After mixing the glaze, it’s time to start painting and decorating, so you need to pay attention at this time.
There are many kinds of decorations on the Qianlong pastel vessels, including landscapes, stories about people, flowers and birds, baby plays, ladies, flowers and fruits, flowers, and poems.
They are all based on the paintings of famous painters at that time, and incorporate Western painting techniques, such as hooking, dyeing and rubbing, different shades of water, fresh and bright, and a strong three-dimensional effect.
It is actually easier to do this, because they are all imitations, and as long as the skills are good enough, no one can say who is not good at imitating them.
The craftsmen of the Qing Dynasty imitated the ancients, and it would be great if Chen Wenzhe also imitated the ancients.
This eliminates the need for patterns on imitation porcelain, making it easier to make, and the finished product will have a better effect.
They are all imitations. Chen Wenzhe doesn’t think that he can’t imitate those craftsmen of the Qing Dynasty.
Although the craftsmen in the palace are very powerful, they also have great limitations, such as craftsmanship passed down from generation to generation, and some people have not even received systematic education.
Compared with modern people, the biggest advantage of modern people is that they can learn from the strengths of others. They have broader knowledge and stand higher, which means the pattern is larger.
The ancients did not have this advantage, and some people even did not know how to read, so they could only make them repeatedly according to the teachings of their predecessors.
Of course, there are geniuses in every era, otherwise how would the porcelain created and fired in all dynasties come from?
But such people are in the minority after all.
However, when Chen Wenzhe said this, he did not mean that the palace craftsmen at that time, especially those from Jingzhen, were not good.
Even if they copied their predecessors, their copying was brilliant.
Especially for color painting, especially Qianlong pastel painting, they are not completely copied from their predecessors. At most, they copied some patterns. Ancient painting techniques did not copy pastel painting.
Pastels were created in the Qing Dynasty, and even in the Qianlong pastel period, its characteristics were still very obvious.
Qianlong pastels feature rich colors, various decoration methods, and a rich and luxurious style.
Qianlong official kiln pastels integrate various techniques such as imprinting, scratching, painting, consecration, color glaze, stacking and gold painting.
Some ceramics have a colored ground on the lower part and a white or white ground on the belly, with pastel patterns painted inside the light.
Also, a special mention should be made here about clam light. Clam light is not found on all kinds of porcelain.
So, why is the clam light known to all antique lovers?
It's because porcelain with clam light is very expensive and rare.
The artifacts handed down from ancient times have "clam light", which is due to the fact that some colored materials or glazes on the artifacts combine with the oxygen in the air for a long time, forming a rainbow-like reflection effect.
In order to express this phenomenon, modern imitators soak the artifacts in potassium permanganate solution, but the "clam light" produced in this way is still different from the handed down products.
We all know that shells in the sea often have a colorful halo when rotating in the sun, similar to the colors of a rainbow.
This kind of halo is the clam light, and the clam light mentioned in ceramic appraisal specifically refers to the painted part of the overglaze colored porcelain.
So what kind of porcelain can produce clam light?
The first is lead-containing overglaze colored porcelain, low-temperature lead-glazed porcelain, which is corroded by external physical and chemical substances and changes in the porcelain itself, which will produce a film-like substance on the surface of the porcelain.
Day after day, as the "porcelain age" increases, this film will slowly increase and thicken.
When it reaches a certain thickness, it will produce a flashing "light" similar to that inside a clam shell, so people call it "clam light".
According to Chen Wenzhe's inheritance experience, it takes more than 150 years of "porcelain age" for the "clam light" phenomenon to appear.
Grain resources
Especially for overglaze colors such as doucai, pastel and multicolored colors, this dazzling "clam light" can not only be seen on the glaze, but sometimes even on the tooth-white base glaze, there is also this dazzling "clam light"
The halo flashed.
Because this kind of halo looks pearlescent, some people also call it "clam pearlescent" or "clam precious light".
It must be noted here that the clam light must be overglaze colors such as doucai, pastel and multicolored.
Moreover, pastels with a glass white base are more likely to appear clammy.
But not all ancient glazes will produce clam light.
Just like the precipitation of flint red, it does not always appear, but the clam light on overglaze colored porcelain is a strong evidence of identification.
Clam light is only an important feature for identifying porcelain. The absence of clam light does not mean that it is a modern craft.
There are different opinions on how many years does it take for colored porcelain to have a clam sheen.
Some experts say that clams only appear in 300 years, and some experts say that it takes 150 years, or 120 years.
Chen Wenzhe thinks the latter is more appropriate, which is one hundred and twenty years old. Of course, most pastel porcelains that are one hundred and fifty years old will have it.
It can be said that clam light is the patent of overglaze colored porcelain, and overglaze colored porcelain is definitely made of doucai, pastel and five colors.
Among them, the pastels and five colors of the Qing Dynasty are the most popular.
That's why people take Clam Light seriously, and Chen Wenzhe is very confident that old Clam Light can be produced up to standard.
To make old work, you must have porcelain. After the previous practice, Chen Wenzhe finally produced several exquisite pieces.
Pastel porcelain double dragon platter with blessing and longevity pattern, pastel carved porcelain salad plate with eight barbarians entering the treasure map, pastel consecrated Four Seasons Landscape Cover soup basin.
These three pieces are specially made, and the others are standard items.
However, even if it is an ordinary market, Chen Wenzhe cannot cope with it.
Of course, even if you want to make fine imitation pastel porcelain, you won't be able to do it.
In the collection market, Chinese calligraphy and painting works are appreciating significantly, and ancient Chinese porcelain is also appreciating significantly, and pastel porcelain seems to combine the characteristics of both.
It is both porcelain and colorful traditional paintings, so the appreciation of pastel porcelain is unquestionable.
In the world of porcelain, pastel is the only porcelain that can challenge the dominance of blue and white.
Due to its rich colors, elegant and soft tones, and exquisite workmanship, pastels immediately became the new favorite of the Qing royal family after their emergence.
And until now, pastels are still favored by people.
Pastel has many advantages, and the advantages are very obvious, so it is not easy to make, especially the pattern.
The drawing of pastels generally involves processes such as drawing, upgrading, making, taking pictures, drawing lines, color materials, filling, washing and dyeing.
From drawing to taking pictures, it is a stage of drafting with ink lines and conceiving the creation, such as painting porcelain to determine the decorative content and image composition.
The final draft of the formal drawing is called "raising the picture", and taking the thick ink pattern and printing it from the porcelain is called "making the picture".
Then transfer the drawing with the ink lines to the porcelain body to be officially drawn, that is, "photograph", so that the porcelain can be painted.
The painting and coloring techniques of pastels are relatively complex and meticulous, generally such as painting, coloring, filling, washing, peeling, blowing, dotting and other techniques.
The tools used include paint brushes, filling pens, washing pens, colored pens, duke pens, red gold pens, gold ink pens, agate pens, pick-up pens and many other special pens.
In fact, these are all basic skills, and the real rare thing is artistic sublimation.