The Yongzheng Emperor in history, in addition to his diligent political affairs, his high-end atmosphere and high-grade aesthetic taste are also praiseworthy.
In fact, not only the three generations of Kang Yongqian, but also the entire Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng's taste can also stand out.
In particular, the porcelain of the Yongzheng period can be called a miracle standing at the peak of aesthetics.
Qing Yongzheng imitation Ru glaze five-tube bottle
During the Yongzheng period, as one of the prosperous periods of the Qing Dynasty, its porcelain production reached the highest level in history. The porcelain of this period changed the rich and ancient style of the Kangxi period, and was famous for its beautiful shape and fine glaze.
The overall style of Yongzheng porcelain is light and handsome, elegant and exquisite, with unique ideas, soft and round lines, extremely fine carcass materials, thin walls and light body.
雍正 瓷胎画珐瑯蓝料山水碗
The small pieces of ware are soft and subtle, light and handsome, practical and beautiful. The large utensils are dignified and elegant, pay attention to the changes of lines, simple and clumsy, the proportions are coordinated, light and beautiful, regular but not heavy.
Pastel over the branch "Qunfang Birthday Celebration" pattern plate
During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, colored porcelain usually included traditional colored porcelain such as five-colored, pastel-colored and doucai, and the enamel color we see today was called "foreign color" at that time. The enamel color of the Yongzheng period is very famous, but there are not many surviving today.
Qing Yongzheng enamel porcelain green mountain water bowl
The enamel color of Yongzheng is also significantly different from that of Kangxi, and it is more refined in the production process. During the Kangxi period, it was generally a more regular pattern painting with colored ground.
In the Yongzheng period, they are all paintings without color, especially the emphasis on painting, and the painting themes are also more, such as flowers and birds, landscapes, pine, bamboo, plum, etc., and the image expressed is extremely vivid.
During the Yongzheng period, Wucai was not popular, but pastel, which was founded in the late Kangxi period and succeeded in the Yongzheng period, was a new achievement of Qing Dynasty porcelain.
Yongzheng pastel painted gold floral pattern plate
The emergence of pastel changed the performance of pigments, allowing porcelain painters to use rendering techniques to paint more accurate, realistic, and colorful pictures than the five colors, so pastel is known as the magnificent sunset in the traditional colored porcelain of the mainland.
Pastel flourished in Yongzheng's character of excellence. Compared with the simple and plain monochrome glaze, on the magnificent pastel porcelain, the characteristics of the Yongzheng Emperor himself are more obvious.
Yongzheng pastel eight-sided open landscape figure pot
Different from the splendor and stacking of other periods, the colored porcelain patterns of the Yongzheng period are obviously convergent, the scenery flowers and birds painted on the body have obvious shrinkage and gathering characteristics, and the brushstrokes of the ornamental painting are also more slender, which makes the pictures on the porcelain surface more compact and staggered, rich in three-dimensional sense.
The pastel porcelain of the Yongzheng period has made great achievements in modeling, glaze, and painting.
The color of colored porcelain is also relatively elegant, the color is soft and not gaudy, and the color is plain. It is mainly painted on white ground, and there are also various colored ground paintings, such as coral red, light green, sauce and ink.
Yongzheng blue and white wisps of empty landscape figure basin
Some plates, bowls and small utensils are exquisitely clear, and around the ornamentation of Shi Cai, a circle of colorful "halos" can often be seen when viewed sideways.
The decorative themes of Yongzheng pastel porcelain are mainly flowers, birds, landscapes, and human patterns, especially flowers.
It absorbs the "boneless" technique in traditional Chinese painting, highlighting the yin and yang to the back, alternating shades and shades, with clear layers and three-dimensional effects.
Compared with Ming Chenghua Doucai, Yongzheng Doucai has made progress in the layout of the ornamentation, color matching and color filling process, both the color and the pattern are more refined than before, the color is thinner, and the tone appears very soft and elegant.
Yongzheng bucket color entwined branch floral pattern bowl
On this basis, the introduction of enamel color and gold color, the formation of a new process of doucai plus gold color, doucai plus enamel color, doucai porcelain in the original red, yellow, green, purple, ochre color, but also added pink, rouge, lotus, rose, lake green and other colors, more beautiful and delicate.
雍正斗彩加粉彩云龙纹双耳瓶
Yongzheng Dou color cloud dragon pattern celestial ball bottle
Yongzheng Doucai, with flowers and birds as the decorative theme, underglaze blue and white hook line, glaze filled with a variety of colors, are filled with color accurately, not out of the edge, and the pursuit of color changes, in a flower filled with a variety of colors such as purple, red, yellow, green, green, etc., the production process has been quite mature.
Yongzheng alum red color blank "color butterfly play flower" picture round cover box
Emperor Yongzheng had a rigorous and orderly personality and a high aesthetic taste, and it is said that the elegant and noble monochrome glaze (color glaze) was his favorite type of porcelain.
The color of the monochrome glazed porcelain in the Yongzheng period is more delicate and soft than that of the Kangxi period, and the painting of dark lines is also more light and slender, and attention is paid to the composition, there are dense and blank spaces, and even regular geometric rhythmic ornamentation.
Court porcelain had different functions, for example, blue glaze was often used for ceremonial purposes. According to the porcelain left behind, the most common monochrome glaze glaze colors during the reign of Yongzheng should be red glaze, yellow glaze and green glaze.
Red glaze is a category that was reformed and burned to the peak during the Kangxi period, while yellow glaze and blue glaze may be closer to Yongzheng's own aesthetic taste.
The ornamentation of Yongzheng porcelain is still mainly based on painting, and also uses carving, printing, sculpture and other techniques. The style has shifted from flamboyant to delicate.
The pattern is neat and chic. The flowers, birds and beasts in the painting are very vivid, and the painting patterns are decorated with entwined branch flowers, broken branch flowers, over-branch flowers, pine, bamboo, plum, ball flower, eight peaches, flowers and birds, flower butterflies, cloud dragons, cloud phoenixes, group dragons, group butterflies, eight treasures, Zhuang Dan, magpie Dengmei, landscapes, characters, the West Chamber, infant play, sixteen sons, ladies, eight immortals and towers and palaces, etc.
Pastel Moon Vase Collection of the British Museum
Pastel porcelain bowl from the collection of the British Museum
Pastel gourd vase in the collection of the British Museum
Chrysanthemum Plate Collection of the British Museum
Although the Yongzheng dynasty was only thirteen years old, the porcelain-making technology and achievements reached the peak of the official kilns of the Qing Dynasty. Its exquisite quality, rich variety of colors and colors, and superb artistic standards are incomparable to other dynasties in the Qing Dynasty.