How precious is the enamel color that the first-class Duke "Nian Gengyao" covets?
In 1722 AD, Aixinjueluo Yinzhen, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty, ascended the throne as emperor, and his reign was Yongzheng.
However, Emperor Yongzheng was on pins and needles when he first came to the throne.
Because he had been pursuing the strategy of keeping a low profile and not forming cliques before, he did not have many cronies in the court.
Moreover, there are also many people who suspect that his throne was unfair.
In order to secure the throne, Yongzheng urgently needed to win over high-ranking officials in the court and establish his prestige.
So he turned his attention to his brother-in-law, Nian Gengyao, who was the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi at the time and was leading an army to guard the northwest.
And Nian Gengyao did live up to his expectations. After taking over the seal of general, he quickly put down the rebellion in Qing Province.
Yongzheng was ecstatic when he received the good news, thinking: Now he can finally sit on the throne!
Therefore, he, who has an extreme personality and extremely strong emotional changes, actually responded to Nian Gengyao's memorial to Zhu Pi: Your efforts are the result of completing the unfinished business of my emperor and father. Logically speaking, they are all my meritorious officials.
; To be honest, from you down to the generals, all those who serve with their lives sincerely are my benefactors!
As an emperor, he actually calls his subordinates "benefactor", which is unprecedented!
In fact, this also caused trouble for Nian Gengyao!
At the beginning, Yongzheng naturally did not treat his "benefactor" badly. He not only promoted Nian Gengyao to an official position, but also rewarded him with countless rare utensils.
In February of the second year of Yongzheng, Nian Gengyao wrote in the memorial: "I saw that the enamel feather tube was exquisitely made and the color was beautiful. I admired it very much. I only repaired it and folded it to express my gratitude to God. If there is any new enamel object, please be kind to me."
Reward one or two to satisfy the greed of the minister, and the minister will be frightened and frightened because of nothing."
It turned out that Nian Gengyao had received an enamel plume tube as a gift from Yongzheng before. He felt that it was exquisitely made and the color was beautiful, which made him admire it.
He bowed his head to thank God for his kindness, and then asked for more francs as a reward.
Therefore, there is a saying: If there is a new enamel object, if there is a new enamel object, reward one or two to satisfy the greed of the minister, and the minister will not be frightened.
Ling Guan, I can't put it down, and actually want more.
Faced with Nian Gengyao's "bold" request, how did Yongzheng and Zhu Pizhong respond?
"The enamel items have not yet been refined, and they will be made in the future. Now I will give you the few pieces I have now. But if you don't use this word of greed, you will not give me any. You can get all these pieces with the power of this word!"
It seems that Nian Gengyao had a good grasp of Yongzheng's temper.
It was precisely because of the use of the word "greed" that the emperor was so happy.
As expected, the legendary domineering CEO, Fourth Master, did not break his promise.
Later, he was rewarded with "a box of various enamel utensils", "five pairs of enamel porcelain", "two boxes of enamel tea cups" and so on.
Many friends may have questions: As a favorite, Nian Gengyao has many things to ask for in rewards, so why must he "be greedy" for enamel?
This is because at that time, enamel was only used by the royal court and a few nobles. It can be said to be an extremely precious and rare thing.
Even at this time, Nian Gengyao, who had been awarded the title of First-Class Duke, General Fuyuan, and a highly respected minister, was given special treatment by being rewarded.
There is nothing that can be done about it. Even the emperor who is rich all over the world sometimes does not get what he wants.
For example, enamel glazes, as mentioned before, are imported materials brought by Western missionaries, so they are naturally very scarce.
In the early years of Yongzheng's reign, the manufacturing office burned two of the five wine glasses, and Prince Yi also reprimanded "the other three must be carefully burned."
It was not until the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign that domestically produced enamel materials were finally successfully developed.
It was also at that time that nineteen glazes were tested, including white, yellow, black, bright cyan, autumn fragrance, lotus root, dark grape and bronze.
In particular, there are many colors that are not found in imported color materials.
Although Chen Wenzhe can easily sell enamel materials now, what he buys are raw materials.
If you want to use it, you still need to refine it.
It is not easy to prepare as many as nineteen kinds of Yongzheng enamel colors.
Enamel is also called "fulang", "folang", and "blue", with similar pronunciations. They are all names for an artificially processed vitrified substance.
It uses natural feldspar, quartz and other minerals as its main raw materials.
Then add soda ash, borax and other compounds as fluxes.
Then add titanium oxide, antimony oxide, fluoride, etc. as opacifying agents.
Finally, metal oxides such as copper oxide, cobalt oxide, iron oxide, manganese oxide, and antimony oxide are added as colorants.
After crushing, mixing, calcining and melting, it is poured into water and quenched to obtain enamel frit, which is then crushed and finely ground to obtain enamel powder.
After mixing the enamel powder, it is applied on gold, silver, copper and other metal objects, and after baking, it becomes metal body enamel.
If glass is used as the body, it is called glass body enamel;
Those with porcelain as the body are called porcelain body enamel.
This is just the enamel material. To make a piece of enamel-colored porcelain, even if it is just a small bowl, not a single step of the procedures should be spared.
For example, to make a small bowl, you need to first refine the clay, then draw, cool, and sharpen the embryo, and then add color!
The whole process involves first placing the yellow clay on the so-called sharp cart, then sitting on the cart and using special tools to make the surface of the utensil smooth.
The shape needs to be coherent and consistent so that the clay can show a bright white color.
This is an extremely important process in ceramic molding, which ultimately determines the shape of the object.
The manufacturing of Jingzhen porcelain is very particular and requires internal and external repairs.
Not only do you need to be familiar with the properties of mud, but you also need to understand and grasp the straight and curved changes in the shape of the object, the mud left in each part during firing, and the shrinkage.
For example, to make enamel porcelain embryos, you must first learn the types of grinding and be familiar with more than a dozen various iron sharp tools.
After completing the above process, it is the first time to enter the kiln, and the temperature is 800 degrees.
After leaving the kiln, you can start to continue making. At this time, you need to draw the line and use the color you need.
The second step is to separate the water, draw the outline color, and use the main color to separate the water.
After completing these two steps and firing in the kiln for the second time, the temperature needs to reach 1,380 degrees.
Fix the paint that has been fired once, and then use raw material to draw the thread.
The third time it was fired in the kiln, the temperature was 860 degrees.
After the third firing, there is another process called color picking!
Color picking is actually about dyeing. Use a pen dipped in bright black, and a clean white cloud pen dipped in a small amount of camphor oil. After the pen is colored within the range of the required dyeing pattern, the white cloud pen pigment is then used to wash and dye it to form a color.
Gradient effect from thick to light.
This is the simplest color picking. The color picking on enamel uses more colors, but it is also painted on a white body.
After the color is picked, the fourth porcelain is fired in the kiln, using 820 degrees.
The last step is to mine gold, and then enter the kiln for the fifth time, with a temperature of 800 degrees!
Only when the firing is completed this time and comes out of the kiln flawlessly can a work be considered completed!
Enamel is made by hand and is complicated to make.
An error occurred during the drawing and will be remade!