For a long time we had a misunderstanding of glaze red, because it has been intermittent since firing.
Glaze red is different from other porcelain,
First of all, it is different from Qinghua, which has been uninterrupted since the Yuan Dynasty.
But glaze red is a stage by stage, there are many periods when it is not fired,
So we don't know enough.
Glaze red turn to put the cup
Yuan
Height 10cm, caliber 7.7cm, foot diameter 3.8cm
The glaze was burned in the Yuan Dynasty, and when carefully studied, it was slightly earlier than the blue flower.
The rate of waste in glaze red is much higher than that of blue and white, which is why it is less.
Glaze red in the Yuan Dynasty can not be said to have been fully mature,
Therefore, the number of glaze red in the past excavations is relatively small.
For example, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was a more important excavation,
That is, in the Archaeological Discovery of Gao'an in the Yuan Dynasty, there are only a few pieces of glaze red,
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the glaze red excavations in the Yuan Dynasty have been very small.
Glazed red tangled peony pattern military hold
Ming Hongwu
Height 14cm, caliber 2.3cm, foot diameter 7.1cm
On why the rate of red waste in glaze is so high,
We have to explain first that there is an environment when porcelain is fired.
The technical term is called atmosphere, generally speaking, there are two kinds of atmosphere, one is oxidation and one is reduction.
Oxidation is done by opening the furnace door when it is fired, so that oxygen can enter sufficiently.
Restoration is stuffy fire, and the north is called "seal the fire" is such a feeling.
Glaze red is fired in a reducing atmosphere, with copper as the coloring agent,
The temperature will fail slightly higher, it will fly, that is, the color is gone, the temperature is low, it is black, and it also fails, which is very ugly.
The difference between this temperature is only about 10 degrees,
But it was at a high temperature of 1300 degrees, the temperature difference of 1% was less than 1%, and there was no thermometer at that time.
All the kiln workers look at the fire with their eyes and control it.
Most people can judge the temperature by the color of the flame,
But you have to be in the miserable white fire of more than 1300 degrees,
It's very difficult to see that little bit of temperature difference.
Only a kiln worker with very rich experience can see it.
This 1% temperature difference determines the life and death of the glaze red.
The glaze red ground white flowers are darkly engraved with cloud dragon pattern four series flat pots
Height 34cm, caliber 8.5cm, foot width 26.5cm, foot length 8.2cm
The Yuan Dynasty was the era of red creation in the glaze,
Because there are too many failures, it cannot develop.
We know that we are not afraid of failure when doing things,
You'll keep experimenting, you'll keep succeeding with it, but you'll always fail and you'll give up easily.
Glaze red is its special color, occupying a place in the history of Chinese ceramics,
In history, there are only three eras in history: the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Yongxuan Period, and the Qing Kangqian Dynasty.
Fully fired glazed red, very rare in other periods.
We have unearthed a very important piece of meta-glaze red in recent years.
In 2002, a large number of porcelain was excavated from the ruins of the ancient city of Jining Road in Inner Mongolia.
The number is very large, of which 7,000 are complete and recoverable,
It includes almost all the porcelain of the kiln mouth at that time, which was the Yuan Dynasty,
In addition to the Jizhou kiln, no other kilns have been found, such as the Dingyao kiln, Jun kiln, Yaozhou kiln, and Cizhou kiln in the north, and the Longquan, Jingdezhen, and Jianyao kilns in the south.
Jining Road was historically a distribution center for porcelain,
Archaeological findings are mainly daily porcelain,
But there was a very important glazed carnelian pot spring bottle found there, very beautiful,
Red area accounts for about 40%.
The red and white flowers in the glaze are secretly engraved with peony-patterned jade pot spring bottles
It is 28 .6cm high, 7 .8cm caliber, and 9 .8cm foot diameter
Glazed red is a kind of ornamental porcelain, it is an unconscious decoration, not conscious,
The stains are thrown on top, not painted according to a certain pattern, which is a means of decorating the red glaze.
At first, glaze red did not use it to actively decorate a decoration, but used its color to speak.
We now know that Jining Road is mainly for the daily porcelain market,
The number of ornamental porcelain such as this glazed carnelian pot spring bottle is very rare.
The style of this bottle is very unrestrained, which is obviously different from the later painting with glaze red, and the style of Jingdezhen porcelain at that time was unique.
Location of the ruins of Jining Road, on the southern edge of the Inner Mongolian steppe,
Historically, it was a meeting point between agrarian culture and nomadic culture.
