In the Ming Dynasty, the colors and images of national sacrifices and royal symbols were clearly stipulated. Emperor Sejong, whose era name was Jiajing, took the throne as a side branch and implemented it more strictly to proclaim orthodoxy. The Jiajing period monochrome glaze and dragon pattern porcelain collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei not only presents the thinking of respecting the ancestors and the honor of the royal family, but also shows the innovation and design of glaze color. The firing of multicolored porcelain in this period, imitating the colors and styles of the transformation period, can be seen in the deliberate creation of the inheritance of the lineage.
On the other hand, the large number of ornaments of Xiu Xian Yongshou appearing on the porcelain used in the palace is derived from the personal devout Taoist beliefs of the Jiajing Emperor, which makes the pattern of Xiangrui allegorical fashionable.
The surging news learned that recently, "Where the Pattern Comes From: The Influence of a Taoist Emperor on Porcelain Production" is being exhibited at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and the exhibition is divided into three units: "The Norms of etiquette", "The Declaration of Chuanchuan", and "The Pursuit of Immortality".
The norm of etiquette
The Ming Dynasty ritual system stipulates that porcelain is used for sacrifices. The Jiajing Dynasty sacrificed the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon and the four gods, respectively, using blue, yellow, red, white and other monochrome glaze sacrifice vessels, the glaze color is uniform and pure, the color is consistent; the shape of the vessel is the same as the bowl, dish, plate and urn used for daily use, and the surface of the vessel is the most common to depict the dark flower dragon pattern. The royal porcelain takes the dragon pattern as a symbol of honor, and the dragon head style often has the appearance of facing the sky nose, the eyes are directly looking, the expression is thick, the body is thin and long, and the five claws resemble iron branches; its composition layout is slightly interesting to the design.
Left: Ming 16th century sacrifice glaze skimming plate; right: Ming 16th century red color depiction of gold plates two pieces
Red and blue monochrome glaze plates, skimmed or narrow lips, with a diameter of about 32.0 cm. The fetal bone is thick, and the mouth edge and circle foot of the disc leave traces of gold decoration. According to the "Great Chronicle of Jiangxi Province", the caliber of the hairy blood plate is between 30.0 and 32.0 cm. The hairy blood plate is the one used to take the blood of the animal during the fistula ceremony. Both the "Great Ming Huidian" and the "Ming Ji Li" have records of the use of hairy blood plates for sacrifices.
Cyan symbolizes spring and is the color of all things that are born and full of life. Every year around the time of the winter solstice, the royal festival uses green glaze or blue glaze to draw dragon ornaments. The Explanation of the Eastern Han Dynasty "Commentaries on the Interpretation of Texts": "The great red is like the color of the sunrise, the vermilion is like the color of the sun, and the sun is more expensive than the sunrise", which is the positive color, or therefore, the red sacrifice vessel used daily in the royal festivals of the past.
Left: Ming Jiajing Sacrifice Blue Glaze Lake Stone Floral Pattern Animal Ear Furnace; Zhongming Jiajing Blue and White Pterodactyl Beast Ring Ear Bottle; Right: Ming Jiajing Sacrifice Green Depiction Golden Incense Shovel
The type of this furnace is taken from the style of copper gui in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Since the Song Dynasty, the function of the furnace has been diverse, and it can be used as an incense burner or a flower vessel. This work has a vertical mouth, a short neck, and two ears in the shape of a unicorn head. The tires are thick, gray and blue and vary in shades. The ornamentation is made of flower piling method, which is Made of Taihu Stone, Peony Flower, Bamboo Leaf and Pi Stone. The flowers are coated with a thin juice containing iron, so it is light brown. During the sacrifice, vases are placed on both sides of the furnace to form three offerings. If you add another pair of candlesticks, you will form five offerings.
