In the field of cultural relics collection, people usually include artifacts before the Tang Dynasty into the category of "high ancient cultural relics". Cultural relics after the Tang Dynasty and before the Ming and Qing dynasties are called "medieval cultural relics", and Longquan celadon of the Yuan Dynasty belongs to this category.
The background of the birth of antique porcelain
Due to the Northern Song Dynasty's "edict to the world's ancient artifacts", the number of excavated high-ancient cultural relics is increasing, which has set off a "retro wind" in the whole society, and the study of gold and stone examination has gradually developed. At that time, the literati wrote as many as 34 kinds of relevant books, such as Lü Dalin's "Archaeological Map" and Wang Di's "Xuanhe Bogutu". These works are mainly based on bronzes, with pictures and texts, and rigorous examination. Under the influence of the retro wind at that time, porcelain naturally conformed to the trend and was reflected in both royal and folk porcelain, such as the Song Jun kiln moon white glaze out of the Ji Zun (Figure 1), the Southern Song Dynasty Longquan kiln Qun-style bottle (Figure 2), and the Southern Song Dynasty Longquan kiln mane-style furnace (Figure 3). However, the folk porcelain kiln that really pushed the imitation of high ancient cultural relics to the climax was the Longquan kiln of the Yuan Dynasty.
Example of Yuan Dynasty Longquan antique celadon porcelain
Yuanding type furnace
The famous calligrapher was rarely excavated from the cardinal tomb, and is now stored in the Hangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, with a straight mouth and round lips, a neck inner bundle, a neck attached to the ears, an ear print, and a bulging abdomen. The upper abdomen is drawn with a double-line string near the head, and there are circle feet underneath. The bottom is decorated with animal-shaped three-legged. The glaze color is pinkish blue.
In ancient times, Ding was used for cooking meat, sacrifice and feasting. The earliest dings were found in the late Neolithic period, and there are two kinds of ceramic and bronze materials. Since then, it has gone through various eras and has been used until the two Han Dynasties. There are two styles: square and round. Longquan kiln Ding-style furnace-shaped system is imitation of round ding.
Meta mane furnace
Bundle mouth, round striped ears, flat curved abdomen, three-bag feet, gray tire, gray yellow glaze. Tiptoe exposed tires. Mane is a porridge vessel, which has appeared as early as the late Neolithic age and has been popular in the Shang Zhou. It is characterized by a round belly, three-bag form foot support. The shape of the Longquan kiln bristle is imitated by Neolithic pottery, which is simple and simple.
Yuanyu ear stove
The neck is carved with lotus petals on the outer wall of the neck, the flowers are scratched inside the petals, and the chrysanthemums are carved on the flat abdomen. Pisces ears. The head of the fish is down and the tail is facing up. When loading the fish ears, the upper and lower ends are connected to the outside mouth of the furnace, and the whole body is glazed with blue-gray glaze. Although this fish ear stove is a double fish ear, from the analysis of the shape, it can still be seen that it is evolved from the style of the gui.
As a kind of utensils for holding meals, it first appeared in the middle of the Shang Dynasty and was popular from the late Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Yuanzhu furnace
Straight mouth, inward folded lip, hoofed foot, and a ring of convex chords on the upper and lower parts of the abdomen. The abdominal wall between the strings is carved with flowers and grasses, and the bottom is decorated with three animal hooves and feet, and the emerald blue glaze is applied.
It first appeared in the Warring States period and was popular in the Qin and Han dynasties. Most are made of bronze. Usually on the outer wall of the abdomen is decorated with a pair of paved head rings with a lid, such as a bronze bottle excavated from Youyu County, Shanxi Province (Figure 8). Bottles are used in a wide range of ways and can be eaten with wine or meat. The Longquan kiln bottle furnace is simplified on the basis of bronze shapes, winning with elegant and concise lines and warm glaze colors.
Yuan celadon turn
Open mouth, round lip, flow on one side, curved abdomen, recumbent foot, mouth along the lower part of the string pattern two circles. Apply a powder cyan thick glaze.
In ancient times, it was used as a water vessel, often used with plates, and mostly clay pottery and bronze materials in the early days. Clay pottery is often found in tombs at neolithic to Western Han sites. Porcelain products flourished in the Yuan Dynasty, and many kilns had firing, but the variety fired in Longquan kiln was the best.
Yuanzun bottle
Flared mouth-shaped mouth and neck, round abdomen, circle foot outer skimming. The walls of the neck and abdomen are stacked with ridges, and the whole body is glazed with blue-gray glaze.
Respected as large or medium-sized wine containers. The upper mouth is skimmed out, and the lower has a circle foot. Bronze figures first appeared in the middle of the Shang Dynasty. The shape of the Longquan kiln zun bottle imitates the bronze statue from the end of the Shang Dynasty to the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Yuanlian seat bottle
The bottle is divided into two large sections, the upper part of which imitates the form of jade. The lower part is a square seat, the upper part of the seat is decorated with a symmetrical curly grass pattern, and the middle is decorated with a ruyi cloud head pattern. The near bottom is symmetrically pierced with two holes, which can be tied to the bottle holder through the rope to avoid shaking and breaking.
The shape of the bottle is derived from the Neolithic jade (Fig. 12). The kiln workers decorated the original vessel with exquisite square seats, which were unique as the furnishings of the time.
summary
The influence of high ancient cultural relics on Longquan celadon began in the Two Song Dynasties, mainly including Ding-style furnaces, mane-style furnaces, Gui-style furnaces, bottle-type furnaces, Qun-style bottles, long-necked bottles, ear-piercing bottles, etc. Most of the surface is light and textureless, and it is occasionally decorated with protruding chord patterns, and the lines are clear and smooth. The furnace is mainly used to cooperate with the Indoor Incense Burning of the Song People, which plays the role of sterilization and disinfection and purification of the air. Bottles are mostly used for flower arrangements for literati to watch in the study and hall. The glaze color is mainly pink blue, plum cyan, and a small amount is beige. This is related to the firing of porcelain in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere and firing in a low-temperature oxidation flame. There are two types of glaze surfaces: open and unopened. Most of the tires are white and gray, and the carcass is thick. It has a lower content of alumina and iron oxide. Flint red will appear on the surface of the exposed tire.
In the Yuan Dynasty, such utensils had great changes in both shape and glaze color. The main instrument types are Ding-type furnace, Gui-type furnace, Zhen-type bottle, bottle-type bottle, ear-piercing bottle, anchovy, and zao. The early vessel type and glaze color inherit the beauty and verdant beauty of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the late Yuan Dynasty, the utensils gradually became mostly large pieces, and the shape of the utensils became thick and solid. Many porcelains of this period were popular for the bottom decorative seat, and also affected some utensils, thus making them unique, such as the Zhen-style bottle.
The glaze color of such antique artifacts is mainly emerald blue glaze, and some of them are grayish yellow, and the glaze is thin. The surface decoration is mainly printed and scratched, the scratching line is extensive, the printing is blurred, and some are vaguely visible ornaments, and the overall porcelain-making process is not as good as before. It shows that the Yuan people paid attention to the production of practical porcelain in Longquan kiln at this time and thus relatively ignored the production of antique ornament porcelain under the influence of high ancient cultural relics, which may be related to the aesthetic needs of people at that time.
Reference source of this article - Xu Haonan," The Influence of High Ancient Cultural Relics on Longquan Celadon in the Yuan Dynasty