Chapter 1623: Cater to fashion and keep pace with the times
This egg-white glaze dark flower amphorae flat vase has a straight mouth, a slender body, and an elephant trunk ear on each side of the neck;
The carcass is white and thick, and the entire body is covered with a devitrified bluish-white opalescent glaze, with fine enamel.
Both sides of the abdomen are embossed with plum blossom patterns, and the shins and feet are embossed with Ruyi cloud patterns, which are faintly visible and set off each other;
The high exposed ribs on the feet show a circle of kiln red, the feet are flat-cut, the body is stable, and the neat and beautiful patterns are harmonious with the soft glaze color.
"Egg white glaze" was created in the Yuan Dynasty. It is named because the glaze is white and slightly green, like goose eggs.
And because it was fired in Jingzhen by the Privy Council, the central organization of the Yuan Dynasty, the artifacts were inscribed with the word "Privy Council", and it was also called "Privy Glazed" porcelain.
Chen Wenzhe got some information about this kind of porcelain through the blue and white glaze red jade pot he purchased.
As long as he is willing, he can even re-fire this kind of porcelain.
This time, he unexpectedly got a piece of classic egg white glazed porcelain from the Yuan Dynasty, which made him even more interested in this kind of porcelain.
Because this kind of porcelain looks really beautiful.
Chen Wenzhe quickly checked the video and found that there were some white porcelain works in it, and he didn't know if they were egg white glazed porcelain.
After all, those porcelains looked a little dirty, otherwise he could easily identify them.
If it is genuine egg white glazed porcelain, it is relatively easy to identify.
Looking at the shape of the vessels, most of the egg-white glazed porcelain is small.
Second, look at the fetus. The fetus of egg white glazed porcelain is thicker than that of blue and white porcelain.
Third, look at the glaze color. The egg white glaze is white and devitrified, and does not have the "mirror-like" glass light of the blue-white glaze.
Looking at the base of the ring, the egg white glazed porcelain ring has small feet, thick wall, and neatly cut feet.
The soles and feet are all exposed, and some have nipple protrusions in the center and obvious spiral patterns.
Because the cake is laid with sand and slag and fired on its back, in addition to iron spots on the bottom, there is often kiln slag stuck to it.
Also, the inscription with the word "Privy" on the egg white glazed porcelain can confirm this.
"Privy Council" is the abbreviation of Privy Council, which was the highest military organ of the Yuan Dynasty.
The Yuan Dynasty placed great emphasis on military affairs, so one can imagine the power and position of the Privy Council.
Privy White Glazed Porcelain is the porcelain customized by Privy Council at Jingzhen Kiln.
Egg white glaze Privy porcelain was produced under the supervision of the "Fuliang Porcelain Bureau" established by the imperial court.
Among the egg-white glazed porcelains of the Yuan Dynasty, there are also some with the inscription "Taixi" printed on them. These were custom-made porcelains from Taixi Zongyuyuan (the Yuan Dynasty's imperial sacrificial institution).
From this we can see that the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty loved egg white glazed porcelain.
Chen Wenzhe searched carefully and found several exquisite items.
In particular, the "Yuan Egg White Glaze Printed Yunlong Taixi Plate" is a classic among classics.
The center of this large plate is printed with a pattern of clouds and dragons, the inner wall is printed with entwining lotus flowers, and eight treasures are supported on the top. The two characters "Tai" and "Xi" are symmetrically printed between the patterns.
In addition to this large plate, there is also a white bowl of the same series, which should be the "Yuan egg white glaze printed folded waist bowl".
The rim of this bowl is tilted outward, the upper part of the abdominal wall is slightly straight, and the lower part is sharply folded inward.
This unique shape is probably more suitable for the hand holding the bowl when drinking milk while riding a horse.
The inner wall of the bowl is stenciled with six intertwining lotus flowers, with the words "hub" and "fu" printed opposite each other between the flowers, and four lotus flowers are printed on the inner bottom.
This rare "Privy" porcelain folded bowl has a height of 7.7 cm, a diameter of 19.3 cm, and a foot diameter of 6.3 cm. It has an open mouth, an oblique belly, a folded waist, and a circled foot.
This device uses printing technology to form a circular pattern on the inner abdominal wall, with the words "hub" and "fu" printed on the corresponding parts of the pattern.
Under the pattern is a conjoined petal pattern, and the folded waist forms an oblique circle with the inner bottom.
