The history of glass production in China can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the earliest glass products unearthed in the mainland are the familiar Goujian sword of King Yue, which is inlaid with glass and turquoise on both sides of the sword grid. Historically, glass has been used as one of the expensive and gorgeous materials in royal tombs and royal offerings. After a long history of ups and downs, the glass manufacturing industry was full of vitality in the Qing Dynasty represented by court glass.
On December 23rd, the Palace Museum and Guardian Art Center will jointly host the "Cheng Ning Qiongying: Glass Masterpieces from the Palace Museum's Collection" exhibition at the Guardian Art Center.
This exhibition is the first collective appearance of the Chinese and Western glass relics and related research results collected by the Palace Museum from the 17th to the 20th centuries in recent years. The exhibition selects more than 120 pieces (sets) of glass cultural relics from the collection of the Forbidden City, and uses three units: "Yao Yan Reflecting Color", "Bursting Fire and Flowing Gold" and "Flowing Scenery and Meditation", showing the color, shape, decoration, craftsmanship and use of glass products in court life in various aspects.
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Historically, there are many names for glass, such as "Xuan" (Yinqiu) Lin, "Langji (Yinlanggan)", "Poli", "Liuli" and so on. In the Qing Dynasty, the court generally used the word "glass", and the folk still used the title of "glass" as a representative of Boshan, Shandong. During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the phenomenon of using "material" to refer to glass arose in Beijing, probably because of the literary jargon formed by the "frit" or "glass" material referred to as "material" in the glass manufacturing industry.
A world of colorful glass
Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, glass with the blessing of different metal colorants present a colorful effect. According to archival records, monochrome glass alone can reach 30 colors in the Yongzheng period, which is divided into nirvana glass (opaque glass) and bright glass (transparent glass). On the basis of a single color, the melting characteristics of glass are used to realize the multi-color process effect of multi-color mixing of glass and glass sleeve.
A group of transparent ground glass slag hoppers in the exhibition hall are works from the middle Qing Dynasty. The three pieces of slag hopper are all molded blowing, and then polished and processed by faceting process after forming. The term "ground glass" is recorded in the archives of the Qianlong period, which is quite consistent with the craftsmanship used in this artifact. This staggered arrangement of faceted decorations dates back to the Roman period (1st-2nd century AD) and is commonly found in Sassanid glass (6th-7th century AD).
Transparent ground glass slag hopper
In the glass products of the Qing Dynasty, the transparent and clear blue seems to be particularly preferred.
Sky blue clear glass flower mouth amphora
Sky blue glass celestial bottle
The brilliant colors and rich shapes of glass in the Qing Dynasty were unprecedented in the history of Chinese glass in the past. The Qing Palace Glass Factory adheres to the edict of Emperor Yongzheng "not to lose the style of its inner court", on the one hand, it absorbs the advanced glass technology of Europe brought by the missionaries, and on the other hand, it strives to not lose the tradition in the appearance design, so that the Qing Palace glass not only maintains the same court style as the court jade and porcelain, but also flashes the special charm of foreign culture from time to time.
The Qing Dynasty court made glass to break through the technological barriers, and tried to compete with the imperial kiln porcelain in terms of ornamentation. Imperial themes such as dragon patterns and claw patterns are not a problem, and samples with a strong literati atmosphere such as flower and bird patterns and folded branch patterns are also neat and beautiful. In addition to porcelain, lacquerware and copper enamel ware are also objects of imitation. In the Qing Dynasty, glassware was among the traditional handicrafts of the imperial court, which was unique.
Glass fetal painting enamel flower and bird picture vase
In the exhibition, a white set of red glass twig pattern hanging furnace in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the furnace body mold is blown into shape, and the feet are cast with ear molds and then bonded with rivets to form a vessel, and the shape is imitation bronze mustache. As a cooking vessel, it first appeared in the Neolithic Age, and was transformed into a food container in the late Shang Dynasty. During the Qianlong period, there were a set of glass "five offerings", that is, one furnace, two candlesticks, and two bottles (goblet). The furnace was the most common type of furnace at the time.
White set of red glass twig pattern furnace
Similar to the above-mentioned furnace process, there is a white set of red glass double dragon pearl pattern jade pot spring bottle, also with a set of glass technology into a vessel, white glass as the ground, carved coat of red glass presents layers of dense banana leaves, tangled branches, ruyi weeping clouds, etc. A five-clawed dragon chasing flame beads on the abdomen is decorated with the imperial ornament of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The overall decoration layout is similar to that of the Imperial Kiln porcelain.
White set red glass double dragon catch pearl pattern jade pot spring bottle
The glass shape of the Qing court traces the ancient Chongli: the bronze ware of the Western Zhou Dynasty is far from the imitation of the three-legged furnace of the former Ming Dynasty, and of course, it also draws a lot of porcelain and jade shapes from the same period. Shuanglu bottles, eight-sided bottles, and celestial globe bottles became the rules for glass firing in the Qing Dynasty. While maintaining the traditional shape, there is also no lack of material shaping, which radiates an aesthetic atmosphere beyond the times.
