Cultural sharing| artifacts are wordless, only great beauty, and the millennium glass is so beautiful

Glass bell, amber thick, small trough of wine drops pearl red.

Speaking of glass, some people may feel strange, but when it comes to glass, it is very familiar, in fact, glass is the ancient Chinese name for glass, is a narrow glass theory, glass is a type of glass, its scope is much smaller than glass.

Some people will think that glass is from abroad, is an imported product, in fact, it is not, in the mainland, glass is the first of the five famous utensils in China, namely glass, gold and silver, jade, ceramics, bronze, has a long history and profound cultural heritage.

01

The origin of glass

According to calculations, Liuli originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to another legend, the glass was discovered by Fan Li when he was supervising the creation of the "Sword of the King", and was later given to the King of Yue along with the sword. The king of Yue, remembering his skill in forging swords, returned it and gave him the name "Li". Fan Li later carved it into a beautiful work of art and gave it to Xi Shi. Later, after the defeat of the State of Yue, Xi Shi was forced to go to the State of Wu and his relatives, and before leaving, he returned the "Li" to Fan Li, and at the same time shed his own tears, after which the people called it Liuli.

Liu Li, also known as "Li Li", is one of the traditional handicrafts of the Han Chinese people, its color is flowing with clouds, and its quality is crystal clear and dazzling. Because of its variety of colors, people also called it "five-colored stone" in ancient times.

Because it was difficult for people to obtain in ancient times, people at that time regarded glass as even more precious than jade, but nowadays it seems that few people mention it. In June 2008, the glass firing technique was included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

02

The historical evolution of glass

Ancient artworks have their obvious chronological characteristics, so is the ancient glass, throughout the history of ancient Chinese glass, the origin of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the glory of the Warring Han Dynasty, the turmoil of wei and Jin, the evolution of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the continuation of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and the revival of the Qing Dynasty, all of which are closely consistent with the social regime, science and technology culture, economic diplomacy and other factors at that time.

Spring and Autumn period

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the yue wang gou jian sword grid inlaid blue glass, yue wang gou jian sword lattice on both sides are inlaid with ornaments, one side inlaid turquoise, the other side inlaid is glass, light blue, translucent state, containing more bubbles.

Yue Wang's sword pattern map

At the same time, Wu Wangfuchai's sword grid was also inlaid with three transparent small pieces of glass.

Wu Wangfu ChaJian (middle)

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, a "dragonfly eye" glass bead was also found, which was a kind of possessive symbol at that time.

Warring States period

During the Warring States period, the glass craft broke through the process of glass beads, and a class of glass products with Chinese characteristics appeared - glass bi.

Most of the Warring States Liulibi found so far are Chu tombs unearthed throughout Hunan. The shape of the glass bi is very simple, but the color is diverse, mostly light green, as well as milky white, beige and dark green, which is completely modeled on the shape of the jade bi.

Changsha unearthed Warring States Valley pattern glass bi

The ornamentation of liulibi is also relatively simple, mostly grain patterns, and there are also a small number of cloud patterns of glazed bi.

In the middle and late Warring States period, there were not only glass bi, but also glass sword ornaments, glass seals, and glass embedded in other utensils as decoration.

Cockroach pattern glass sword, Warring States

Goose button glass seal, Warring States

Guwei Village, Hui County, Henan Province, unearthed copper gilded gold inlaid jade inlaid dragonfly eyeballs with hooks

Han Dynasty glass ware

In the Han Dynasty, most of the glass ware was made of imitation jade, which was the imitation jade era of Chinese glass. At this time, practical glass containers and funerary glass also appeared.

Western Han Glass Cup

Glass ear cup, tomb of king of Zhongshan

Most people only know that the Han Dynasty had golden jade clothes, in fact, the Han Dynasty also had glass clothes imitating jade clothes. At present, a total of two pieces have been found, namely a glass coat excavated from a noble tomb in the northwestern foothills of Ganquan Mountain in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. In a wooden tomb from the Xinmang period found in Baonudun in Ligang Village, Yangshou Township, Hanjiang County, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, 19 complete pieces of glass clothing were also unearthed. There are also glass vessels that imitate Han Dynasty funerary jade, such as Liuli Jiujie, Liuli Jiu, and Liuli Holding Jade.

Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, due to the use of the blowing method, a large number of practical glass ware appeared, and because of the historical background at that time, the glass ware of this period was full of exotic styles, the utensils were light and thin, and the transparency was very good. The nobles of the family have "fought for wealth" with the help of glass ware, and glass ware is still a general existence of "luxury goods". It can also be glimpsed from the Western Jin Dynasty poet Panni's "Glass Bowl Fu".

A pale green duck-shaped glassware excavated from the tomb of Feng Sufu of Northern Yan, Chaoyang, Liaoning

Imported Roman glassware

Ningxia Guyuan Museum excavated the tomb of Li Xian of the Northern Zhou Dynasty

Imported Sassanid glass bowls

Sui and Tang Dynasties

The glass ware of the Sui and Tang dynasties is both practical and beautiful. During this period, the blowing method has reached a super high level, the surface gloss of the utensils is better, and the shape of the utensils is more imitated from the porcelain of the time.

Sui Dynasty oval glass vase

During this period, there were also many typical vessel shapes with ancient Chinese characteristics, such as green glass boxes and glass relics that appeared in Sui Dynasty tombs.

The Stupa Underground Palace of Jingzhi Temple unearthed a glass bottle of Sui Dynasty relics

Song Dynasty glassware

In the Song Dynasty, people have a clearer understanding of the material of glass, and glass products are no longer luxury goods. Ruri is also known as "medicinal jade" and "fake jade".

Although glass ware is no longer expensive, because the porcelain of this period has been well developed, to a certain extent, the popularity of glass ware has been restricted. Therefore, there is no obvious progress in the production process of glass ware.

Liaojin Yuan period

The production techniques of Liao, Jin, and Yuan glazing ware have not been widely valued by society. A considerable part of the Liao Dynasty glassware belongs to islamic glass ware imported from the West, mainly through the Silk Road. The currently known Yuan Dynasty glassware is opaque or translucent, more like jade.

The glazed hollow three-colored dragon and phoenix pattern lavender oven is now in the Beijing Capital Museum

Ming and Qing dynasties

When mentioning Ming Dynasty glass ware, it is impossible not to mention Zheng He. With Zheng He's voyage to the West, a large number of Chinese glass products were also sold abroad, among which glass beads were especially loved by foreigners. However, glassware was not loved by the upper class, so it did not develop well, and there are quite few Ming Dynasty glassware found so far. Even the painters of the Ming Dynasty were a little stingy with pen and ink.

Glass chess pieces, Ming

However, in the Qing Dynasty, because the glass ware was once again loved by the ruling class headed by Kangxi, coupled with the abolition of the ban on the sea, the ancient Chinese glass craft actively absorbed the Western glass technology, and after the Yongzheng period, in the Qianlong period, it went to the golden age of Chinese glassware, and determined the final title of "glass".

Kangxi Imperial System, White Glass Water Cheng

Glass Zun, Yongzheng Year System, Forbidden City Old Collection

The transparent glass gold lid bowl is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing

The glass equipment of the Qing Dynasty is exquisite and beautiful, the instrument type is unique, or antique or innovative, leaving a lot of heirloom works. In the Qing Dynasty, the wind of snuff smoking was very popular, and glass snuff bottles should be born from time to time. In particular, the inner painting snuff bottle has become a jewel of glassware with Chinese characteristics.

Qianlong lotus powder laminated glass lotus pattern snuff bottle

Clear painting snuff bottle

Now glass for everyday use

The ancient glass is mainly used for handicrafts

The color is radiant and the quality is crystal clear

Brilliant glass

Following the millennia of history, it continues to bloom

The utensils are speechless, only great beauty

*Source: National Public Culture Cloud