Chapter 1635 Purple gold soil, imitation of official kiln
The glaze color of official kiln porcelain in the Song Dynasty was mainly pink and green, and most of them were plain, with neither gorgeous carvings nor brightly colored paintings.
At most, they are decorated with concave and convex straight edges and string patterns, showing a quiet and elegant noble charm, showing the unique aesthetic conception of the Song Dynasty.
If you think about these characteristics carefully, as long as the kiln mouth is good, it can be fired.
It can also be said that as long as it is a good kiln, there will be exquisite porcelain with various characteristics.
Whether a piece of porcelain is good-looking or not can always be distinguished by its glaze color, shape, decoration, etc.
In fact, if you study these five famous kilns carefully, you will find that they are all very closely related.
For example, Jun Ru's previous conclusion that there is no distinction between the two kiln mouth porcelains, although this is wrong, can be seen from this that many of the characteristics of the two kiln mouth porcelains are the same.
This is also the case with official kiln wares, but the official kiln wares are not only similar to Ru kiln wares, they are also very similar to Jun kiln wares.
Even Ge kiln wares have very similar characteristics.
For example, since ancient times, there has been a saying that there is no distinction between official and brother.
As for the original origin of this statement, it is still unclear due to historical materials, kiln sites and physical objects.
Now some people speculate that this statement may be related to the trend of imitating the famous kilns of the Song Dynasty that emerged in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties.
Especially after the Ming Dynasty, imitations were made almost from generation to generation.
When literati wrote books summarizing the characteristics of the two, they often included later imitations.
At this time, there were both official kilns and Ge kilns of the Song Dynasty, as well as official kilns and Ge kilns copied from the Yuan and Ming dynasties.
As a result, the characteristics of the official kilns and Ge kilns of the Song Dynasty were copied.
Coupled with the literature since the late Ming Dynasty, imitations have been summarized and described by mistake for genuine products.
This has increasingly created a confusing situation where it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, leading to the saying that "officials and brothers cannot distinguish".
This may only be possible until new archaeological discoveries or document discoveries are made, before the knot of "no distinction between official and brother" can be solved.
Of course, the real Ge Kiln wares of the Song Dynasty are definitely not comparable to the imitations of later generations.
Modern collections are booming, and various types of ancient vessels are being studied.
Naturally, in this research, some people are also studying high imitation.
Therefore, Chen Wenzhe can still easily find the flaws of later imitations.
There is still a big gap between the imitation official kiln porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties and the "genuine" ones.
Among them, the most famous and controversial high imitation kiln mouth should be the Longquan kiln.
The development of ancient celadon reached its peak with the rise and expansion of official kilns in the Southern Song Dynasty.
However, with the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty official kiln as a royal porcelain industry only for the royal family also died.
There are even fewer treasures that can be handed down. Therefore, official kiln porcelain is often imitated by current and future generations.
There are some famous porcelain kilns among them, and Longquan kiln is one of them.
There is a Xikou imitation official kiln in the Longquan kiln. A museum has been established at this kiln site, and it has been confirmed that it is an official kiln of the Southern Song Dynasty.
However, many modern opinions still believe that this is a variety that imitates official kilns.
Here I would like to talk about Longquan lime glaze, also called lime alkali glaze.
Xikou imitation official kiln has the typical characteristics of official kilns - purple mouth and iron feet. It also uses black and gray clay.
The only difference is that enamel glass has a stronger texture and is smooth and bright.
Therefore, Xikou imitation officials' requirements for thin bodies and thick glazes are even higher and more refined.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were imitation officials in Xikou, and there were also some imitations of officials in Dayao, but they did not form a large scale.
Mr. Zhu Boqian believes in "A Brief History of Longquan Celadon" that since no signs of the occurrence and growth process of black-body celadon have been found in Longquan kilns, it is inferred that the production technology of Longquan black-body celadon was influenced by the official kilns of the Southern Song Dynasty. The influence is that it is a product of Longquan imitation official or Longquan official kiln.
For example, a Longquan kiln celadon bowl in the Tokyo National Museum is a masterpiece.
This bowl has a diameter of 26.1 cm, an open mouth, and a petal-shaped mouth.
