China has been a big country of ceramics since ancient times, and the word "China" vividly illustrates the origin of ceramics in China. When ceramic firing technology was introduced to Europe, Chinese ceramics had a history of thousands of years. China has had a moment of backward technology and national strength in the history of the world, but ceramics have always had their unshakable status, and various glazed bottles are the masters of ceramics in previous generations.
A variety of glazed vases now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, fired during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, "washed bottles, long neck, long round abdomen, circle foot outer skimming." There is a stinger ear on each side of the neck. The glaze and color are decorated from top to bottom up to 17 layers. "Compared with ordinary vases, there are more layers of glazed vases of various glazes, both in terms of appearance and color. The bottle body of various glazed large bottles is not as smooth and round as ordinary vases, but only in a stretched arc, and its neck alone is several folds, and the arc of its bottle belly is more gentle and long than other vases. From the color point of view, the color of various glazed bottles is extremely bold, before, there has never been a designer who dares to use seventeen colors on a bottle, from the bottle mouth, neck, bottle belly to the bottle foot, are designed with a unique and exquisite pattern, especially the bottle belly is composed of paintings with different styles.
It is also because the uniqueness of various glazed large bottles is too "boastful", which is an unprecedented challenge in terms of its firing process, and its birth also marks the peak of ancient Chinese porcelain-making technology. At that time, Jingdezhen gathered a large number of craftsmen with extraordinary skills, and after many unsuccessful attempts by their respective directors, they really fused high-temperature glaze and low-temperature glaze together, and various colors and patterns were also integrated, and all the craftsmanship techniques of the past generations were brought into play to the point of ingenuity. As a milestone living fossil in the history of ceramics, it is known as the "mother of porcelain", which is not only the aggregator of ceramics in the past generations, but also the wisdom crystallization of ancient working people.
In fact, many of these words of praise are also afterwords, in history, when Qianlong held the style drawings of various glazed bottles, many people were opposed. Before Qianlong, the aesthetics of the Qing Dynasty had always been solemn and elegant, and the various glazed bottles were simply fancy and vulgar at that time. But the Qianlong Emperor is a very special person, he especially likes cultural relics, whether it is calligraphy and painting or utensils he can have his own appreciation, at that time in the case of the courtiers do not understand, Qianlong showed very firmly, he is to integrate all the beautiful things in the past, to let future generations see the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty, to see the ability of the Great Qing craftsmen, which reflects not only his self-confidence, but also his pride. Regardless of the vulgarity of this vase, the meticulousness and complexity of its craftsmanship are indeed incomparable.
Every time I gaze at various glazed bottles, I can always think of the spirited Qianlong, not only because he is the creator of various glazed bottles. All kinds of glazed vases are confident and beautiful in the history of ceramics, because it shines brightly, in fact, Qianlong is also the same, he is also a treasure emperor in history, here to remove his old age, there are almost no people in this world who are not criticized a little. Politically, he was definitely an excellent monarch, and history records that "the Qianlong Emperor attached great importance to social stability and continued to implement the Yongzheng Emperor's system of "spreading the land into acres", and at the same time, he exempted the world from money and grain five times, and exempted grain from eight provinces five times, which reduced the burden on the peasants, played a role in protecting agricultural production, and greatly increased the population".
In addition to politics, Qianlong also liked to cultivate his hobbies, studied piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and was a Mengman bloodline emperor who loved Han culture. Qianlong loved to compose poetry, and wrote more than 40,000 works in his life, but except for some poems mourning Empress Fucha (I also really envy the harmony of this pair of empresses recorded in the historical records), there is nothing that can be seen, but the courtiers have to brag bitterly about patting horses and experiencing the taste of accompanying the king like a companion tiger. Qianlong is still a fanatic of the seal, most of the chapter is engraved with his own title, see the favorite calligraphy and painting like to inscribe and stamp next to it, which also makes posterity headaches, a good everyone's heirloom work is added to the painting snake. In fact, qianlong at this time is still very cute, anyway, I am the emperor, you can't help me, like to stamp a few more stamps, like a frank and generous child, like a variety of glaze bottles, regardless of the world's vision, generously show all the colors.
Not only Qianlong, but also a cultural relic should reflect a dynasty. The Qing Dynasty in that period was also extremely prosperous, after his grandfather and father's pacification and political reform, this throne was already a sunny road after passing into his hands, the national fortune was like the sun in the sky, there was no internal and external troubles, because the military aircraft department and other iron fists set up by Yongzheng, the imperial throne was also incomparably strong, no one dared to have two hearts, plus Qianlong in the early period was also an emperor who made a difference, and the Qing Dynasty developed to its peak during the reign of Qianlong. During the Qianlong period, because of the wealth of the national treasury, he twice sent troops to the Dzungars, and the land area reached the highest in the entire history of the Qing Dynasty. In the most prosperous period, the population of the whole country rose to the largest number in the history of the past, and for the first time, the national population exceeded 100 million in addition to territory and population, not only that, at that time, because of the national peace and security, the people of all ethnic groups were also unprecedentedly united, and the economy of the Qianlong period was also unattainable in history. The various glazed bottles are like just one of the representatives, indicating that the era to which it belongs is unprecedented in history.
In short, everything in the Qing Dynasty during that period was full of vitality, so grand that people had the illusion that all this would continue like this, forgetting that everything must be reversed. After the politics of the late Qianlong period began to become corrupt, the Qing Dynasty had begun to turn from prosperity to decline, and the continuous wars and wars that began in the later period became more and more intense after his death, and then the Opium War, and then the Liberation War, the dynasty went from shaking in the wind and rain to the final disintegration.
I looked at all kinds of glazed bottles, and what came to my eyes was the young Qianlong who was condescending on the Forbidden City, he looked at the vigorous Jiangshan, and then he wanted to make a thing that could really show the style in front of his eyes; what emerged was the great rivers and mountains and folk anger that unfolded from the paintings on the abdomen, and it was the very prestigious history of prosperous China...
bibliography:
"Chinese Porcelain King (QingQianlong Various Glazed Large Bottle Reconstruction Documentary) (Jing)"
"One-sided porcelain - using porcelain pieces to tell the story behind ceramics"
Analysis of the Causes of Social History and Culture
Dictionary of The Essence of Chinese Cultural Relics (Ceramic Volume)