Longquan kiln developed to the Song Dynasty, porcelain-making technology, industrial scale have undergone a qualitative leap, new varieties of modeling continue to enrich, there are many classic samples that have been modeled for future generations. The begonia bottle described in this article is an example of this.
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Compared with other classic bottles of Longquan kiln such as gall bottles, jade pot spring bottles, paper mallet bottles, and ear bottles that were popular in this period, the amount of firing of begonia bottles is undoubtedly much less, and the heirlooms are even rarer. Examples of domestic bibliographies seem to be found only in the cellars of Suining Goldfish Village in Sichuan. According to official information (see Suining City Museum, Suining City Cultural Relics Management "Sichuan Suining Goldfish Village Southern Song Dynasty Cellar Collection", "Cultural Relics", No. 4, 1994, P4 ~ 14) announced, at that time there were 3 excavated, the name is "melon bottle", one piece of pink blue glaze (SJH: 20), the other piece of gray blue glaze, with open pieces (SJH: 21), there is another piece without a numbered description, and there are only these two pieces on public display:
Pink-blue glaze ware (picture quoted from the official website of Sichuan Song Porcelain Museum) Height 16 cm
The whole body is made of melon edge, the bottle body is square diamond-shaped, the edges and corners are sharp, the flower mouth is skimmed, the neck is hanging, the foot is circled outside, and the flint red at the exposed tire is distinct. There are obvious joint marks on the bottom and mouth, and it can be known that the two halves of the blank are combined and fired. Mr. Zhu Boqian published this example in his monograph (see Longquan Kiln Celadon Porcelain, Taipei, 1998, plate 18) and pointed out that it is a Xikou kiln product.
Gray-blue glaze (picture quoted from the internet) Height 16.2 cm
The whole body is ten edges, different from the four edges of the former, this formula has only two edge edges, although the whole instrument is diamond-shaped flat body, but the edges are full and round, and the style is more beautiful. Since the vessel is a black tire product, the shape, glaze color and opening style are close to the Southern Song Dynasty official kiln, and many opinions regard it as a kind of imitation official product.
There are indeed begonia-style bottles in the Southern Song Dynasty official kilns, and there are slight differences between the style and the Longquan kiln. For example, a begonia-style vial in the old collection of the Qing Palace of the National Palace Museum in Taipei has only six edges throughout the body, and the plane of the circle foot is a classic four-petal style.
Southern Song Dynasty Suburban altar under the official kiln powder begonia-style vial Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
Southern Song Dynasty Suburban altar under the official kiln begonia type melon ridge bottle height 14.6 cm
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2017 Auction From the Church
Old collection of Hung Hee Art Museum, Taipei
The style of this vessel is very similar to the gray-green glazed melon vase excavated from the cellar of Goldfish Village, and according to personal ignorance, it is more likely to be fired in the Longquan kiln.
Black-tire begonia-style melon-style melon bottle at the "Dragon Spring under Heaven" exhibition at the Forbidden City in Beijing
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What is Begonia?
In simple terms, the plane is diamond-shaped. This is the main feature that distinguishes it from other petal shapes such as diamond flower style and sunflower type. Later generations, especially the Ming and Qing begonia styles, were basically fixed as oval four-petaled flowers. In addition, many articles like to use begonia flowers as metaphors for begonias, which the author believes is debatable, because there is no reliable evidence to show that begonias are derived from the bionics of begonia flowers, and begonias are only a conventional name for this type of instrument.
Trace the origin of begonia-style modeling
The name "Begonia" began in the Tang Dynasty, and the emergence of Begonia porcelain also originated from the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Yue kiln, Xing kiln and other kilns were fired with begonia-style vessels. However, the original begonia vessels were mostly plates and cups, and there were no bottles.
