What people don’t know is that as early as the first half of the 20th century, it had already traveled across the ocean and drifted overseas.
For decades, the "Aquarius" has been used as a lamp holder for a desk lamp without any protection.
The fact that it has been preserved intact without any damage is a miracle in itself.
How did this national treasure-level porcelain, which had experienced hundreds of years of ups and downs in a foreign country, reappear in the human world?
This pastel bottle was originally collected by the family of Ogden Reed, former chairman of the Council of Foreign Ambassadors of the United States.
It has been used as a lamp holder in the living room of his mother's house for a long time.
In order to enhance the stability of the object, they also put dog excrement-filled mud from the back garden into the bottle.
Reed could not tell the origin of the vase, but said that it belonged to his family around 1920.
When his grandparents were in England at that time, they often had contacts with Chinese people. It cannot be ruled out that the vase was brought back from England by his grandmother.
It is also speculated that this rare treasure may be a cultural relic stolen from China by the Eight-Power Allied Forces.
For many years this treasure has been regarded as an ordinary ornament, and no one knew its value.
Later, when the family planned to sell a batch of antiques left behind by their grandfather and father, experts from the auction house accidentally discovered this dusty rare treasure.
And why does Chen Wenzhe know about this treasure? It's entirely because it is now hidden in the Dahai City Museum.
There is nothing that Chen Wenzhe doesn't know about the authentic items in the Dahai City Museum...
Therefore, this time when he was making a bean green glaze olive bottle, he remembered this legendary pastel olive bottle.
This beautiful pastel bottle has an olive-shaped body and very graceful lines. Once when he went to the Dahai City Museum, he fell in love with this Qing Yongzheng pastel bat-peach pattern olive bottle at a glance.
It's a pity that the things in the museum are just for the eyes.
Also, at that time, he could not imitate the porcelain of the third dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, because he did not have the craftsmanship of the third dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, nor did he have the porcelain stones and glazes needed to imitate the porcelain of the third dynasty of the Qing dynasty.
It's different now. After studying for such a long time, he has the confidence to imitate it, and he will definitely be able to imitate it very well.
Sure enough, after it was actually copied and aged, Chen Wenzhe was very satisfied with the effect.
Even if I constantly compare it with the authentic vase in my mind, I can't find any flaws.
Of course, he was not stupid, he completely copied the vase in the Dahai City Museum.
Therefore, the pastel bat-peach pattern olive bottle he made has the same craftsmanship and decoration as the one in the museum, but the details are absolutely different.
Especially the decorations, although they are all pastel bat and peach patterns, the painting techniques and layout are very different.
This shows that there are no two identical pieces of porcelain in this world!
As early as the Kangxi period, the artistic pastel painting on porcelain glaze had begun to appear. By the Yongzheng period, it had matured and formed a unique style of pastel decoration.
The artistic effect of pastel is known for its beauty, elegance, softness and softness. Its porcelain is white and exquisite, and the porcelain paintings are organically combined to set off each other and complement each other.
Pastels were founded in Kangxi and are derived from five colors. The production is relatively rough. Only the red flowers are dyed with pastel dots. Other decorations are still made using five colors.
At present, there are two main varieties found: one is white pastel porcelain; the other is green, yellow, and purple three-color porcelain with carmine (gold-red) color added.
By the Yongzheng Dynasty, pastel porcelain had achieved unprecedented development in terms of shape, glaze and painting.
Pastel is one of the most famous varieties of Yongzheng colored porcelain. The Yongzheng colored porcelain is finer than the Kangxi colored porcelain, with soft colors and many layers of dyeing.
Most of them are painted on white ground, and a few are painted on colored ground.
Gu Ze
The homophonic "bat" (fortune) and "peach" (for longevity) patterns are very common in Yongzheng pastel porcelain.
What was prominent at that time was the so-called "crossing branches" technique.
In the early Yongzheng period, there was a Kangxi colorful style, with pastel decorations mostly painted with flowers, butterflies, eight peaches, bats (meaning good fortune and longevity), flowers on branches, narcissus and Ganoderma lucidum, ladies, Magu offering birthdays, baby plays, etc.
The decoration is obviously sparse and regular.
Among them, the Eight Peach Bat is mostly seen on porcelain plates, but it is very rare as a theme pattern on olive bottles.
Among the works handed down from generation to generation, there is only one "Yongzheng Pastel Bat Peach Pattern Olive Vase".
Perhaps precisely because of Yongzheng's longing for longevity, the bat-peach pattern, an artistic theme of longevity and well-being in a clear and elegant manner, led the fashion of that year.
The bat represents blessing; the peach represents longevity; the flying red bat means great blessings; the combination of bat and peach means good fortune and longevity - the auspicious meaning of the bat and peach pattern is obvious.
I looked at the three bottles with satisfaction, each one is a classic.
For a bottle with this kind of appearance and condition, even Chen Wenzhe himself cannot guarantee that he will be able to make another one that can compete with them if he is not serious and attentive.
He hadn't made porcelain for several months and suddenly made a batch. He really put his heart into it.
Of course, this time he must have made more than three bottles.
The porcelain carefully fired this time is considered to be high-quality, while most of the other high-quality products are plates, and they are all large plates.
Of course, these plates are definitely not foreign trade porcelain, let alone European custom-made porcelain, but typical Qianlong porcelain.
For example, the Qianlong Pastel Wrapped Branches and Baoxiang Pattern Plate, this kind of plate has a large opening, curved belly, and circle foot. The bottom center has the inscription "Made in the Qianlong Year of the Qing Dynasty" written in six characters and three lines in vertical blue and white seal script.
The transparent glaze is white, and the blue and white string patterns on the plate separate the main decoration into three layers.
Blue and white outline the edges of the flowers and leaves, and the Baoxiang flowers are decorated in a perfect circle.
The leaves on the outer side of the disc have distinct roots and prominent meridians.
The Baoxiang flowers compete for beauty, with entwined branches and stems, yellow and blue flowers spaced apart, light and agile.
The blue and white colors on the outside are filled with bats, melons, fruits and lotus leaves, which symbolize good luck.
The outer edge of the plate is decorated with double strings, and the blue flowers near the feet are decorated with lotus petals.
Overall, the vessel is generous in shape, contrasting in shades of color, and skillful in coloring techniques, showing the style of Qianlong colored porcelain.
Then there is the Qianlong blue and white lotus pattern plate. This kind of plate is regular in shape, with an open mouth and round feet, a shallow curved belly, a delicate and solid body, and a moist and white enamel.
The center and outer wall of the plate are decorated with blue and white flowers, depicting the entwining branches and leaves, the blooming lotus flowers, and the stamens.
The decorative layout is symmetrical, the painting is neat and delicate, and the colors are rich and gorgeous.
Every stroke on it reflects Qianlong's meticulousness in porcelain making craftsmanship.
No matter how you look at it, this is a fine piece of imperial porcelain from the Qianlong Dynasty, which is extremely rare!
"This is too perfect, but there are also some disadvantages."
Chen Wenzhe sighs with a little pride, but also worries about happiness.
Looking at each piece, we can see that these porcelains all have one thing in common, which is beauty. If we look for another thing in common, it is simplicity.
They all have a sense of historical vicissitudes, which is Chen Wenzhe's old-fashioned craftsmanship now.
After not doing anything for several months, Chen Wenzhe's skills have not only not deteriorated, but have become even better.