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Chinese porcelain is famous all over the world and has influenced the culture and life of people all over the world. Heraldic porcelain is a "private customized" luxury product that belongs to the upper elite of Europe and the United States, witnessing the exchange of Chinese and foreign civilizations and recording the glorious history of China's porcelain trade. On June 30, 110 pieces (sets) of heraldic porcelain were exhibited in Yangzhou Museum, showing the audience a variety of heraldic porcelain decorative arts and telling the story of ups and downs of ocean trade.
The coat of arms of the Newton family of scientists is a bit strange
Walking into the exhibition hall, you will be dazzled by the colorful and varied heraldic porcelain, and the biggest thing these porcelains have in common is that they all depict the coats of arms of their respective families. In the exhibition, there is a special piece of Guangcai gold folded branch flower pattern plate from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, which is a custom coat of arms porcelain of the Newton family. Newton was born into a commoner family and was known for his great scientific achievements, and was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705, becoming the first scientist to receive a knighthood, and in the same year he was granted the right to use the coat of arms. Newton claimed to be of the same ancestry as John Newton, a baronet to be a baronet of Gloucestershire, and therefore also adopted the coat of arms of the baronet's family. On the coat of arms porcelain, the reporter saw that the coat of arms of the Newton family was relatively simple, with two crossed tibia painted on a shield on a black background, and the right side (in the direction of the viewer) bone was placed on the left side.
△ A dinner plate customized by the marriage of the Newton family and the Erin family
Liu Bin, deputy director of the Cultural Relics Protection and Management Department of the Guangzhou Museum, told the Modern Express reporter that because Newton was unmarried and had no children in his life, this plate was customized by members of the Newton family of other branches. "This is a custom-made dinner plate from the marriage of a male member of the Newton family to the Alleyne family." According to Liu Bin, the plate was ordered in 1745 by the granddaughter of Barbados Judge Renaud Irene, a wealthy family specializing in sugar making.
Popular Chinese porcelain in Europe "high-end customization"
"The heraldic porcelain on display this time is an important part of China's export porcelain." Liu Bin told reporters that porcelain was invented in China, probably since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese ceramics have been sold abroad as a specialty with silk, "According to archaeological excavations, even Africa has found porcelain exported from China." ”
△ Heraldic porcelain was a high-end custom in those years
In the 17th century, after the advent of the Age of Discovery, sea routes and trade patterns were established, and Chinese porcelain sold well overseas. As soon as the light and elegant Chinese porcelain was introduced to Europe, it was immediately sought after by the aristocracy. In order to show their status and wealth, Western aristocrats were no longer satisfied with ordinary porcelain. According to Liu Bin, from the 17th century, Western aristocrats began to come to China to customize heraldic porcelain. By the 18th century, heraldic porcelain was popular almost all of Europe. Their appearance ushered in a new way of life and artistic taste in Europe, and became a symbol of prestige and refined living.
The details of private customization are cumbersome, and initially it was just an employee benefit for a trading company. Driven by the lucrative profits, the executives or crew members of the trading company began to do the business of "purchasing agents". At that time, a European "gold owner" who wanted to customize heraldic porcelain fired in China first had to draw a base map with heraldic coats of arms and hand it to the executives or crew members of the trading company. Every year in early summer, when the southwest monsoon blows, European merchant ships arrive at the port of Huangpu in Guangzhou with these orders, and the crew hands over these base maps to local porcelain agents for production. When the northeast winds prevailed in winter, merchant ships would return from Guangzhou to load these porcelains from Guangzhou to Europe. Heraldic porcelain orders can take two or three years from order to delivery to European buyers, and more than a year for short ones, making these porcelains even more precious.
△Yangzhou Museum exhibits 110 pieces (sets) of heraldic porcelain
The new production model gave birth to Guangzhou colored porcelain
With its beautiful appearance and high price, these porcelains are veritable "high-end custom" luxury goods. According to Liu Bin, the order cost of heraldic porcelain is 5 to 25 times that of the East India Company's bulk trade porcelain. For example, around 1740 and 1743, the Ochieover family customised at least 120 dinner plates and 34 large plates, with an average cost of £1 each, 10 times the cost of customizing ordinary heraldic porcelain, and nearly 100 times the cost of making bulk daily porcelain. According to the data, before the Opium War, 1 pound could be exchanged for 3 taels of silver, and the Qing Dynasty's seven-grade officials were paid 45 taels of silver per year.
At that time, Guangzhou was the only oriental port open to "Western merchants", and thousands of heraldic porcelains were loaded and set sail from here. According to Liu Bin, the order for heraldic porcelain was initially handed over to Jingdezhen for production. "Jingdezhen Pottery Record" has a record: "Westerners who specialize in selling foreign wares, many people from the east of Guangdong, sell them to the market with foreign devils." Later, in order to facilitate communication and reduce costs, heraldic porcelain formed a new production model, before the arrival of European crews, in Jingdezhen to fire plain porcelain and then shipped to Guangzhou, and then according to the needs of European merchants, painted on the plain porcelain blank, after 700 °C to 750 °C baking, which also formed a unique variety of mainland glaze porcelain - Guangzhou colored porcelain. In 2008, Guangzhou colored porcelain was also included in the "second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list".
△ Heraldic porcelain was a high-end custom in those years
Heraldry is a rigorous system of presentation and expression
"The family coat of arms is a complete system in Europe, for example, there is a special heraldic institute in the United Kingdom, which is responsible for managing the family coat of arms of the nobility." Liu Bin told the Modern Express reporter that at first, heraldry was widely printed on shields, burqas, horse coats and flags, used to distinguish fighters with different identities wearing armor on the battlefield and in the arena, and the main role was to identify them. In the course of subsequent history, heraldry gradually expanded from a personal identification system that represented a hereditary nature to develop into a discipline with a unique language and normative laws. Because heraldry was both a status symbol and an artistic decoration, European aristocrats widely used it in various public facilities and private utensils.
△ The marriage coat of arms of Catherine the Great of Russia
The coat of arms generally consists of a shield and a helmet, a helmet, a draper, and a ring above the shield. The shield is the most basic and important component of the coat of arms, and the rest are the accessories of the coat of arms. The coat of arms of the nobility is decorated with crowns of different ranks, and the left and right sides of the shield can also be decorated with statues. The family motto, written on a streamer, is usually placed below or above the coat of arms. In short, the more complex the composition of the coat of arms, the more prominent the status and lineage of its bearer.
The heraldic coat of arms has formed a rigorous system of display and expression of the holder's gender, marriage, heirs, titles and decorations. The symbols or symbols used in heraldry often reflect the holder's own preferences and experiences. Through heraldry, information such as the origins, beliefs, and major events of one or more families can be traced, and then the historical background of an era and region can be revealed.
Modern Express/Modern + reporter Gu Xiao