Compared with the five-color and doucai wares of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the plain three-color wares are hung with low-temperature colored glazes on plain bodies.
As for Wucai and Doucai, colored glaze is applied on the fired glaze body.
Secondly, most of the plain three-color patterns are represented by conical engravings, and the craftsmanship is a bit rough.
Of course, except for the combination of "plain three colors" and "pastel colors".
As for Wucai and Doucai, black color and blue and white are used to draw outlines, and the patterns are particularly delicate.
Therefore, the artistic attainments of the five-color and doucai products of the same period were also superior to those of plain three-color wares.
The evolution of three-color porcelain in the Ming and Qing Dynasties can be seen from the fact that it slowly developed and expanded in the Yongxuan imperial factory in the early Ming Dynasty, and reached a large scale in the Chenghua period.
Subsequently, the innovation and popularization of doucai and multicolored porcelain caused it to lose its advantage for a time.
In the early Qing Dynasty, the production of Kangxi imperial factory brought it to its climax. During the Yongzheng period, it was even combined with other emerging colored porcelain crafts for innovation.
In the historical stage where various ceramic crafts are constantly advancing, "Susancai" has also been gradually reformed and updated through several ups and downs.
In fact, the production process is also very simple, which is to soak the ground porcelain clay and make a clay body.
After that, patterns are drawn on the clay, and the surface is coated with glaze slurry, and then fired in the kiln to become underglaze.
The other is to fire the porcelain blank at 700-800C to form a bisque.
Then, a high-temperature glaze made of metal oxide is applied to the tire blank and fired twice with a high-temperature oxidation flame at 1080C.
"Boss, we are about to enter the cabin. Do you want to take a look?"
Just when Chen Wenzhe once again wanted to study the firing process of plain three-color porcelain, Gao Qijing once again walked into the cabin where the porcelain from the sea was stored.
"Is the place cleared?"
"Yes, but we can't salvage it as a whole, we can only demolish it."
The two of them walked into the radar warehouse.
Looking at the footage captured by the underwater robot, Chen Wenzhe felt a little pity.
Another ancient shipwreck is buried here, and countless broken porcelain is scattered on the seabed around the wreckage.
On the other display, it was in a dark cabin.
At this time, with the shaking picture, Chen Wenzhe had discovered a large part of the porcelain.
He could see that a large portion of the porcelain had been broken before the ship sank.
The fragments of the ship's bottom near the porcelain fragments were intact, but elsewhere only the keel of the ship could be seen, and all the connecting plates were missing.
Later, more broken pieces of porcelain and ballast were discovered under large pieces of the hull.
All the above signs indicate that the ship had experienced an explosion first.
A large amount of porcelain and ballast leaked to the seabed first.
The hull then sank to the bottom of the sea and rested on top of porcelain shards and other objects.
This ship is not big, but it carries a lot of porcelain. It seems that there are at least one hundred thousand pieces.
However, most of these porcelains were damaged.
In addition, it was stolen for several days, and what can be seen now are almost all fragments.
Chen Wenzhe also wanted the fragments, so the first thing to clean up were the broken porcelain fragments pressed by the wreckage of the ship's hull.
Soon, the number of broken porcelain pieces in the water reached 9,583 kilograms.
Looking at the shape and weight of the vessels, Chen Wenzhe estimated that there were at least 37,000 pieces of porcelain, but unfortunately 80% of them were broken.
There are not many with less than 50% damage, so you can easily pick out seven or eight thousand pieces.
And there are still 20% left in this batch of broken porcelain pieces.
Among the 100,000 pieces of porcelain, there are 30,000 to 40,000 pieces piled here, no less than 20%, a total of 7,000 to 8,000 pieces.
And these can all be said to be Clark porcelain. These are the trophies that the Dutch wanted to intercept at sea.
Yawen Library
Unfortunately, the ship was destroyed, and the loot also went into the seabed with the shipwreck, where it stayed for three to four hundred years.
Among so many porcelains, Jingzhen blue and white porcelain is still the main type, which is the so-called Clark porcelain.
There are many typical blue and white porcelains, such as the Ming Dynasty blue and white double phoenix pattern Clark porcelain plate. This kind of plate has a diameter of 31cm, a bottom diameter of 16cm, and a height of 5cm. It is really not small.
Others include the Ming and Qing Dynasty lotus pond Clark plate with mandarin duck pattern, with a diameter of 31cm, a bottom diameter of 17cm, and a height of 5cm.
These types of vessels should be the finest works of folk kilns in the late Ming Dynasty, and can also be said to be a collection of blue and white.
The reason why we understand it so clearly is because this kind of porcelain was salvaged from the Wanli ship that year.
Stan, the salvager of the "Wanli" shipwreck, brought the salvaged Clark porcelain to Jingzhen, my country's "Porcelain Capital", in August 2005.
He found some porcelain pieces that were very similar to shipwreck porcelain in several abandoned ancient kiln sites, confirming that the porcelain was produced in Jingzhen during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
Influenced by traditional cultural concepts during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the decorations of these porcelains were mostly based on Buddhist, Taoist, Yinsi and traditional Chinese auspicious themes.
In particular, the auspicious culture has been widely spread, which reflects people's mentality of hope.
For example: curing diseases, preventing disasters, bringing good luck, having more children, longevity, etc., which enable people to gain psychological comfort.
Its patterns and shapes also incorporate a variety of styles, giving people a unique aesthetic enjoyment.
At this time, the batch of porcelain in front of Chen Wenzhe had been immersed in sea water for a long time, and the glaze had been corroded to varying degrees.
In terms of workmanship, it is difficult to compare with the porcelain from the official kilns of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but the historical and cultural value behind them cannot be underestimated.
This kind of porcelain can be said to be a good physical testimony of my country's export of porcelain.
As a large number of complete vessels came out of the water, Chen Wenzhe became more certain that these porcelains should be the same as the porcelains that came out of the "Wanli" shipwreck.
The porcelain exported at that time was mainly for daily use.
Although the types of utensils are relatively rich, there are also plates, bowls, saucers, cups, lidded boxes, military holders, bottles, pots and other products.
The period characteristics of these porcelains are very obvious.
For example, plates and dishes are the porcelain items with the largest amount of water from sunken ships.
The rim of the dish is divided into a petal mouth and a round mouth. The maximum diameter is 33 cm. The smaller diameter is called a dish.
The inner bottom and edges of the plates and dishes are round, diamond-shaped, fan-shaped, strip-shaped, and peach-shaped.
The patterns are decorated with flowers, animals, immortals, grass and insects, flowers and birds, melons and fruits, etc.
Like a Clark porcelain plate with blue and white double phoenix pattern, it looks like it was made in the Ming Dynasty.
This blue and white dish has eight diamond-shaped blue and white brocades painted on the inner bottom for consecration. The theme decoration inside the consecration is two phoenixes holding fairy grass in their mouths following each other, and the phoenix tails are intertwined among auspicious clouds.
The phoenix is the imaginary patron saint of people. Although it is actually a non-existent virtual creature, it is the object of worship by ancient Chinese ancestors.
People believe that it can bring light and happiness, implying peace and good fortune in the world.
In addition to this kind of typical ethnic characteristics, other porcelain with peony patterns are naturally not uncommon.
For example, the Ming Dynasty blue and white white peony pattern dish has a diameter of 21.5cm, a bottom diameter of 13cm, and a height of 3.5cm.
Inside the double circle at the bottom, three blooming blue and white peonies are painted.
Such patterns are not uncommon in porcelain produced in any dynasty!