Exhibition Guide| "Ancient Porcelain Intentional auspicious stop - Collection of Ming and Qing Porcelain Auspicious Culture Exhibition"

As a part of the most positive meaning and content of traditional Chinese culture, auspiciousness is the eternal pursuit of our nation and contains the wisdom and emotions of the ages. The auspicious motif is the medium created by human beings in thousands of years of productive labor to convey the voice of the heart. The auspicious culture in Ming and Qing porcelain contains people's good wishes and expectations, giving people psychological hints through its artistic modeling and painting ornamentation, using the unique harmonic or allegorical function of Chinese characters, Quyi implicitly expresses blessings and various appeals, forming the characteristics of "painting must be intentional, intentional must be auspicious". At the beginning of the New Year in 2022, the Jinan Municipal Museum specially held the "Ancient Porcelain Intentional Auspicious End - Collection of Ming and Qing Porcelain Auspicious Culture Exhibition", inviting you to walk into the world of porcelain painting that is full of spring and auspicious celebrations from all over the world, and taste the charm and style of ancient ceramic art in the mainland.

Yoshio-en-painting

In the history of the development of ceramics in the mainland for thousands of years, auspicious ornaments have an extremely important position. From the dragon in the heavens and the world of immortals, down to the insects and grasses, flowers and birds in the world, in the vast art of porcelain painting, there are praises for life, hopes for beauty, worship of nature... In the creation of fire and earth, they finally end up in one sentence: "Auspicious, good, auspicious, blessed." This is the most sincere cry of the ancient Chinese in the millennia of labor—auspiciousness is good omen.

bud

The auspicious motifs sprouted as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, when Buddhism was introduced to the mainland during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the lotus flower appeared on ancient porcelain as a symbol of sublimity and holiness, and flourished during the Six Dynasties period when Buddhism flourished. During the Tang Dynasty, the painted porcelain of Changsha kilns has appeared in the mandarin duck playing in the water, the child put the lotus, the pine crane and other auspicious ornaments. With the development of society and the prosperity of culture, the Song and Yuan dynasties have been widely spread, and the auspicious ornaments with the connotation of "Fu, Lu and Shou" in the Ming and Qing dynasties have been a blossoming scene.

Northern Dynasty blue glaze overlaid lotus statue (now in the Palace Museum)

Tang Dynasty painted dragon pattern jug (now in The Hunan Provincial Museum)

Yuanbai glazed black flower dragon and phoenix pattern jar (third-level cultural relics, now in the Jinan Museum)

Inheritance

Since ancient times, the mainland has had folk psychology such as praying for longevity and longevity, many children and many blessings, and the auspicious ornaments on porcelain are the reflection of folk psychology. It originated from the curiosity and reverence for nature in the early stages of human history, penetrated into all aspects of social life after feudal society, and developed the idea of "father and son of kings and subjects" to the extreme, thus implying wealth, peace, longevity, and multi-child ornamentation has become the most common theme on ancient porcelain. In addition, the auspicious ornamental motifs in porcelain are also deeply influenced by social ideology. The influence of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism on secular life is fully reflected in porcelain, and motifs such as the Three Friends of the Year, the Eight Treasures, and the Eight Immortals are not uncommon in porcelain paintings.

Qing Guangxu blue gray glaze Bagua pattern square bottle (third-level cultural relics, now in the Jinan Museum)

The porcelain vase of this kind of heavenly circle place is based on Yu Chun and is called "Zong-style bottle", because "琮" and "Zong" are harmonious, and "style" and "room" are homophonous, implying "Zong room peace". It is decorated with Bagua patterns, representing the qiankun of heaven and earth, jiangshan sheji, symbolizing the meaning of social peace.

Qingyongzheng Qinghua Eight Treasures Dragon Pattern Plate (Grade III cultural relics, now in Jinan Museum)

Religious beliefs have a long history in China's history and are also reflected in daily porcelain ornamentation. The Eight Treasures, also known as the Eight Treasures of Buddhism, symbolize the eight objects of Buddhist power, namely the Wheel of Law, the Conch, the Umbrella, the White Lid, the Lotus, the Vase, the Goldfish, and the Plate Length. There is the meaning of pudu sentient beings and auspicious wishes.

Qingdao Guangqing Qinghua Eight Treasure Pattern Two-Fold Flower Yao (grade III cultural relics, now in the Jinan Museum)

Entering a painting

The advanced porcelain making process of the Ming and Qing dynasties also provided favorable conditions for Ming and Qing porcelain to become an important carrier of auspicious patterns. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the mainland porcelain making process reached a very high level, and from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the painting techniques of Chinese painting and the ideas of literati painting were integrated into porcelain. Qing Dynasty porcelain firing technology provided conditions for the realization of auspicious patterns on porcelain, porcelain tire enamel color, pastel, glaze blue color, pouring yellow, sacrifice blue, peacock green, alum red and other complicated firing techniques became colorful brushstrokes, sketching a picture of the world on the delicate jade porcelain.

Qing Jiaqing pastel five bat pattern plate (now in Jinan Museum)

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, a kind of ornament that expressed auspicious themes in a harmonious and allegorical way was popular, such as the five bats holding the life map, and the feudal society took shou, fu, kangning, you haode, and examination as the five blessings. "Bat" is homophonous with "Fu", and five bats surround Ichishou or Shou Peach to symbolize this.

Qing Xianfeng pastel character pattern wall bottle (grade 3 cultural relics, now in Jinan Museum)

Qing yongzheng blue and white fulu shou sea plate (second-class cultural relics, now in the Jinan Museum)

The porcelain with the meaning of "Shoushan Fuhai" originated in the early Ming Dynasty, above the rolling sea surface, and bats shuttle between Shou peaches, expressing the beautiful hope of "Fu Ru Dong Hai, Shou Bi Nan Shan".

In the ceramic paintings with long artistic conception, profound meaning and interesting meaning, it leaves a vast space for unlimited reverie and artistic appreciation. As the saying goes: It is better to see than to see, I hope you have the opportunity to visit the Jinan Museum in person, and come together to witness the unique style of "Ancient Porcelain Intentional auspicious stop - Collection of Ming and Qing Porcelain Auspicious Culture Exhibition", and welcome the New Year in the millennium pattern!

Exhibition time: Spring Festival in 2022 - early June

Exhibition venue: Jinan City Museum on the first floor of the third exhibition hall

(Dazhong Daily client reporter Tian Kexin correspondent Yu Xiaozheng reported)