Shi Dabin
and "Time Pot"
Text | Xu Xiutang
Consolidation | Purple sand Chinese
Shi Dabin, Shaoshan, also known as Dabin, ShiBin. "Yang Envy Tea Pot System・ Everyone" said of its work, "There is a body in the case, the idle thoughts of the living people, the famous masters before and after can not reach, so the Tao people marked the relics of Daya, and the eyes of the empty group were good." He is the most well-known and influential person after Shi Chun. Later generations mentioned that his works were full of praise, such as "the name of the pot is far more famous, that is, the reverie of the realm is known, "a thousand strange hands out", "the palace yan said the big bin pot", and some people respected him as "the Ming Dynasty good pottery let go of a moment".
Not many of Shi Dabin's works have survived, and cultural relics appreciators and purple sand lovers regard the "Shi Jug" as a guideline. Because of the great reputation of "Shi Ju" at that time and in later generations, when Shi Dabin was alive, some people impersonated his works, "Even if some people sell them in Shi Ju Market, they are often fakes that are not true." After his death, there were more counterfeits of him, and the lack of corresponding written records about Shi Dabin himself and his works led to a layer of confusing colors in the "Shi Jug".
Looking at the excavated objects, there are three large pots so far:
A large-scale purple sand teapot of the Big Bin style excavated from the tomb of Cao's family in Dinggou Town, Jiangdu County. The tomb is in the forty-fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1616 AD).
Cao's tomb was excavated
Big hexagonal square pot
The tomb owner of the "Ruyi Pattern Cover Three-legged Round Kettle" excavated in Wuxi was Hua Shiyi, a Scholar of Hanlin in Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty, who died at home in the 47th year of the Wanli Calendar (1619 AD).
The big bin model unearthed in Wuxi
Ruyi pattern lid three-legged round pot
The other is a round pot excavated from the joint tomb of Lu Ruifeng (Wei Zhen) and his wife in the Ming Dynasty, the owner died in the 38th year of the Wanli Calendar, AD (1610).
Lu Ruifeng (Wei Zhen) and his wife are buried together
Unearthed round pot
Archaeological research has proved that the stylist of these three pots inherited the excavations of the Northern Song Dynasty purple sand kiln site in Yangjiaoshan Mountain, and the texture of the mud is mostly impure, mixed with small light yellow particles, lack of warmth, and the level of craftsmanship can be said to be concise and extensive according to today's standards, rather than fine and mature.
Expert Song Boyin further pointed out:
As far as its production method is concerned: handmade, pounding, firm, combined with the body barrel and the inlay barrel method. Both the spout and the handle are bonded into a single whole by the "drilling and plugging method".
In terms of its shape: basically divided into hexagonal and spherical two. There is a lid, a mouth, a handle and no beam.
There is a lid with an inverted three-legged lid, which is used but is modeled on the traditional style of bronze and lacquerware.
Lu's tomb unearthed a round pot with a ding-foot lid
Hexagonal pot pieces, each piece of width is not very regular, the edges and corners are not obvious. The hexagonal spout and pentagonal handle are cut.
The spherical pot has a rounded body with a rounded bottom and three tapered feet. The bottom is flat, plus coiled feet. Although the author has noticed that the spout, the spatial balance between the rim of the body and the handle of the pot, and the leveling in height, are still far from the standard of three flats.
According to field measurements, the three purple sand pots are:
<col>
Pass height (cm)
Caliber (cm)
Bottom Diameter (cm)
Abdominal diameter (cm)
Excavations from Lu's tomb in the 38th year of the Wanli Calendar
11.0
7.5
Excavations from Cao's tomb in the 44th year of the Wanli Calendar
5.7
8.5
The base width of each side of the hexagon is 4.5-4.8
Fahrenheit tomb excavations in the 47th year of the Wanli Calendar
11.3
8.4
4.58
10.7
In terms of its epidermal treatment and decoration: the epidermis has been polished, but because the mud embryo is impure, a "pomegranate skin"-like surface layer appears after sintering. The body of the pot is light and clean, without any decoration. However, the purple clay pot unearthed in the tomb of Fahrenheit in the forty-seventh year of the Wanli Calendar has four petals of ruyi pattern glued around the lid button. Such decorations have been seen in the excavations of Giethoorn Mountain and ancient wells of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Ruyi pattern pot lid
According to its inscription: The bottom of these three sand pots and the lower abdomen of the sand pot handle excavated from Fahrenheit's tomb are carved with bamboo knives with the inscription "Da Bin" or "Shi Da Bin System". The pen is deep and powerful, and there are more bones than flesh. The word "Bin" is three strokes, the lu and Hua er tombs unearthed from the pen lightly picked, and then with a knife to re-pinch, cao's tomb is lightly carved into dots, there is no seal under the inscription, nor is it signed with the year or dry branch, let alone the name of the hall and the words "hidden" and "imitation".
Lu's tomb unearthed a large Bin carving
Fahrenheit tomb unearthed a large Bin carving
Cao's tomb is carved by Dabin
Because when Dabin was alive, some people imitated the "Dabin Kettle", so even if it was unearthed, it was not necessarily reliable, but judging from the situation of the owner of the excavation, except for the one in Jiangdu who was a civilian, the other two were bureaucrats with considerable status, and it seemed unlikely that they would be buried with fakes.
This is somewhat surprising, and there is a considerable distance from the impression brought to us by the ancient books describing and describing the "time pot", but the excavated objects are real and cannot be doubted.
We believe that the more ancient the teapot shape, the more perfect the workmanship, the more perfect the mud color is not in line with the law of historical development, many of the above works should recognize their artistic value, and its historical authenticity is worth thinking about.
Master Gu Jingzhou often said: Since Shi Dabin, a set of traditional techniques for making purple sand pottery has been generally established and passed on to future generations of artists, which should be Shi Dabin's greatest achievement.