Su Ma Li Qing, also known as Su Ni Ma Qing, Su Bo Ni Qing, Su Ni Bo Qing and so on. Abbreviated as "Su Material".
Yuan Qinghua Xiao He Yue chased after Han Xin Tu Mei bottle
Basic understanding of green materials
Identifying or identifying blue and white porcelain from various periods in the history of our country, the understanding of green materials is crucial. According to the data, the first use of oxidized diamonds for colorant painting decoration, in the past said to have appeared in the Near East, but in fact China's Tang Dynasty has begun to use. China's blue and white flowers were first fired from the Tang Dynasty, and Tang blue and white porcelain was discovered in Yangzhou in the mid-1970s. The Cizhou kiln in the north of the Song Dynasty also fired blue and white porcelain. Tang, Song Qinghua used domestic blue and white cobalt materials, the early Yuan Dynasty firing blue and white is still used domestic blue and white cobalt materials, the middle and late Yuan Dynasty with the continuous expansion of territorial area and foreign trade, the increasing is the Islamic population of the Yuan Dynasty, as well as the needs of the Mongolian nobility itself, the Yuan Qinghua colored with Su Ma Li Qing came into being.
At present, the consensus of scholars at home and abroad is that the blue and white porcelain of the middle and late Yuan Dynasty used Su Ma Liqing, and Ming Yongle, Xuande and early Chenghua also used Su Ma Liqing. In the late Chenghua period, the main use was Potangqing produced in present-day Leping County, Jiangxi, also known as Pingpingqing. Light elegance is the characteristic of blue and white porcelain in this period, which is very different from the Su Ma Li Qing in the early Ming Dynasty. The Zhengde Dynasty used Pingqing, Shiziqing, and Huiqing, so the phenomenon of "mixed blue" of blue and white in the Zhengde Dynasty was serious.
Zhengde blue and white plate
In the Zhengde Dynasty blue and white, in addition to the lighter varieties that still use equal green, the thick with gray may have used stone green. Shi Ziqing, also known as "Shi Qing". Produced in Ruizhou (present-day Shanggao, Jiangxi), the blue and white porcelain of the ming dynasty was often used to depict ornaments. "Huiqing" has appeared in the Zhengde Dynasty, according to the "Peeping at the Sky": "Those who return to Qing, go out of foreign countries". Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli all used Huiqing.
In the middle and late Wanli, Tianqi and Chongzhen used Zhejiang materials from Quzhou, Xinzhou, Shaoxing and Jinhua in Zhejiang. Since then, Jingdezhen Qinghua has completely used domestic materials. ——Zhongshi Jianbao official website
The development of green materials and the origin of Su Ma Li Qing
After the inventory of blue and white cobalt materials, it can be known that in the history of the development of blue and white porcelain, China has imported green materials from abroad three times, in addition to the Su Ma Liqing used in the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Yongle and Xuande periods, there are also Huiqing materials in the Zhengde period, which each occupies a very important position in the history of the development of Chinese blue and white porcelain.
The earliest record of "Su Ma Li Qing" is found in Wang Shimao's "Peeping heaven and outer multiplication" before the seventeenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1589): "In the Song Dynasty, the kiln ware was first in Ruzhou, and the Official Kiln was second to the Jingshi Himself. Our dynasty was specially set up in Jingdezhen, Fuliang County, between Yongle and Xuande, and burned in the inner house, which is still expensive. At that time, it was often flogged eyes and sweet white, decorated with Su Ma Liqing, and bright red as the treasure. Huang Yizheng's "Cyanosis of Things", written in the nineteenth year of the Wanli Calendar (1591), said: "The green of xuanyao is the green of Su Bo mud.". Here, "Su Ma Li" and "Su Bo Ni" are obviously foreign words, so it is imported green material, which is indisputable.
There are many theories about the origin of the name "Su Ma Li Qing": one theory is that the Su Mud of Sumatra in Southeast Asia and the Bo Qing of Penang Are, but what exactly this "Su Ni" and "Bo Qing" are, no one can figure out; The second statement is; Transliteration of the word cobalt in Persian, or the transliteration of the word blue in Persian; This is probably the closest explanation. The third theory, recorded in the Ming Shilu, is called "Su Lai Man", Su Ni Ma, which is also a harmonic sound; There is also a saying that SuMa Liqing was brought back from Somalia, so it is called "Somali Youth".