After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan government strengthened foreign ties, which led to the porcelain of the Central Plains swimming in the direction of nomadism.
Glazed red scratched flower rabbit pattern jade pot spring bottle
Height 20.5cm, caliber 6.3cm, foot diameter 6.8cm
We know that porcelain is fragile,
In the nomadic people is an inconvenient vessel, its resistance to external forces is definitely not as good as metalware and leather goods,
But it has an advantage over the price.
Nomadic culture and farming culture have always had a potential conflict,
But such conflicts retreat in the face of economic factors.
In the fifteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, in 1278,
The Yuan government set up China's first institution in charge of porcelain production in Jingdezhen.
Later, it was also the only institution in China specializing in porcelain: the Fuliang Porcelain Bureau.
Glaze red was an innovative variety in the Yuan Dynasty,
It can reach the market of Inner Mongolia in such a short period of time, indicating that it still has a certain vitality.
Due to the difficulty of red firing in the glaze and the high scrap rate, the price is much higher than that of blue and white.
In past collections, glaze red has always been 10 times the size of blue flowers.
At that time, the market was not as open and developed as it is now, and the information was not developed, so it was difficult to see.
At that time, there was a cultural relics store in Liulichang that had just opened.
Among them, official kiln porcelain such as Ming and Qing dynasty official kilns sold for hundreds of yuan, which was also very expensive at that time.
But glazed red sells for thousands of pieces.
Glazed red tangled peony pattern bowl
Height 10cm, caliber 20.6cm, foot diameter 9.1cm
In 2004, the San Francisco auction house auctioned a Hongwu large market, 48 centimeters, setting a world record of $5.7 million.
The plate was discovered by accident and the owner of the plate is Ms. Karisler, who loves to travel and especially loves to collect Chinese art.
She came to China three times between 1900 and 1925 and loved Chinese culture very much.
She also bought such a large plate with a red glaze by chance.
Her father created a very important courier company in the United States in the 19th century, Kuaima Express, so her family foundation is also very solid.
Because the plate is so big, she uses it to eat seafood, which has been eaten for nearly a hundred years.
This plate tire is relatively thick, and their family is also very careful when using it, not bumping, so it is very well preserved, and the old lady is still in use many years after her death.
The family, apparently unaware of the importance of the plate, was discovered by chance by the auction house, resulting in a historically high price.
Why this plate is so expensive, the reason is first of all that the porcelain size of the Yuan Dynasty is relatively large,
The size of the porcelain that affected the Hongwu period was also relatively large, and this size determined its price.
The Forbidden City also houses glazed red porcelain plates of similar size.
Glazed red folded branch peony pattern flower plate
It is 8.6cm in height, 45 cm in diameter and 22.1 cm in diameter
It's very interesting.
For us, this plate is very precious,
But for Ms. Karisler herself, she liked Chinese art and bought such a plate to use,
After a hundred years, it sold so much money to benefit future generations.
As the saying goes, feng shui takes turns next year to my house, and the fun of collecting is sometimes here,
We collect a thing and don't know when it's worth it.
When it is valuable, it brings us happiness, but it is happier than we expected.
Glaze red has not been recorded in the past, and it was not known what it was in the past, and its research has only begun in recent years.
Some people think that the red glaze has a great relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang himself, and there are more than 100 pieces of Hongwu porcelain in the Forbidden City, 80% of which are glazed red.
Glazed red four-season floral pattern pomegranate
Height 53cm, caliber 26.5cm, foot diameter 23.2cm
During the Hongwu period, there were more red glazes than blue flowers, for about three reasons:
The first is that red is the color that indicates orthodoxy after the change of dynasty.
The second is that red dominates the south in the Five Elements Doctrine,
We often say that the left green dragon and the right white tiger, the former Suzaku and the later Xuanwu,
The green dragon represents the east, the white tiger represents the west, the xuanwu represents the north, and the suzaku represents the south.
Zhu Yuanzhang originated in the south, so red is a very auspicious color for him.
The third is the vermilion red, Hongwu's Hong and red harmonics,
Zhu Yuanzhang participated in the Red Turban Army in history, in order to emphasize orthodoxy,
Therefore, the glaze red in the Hongwu period that we see now is more red than blue and white.
Glazed red pine bamboo plum pattern jade pot spring bottle
Height 33cm, caliber 8.8cm, foot diameter 11.3cm
(The picture and text originate from the original author of the online copyright)