The whole body is covered with a pale pink celadon glaze, which makes the glaze soft and moist and has ice cracks.
There are wear marks on the edge of the mouth, and the mouth is inlaid with copper.
This vessel is dignified and exquisite in shape. It is a rare treasure among the imitation official porcelain of Longquan kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty.
In addition to contemporary imitations in the Song Dynasty, imitations of official kilns were also made in the Yuan Dynasty.
In the Xiuneisiguan kiln, some porcelain similar to the appearance of Ge kiln also appeared. This part of porcelain appeared in the Yuan Dynasty.
Xiuneisi Kiln was originally an official kiln of the Southern Song Dynasty. With the invasion of the Yuan Dynasty, the official kiln was temporarily abolished.
It was not until the early Yuan Dynasty that some people went to the kiln site to resume its production.
However, due to some changes, the firing stopped again, and it was not until the second time that the kiln returned to the kiln site that it resumed firing.
Therefore, during the Yuan Dynasty, the Xiunei Siguan kiln had two stages of re-firing.
During the second re-firing stage, Ge Kiln porcelain pieces similar to this were found.
These products in the kiln layers of the Yuan Dynasty were imitated from the official kilns of Neisi.
Although there is still the aura of Xiunei Siguan Kiln, its essence and spirit are gone.
Judging from the shape of the vessel, it is much less sophisticated than the official kilns at that time, and the production technology has also declined relatively.
Judging from the remaining artifacts from the Xiunei Siguan kiln, especially some fragments, we can tell a lot.
For example, a piece of porcelain was unearthed first. It was a stationery utensil. Although it was small, the craftsmanship was very precise.
If you see something with this kind of appearance, many experts can say that it is Ge Kiln.
However, some experts can say that it is an official kiln.
So it is difficult to distinguish the official brother, which is one of its characteristics.
So for things like this, you can define it as a Guan kiln or you can define it as a Ge kiln.
Since the Ming Dynasty, there has been a saying in the field of ancient ceramics that "there is no distinction between official and brother".
"Guan Ge kiln cannot be distinguished" refers to the fact that among the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty, the basic characteristics of Guan kiln and Ge kiln were confused, making it difficult to distinguish Zhongbo.
Gao Lian, a native of Qiantang, Zhejiang Province in the Ming Dynasty, said: "The character of the official kiln is mostly the same as that of the Ge kiln."
Tu Long, a Jinshi in Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, listed many of his scholar's porcelains, and mentioned them both as officials and brothers without distinguishing them.
It is true that Ge kiln porcelain and Guan kiln have something in common.
For example: they are all open pieces, all have gold and iron wires, and they are all fired using two methods: nail support and sand padding.
They are mainly supported by nails, all have purple mouths and iron feet, and they are all simple and elegant.
But in fact, as long as you study carefully, you can still find that there are obvious differences between the two.
First, the mouth of the official kiln is thin, the glaze is dripping, vertical water stains, and the mouth is raised;
The Ge kiln has a thick mouth and thick glaze with horizontal water stains.
Second, the official glaze is bright;
Brother glaze has sweating appearance, but Guan glaze does not.
Thirdly, on the open piece, the vertical lines of the official kiln are long, the horizontal lines are short, the direction of the lines is uncertain, and the root of the horizontal lines is slightly thicker;
The vertical lines of Ge Kiln are long, the horizontal lines are short, and most of the vertical lines are left-handed.
Fourth, in the carcass, the official kiln is thin but strong and heavy;
Ge's kiln is thick, not as dense and heavy as Guan's kiln.
According to archaeological excavations, the only imitation official kilns in the Yuan Dynasty were Longquan Jincun, and the five kilns in Dayao and Guangdong were black-bodied official kilns.
The glaze layer is thinner than that of the Song Dynasty wares, and the glaze surface is dull, uneven, grayish or yellowish-white.
The opening is large and incoherent, the color is turbid, and the color is bland and lighter.
These imitation official kilns are not as rich in color as the Song Dynasty wares, the sizes of the pieces vary greatly, and they are not as finely divided as the Song Dynasty wares.
The grain lines are relatively stiff, unlike the Song Dynasty wares which show twists and turns in a small area.