The inner part is printed with a cloud and dragon pattern, a small head with a dragon pattern, antlers, no hair, a thin neck, a long and powerful body, and three claws.
The dragon's body is covered with flame patterns, its head is raised high and its body is soaring among the auspicious clouds, with a magnificent momentum.
The shape of this cloud dragon pattern is basically the same as that of Yuan blue and white.
A string pattern is exposed on the abdomen of the outer wall of the organ, dividing the abdomen into upper and lower layers.
There are spiral patterns on the abdominal wall, and the body is coated with egg white glaze. The glaze color is duck egg blue, the glaze layer is devitrified, and the glaze surface is shiny and moist.
The foot of the circle is thick and unglazed. The end of the foot is flat-cut and the outside is sharpened. The inner wall is slightly inclined outwards, and the bottom center has spiral patterns and milk nails.
The emergence of egg white glaze in the Yuan Dynasty laid the foundation for firing blue and white and underglaze red.
Although it gave way to blue and white porcelain, it is still praised by people in the history of the development of ceramics in my country.
Since there are very few handed down pieces of "Privy" porcelain from the Yuan Dynasty, they rarely appear in art auctions at home and abroad.
Its market price can only be compared with the market prices of blue and white porcelain from the Song and Yuan Dynasties and sweet white glazed porcelain from the Ming Dynasty.
At Christie's Hong Kong auction in July 2003, a Ming Yongle sweet white glaze plate with dark flower and phoenix pattern was sold for HKD 776,000.
It can be estimated from this that the market price of exquisitely crafted "Privy" porcelain from the Yuan Dynasty is also quite high.
You must know that this was the price 20 years ago. Things are rare and expensive. As "official" porcelain in the Yuan Dynasty, "Privy" porcelain will be further recognized by the collectors.
These "Privy" porcelains from the Yuan Dynasty were neatly made and of high quality. They were often decorated with printings, and the most common themes were clouds, dragons and entwining flowers.
Because the "Privy" glaze is an opalescent glaze, the decoration is not very clear.
Compared with the civilian-used egg white glazed porcelain, "Privy" porcelain is particularly delicate, with neatly trimmed feet and no glaze on the soles.
The bottom of the porcelain has a nail-like protrusion, and the body is of moderate thickness. It is a famous official utensil of the Yuan Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty's "Xinxin Ge Gu Yao Lun" records: "Those who burned small-foot prints in the Yuan Dynasty had the word "Privacy" in them, which shows that the egg white glaze ware with the inscription "Privilege" was already very precious in the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty.
A masterpiece.
However, there are no inscriptions on most of the artifacts, so the entry of "Privilege Kiln" listed in the "JDZ Ceramic Records" of the Qing Dynasty must be inaccurate.
It is more appropriate to call this type of utensils privy ware or egg-white glazed ware.
The kiln site for firing egg white glaze wares has been discovered in the Hutian area of Jingzhen. Egg white glaze wares were fired from the Yuan Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty.
The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty favored egg-white glazed porcelain, which should be related to the national custom of "Yuan people prefer white".
The devitrified mysteriousness and solemnity are consistent with the military activities of the Privy Council and the sacrificial activities of Taixi Yuan.
The Song Dynasty advocated blue-white porcelain that was greener than jade, while the Yuan Dynasty advocated egg white glaze that was white and opalescent. The aesthetic trends of the times were completely different.
The innovation of Jingzhen kiln porcelain making technology caters to fashion and keeps pace with the times.
The reason why the kiln fire has continued for thousands of years can also be discovered from this.
The texture of egg white glazed porcelain is delicate and white, but the body is thick, and the base of bowls and plates is even thicker.
The glaze is moist and devitrified. It is a lime-alkali glaze with low calcium content, potassium content and high sodium content. This glaze has the characteristics of high viscosity and wide firing range.
The decoration of porcelain is mainly printed, and the themes of the patterns are relatively simple, with entangled flower patterns being the most common.
In addition to the flower pattern, there is also a fine cloud and dragon pattern with five claws.
"Historical Records of the Yuan Dynasty": "Double-horned and five-clawed dragons are not allowed to be used by ordinary people."
It can be seen that any vessel with a five-clawed dragon printed on it must be porcelain for the palace.
The products handed down from the Yuan Dynasty with five-clawed dragons are mainly egg-white glazed vessels.