Tang Yue kiln blue glazed begonia cup
The site of the Housi kiln in Shanglin Lake, Qiaotou Town, Cixi City, Zhejiang Province, was excavated
Collection of Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Xing kiln white glaze "Ying" character begonia plate
The tomb of Xiyong'an Tang in Neiqiu County, Hebei Province, was excavated
Tang Dynasty Jingxing kiln "official" character white glazed begonia plate
The tomb of Xingjiazhuang in Zhengding Xi was excavated
Collection of Hebei Museum
Late Tang Dynasty Lin'an Qiankuan couple tomb unearthed Ding kiln "official" model with toho begonia cup
This set of utensils is preserved, and the begonia plate can be seen to set off the begonia cup. In terms of shape, this cup is obviously imitated from a multi-curved long cup, and the same shape can also be seen in Yue kiln, Longquan kiln and so on. The multi-curved long cup is a kind of gold and silver cup type popular during the Sassanid Dynasty in Western Asia, the cup body is roughly oval in shape, and the wall is multi-curved. Due to the large number of splits and the longer body of the cup, the long cup shape has a certain exotic style of "exaggeration". In contrast, the begonia cup is more like a simplification and improvement with both localization aesthetic and practicality. Begonia-style shape or origin from the multi-curved long cup, from the cup and extends to the plate, to the bowl, and even the pot, bottle and so on.
Song Longquan kiln with begonia-style cup (cup) (can refer to this public number "Sending poems into the Cuiqiong Cup - Manhua Longquan Kiln Begonia Cup" article)
In fact, the begonia style is very popular in the Tang Dynasty gold and silverware, the begonia shape in the porcelain is obviously imitating the gold and silver ware, if the above examples of begonia cups and plates, not only have similar gold and silver ware, and the style of gold and silverware is more abundant. It can also be seen from the above that this imitation of gold and silver ware should initially be a high-end product such as tribute ware.
The styling feature of the begonia bottle is imitation gold and silver ware wind
Flower mouth
Melon ridge
High circle foot skimming
Because the gold and silver material itself is expensive, and the gold and silver as a metal ductility is strong, in order to reduce the cost, the utensils will generally be made thinner, and the corresponding process such as the hammering method is quite representative. However, after the wall becomes thinner, the anti-deformation ability also decreases, so some special techniques are often used in the design of the shape, such as the treatment of the abdomen of the utensil into a melon ridge, which not only enriches the shape, but also strengthens the anti-deformation ability. The flower mouth treatment along the mouth can not only maintain the same as the abdominal style, but also mask some minor deformations.
Porcelain is made of porcelain clay and is characterized by good plasticity. Southern Song Dynasty Longquan kiln, bottles are undoubtedly pulled blank forming as the mainstream, the characteristics of drawing blank molding is that the contour line is round, curved, if the melon ridge type to take a special molding (generally molded molding, so such bottles have more obvious joint marks). Obviously, porcelain and gold and silver are completely different in texture and craftsmanship, such as the begonia bottle of this kind of melon ridge, flower mouth and high circle foot of the outer skimmer, for gold and silverware, it is a craft feature that fits the characteristics of the material, and for porcelain, it is obviously an imitation. In fact, the imitation of gold and silverware has been popular in the porcelain of the late Tang Dynasty, and such utensils are available in the kilns of Yue kiln, Xing kiln, Ding kiln, etc., and the above listed illustrations are also quite evidenced. The preciousness of gold and silver is a symbol of status and wealth, and the shape of gold and silver represents the highest model of the aesthetics of the times to a certain extent. Porcelain imitations of gold and silverware were initially only imitated for their shape, and then more widely used, such as the flower mouth in longquan kiln celadon is very common. Although the shape characteristics of the begonia bottle have a strong imitation gold and silver color, they have been "reborn" and have the aesthetic charm of porcelain.
3
From "Begonia" to "Cabbage"
Such "melon bottles" are mostly called "cabbage bottles" in later generations, and there are many changes in the instrument. For example, the foot no longer pays attention to the petal type, and there is no external skimming and elevation treatment, and the "division" style of the melon ridge also tends to be flexible, the most common one is the bottle type of binaural rings.
"Begonia" is elegant in poetry, and "cabbage" is popular in life, which also shows that such bottles are appreciated in a common way.
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