Qing Guangxu pastel wuluntu double elephant ear earth bottle
In the history of ancient ceramics, among the heirlooms seen so far, the largest artifacts are collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing and produced in the Guangxu period. The bottle is 130 cm tall, with a white glaze throughout, red and gold elephant earrings on both sides of the neck, and a pastel "Wuluntu" on the main body of the abdomen. Such a tall and majestic body, the shape is very regular, brilliant glaze and exquisite depiction of ornaments, are rare in the world. The reason why this bottle is called "ground bottle" is that its shape is huge.
Qing Kangxi Fan Color Open Light Flower Cup
In addition to large pieces of ware, there are also many small and exquisite tools in the heirlooms and excavators of the past, with a height of only a few centimeters. These small utensils include bottles, bowls, plates, statues, pots, incense sticks, tea sets, and stationery utensils. The function of these "small literary plays" is mainly to watch, or as a travel carrier, which was made in the Qing Dynasty. Although small utensils were first made in the Western Jin Dynasty, they were mainly used as burial utensils at that time. During the Tang and Song dynasties, some vials, small cans, small animals, etc., appeared in the form of toys, and their quantity and quality were far from being comparable to those of the Qing Dynasty.
Ming Chenghua Doucai Chicken Bowl Cup
The most expensive and valuable porcelain in the heirloom is the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Bowl Cup. This cup is large because of its small utensils, shaped like a tank, the cup body picture depicts two cocks, one is sucking and crying, one is looking back at the hope, two hens are looking down to feed, and several chickens are playing leisurely next to the hen, so it is commonly known as "chicken bowl cup". According to legend, the Chenghua Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and his favorite concubine Wan Guifei were particularly fond of Doucai porcelain, so the palace had to present a doucai vessel with exquisite production, painting and glaze every day, and the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Bowl Cup was the trick that the Chenghua Emperor played in the palace that year. Since its inception, the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Bowl Cup has been favored by ceramic appreciators and collectors, and has endured for a long time. Not only is it famous, but its commercial value is also considerable. It was already a rare thing as early as the Ming Dynasty's Wanyao period, and it was worth a lot, wancao's "Records of The Divine Sect" said: "Shenzong fashion food, there is a pair of Chenghua Doucai chicken bowl cups in front of the imperial court that have been worth 100,000 yuan." In 1980, Sotheby's in Hong Kong auctioned a Chenghua Doucai Chicken Bowl Cup for HK$4.8 million, setting a record for the highest auction at the time.
Eastern Han Dynasty blue glaze four-series jars
The oldest porcelain seen so far is a blue-glazed four-fold jar excavated from the Shangyu region of Zhejiang in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, dating back to about 1,800 years. The tire quality of this pot is hard and delicate, the glaze color is bluish green, the glaze layer is transparent and shiny, the tire glaze is tightly combined, and there is little glaze peeling. The Shanghai Institute of Ceramics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has done scientific tests on this artifact, and the test results show that its firing temperature has reached more than 1,200 ° C, the carcass has been completely sintered, the light transmittance is excellent, and the thin porcelain piece of 0.8 mm can be slightly translucent, which has reached the standard of modern porcelain. The above-mentioned scientific test shows that Chinese porcelain in the late Eastern Han Dynasty has fully matured and completed the qualitative leap from pottery to porcelain, which is an important milestone in the history of the development of Chinese ceramics. The ruins of the Eastern Han Dynasty porcelain kilns have been found not only in Shangyu, Zhejiang, but also in Cixi, Ningbo and Yongjia in Zhejiang, indicating that the eastern Han porcelain industry has a considerable scale.