Qing Shengzu Kangxi, who reigned for 61 years, was the longest ruling emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the porcelain output and innovation of this dynasty ranked first in the Qing porcelain, and almost all porcelain categories can be found during this period. We often lament that Kangxi Qinghua "ink color five points, alone in this dynasty", but compared with qinghua, Kangxi five colors are even more unique, making it difficult for future generations to reach, just as the "Zaya Scroll" commented that "that is, ordinary passenger goods, but also divine into the gods, waves and old age", indicating that not only the official kiln kangxi five colors, this dynasty's folk kiln five color utensils, are rare fine products, why is this?
Qing Kangxi Colorful pheasant peony pattern
Collection of the Palace Museum
"No one has me" of the Kangxi Colorful
Five-colored porcelain was first from the Yuan Dynasty's gold and five-colored, it is reasonable to say that the production of five-colored ware in the Ming Xuande has been quite mature, Jiajing, Wanli period is very popular, out of a lot of fine products, but why do we finally only say that Kangxi five-color reached the state of "out of the gods"? Being able to distance itself from the Ming Dynasty's five colors, the secret of Kangxi's five colors of success, in fact, is four words - "no one has me", and here "there" is more color.
Qing Kangxi multicolored butterfly pattern bottle
Kangxi Wucai inherited the Development of Ming Wucai, and at this time the progress of the glaze color process, the craftsmen of the kiln successfully created and fired the glaze blue, black and gold colors. Especially blue color, which is very important, because before this, if we want to burn the multicolored utensils with blue, we can only use the traditional blue flower to make blue color, and the blue flower is still quite troublesome to make blue color.
Blue and white coloring agent for cobalt oxide, firing temperature to reach more than 1200 ° C, under the glaze can also, if placed on the glaze and other colors at the same time, then other low-temperature painting is burned and burned, so the use of blue and white to make multicolored porcelain, you need to first burn the underglaze blue and white part, and then use other pigments on the finished product, the second time into the furnace low temperature firing.
Qing Kangxi colorful cultivation and weaving bottle
Now Kangxi Wucai will be glazed blue color instead of underglaze blue flowers, directly the five-color vessel firing step to save a step, not only that, all colors can be fired at once, the controllability of color will be greatly improved, the painter can use color materials more fully on porcelain. The rich and realistic color also promotes the performance of the painting theme more in place, such as the thick black hair of the Kangxi figures, and the large-scale use of gold color makes the porcelain used in the court magnificent, which is the degree to which the Ming Dynasty colored porcelain did not play.
Of course, after the Kangxi Wucai used glazed blue color, it did not prevent the continued use of blue and white on the five-color porcelain, and both appeared on an artifact at the same time. Compared with underglaze blue and white, the glaze blue color has a more glass texture.
Qing Kangxi Multicolored monk hat pot
The Kangxi Five Colors of "Hard School Sketching"
The Kangxi five-color color is very different from the later pastels with a soft feeling, known as the theory of "Kangxi color hard". This is due to the fact that Kangxi Five Colors use a single-line flat painting method to apply color, the color material is thick and deep, transparent and bright, the color burning temperature is slightly higher than the pastel, and the picture gives people a gorgeous and hard feeling, so it is also known as "hard color". After kangxi, with the prevalence of pastel porcelain, five-colored porcelain was rarely produced, and Kangxi five-colored was often used as an object of imitation of ancient times, so Kangxi five-color was also called "ancient color".
Qing Kangxi Colorful Cultivated Weaving Figures Large Plate Collection of the National Museum of Korea
In addition to the brilliance of the color, the paintings on the Kangxi five colors are even more wonderful.
Kangxi Dynasty porcelain, whether blue and white or multicolored, in the painting of materials, layout, brushwork are beyond any period in history, the late Ming and early Qing dynasty literati painting trend, late Ming printmaking boom has injected rich nutrition into Kangxi porcelain painting, contributed to the formation of Kangxi porcelain painting realism style.
Qing Kangxi Colorful landscape character bottle partial
At this time, it was popular to copy the entire painting to the porcelain, and the subject matter of the character story was very vivid, not only the action but also the expressions and plots, especially the historical stories and drama fragments, which could be richly expressed in colorful colors. Kangxi five-color ornament composition pays attention to the balance of virtual and real, the brushwork is sharp, the layout and chapter method of the picture tend to be more painterly effect, reducing the decorative nature of the pattern, and pursuing the vivid image of nature and real life, which is unattainable by the composition of the Ming Dynasty.
The kangxi multicolored ornamental patterns that have been handed down from generation to generation mainly include flowers, plum magpies, flowers and birds, ladies, and knife and horse people. Painting on white glazed porcelain, replacing blue and white with its brilliant color, creates exquisite paintings, making the Kangxi five-colored "Kangcai magnificent" saying.
Qing Kangxi Blue and White Colorful Baby Drama Pattern Powder Box Collected by the British Museum