For the generation of researchers in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was almost no problem in identifying things.
Because at that time there was no such high technology as now, and there were a large number of 1:1 high imitations that were reproduced in proportion.
Almost all of the porcelain that has passed through that period is genuine.
But for our current generation of researchers, that's a problem.
If you are still only at the fourth grade level of elementary school and do not understand basic physical and chemical principles, it will be difficult to break through the height of others and know what is happening but not know why.
Of course, in addition to these scientific appraisal knowledge, you also need to understand a lot of history and humanities.
The items brought by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the colorful Ru Kiln wood kiln, and friends who love to collect these treasures can only stop talking about it.
Because if I continue talking, I will be scolded.
Why don't you say it? Because it's not clear.
Let me tell you, the Ru kiln cannot be counted without a narcissus basin. You need to verify whether there were narcissus plants in the Northern Song Dynasty.
We need to find out who first called it the Narcissus Basin? We need to find out whether it is called the Narcissus Basin or not, and what is it called?
These are all brain-consuming and time-consuming.
What's more, it's not worth it to explain clearly to someone who can't explain clearly.
Back to the main story, this time I will talk about the Yongle Flower Watering, a cultural relic collected by the famous Palace Museum.
Currently, researchers in the cultural and museum circles have limited their research on Yongle blue and white and Xuande blue and white porcelain artifacts to prove that this vessel was made in imitation of brassware from the Middle East.
Furthermore, Mr. Geng Baochang said in the book "Appraisal of Ming and Qing Porcelain" that Xuande flowers have no dragon handles, while Yongle flowers have dragon handles.
Yongle had a long neck and a round belly, while Xuande had a short neck and a flat belly.
Chen Wenzhe once specially found the original version from the Middle East and compared it with Xuande's.
The purpose is to compare and identify and find out whether these theories are correct and perfect.
Let’s look at the original Middle Eastern version first. Except for the ring foot at the bottom, the convex rim, and the spacer at the bottom of the dragon handle that resembles a Jewish star, Yongle porcelain should be a relatively perfect copy of the elements of the original Middle Eastern version.
Including the original utensil, the body of the utensil is carved with gold and silver, with entwining flower patterns and a circle of bulges on the neck.
A convex edge under the mouth rim is shown on this Yongle cultural relic collected by the Palace Museum, and it can be said that the imitation is very good.
The Yong musical instruments collected in the Palace Museum are undoubtedly imitations of bronzes from the Middle East.
In other words, when this thing was sent to Jingzhen to be fired, it must have been a model produced by the palace, and Jingzhen copied it.
This is a good proof that during the Yongle period of the early Ming Dynasty, there must have been commercial exchanges between my country and the Middle East.
But is this thing really a flower watering thing? This is doubtful.
Who gave this name to watering flowers? It is definitely wrong to use drinking water on this thing, but it seems to be suitable for watering flowers.
But anyone who has grown flowers knows that this thing is easy to break when watering flowers, and it is thick and cannot hold much water.
When it comes to watering flowers, it is still made of iron sheets and is reliable, not afraid of bumps and bumps.
Is there a mistake? By the way, in fact, this thing is not used to water flowers at all, but is similar to the ancient Chinese 匜, which is used to wash hands.
People in the Middle East eat with their hands instead of using knives, forks and knives. They must wash their hands before eating according to the teachings.
For wealthy families and palaces, the practice of washing hands is to sit down and wait for the waiter to come over and wash hands with water in a copper vessel, with a basin underneath to catch the water.
This so-called flower watering is used for this purpose in the Middle East.
But in the court of the Ming Dynasty, eating was done with bowls, and the habit of washing hands before meals disappeared.
So what's the use of this thing? It can't be used for drinking tea and bars? It's too heavy for drinking.
Only by understanding its purpose can you name it correctly.
The correct name of this device should be the Ming Yongle blue and white hand purifier collected by the Palace Museum, not the flower watering device.
As for the difference between Yongxuan and Yongxuan, we also recorded an atypical collection of Xuande flower-watering cultural relics.
It can only be said that based on the information that has been discovered, the unmarked hand purifier cultural relics should be early cultural relics from Yongle to Xuande.
The hand purifier with the mark is a cultural relic after the mid-Xuande period.
Such a conclusion should be more scientific.
Finally, let’s talk about something scientific. Most of the blue and white cultural relics of Yongle and Xuande in the Ming Dynasty were made from imported Suma Liqing. A major characteristic of Suqing is that it is “fainted”.
Because firing Yuan blue and white, especially high imitation Yuan blue and white, must face this fatal flaw of Sumali Qing.
If you use ordinary glazes, or imitate the blue and white items from the mid to late Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, you don’t have to worry, because there is no such thing as suma liqing in this period.
In the Yuan Dynasty, or the early and mid-Ming Dynasty, this problem was inevitable.
Why do blue and white flowers easily fade in the Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, but not easily in the Qing Dynasty?
In the blue and white paintings of the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, the lines and outlines on the paintings are not clear. This phenomenon is called "halation".
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Due to the halo, there are very few figure paintings from this period with clear facial features, eyebrows, and hair.
The blue and white flowers of the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty rarely blurred, so the figures in the figures are clearly visible.
For example, in the Yongle period, due to the halo, there were very few character paintings in this period with clear facial features, eyebrows, and hair.
However, the blue and white paintings of the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty rarely fade, so the figures in the figures are clearly visible.
The so-called "halation", in scientific language, means that the color material spreads from the colored area to the non-colored area.
Research results show that the degree of diffusion is mainly related to the formula of the color material and the development degree of anorthite crystals on the reaction layer.
Generally speaking, adding more flux to colorants is beneficial to color development.
In the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, when the blue and white production technology was not very mature, this was necessary to improve the yield.
Early blue-and-white porcelain all used cobalt-containing high-iron and low-manganese sumac green materials, so they all had the basic characteristics of the sumac materials.
The halo is the most basic feature formed by the suma-li-qing material on porcelain.
It can be said that when using sumac green cobalt material, there will definitely be haloing.
At the same time, many of the other characteristics formed by Su materials on blue and white porcelain are related to the existence of "halation".
Therefore, the halo phenomenon is like a key that opens the door to the authenticity identification of early blue and white porcelain.
Fainting, generally speaking, mainly manifests itself in two types.
The first type is the mold lake or diffuse state at the edge of the condensed spot composed of these bead-like haloes.
The second type is the painted background pigment, which is like the state of ink dripping on rice paper, and its area is larger than the former.
The halo and dispersion of the first bead-like condensed spots, also known as dispersion, must be based on the color background of the second cause.
That is, the dispersion of the former relies on the cause of the latter.
It should be emphasized that in practice, the first bead-like dispersion situation is more numerous and obvious than the second cause-open state situation.
Why does haloing occur? The main premise is that the main ingredient is sumac.