Chapter 1,251 The crown of blue and white flowers in all dynasties, revered by the world
Pearl material is the top grade among all domestic green materials.
However, if you want to make emerald blue, even pearl materials need to be carefully selected.
It also needs to be processed with advanced calcination methods, so that it is possible to burn the emerald color, which is emerald blue.
There are really too many things that can be manipulated here, so it is really not that easy to burn it into emerald blue.
In Chen Wenzhe's opinion, the key to everything is the pearl material.
Generally, the color of blue and white is due to the action of the coloring agent.
So at what temperature it reaches, what kind of blue color the blue and white material will appear.
Now that the temperature is not certain, it can only mean that the blue and white material should have changed.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t all the same pearl material be fired into emerald blue under the same high temperature?
Pearl material is an extremely commonly used blue and white material.
Especially after the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, pearl materials gradually became the main green material.
Pearl materials are rich in iron and other elements, and how to deal with these pearl materials requires modern detection methods.
This kind of technology did not exist in ancient times, so ancient craftsmen could only rely on the weather and luck to obtain emerald blue porcelain.
Therefore, in ancient times, pearl materials were mostly used for decorative works, and were rarely used for painting landscapes.
Because painting is difficult and the firing effect is unsatisfactory, not many people dare to try it.
And firing emerald blue has always been the ultimate pursuit of every craftsman.
It has a long-standing reputation for its pure glaze, green color, diverse shapes, and beautiful patterns. This is unmatched by the blue and white porcelain of the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, there are two types of blue and white porcelain in history, which are the best blue and white porcelain in the past dynasties.
One is Xuande blue and white, and the other is Kangxi emerald blue.
Since it is so precious and difficult to burn, why are there so many works by Emerald Blue now?
In fact, many of them are not emerald blue, but ocean blue.
Those who are new to blue and white porcelain often cannot distinguish between Kangxi emerald blue and late Qing Dynasty ocean blue.
Their colors seem to be similar and almost indistinguishable.
Ocean blue was an imported material in the late Qing Dynasty, and its blue color was also very popular.
The ocean blue is very bright, but its color looks very floating on the porcelain glaze!
Especially the color, there is no sense of hierarchy, just a pool of bright blue.
Magenta is a chemical material imported from developed countries in the chemical dye industry such as Germany and Neon in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.
It should be analytically pure or chemically pure cobalt oxide, although the color is blue with a hint of purple.
However, because it is very pure, there are no impurities and particles found in the natural mineral material Suma Liqing, and there are no rust spots.
Ocean blue is commonly known as "foreign material". It is distributed by Jingzhen Cha Yushun Pigment Store, among which "Mohe Brand" is the famous brand.
Because magenta is cheap and high-quality, it is welcomed by the market.
Domestic green materials (zhuming materials) were at a disadvantage in the market competition and went from bad to worse, gradually disappearing from the Jingzhen underglaze decorative materials market.
Only Tuotuo and Fending manufacturers still use Zhuming materials.
For beginners, it is easier to confuse the color (color feel) of magenta with sumac, green and pearl materials.
Because the colors of the four are all blue with purple in them.
If you observe carefully, they still have significant differences.
This is because the different elements contained in the green materials vary depending on where they are produced, so their colors are rich and colorful.
The "Zhizheng" Yuan blue and white used Sumama Liqing material, the Ming Dynasty Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli dynasties used the Huiqing material and the "Yanglan" used in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, are all imported materials.
Su material has a high iron content, and "rust spots" appear on the glaze after firing.
There are no "rust spots" in both Huiqing and Ocean Blue.
Their colors are all blue with purple in them.
However, the Su material is slightly purple, green and beautiful, while the bluish-purple color is heavier but pure, calm and durable.
The hair color of pearl material is blue and beautiful, and it is easier to be confused with magenta, but pearl material is pure and stable;
The "marine blue" color seems too gaudy and inelegant, and the blue and white flowers float on the glaze, making it feel like they are coming over you.
Huiqing material was only imported by the government during the Jia, Long and Wan dynasties of the Ming Dynasty and was limited to official kilns.
There are records of its strict control in the literature, but it still continues to flow into the folk and is used in blue and white in folk kilns.
Especially in the sixth year of the Longqing Dynasty, the imperial kiln factory only had one task of firing official kiln wares.
Therefore, a lot of green materials flow into private kilns.
The same principle also proves that not all Huiqing wares are official kiln wares.
The comparative identification method of green materials is very important and is also a basic skill for collectors.
Knowing the creation time and usage year (interval) of various color materials is very helpful for us to judge the authenticity and dating of porcelain.
Ocean blue was only invented around the middle to late Qing Dynasty. If a piece of porcelain signed with the Qing Shunzhi or Ming dynasty shows the presence of ocean blue in the decoration, it can be concluded that it is a fake.
Modern collectors don't like magenta wares, but of course there are fine blue and white porcelain made of magenta.
For example, some small pieces made of fine materials and elegantly made from late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China made of western blue materials have become more and more popular among collectors.
Let’s talk about Kangxi Emerald Blue. It is a very deep blue color with a very strong sense of layering.
Some even reach the point of appearing like waves, layer by layer.
And its strokes are very clear and bright, even the handwriting as fine as a hair is clearly visible.
And the hair color is light and sinks under the glaze, light and bright, and never feels hazy.
This is also an important reason why the production of emerald blue depends on luck.
The more delicate the brush strokes, the higher the requirements for the blue and white hair color, because the blue and white are more or less diffuse.
Therefore, the fired emerald blue often presents a magical effect that is close to the ink color rendered on rice paper in traditional Chinese paintings.
This blue color scale can also be divided into multiple steps, and can even express the chamfering method in painting vividly.
This can be seen from the decoration on the cover of the vat with Kangxi blue and white landscapes and figures in the Forbidden City collection.
If you expand it and look at it, it is a wonderful piece of traditional Chinese painting.
Let’s take another look at the sumali green material of Xuande Dynasty. Its halo effect is exactly the opposite.
To some extent, the late Qing Dynasty ocean blue has a bit of Xuande blue and white attitude.
However, it is not as faded and faded as the Xuande blue and white, and where the passion is intense, the tin spots are concave like rust.
If you look at it in a dark place with a light on, only two words can describe it: "beautiful".
This is what makes it amazing and exciting.
It can be said that the blue and white of Xuande are simple and rich in vicissitudes of life, and the sapphire blue is famous all over the world, while the emerald blue of Kangxi is bright and elegant, like the clear sky of clear autumn.
These two kinds of blue and white porcelain are the crown of blue and white porcelain in the past dynasties and are respected in the world.
It is not easy to imitate such fine blue and white porcelain.
Especially for Chen Wenzhe, it is not easy to find shortcuts, let alone others.
In other words, even if we search for the Sui Marquis Pearl, we have not found an accurate method for processing the pearl material.
This time, he could only rely on his previous experience to show the color of cobalt oxide in the pearl material.