Qing porcelain famous product Taibai Zun Wen / Black Wang Hui

Sky blue glaze is too white

　　The history of China's porcelain entered the Qing Dynasty, and another peak appeared. Qing porcelain, both in the antique, but also in innovation, at the same time, in the antique innovation, in the innovation of the antique. In terms of instrument type alone, in the Qing Dynasty, there were a variety of innovative instrument types such as heart bottles, Linglong bottles, and bag bottles, and the protagonist of this article, Taibai Zun, is also one of them.

　　Taibai Zun, named after the poetry immortal Li Bai. In fact, it was not created by Li Bai, but because it was shaped like the altar in the hands of Li Taibai, who loved wine. However, the wine altar used by Li Bai did not remain in the world, and naming the utensils Taibai Zun was only the romantic imagination of the Qing people. In the folk, it is also called chicken coop zun or chicken cover zun, because it is similar to the rural chicken coop (or chicken cover). When I was a child, I also saw this bamboo chicken coop in my hometown, which is shaped like a bell, except that at the top of the clock, there is a circular mouth. The old family opened the chicken coop in the morning and released the chickens, and in the evening they were caught back and put them through the round mouth at the top of the coop.

　　Taibaizun made more in the Kangxi period, which can be said to be a typical artifact of the Kangxi imperial kiln. According to the Qing Dynasty scholar Chen Liu's "Kuya", "Taibai Zun only has Kang kilns, all kinds of colors are available, but there are many reds." Xu Zhiheng, a scholar of the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, also said in his book "Drinking Liuzhai Porcelain": "Such a person who has no great respect, the whole body is only a few inches of ears, except for the Kang kiln, which has rarely been imitated in the past dynasties, so the value is equal to the arch bi." "It seems that Taibaizun is not only unique in shape, but also extremely expensive, not only because of its high quality, but also because it is extremely rare, and most of the fine products only appear in the Kangxi Dynasty.

　　According to Xu Zhiheng's records, most of the Taibai Zun is very small, which is related to its use. Although it is called Taibai Zun, it is not like Li Taibai's wine altar, it is a kind of wine container. In fact, it is a kind of water bowl, that is, the container containing water in the study room, when the ink washing pen needs water, it can be poured out of the Taibai Zun, because of the large belly and small mouth, it is very convenient to use.

　　The author has a Collection of Taibai Zun made during the Kangxi Period of the Qing Dynasty, which has a small mouth, short neck, slippery shoulders, flat abdomen, shallow circle feet, hemispherical shape, caliber 2.7 cm, bottom diameter 8.1 cm, height 8.8 cm. The whole body is glazed with sky blue, which looks bright blue, like a sapphire. At the bottom of the zun there is the "Great Qing Kangxi Year System" of the Lishu Zhizhi.

　　As a high-temperature color glaze, sky blue glaze is derived from azure glaze. It is also an innovative product of the imperial kiln during the Kangxi Dynasty, and because of the light glaze color, it appears blue, like the color of the sky, hence the name. The sky blue glaze is stable in color, crystal clear, clean and elegant. Sky blue glaze is mostly found on small utensils such as Taibaizun, and large utensils are not common, which should be caused by the difficulty of firing. The Kangxi Dynasty was the beginning of the Prosperous Era of the Taiping Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the Prosperous Era of Kangqian. At that time, social development, economic prosperity, Guotai Min'an, Wufu Minfeng, provided good conditions for the development of porcelain burning technology, so there were many innovative porcelain.