Generally speaking, Su Ma liqing was brought back by Zheng He from the West. So far, after years of research and research by experts in the field of ancient ceramics at home and abroad, it is basically agreed that "Su Ni Boqing was introduced from Southeast Asia by Zheng He in the early Ming Dynasty", and it is also believed that it was introduced from the Islamic region. So where is the exact origin of the "Su Ma Li Qing" material? For many years, there have been many opinions in the ancient ceramics industry at home and abroad, and there is no consensus. The first person to answer this question is probably Mr. Hoberson of the United Kingdom, who introduced the authentic jargons of the Chinese antique world such as "orange peel" and "brown eye" to the West, and in his classic book "Ming Porcelain", which is still praised by Westerners as the "Bible" of porcelain, he proposed a place called "Bale Chastan", which is a region on the border between eastern persia and Pakistan. But he did not provide a basis for the origin of these claims; The book "Chinese Ceramics" says that "cobalt ore imported from the Middle East" is used, and it is not specifically from which countries and regions it was imported; There is also a theory that the source of this cobalt is the village of Kamsa in Kashan, Iran, and the villagers think that a person named Sulaiman discovered this cobalt material, so they named it after it. I think there is some truth to this statement. Because it is based on precious historical records, that is, the Persian potters Abul and Qasim wrote a record paper in 1301, which made a very detailed description of what color various metals produce under the glaze or glaze, and not only that, but also a detailed record of where the various raw materials were produced. One of them can be translated as follows: "Blue, the craftsmen call it Sumali, and its source is the village of Kamsa in the mountains around Kashan Castle."
How to know Su Ma Liqing
Of course, we don't need to spend more time and energy now to examine where Su Ma Liqing came from, and what needs to be more concerned about is how to understand that Su Ma Liqing is the most important.
There are four periods in the history of Jingdezhen that used Su Ma to leave Qingqing, one is the late Yuan Dynasty; The second is the Ming Hongwu period, and the third is the Ming Yongle and Zhengde periods; The fourth is the Ming Orthodox, Jingtai, and Tianshun periods, which the history of ceramics calls "blank periods". Due to the different firing processes and the different heat and restoration atmosphere, the color status of Su Ma Liqing in various historical periods has obvious differences. Among them, especially the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Yongle and Xuande periods has the largest amount of existence and is also the most representative. The Yongxuan period was the heyday of blue and white porcelain production, and there is a so-called "all materials are fine, and blue and white are the most expensive".
Ming Hongwu Blue and white tangled branches chrysanthemum pattern holding pot
According to the History of Chinese Ceramics (Chinese Ceramic Society, printed by Cultural Relics Publishing House in 2006), the rich color of blue and white is the most important common feature of the Yongle and Xuande periods. The green material used in this period is "Su Ma Li Qing", which has a lower manganese content and a higher iron content. Due to the low manganese content, it can reduce the purple and red tones in cyan, and under the appropriate heat, it can burn bright colors like sapphire blue. However, due to the high iron content, black defect spots tend to appear in the blue and white parts. This naturally formed black spot, which contrasts with the rich blue-blue color, is regarded as a "successful work" of the yong and Xuanqinghua porcelain that cannot be imitated.
Rust spots
Typical of the artistic effect produced by Su Ma LiQing, thick, faint, material color melted in the glaze, as if deep into the fetal bone, especially the appearance of rusty silver-black crystal spots in the thick color, in a certain light there is a tin color, and triangular crystals, with the hand to touch the glaze uneven, with this green material depicted the ornament has the ink charm of Chinese painting.
Yongxuan Su Ma is the color of the green
During the Yongle and Xuande periods, the color characteristics of Su Ma were separated from the blue, and there were three typical situations. One is indigo blue, brilliant and colorful, clear and transparent, there are dark and thick crystal spots in the texture of the line or where the green material is condensed, and the thick or thick place is concave and deep into the fetal bone, and the side view of the light or the touch of the hand can feel uneven. The other hair color is blue with purple in the middle, even a pronounced violet color, and the light spots are star-like and faint; The crystal spots in the thick gathering place are dotted into pieces, which are black and cyan, and the contrast between the thickness and light is very obvious, and the halo is very serious. Halo refers to the situation in which the liquid falls on the paper and spreads out or penetrates everywhere, which is also known as "pouring" as the saying goes. The same situation occurs with blue and white porcelain painting. Halo is a basic feature of Su Ma Liqing, no matter which period of Su Ma Li Qing, more or less always with dizziness, especially in the Yongle period.
Ming Yongle blue and white seawater river cliff pattern three-legged furnace
The third case of Su Ma liqing is also a typical color, and the Ming Yongle Qinghua Seawater River Cliff Pattern Three-legged Furnace of the Forbidden City is the most representative. Its main hair color characteristics are: blue color, crystal bright, as if inlaid in the glaze sapphire, sparkling, and obvious violet color; There are obvious thick black crystalline plaques and spots at the condensation site, and the halo is serious. Halo and crystalline spots are caused by the coarseness of the green material, and the crystalline spots are actually the granular rust spots in the green material, which are naturally formed under the glaze, that is, caused by high iron. Halo and crystallization spots, originally a kind of burnt defects, but after being rendered by the literati, an aesthetic pursuit was formed, that is, defective beauty. For hundreds of years, Yongxuan porcelain has been the leader of blue and white porcelain, and collectors and researchers are proud to have Yongxuan porcelain.
The above are the three colors of Su Ma Liqing, which are still modern imitations and cannot be imitated.
Su Ma is divided into coarse and even; There are shades of coloring methods. The green material is coarse, the material is thick, and the ink is muddy but solemn; The green material is fine and uniform, the material is light, the color is light and elegant, and there is no crystallization phenomenon.
Ming Xuande Blue and white fish algae pattern ten ridges rhombus mouth large cup