Dehua kiln underglaze blue and white porcelain began to be produced in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, it had matured and become more refined, fully reflecting its scientific performance in terms of technology and materials.
Underglaze blue and white is painted on the body with cobalt oxide as the main pigment, then a colorless transparent glaze is applied and fired at high temperature.
Since the blue and white are painted under the glaze, the color material is originally very fine. After firing, it is completely melted between the glaze, making it appear smooth, crystal clear, rich in color levels, and not susceptible to external oxidation and acidification, and will not cause corrosion.
fall off.
Therefore, as soon as blue and white porcelain entered the international market, it was generally welcomed, and blue and white porcelain became an important commodity in foreign trade at that time.
Under this circumstance, the production and leap of Dehua blue and white porcelain was promoted.
Almost all kiln sites in the Qing Dynasty produced blue and white porcelain, and the production areas were spread throughout the county.
Kiln sites from the Qing Dynasty can be found even in the most remote mountains and dense forests, where there are no villages.
Among them, the towns such as Shangyong, Gekeng, Tangtou, Xunzhong, Longxun and Sanban are the most densely populated.
How prosperous were the Dehua kilns in the Qing Dynasty?
Not to mention other things, just at the entrance of the kiln, they are everywhere.
Especially in Baomei Village, Xunzhong Village, Gaoyang Village, Longtai Village in Chengguan and Sibin Village in Sanban Town, almost every household has someone engaged in porcelain production.
During that period, the elderly, women and children took the porcelain industry as a sideline business for their families, while the young and middle-aged worked on farming during the busy season and porcelain during the leisure time.
There are 23 Qing Dynasty kiln sites in Gaoyang Village alone, which overlap and are spread across every hilltop.
According to records, there were as many as 25,000 porcelain workers in Dehua during the peak period of the Qing Dynasty.
It can be seen that the scale and output of Dehua blue and white porcelain production at that time reached an unprecedented level.
Unfortunately, there is no historical record of the production methods of Dehua blue and white kilns.
However, judging from the porcelain specimens collected from the kiln sites, some porcelain kilns only had one trade name.
However, in Dehua, most blue and white kiln sites were found to have more than two merchants.
Such as "abundant, rich, rich and jade" etc.
These phenomena show that the production of Dehua blue and white porcelain kilns at that time was operated by one family alone or jointly by two or several families, with joint operations being the most common.
In joint operations, each household first makes porcelain blanks separately, and then joins together to fire the kilns together, thus forming a production method of "each household makes porcelain blanks individually and cooperates in firing the kiln".
This unique production method must fully consider the production and sales of the product, and obtain the expected economic benefits in the fierce market competition.
They must spend less time and produce more finished products.
That is to say, it cannot be refined and refined, and it must not be rough or rough at the same time.
Therefore, the unpretentious blue and white folk kiln art style of Dehua folk kilns gradually formed, embodying the characteristics of unobtrusive folk art and catering to the aesthetic taste of most consumers.
The export of Dehua blue and white porcelain in the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Quangang and Zhanggang declined, and Xiamen and Hong Kong rose. Dehua porcelain was exported from Xiamen and Hong Kong.
Especially in 1684, the 23rd year of Kangxi's reign, the Qing government officially established customs in Xiamen.
At that time, after the Ministry of Household Affairs sent personnel to "question the taxation of Fujian Customs," Dehua porcelain was exported from Xiamen Port in larger quantities.
In addition, Dehua blue and white porcelain also reaches An'gang and Fugang directly through Dazhang River and its tributaries, and then goes to sea and is sold abroad.
Dehua blue and white porcelain has been discovered in large quantities abroad in recent years. According to relevant data, it can be found in Tanganyika in East Africa, Syria, Yinni, Yinsan, Ska, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Elephant Kingdom and other places in Asia.
The discovery of Dehua blue and white porcelain.
In particular, the largest number of Dehua blue and white porcelains have been found in ink pads. Among them, "small bowls with dotted patterns, morning glory bowls, flower basket pattern plates, and bowls with longevity patterns printed on them" are all very common unearthed items from Dehua blue and white kiln sites.
From 1974 to 1975, the Guangdong Provincial Museum organized two cultural relic surveys of the Paracel Islands and discovered a large number of Dehua blue and white porcelain.
Among them are "blue and white plates, bowls and dishes with morning glory pattern; blue and white bowls with cloud and dragon pattern, fire bead pattern, blue and white bowls with city tower pattern, blue and white plates with Buddha's hand pattern, blue and white plates with longevity pattern, blue and white plates with half life pattern, etc."
A large number of Dehua blue and white porcelains were discovered in the Xisha Islands. Some of them are the daily utensils of the local people, but most of them should be the relics left by Dehua export porcelain in the Xisha Islands via the South China Sea route.
The sunken ship "Nanhai No. 1" was salvaged in 1984, and the shipwreck in the Paracel Islands was salvaged in 1999. Many porcelains from Dehua were discovered.
In short, the discovery of ancient shipwreck porcelain such as the "Taixing" further proves that the production and export of blue and white porcelain in Dehua during the Qing Dynasty reached its heyday.
Dehua blue and white porcelain, with its unique artistic charm, plays a positive role in the economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries and the development of friendly relations between China and foreign countries.
And what about the sunken ship in front of us? What happened to it?
Its name should be the Taihe. It had a similar experience to the Taixing. It also took an unfamiliar route to avoid pirates, and eventually ran aground and sank.
This situation should not be accidental. Perhaps merchant ships in the Qing Dynasty at that time began to be forced to change their routes, so problems frequently occurred.
This unfortunate merchant ship was a wooden three-masted sailboat with a length of more than 50 meters, a width of 15 meters, and a weight of more than 1,000 tons. It was considered a giant ship in our country at that time.
This sunken ship, like the Taixing, is quite large and luxurious.
Through review, Chen Wenzhe clearly knew that the ship had 5 cabins.
But that's it. When it was sailing, additional cabins and tents were built on the deck, and there were more than 100 small compartments, so it could carry more than 2,000 people.
It has three masts and adjustable-angle sails. The tallest mast is 35 meters high and the base is more than 1 meter thick.
The bow is a typical quadrangular shape with eyes painted on it;
There is a gun warehouse at the stern of the ship, equipped with cannons.
There is another special feature in the design of the Taihe. A 1-meter-wide protruding edge is installed around the ship to serve as a passage for crew members to travel between the bow and stern.
This can maximize the use of space on the deck.
It can be seen that a lot of thought was indeed put into the design of the Taihe.
For the Qing Dynasty, which implemented a policy of seclusion and maritime ban, the Taihe was an anomaly. It could often carry passengers and valuable silk fabrics, porcelain, gold and silver, and conduct trade activities with countries around the world, especially Southeast Asian countries.
Of course, many times going to sea is done privately.
As for the location where the Taihe went to sea, it was not the Xiamen Port that most people think of.
Through the review, Chen Wenzhe knew that Xiamen Port had been closed at that time, and the Taihe should have gone to sea in the sea, and it still went to sea secretly.
Through the review, Chen Wenzhe has a clearer understanding of what is on board the Taihe.
Because we are going to sea secretly, we must pack as much as we can. This will make more money.
Because the more sea bans are implemented, the fewer merchant ships go to sea, and the more these merchant ships go to sea secretly, the more they make.
Therefore, although the Taixing is only 1,000 tons, its cargo capacity is not small.