An incense sticker is an instrument that crawls through incense ashes to cover up incense to control the ignition point. Flat round shovel, long handle, glaze dark blue and beautiful purple, handle body white clay book "Daming Jiajing Year System" Yang Wenkai book. The handle end is slightly curved, gold is the ground, and the red and black lines are decorated, low-key and gorgeous. Two fine nail marks are left on the back of the shovel, showing the fineness of the workmanship. The Jiajing Emperor wantonly sacrificed in the West Garden of the Imperial Garden, leaving many incense utensils in the world, and the incense spatula was the rarest.
Ming Jiajing Yellow glaze skimming bowl
Yellow symbolizes the earth and is also the color of rice when it is ripe, so the gods of land, farming, and silkworm mulberry are also sacrificed with yellow glaze. According to the color theory of the five elements of yin and yang, yellow is in the middle of the world, just like a monarch sitting in the center of the country and ruling the four directions. Therefore, yellow also became the exclusive property of the royal family, and it was a color that the officials and the people were not allowed to transgress.
Yellow glaze deep bowl, thick tire, inner and outer delicate yellow glaze, uneven distribution of glaze color, bottom blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System" six-character italic style. The Ming Dynasty simplified the shape of the sacrificial vessels, using bowls, plates, jars and other utensils made in the everyday style. During the Jiajing period, the sacrificial vessel "Deng" was replaced by a large bowl, which was a vessel for holding soup during the sacrifice. This yellow-glazed bowl is thick and rare, and it is speculated that it should be a sacrificial vessel "Deng".
Ming Jiajing Sweet white glaze Bell-style bowl
Bell-shaped bowl with a narrow lip, deep walls, low circle feet. Thin fetal bone, sweet white glaze throughout. At the bottom there is the blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System" in six letters. White, simple and pure, is the main color of the moon, ancestral temple or funeral, symbolizing pure, sincere mourning. In traditional society, "yin uses things, looking for white", even today, there are many places that still retain this concept.
Proclamations of the Word
The Ming Dynasty court fired porcelain, first formulated the style and quantity, and then made by the Jingdezhen official kiln. Jiajing color porcelain red, green, yellow, purple colors see each other, some large pieces of strong contrast, some delicate and colorful, the number is large, rare in the past life, leading the colored porcelain to the world's gorgeous style. In order to highlight the impression that the throne comes from the Chenghua lineage, Jiajing also copied a large number of imitations of the chemical style, and although the finished product is not similar to its elegant and beautiful, it is more rich and gorgeous, and its own style.
Ming Jiajing Red and green color Pegasus pattern lid jar
The flat-top lid jar, the lid is painted with six flowers, the shoulders are painted with tangled branches, and the four red and yellow pegasus in the belly of the vessel travel through the waves and shuttle through the clouds. The bottom blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System" is a six-character letter. Red and green color porcelain, mainly composed of red, yellow, green three colors, but also often with purple, peacock blue and black color. The glaze color is painted on high-temperature white porcelain that has been fired with a brush, and the outline of the ornament is first depicted with red material, and then the pattern is flattened, and baked at about 800 ° C.
Ming Jiajing Blue and Red Color Seawater Kowloon Play Beaded Bowl
The low circle foot bowl, the heart and the outer wall of the vessel are painted with nine red dragons, and the dragon lines above the blue waves, playing with pearls in the clouds. At the bottom there is the blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System" six-character letters. Blue and white flowers are added to the color, fired into underglaze blue and white porcelain at a high temperature of more than 1250 ° C, and then filled with red color in the white space, and grilled at a low temperature of 500 to 800 ° C in the furnace. The color is bright and eye-catching.
Left: Ming Jiajing Doucai Ruyi Yunzhi disc; Right: Ming Chenghua Doucai Ruyi Yunzhi disc
Skimming plate, pan heart painted ruyi cloud, outer mural Ganoderma lucidum. At the bottom there is the blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System" six-character letters. The Ming Dynasty court fired porcelain, first formulated the style and quantity, and then made by the Jingdezhen official kiln. In order to highlight the impression that the throne comes from the Chenghua concubine lineage, the colored porcelain created by Jiajing seems to have deliberately skipped the blue, green and yellow tones of the former Zhengde period (1506-1521), and copied a large number of colorful doucai patterns in the huahua period.
