Author: M. Tatsu
#瓷器篇—54 #
Dear friends, thank you for your support and follow the "Museum of the World" from Egypt, India, Greece, Mexico, Iran, China to the European series of Russia and the Asian series of Turkey. Now, the highlight of 2021 , the "Porcelain Chapter" is underway ... Speed onlookers!
(Black-glazed rabbit, Song; Forbidden City Collection)
As mentioned earlier: Ancient Chinese porcelain can be divided into two categories according to glaze color: monochrome glazed porcelain and multi-color (variegated) glazed porcelain. Among them: only one color is "monochrome glazed porcelain", such as yellow glazed porcelain, red glazed porcelain, etc.; while the one that combines multiple glazed colors in one instrument is "multi-color glazed porcelain", such as flower glaze porcelain, furnace glaze porcelain and so on.
Today, let's continue to talk about monochrome glazed porcelain.
The protagonist of this article is: the backbone of the elder family of color glazed porcelain - black glazed porcelain.
(The pictures in this article are taken by M. Chen and Fukumoto, all rights reserved)
(Original Porcelain Zun, Shang Dynasty; National Museum Collection)
Why is it said that black glazed porcelain is the backbone of the old family of color glazed porcelain?
This has to start with the earliest color glaze in China.
The earliest color glazed porcelain in China is blue-glazed porcelain from Yuedi, Zhejiang. The reason why it comes from Yuedi (Yuezhou region) in Zhejiang is because the porcelain clay here contains a certain amount of iron. Since iron oxide (less than 3% iron oxide) can show a cyan color reaction in the kiln reduction atmosphere, the craftsmen added an appropriate amount of iron oxide to the glaze to produce blue-glazed porcelain.
The earliest original celadon in China comes from the Shang Zhou period, which means that the blue glaze glaze was already available in the Shang Zhou period (see figure above), about 3500 years ago. That is: the originator of Chinese glazed porcelain is blue glazed porcelain.
(Blue glazed brown spot lamp, Eastern Jin Dynasty; National Museum Collection)
Black glaze process
On the basis of the blue glaze, the craftsmen made a black-brown glaze from a glaze with a high iron oxide content (8-10%), and dot them on the blue glaze to produce a black-brown pattern (as shown above), which is the earliest colored porcelain in China. That is, black-brown glaze ranks second in the history of the invention of color glaze.
"Black brown" color mechanism: in the kiln oxidation atmosphere, iron can make the glaze show black, brown, brown red, yellow and other color reactions. The amount of iron in the glaze determines the shade of the "black" color – the higher the iron content, the darker the color after firing. By adjusting the iron content, you can make glazes in purple, sauce, purple gold, black and other colors. These glazes are applied to the porcelain tire and fired at high temperatures to produce porcelain of the corresponding color.
(Black glaze oil dripping spot bowl, gold; Forbidden City collection)
If "iron" is the earliest glaze coloring agent in China, then black is obviously a backbone member of the color glaze elder family. However, it cannot be regarded as a direct relative of the elder family, but only a common family. Because cyan is burned in a reducing atmosphere with iron oxide, and black is burned by iron oxide in an oxidizing atmosphere, the growth environment of the two is different, belonging to one vein and two branches. If in order of succession, the blue glaze is the boss of the family and is the most primitive color system.
(Note: The kiln atmosphere can be roughly divided into two categories: oxidation atmosphere and reduction atmosphere.) Simply put, the high oxygen content in the kiln is an oxidation atmosphere, and the reverse is a reducing atmosphere. For more information, see #Pottery-4#-Why do pottery have different colors? The secret is in the kiln)
(Black glazed convex line pattern plum bottle, gold; Forbidden City collection)
China's earliest monochrome black glazed porcelain began in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and has developed all the way to the present, from generation to generation. Among them, the Tang Dynasty was the most prevalent, and the Song Dynasty reached its peak. At the same time, the decoration of black glazed porcelain by each generation is also a display of its own art, so that black glazed porcelain continues to show its personality charm.
(Black glazed flower-picked plum vase, Song; Forbidden City Collection)
Black glaze deflower is a famous black glaze decorative porcelain, its techniques: 1. apply black glaze on the blank tire; 2. remove the black glaze of the ornamental part, exposing the white ground; 3. Cover transparent glaze firing, that is, black glaze deflower porcelain.
(Black glazed paper-cut appliqué phoenix pattern bowl, Song; Forbidden City collection)
Because black glaze porcelain itself is not a pleasing color, so the craftsmen of the past generations have done enough decorative work on black glaze porcelain, such as carving flowers, scratching flowers, picking flowers, printing, appliqués and other decorative forms of beautifying black glaze porcelain on black glaze.
Black glazed tawny folded branch chrysanthemum bottle, gold; Forbidden City collection. Decorative techniques: 1. High temperature firing black glazed porcelain; 2. Painting pattern with light glaze color on black glaze porcelain, low temperature secondary firing.
Black Earth Three-Colored Lion Ear Furnace, Qing Kangxi; Shanghai Museum Collection. Decorative techniques: 1. Firing of plain porcelain; 2. Painting of three-color ornaments on plain porcelain; 3. Black glaze on the open space outside the ornaments; 4. Firing in the kiln.
In addition, it is also possible to add a light glaze on the black glaze floor, thereby forming a large area of light-colored patches to produce "flower glaze porcelain", which is what we will talk about later: one of the multi-color glazed porcelain.
Summary: Black glazed porcelain as the existence of the elderly level of color glazed porcelain, but has not been able to rank among the big-name famous porcelain, the reason is that its technical content is always not as high as those of the big-name porcelain threshold, so it is not as good as the Ru kiln This process has not yet been solved.
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