcelain represented the identification standard of Ding kiln, and was even regarded as the only standard.
However, that was all in the past, and our understanding of Ding kiln is limited to some records from the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as our understanding of antique shops during the Republic of China.
After the recent forty years of reform and opening up, our infrastructure construction, high-speed rail, urban reconstruction, and large-scale projects such as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project are like turning over China's existing land.
This is more than n times the total amount of land excavation over the past thousands of years, and countless historical artifacts from past dynasties have been unearthed.
Since we are still stuck in the understanding of the 1950s, many things that have been unearthed have never been seen before, things that are not in museums, and things that are inconsistent with previous books have all been rejected.
Under this circumstance, and due to domestic policies and special circumstances of functional agencies, a large number of high-end artworks flowed overseas, enriching the collections of major museums in the world.
It has to be said that before we have enough food, it will be difficult for art and culture to develop.
Not much to say, from the current point of view, the history of Ding kiln began at least in the Sui Dynasty, of course, it should be earlier.
In the past, we thought that Ding kiln began in the late Tang Dynasty and was specialized in the Northern Song Dynasty. This is a very superficial understanding.
The Ding kiln in the Sui Dynasty actually produced very exquisite "porcelain" and also had a very mature sauce glaze.
For this point, we can refer to "Exploration and Appreciation of Ding Kiln Porcelain".
In fact, there are at least twenty varieties of Ding kiln, and their richness has never been imagined before.
Take the black glazed Ding kiln that has been mentioned in more than one history book. This kind of black-glazed Ding kiln accounts for a very small proportion of the total products of the Ding kiln.
The previous Ding Kiln white porcelain tripod is a treasure, but not all Ding Kiln white porcelain is a treasure.
It's just that the porcelain tripod is a tripod and a heavy vessel, so it is a treasure among the white porcelain of Ding Kiln.
However, if it is Ding kiln black glaze, almost every piece should be a treasure among Ding kiln porcelain.
This is the status of Ding kiln black glaze among Ding kilns.
The black glaze of Ding kiln probably appeared in the early tenth century, but the output was very small. It was not until the twelfth century that more black glaze appeared.
Despite this, the output of Heiding accounts for less than one thousandth of the total output, and only a handful of them have been handed down today.
Nowadays, if you sort out the known black sets collected by major museums in the world, you will know how rare they are, and you can also see in what era they were produced in large quantities.
For example, there is a beautiful Ding kiln black-glazed bamboo hat in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, produced in the 11th-12th century.
The British Museum collects a black bamboo hat, which also appeared in the 11th-12th century.
The neon Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art's black-coloured bamboo hat was also produced at this time.
Others include a Northern Song Dynasty black-glazed gold-color (falling off) lamp in the Neon Collection, and two Song Dynasty and gold partridge-spotted bamboo hat lamps in the Wawan Palace Museum, both from the same period.
There are a lot of Ding kiln wares over there in Neon, like an old Neon collection that was once auctioned at Christie's.
That is an authentic piece of the so-called "Flying Heaven" lamp. In addition to this piece, there are two tenth-century kiln-made bamboo hat lamps and a Northern Song Dynasty brown glaze lamp in private collections in Europe, as well as one in the hands of a private person in Shendu.
There may be a few among the people. From these porcelains, it can be seen that the number of Ding kiln black glaze lamps in existence is only this.
Ding kiln black glaze carved wares are even rarer.
Cutting utensils refer to utensils that cannot be drawn and formed in one go on a cart.
This makes it more difficult to make, so the quantity should be smaller.
The five-dynasty Ding kiln black-glazed plum vases in European private collections, the Northern Song Dynasty Ding-kiln black-glazed figures, and the Jin-dynasty black-glazed gold-color (color loss) auctioned by Jiangsu Fubi are all extremely limited Ding-kiln black glazes.
The reason why these Ding kiln black glazes are precious must be because their craftsmanship is better.
Compared with simple white porcelain works, the black glaze of Ding kiln has different characteristics such as kiln changes, gold tracing, stippling, and dots.
These craftsmanship may not seem too difficult now, but if it were more than a thousand years ago, these craftsmanship would not be ordinary, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is even a unique skill.
Because it is not easy to make, the quantity is very small.
If you have less, you will naturally cherish it. Of course, you may not necessarily cherish all the few things.
If there is one piece that is a rare and treasured work, it must be because of its higher level of craftsmanship.
Black-set gold tracing, stippling, kiln painting, and dotting are all techniques that Chen Wenzhe needs to learn.
It can be said that Black Ding is a better porcelain variety than White Ding.
If you are able to encounter and learn such technology, you must be lucky.
Through a Ding Kiln white porcelain tripod, Chen Wenzhi learned about the production technology of Ding Kiln white porcelain.
In this way, he has the basic skills of firing custom kiln porcelain, and then he can continue to work on these foundations.
"The hidden treasure in the Qiantang River? When you return to China, you must go and see it!"
Chen Wenzhe no longer cares about the firing technology of Ding kiln white porcelain, because he has already studied it thoroughly. As long as he tries firing a few more times and succeeds, he will fully master this part of the skill.
Next, the focus of his study must be on Ding kiln black glaze or Ding kiln sauce glaze porcelain, because these two porcelains have the most kiln changes.
It has to be said that as long as there is kiln change, it is enough to make some black spots become very beautiful.
It turns out that Chen Wenzhe must not be able to see it, at least the authentic ones, especially some of the exquisite ones, cannot be seen even if you go to the museum.
Most of the daily exhibits commonly seen in museums are fakes imitated by later generations.
For example, some genuine porcelains are treasured and carefully maintained in warehouses.
Let’s first take a look at the famous black ding lamp that was collected by the beautiful Bernard couple before the 1980s and published many times in 1959, 1960, and 1970.
This piece of black ding porcelain is the easiest black ding porcelain for ordinary people to see.
It's famous because it's really beautiful.
This black glaze lamp shines like a meteor shower in the night sky!
It was auctioned at Christie's in Xiangjiang in the 1980s, and sold at a high price to someone from Linyushan.
It was published by the Tokyo National Museum in 1994, and changed hands again in the past few years.
Although it is disabled, it is still a rare art treasure.
Let’s take a look at a black iron-stained lamp that has never been seen before. This one has many unique and unknown features.
First of all, this lamp has two different glazes on the inside and outside, which is the first of its kind in Ding kiln black glaze works.
Not only is the black glaze on the front of the lamp dark and shiny, but the several iron-red spots on it also fall through the air like meteorites.
In this scene, the fire-like falling rocks cut through the quiet night sky, giving people impact and infinite reverie.
In addition, it also wears a unique coat.
The crimson coat formed a sharp contrast with the dark, lacquer-like interior with spots blooming from the inside, showing its unique and strange light.