Recently, I saw a pair of Longquan kiln bottles, and the shape is rare.
The bottle has a slender neck, the bottle body is flattened like a water chestnut, the circle foot is higher, the slight outer skimming, the most special is the "flowing clouds to the moon" shaped ears, the first time to see.
The tire quality of the bottle is whiter, the glaze color is green and warm, and the texture is transparent, which is close to the glaze style in the Ming Dynasty Longquan Zhukou area. The bottle body is shaped in sections, the joints are clear, and the process is also in line with the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty. The two bottles are in pairs, and there are obvious traces of soil erosion in the parts of the bottle, indicating that they are excavated.
From this pair of bottles, the author would like to talk about a phenomenon that I noticed a few years ago: this kind of small-mouth slender neck bottle of the Ming Dynasty Longquan kiln, including its atypical special ear style, is seen more overseas, but rarely seen in China.
Taking this pair of bottles as an example, I saw a similar one at christie's auction in the United States many years ago, and several examples of the same type were found in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum in japan, such as the following two:
The author consulted Japanese sources, and it is said that such small-mouthed, slender-necked bottles are particularly popular among tea people in Japan and are an excellent "flower entry" in the tea ceremony. Probably such a shape, not only the center of gravity of the bottle is more stable, but also conducive to the fixation of the flower branches, no need to match the inner tank, easy to use. And the long neck is tall, and the flower branches can be high or low, which is conducive to the play of flower arrangement and has certain advantages in the spatial layout.
So are such bottles also favored by the Ming people? The Ming Dynasty flourished in floral art, especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the imperial court was corrupt, and the literati and inkers passively avoided the world, advocating pleasant nourishment, attaching themselves to flowers and trees, and pursuing leisure and leisure. Compared with the Song people who regarded flower arrangement as a "leisure affair", the Ming people wrote a monograph on flower affairs, such as "Three Sayings of Vase Flowers" (Gao Lian), "Vase Flower Spectrum" (Zhang Deqian), "Vase History" (Yuan Hongdao) and so on. These works all focus on the choice of vases, but there is no preference for small-mouth slender neck bottles, and traditional bottles such as gall bottles, paper mallet bottles, and flower bottles are undoubtedly more popular with the literati. In the paintings of the Ming Dynasty with flower arrangement scenes, it is also rare to see the appearance of small mouths and slender neck bottles.
So were these bottles custom-made at the time, that is, export porcelain fired to cater to overseas markets? The Ming Dynasty once imposed a sea ban, until the middle and late Ming Dynasty gradually recovered, although there were tributes and smuggling trade here, it would still have a huge impact on the export of porcelain. If this kind of product is ordered to burn porcelain, then the probability should be a product after the middle and late Ming Dynasties. Longquan kiln to the middle and late Ming Dynasty gradually declined, product quality declined, the core production area of the large kiln gradually disappeared, Zhukou kiln and other surrounding kilns became the main production area, its style is different from traditional products is also easy to understand.
From the perspective of these shapes, such as the ear style, whether it is the "Flowing Clouds and Moon" ear, or the elephant trunk ear and the whip kissing ear, its image content is Chinese classical and has distinct characteristics of the times. Therefore, the author believes that even if the porcelain is ordered, Longquan celadon is also in the position of cultural output.
The pattern of "Liuyun Tuoyue" was quite common in the Ming Dynasty. (The above two figures have been quoted by the author in previous articles)
The author believes that the above-mentioned phenomenon that such bottles are rare overseas and domestic, can not be generalized, which may indeed have some examples of custom burning, but mainly in the Republic of China period a large number of overseas losses. For example, the elephant trunk bottle in the Collection of the Tokyo National Museum in Japan, Xu Yuanruo, the governor of Longquan County, Republic of China, has a hand-drawn illustration of the same type in the appendix of the book "Ge Kiln and Di Kiln".
These illustrations in the catalogue are undoubtedly based on the physical objects seen at that time, and to a certain extent reflect the Longquan celadon varieties that can be seen during the Republic of China. Judging from the catalogue, the variety of Longquan celadon in the Republic of China period is still very rich, and some modeling authors have collected Longquan celadon for more than thirty years and have not seen the same model in China, while overseas there are highly similar examples of the same type. For example, the above-mentioned elephant ear bottle, as well as the following "gluttony furnace", the British David Foundation has a piece.
The ear styles in the catalogue are also very rich, such as the sun and moon ears that are similar to the flowing clouds and the moon.
I remember that many years ago, Nagao, Germany, photographed a piece of "Longquan Kiln Blue Glaze Engraved Pattern Guanyin Zun (height 50.7cm, German great collector Georg Weishaupt collection, German Nagao 2005 Spring Auction, LOT: 0573)", which is an offering vessel with an offering engraved on the neck:
Pengtang believer Zhou Gui pointed out his heart to carry Qingfeng An Bao Shu a pair of prayer eyes bright male Zhou Chengde taught the two family size peace apocalypse five years of October auspicious.
This inscription is exactly the same as the peony vase mentioned in Mr. Chen Wanli's Longquan Antique Record. Mr. Chen Wanli also wrote in the book ("Porcelain and Zhejiang", Longquan Antique Record I, page 65, Zhonghua Bookstore, 35th Year Edition of the Republic of China) to record:
In the past, this kind of vase incense burner was very much in the temple, and later, knowing that it was valuable, many people stole it and sold it for money...
During the Republic of China period, overseas collectors flocked to "buy, buy, buy" madly. It was during this period that Longquan Celadon was discovered and excavated, and a large number of them were lost overseas.