However, how is the difference between Chenghua and Jiajing's fighting colors? Both are picked with blue and white double lines to outline the pattern, and then fill in the color. The lines are smooth, and the flowers and leaves are represented by the angle of the front, through the multi-colored flowers, to add to the fun of the ornamentation. However, Jiajing Doucai porcelain has thick tires, the glaze color is yellow, and some of the pattern layout is looser, not like the elegant and beautiful of the Chenghua period, but it is more prosperous and gorgeous, and it is unique.
The pursuit of eternal life
The Jiajing Emperor advocated Taoism, sought the art of immortality and immortality, constantly cultivated altars and set up pots, and a large number of blue and white porcelain created such decorative themes as Bagua, Lingzhi, Turtle Crane, and Eight Immortal Figures, and even prayer texts such as "Guotai Min'an", "Yongbao Wannian" or "Wanshou", also commonly depicted scribe landscapes or flowers and birds, as well as secular patterns with auspicious meanings such as Sanyang Kaitai and baby play. The ornamentation of the surface is followed by the thickness of the pen and the density of the composition, and the interaction is configured with a variety of auspicious meanings.
Ming Jiajing Blue Flower Crane Bagua Pattern Gourd Bottle
There is a heaven and earth sun and moon in the gourd bottle, so there will also be yin and yang dissipation, which is the Dinglu of alchemy, which has been used as a medicine bottle for storing "immortal elixir" since the Song Dynasty. During the Jiajing period, the Royal Kiln Factory fired a large number of gourd bottles of various sizes, decorating lingzhi clouds, cranes, bagua and other tricks, showing the pious Taoist beliefs of the Jiajing Emperor and the persistence of cultivating immortals.
Ming Jiajing Blue Flower Four Spirit Diagram Amphora
Ring ear bottle, narrow edge of the mouth, the mouth edge has the blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System" six-character letters. The bottle depicts a green dragon, a white tiger, a suzaku and a xuanwu (turtle) wandering among the clouds of Lingzhi, also known in Chinese mythology as the Four Gods or Four Spirits. As a porcelain pattern, it is extremely rare. In the political documents of the Ming Dynasty, the four gods often appeared in the posture of Xiangrui; Taoism prevailed in the Ming Dynasty, and the four gods were also gods with miraculous powers, who could go to heaven and earth, slay demons and exorcise demons, and were the guardian gods of the four sides. In the lower abdomen of the ring ear bottle, seven solid mountain stones stand in the waves and majestic rivers, which have the meaning of imperial power "Jiangshan Eternal Solidity".
Ming Jiajing Qinghua Shouzi crane deer pattern gourd bottle
Gourd bottle, cut in cursive ershou characters, decorated with plum, bamboo, ganoderma lucidum and crane two. The waist is painted with four peach fruits, and the lower abdomen is painted with pine, bamboo plum and ganoderma lucidum, and two cranes and two deer are added. Looking closely at the brushwork of the Shou character, the double hook line twists and falls, which is similar to the painting method of plum branches, bamboo branches, and peach branches on the bottle, which means that the shou character is made of a vine or branch knot. Carved trees are landscapes that often appear in bonsai or gardens in the late Ming Dynasty.
According to the "Great Chronicle of Jiangxi Province", when the royal family ordered the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory to burn a kind of blue and white porcelain decorated with "long live vine", it should be a portrayal of such works. Depicting carved trees on porcelain was a pioneering achievement of the Jiajing period. Scholars also believe that the spirit stone grew out of the longevity vine, which should be to satisfy the Jiajing Emperor's desire for immortality.
