Whenever you travel to the Forbidden City, you will always be shocked by the golden and brilliant roof, especially the various glass decorations that make the ancient buildings shine with dazzling brilliance, which makes people have to admire this glittering object.
Turning over the history of Chinese glass craftsmanship, we can understand that thousands of years ago, the craftsmen on the land of the Three Jins created glass technology with their hands, it is reported that as early as the Spring and Autumn Warring States period in Shanxi has appeared in the field of firing glass technology, the Qin and Han dynasties have been further developed, the Northern Wei Period is the first time to build glass for decorative imperial buildings, after which China's palaces, temples, towers and so on have begun to use glass decoration.
The so-called world glass boutique in China, Chinese glass boutique in the Ming Dynasty, Ming Dynasty glass boutique are from Shanxi. Since the Ming Dynasty, Shanxi's glass craftsmanship has reached its peak, such as the Imperial Palace in Beijing, the Imperial Palace in Shenyang, datong Jiulongbi, Hongdong Feihong Pagoda and other ancient architectural attractions that we are familiar with, are the earliest level of Ming Dynasty glass products, and it is no wonder that there is a saying in the world that "Jindi glass is all over the world".
As far as Shanxi Jiexiu, the hometown of Chinese glass, is said to have traced its earliest history of glass firing dating back to the Song Dynasty or even earlier, and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties, many of the glass decorations fired in the Forbidden City in Beijing are from Jiexiu's craftsmen, because Jiexiu's glass craft is self-contained, which can be described as very unique, and also shows the superb technology of Shanxi glass craftsmanship.
Nowadays, when you come to Shanxi Jiexiu to travel, it seems like you are admiring the "Liuli Art and Architecture Museum", museums, ancient temples, modern buildings, Zoroastrian buildings and so on.
If you are not familiar with Chinese glass, then the first time you can go to the Jiexiu Museum to see, the entire museum is not too prominent in terms of area and the number of collections, but the few glass products hidden in the museum can let you appreciate the craft of Jiexiu glass.
The glass exhibition hall of jiexiu museum is located on the first floor of the negative, when you enter the first thing that comes into view is an antique building, one side is a shadow wall built for the imitation of the post-earth temple stage, and in the middle of the shadow wall is a blue, yellow and green glass combination of unicorns, exquisite shape, lifelike, it can be seen that even after thousands of years, Jiexiu still hides many skilled craftsmen.
On the other side of the shadow wall is the roof of the hill built by the imitation of ancient buildings, and the turquoise, golden yellow and peacock blue shine together, making this antique glazed tile roof of modern craftsmanship look golden and brilliant.
The opposite side of the building on the top of the mountain shows you the process of glass firing, which can be so exquisite that the glass needs to go through up to 20 processes, namely raw material crushing, washing, ingredients, mud refining, blank making, trimming, drying, vegetarian firing, glazing, kiln, drying, etc., each process takes more than 10 days. The glass produced by such a time-consuming and exquisite process is as bright as a mirror, bright in color and durable, so it is no wonder why the craftsmen of Jiexiu at that time were added to the construction team of the Forbidden City.
Of course, if you don't like to see modern glass products, then in the Jiexiu Museum, there are also glass components replaced by the Jiexiu Houtu Temple, the Wuyue Temple, and the City God Temple.
Although these glazed components are incomplete, their colors and craftsmanship are also very exquisite, and their artistic value is extremely high. The focus can be on the yellow-green-blue glazed glazed snout of the Ming Dynasty, which was originally the decoration of the roof of the main hall of the Source Temple in Shitun Village, Jiexiu Hongshan Town.
The whole snout is two meters high and weighs about 1 ton, highlighting the highest level of glass craftsmanship in the Jiexiu Ming Dynasty, and it is also planned to be included in the national first-class cultural relics. The so-called snout is a roof construction that gradually evolved during the Ming Dynasty after adding dragon heads and dragon tails to the ton tail before the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, travelers can also focus on the following artifacts, which are also favorite artifacts of horses and when they stop at the Jiexiu Museum.
The yellow-green artifact in the picture below is a Ming Dynasty glass work
The following uniquely shaped glass work is a Ming Dynasty glass concubine
Below are green and brown grape glazed components
Below is the shape of a tiger in a glass component
Below is the shape of the dragon head in the glass component
Below is the shape of a peony in a glass component
Below is the glass component replaced in the Houtu Temple - the Glass Elephant PackIng Treasure Vase
Finally, let's take a look at the glass ornaments on the existing ancient buildings in Jiexiu, which were photographed in the Houtu Temple, the City God Temple, the Yuanshen Tower, and the Zhangbi Ancient Castle.
It can be said that since ancient times, the glass craft of Shanxi Jiexiu has been famous all over the world, and until now the glass firing technology here still exists, showing the brilliance of Jiexiu. (Author: Horse and stop, life is about walking, the journey needs to be recorded!) ）