Copper fetal painting beads enamel inlaid glass ice plum pattern bottle
A variety of glass bowls on display
In the exhibition, a yellow glass celestial globe bottle from the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty is blown from a mold, and the whole body is uniformly chanterelle yellow, which is named because the color is like fresh chicken fat. The non-ferrous metal of firing yellow glass is iron or antimony, and the color is dark and light, among which chanterelle yellow is the most beautiful, but it is also the most difficult to fire, and the success rate is very low. This work is pure and pure, with excellent color and is very precious.
Yellow glass celestial globe bottle
The Qing court burned glassware, and there is literature to study. The "Work File" of the Qing Palace Office records: the 21st day of the first month of the 11th year of Yongzheng (1733...... Take a piece of Yixing bowl "by order" and then make a few pieces of green, yellow, and golden glass bowls", "and then find another Yixing bowl, and hand it over to the firing magnet office to make samples of the kiln, official kiln, Jiqing, and Ji red bowls, and burn some ......" on May 22 of the same year, "make a piece of "green", "yellow" and "golden" glass. On October 19 of the following year, "24 pieces of Ji Hong, Ji Qing, official glaze, and evenly glazed porcelain bowls" were held.
Qing Yongzheng blue glass cover bowl
The Western glassware collected by the Qing Dynasty is crystal clear and lovely, and these 19th-century Western glassware are also partly influenced by Chinese culture. A Western transparent glass back-grain cover bowl, the bowl lid and body are covered with raised chrysanthemum petal patterns, small beads composed of back lines, and bead patterns, which are molded into patterns at the same time. The compression molding method is the main method for the industrial production of glassware. In the 18th century, the art market, mainly in Europe, was influenced by the "Chinese style", and a number of vessels influenced by the traditional shape of Eastern vessels appeared, and Gaiwan was one of them.
Western transparent glass back grain bowl
Western clear glass chrysanthemum pattern vase
Prosperous glass-making process
One of the major signs of the glorious development of glass in the Qing Dynasty was the restoration of blowing techniques. From the beginning of its establishment, the glass factory of the office has taken mold blowing as the main process of making instruments, supplemented by various cold processing techniques, which has changed the situation of rare blown containers since the Southern Song Dynasty. On this basis, many crafts such as set glass, glass tire painting enamel, and pip glass gradually prospered.
The second section of the exhibition focuses on the various techniques of glassware making in the Qing Dynasty. "Yanshan Miscellaneous Records and Glass" records that the Ming Dynasty had the production of "empty genus" of the bubble lamp, fish bottle, Buddha eye and other blowing utensils, and now only the Ming Dynasty molded glass imitation jade accessories. The Qing court introduced advanced glass recipes from Europe, which allowed for complex blowing operations. In addition to free-blowing small utensils, mold blowing is an important means of making complex utensils. Use a metal blowpipe dipped in the frit to blow into the instrument, and after forming, it is removed and polished, supplemented by carving and painting.
Free-blowing four-color glass bottles from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty
The name "set of glass" is also common in the archives of the Qing Palace, which is actually a product of the combination of glass technology and engraving technology. For example, white with red glass, white with blue glass, etc. It is called in the front with the color of the tire core and the color of the coat in the back.
White set of stained glass double bat pattern melon-style water
Qing Dynasty carved glass is roughly divided into diamond carving process and car engraving process. There is a small amount of diamond carved glass in the Kangxi period. The technique arose in Venice in the early 5th century, where the surface of the glass was painted with a diamond-embedded pen. During the Yongzheng period, carved glass borrowed a lot from the traditional jade carving process, which is commonly known today as the "car carving process". Due to the mature development of car engraving technology, car engraving has become the norm of Qing court glass from this time until the Xuantong period.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, European engraving technology was revived again. They make more use of the frosted effect of the cut surface after the engraving to express the ornamentation. Referring to this effect, Qinggong Glass also tried to create with car engraving process on transparent glass.
Qing Dynasty car engraving process glass products
In the exhibition, a glass bottle of colored silk from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty is very modern. The winding process is to adhere other colors of glass melt to the surface of the formed glass tire, and the latter is drawn out of the filament, which is wound around the rotating glass tire core to form a spiral arrangement.
Colored silk glass bottles from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty
Filigree glassware is more refined. The winding process is characterized by the different arrangements and combinations of milky glass bars to form a complex but elegant visual effect. The court archives describe this process as "filament winding glass".
18th century Venetian Western colored silk glass amphora
The emperors of the Qing Dynasty were diligent in political affairs, and stationery supplies were the utensils they came into contact with the most every day, which was a perfect combination of practicality and artistry. The glass study utensils are no exception, and even more condense the emperor's aesthetic taste. During the Qianlong period, Venus glass was successfully fired and a complete set of Venus glass stationery was produced, which was shining and graceful.
Because of the characteristics of convenient materials, plastic and carvable, crystal clear, etc., glass as a new type of material decorates the bits and pieces of court life in the Qing Dynasty, from the study case to the boudoir makeup, large enough to reflect the whole body, and small is held in the hand.
Point emerald inlaid glass ornaments
Satin silk trim nail glass beads pomegranate pattern bone handle fan
Stained glass paintings
After more than 200 years of Qing court glass production, it has written a glorious page in the history of Chinese glass. Driven by it, the "thousand-year-old ice" in ancient books finally entered real life. Qing Dynasty glass blends the expertise of Chinese and Western techniques, blooming with a charm that transcends the times.