Ming 16th century blue and white fish algae pattern large bowl
The heavy bowl depicts four large fish and many small fish swimming leisurely between various aquatic plants such as tianzi grass, copper money grass and locust leaf apple. The blue and white fish algae pattern has been popular since the Yuan Dynasty, and by the Ming Jiajing period, the style of the fish algae pattern is more certain. According to the "Great Chronicle of Jiangxi Province" compiled by Wang Zongmu in the thirty-ninth year of Ming Jiajing (1560), the imperial family in the twenty-first year of Jiajing (1541) instructed the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory to burn "blue and white ground Puchi Jiaoqi carp carp algae fish". The four kinds of fish, mackerel, carp and mandarin fish have the auspicious harmonic meaning of "innocence and incorruptibility", which is the portrayal of the popular folk four-character auspicious saying.
Ming Jiajing Blue Flower Baby Play Picture Jar
Short neck, bulging shoulders, shallow circle foot tank. The short neck depicts a ruyi cloud, and the shoulders and near the bottom are decorated with tangled branches and lotuses. The belly depicts garden scenes such as pine trees and Taihu stone, and sixteen children shuttle through it, busy fighting crickets, competing for balance beams, playing puppets, and riding wooden horses wearing official hats. The blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System" at the bottom of the instrument is a six-character letter style. The flowers and leaves of the jar and the character lines are delicate, the filling color is vividly flipped, and the glaze color has a gradient layer. The overall color is elegant and belongs to Jiajing's early works. Baby drama pictures express the natural emotions of people praying for children, and since the Tang and Song dynasties, they have been the subject of various craft decorations.
In the thirty-ninth year of Ming Jiajing (1560), Wang Zongmu compiled the "Book of Dazhi Tao of Jiangxi Province", which records that in the thirteenth year of Jiajing (1534) and the twenty-first year (1540), the imperial family ordered the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory to burn porcelain with the pattern of "one scale of golden dolls". A scale of golden dolls is a baby play drawing, taken from the characters of the plot of the Ming Dynasty novel. In the forty-seventh time of "Journey to the West", it is said that Chen Jiazhuang needs to sacrifice a pair of virgin boys and girls and goldfish every year. In that year, a scale of gold was sacrificed to the virgin daughter of Chen Yuanwai's family, and this woman was obtained by her father who gave a scale of gold (thirty pounds of gold) to pray, hence the name. At that time, inohachi disguised as a virgin girl and went to fight with the youkai. A scale of gold symbolizes precious children, and the Jiajing Emperor was also troubled by the desire for heirs, or because of this, there were many porcelain works of infant play in this period.
Ming Jiajing Blue flower baby play picture set cup
Deep-walled, shallow-looped foot set cups are set in groups of six, each in increasing size, and small cups can be stacked into large cups. The production of cup sets is a complex process, and it must go through multiple processes such as closing blanks and grinding blanks before forming. From a technical point of view, copper cups and bowls have been excavated from tombs as early as the Warring States period, however, such craftsmanship seems to have been taken by porcelain design until the Ming Dynasty. Each of the sets of cups on display has more than two different baby play images, such as playing crabs, riding horses and fighting, flying kites and other different scenes. At the bottom, there are six letters in the blue and white book "Daming Jiajing Year System". The brushwork and pattern of the cups are hard and full of clumsiness, and should be the products of the folk kiln factory for the official firing for the royal family.
As for the use of the cup, Cao Xueqin's "Dream of the Red Chamber" forty-first time, it is said that Liu Grandma came to Yihong Courtyard to eat wine, Sister Feng ordered to take ten novel and rare bamboo root cups, a round of wine down, Liu Grandma can only get drunk in Yihong Courtyard. It can be seen that the set cup is also a wine glass.
(This article is compiled from the official website of the National Palace Museum in Taipei.) ）
![The grandchildren have not been in the dynasty for half a century, and the imperial power has not fallen by the wayside, which is really thanks to the old ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang![fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)