Compared with pottery, delicate porcelain is more likely to make porcelain artists have a variety of beautiful associations, rich and auspicious, wife and son filial piety, celebratory gongs and drums and various festive stories are the favorite themes of porcelain production.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, a major theme appeared on porcelain, that is, historical stories.
Heirloom Yuan Qinghua "Four Love Figure" plum vase
Some historical stories, because of their relatively long length, will also appear similar to the situation of "serialization", that is, a story must be narrated with a set of porcelain, and each artifact is only a play or a scene in the story; while a short story can use several aspects of it on the same artifact to explain it at once.
The treasure of the town hall of the Nanjing Municipal Museum is a yuanqinghua Xiao He Yuexia chasing Han Xintu plum vase excavated from the tomb of General Muying on the Mountain, which is one of the three best Chinese porcelain.
The craftsman applies the ink painting technique to porcelain painting, the white porcelain tire is the bottom, the blue glaze is the ink, and the story is expressed in the form of a comic strip, and the porcelain tire is sprinkled on the porcelain tire by virtue of the hook, wrinkle, dot and dye brush method.
The moonlight is like water, Xiao He wears a crown on his head, and spurs the horse; under the moon, Han Xin, dressed in a robe, stands on the bank of the river, with a thousand thoughts. Board a boat to cross the river, and your ambitions will follow the waves. Lema turned back, and even though there were generals, there was nowhere to show them. Is to go or to stay, hesitate.
The depiction is exquisite, delicate and conveying the spirit, and the pines, plum bamboos, and mountain stones are dense and complex, and they are staggered. The picture is clearly divided, and the layout is exquisite. The shape of the utensils is dignified and beautiful, straight and stable. The plum bottle is surrounded by beautiful luster, which can be called a masterpiece of blue and white porcelain in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.
Hundreds of years ago, painters knew that the stories that appeared on porcelain had to be household names in order to arouse the interest of consumers. Thus secular themes came into being.
Another point is to highlight the plot of these stories, and which scenes conflict more often depict which ones. As a result, some myths and legends appeared on the porcelain: Wu Zixu Juding, Zhou Jujiao, Journey to the West, etc.
"Yuanqinghua Ghost Valley Downhill Picture Jar" is divided into four layers, one layer of neck decoration is decorated with water ripples, the second layer of shoulders is decorated with tangled branches of peonies, the third layer of abdomen is the theme decoration of "Ghost Valley Down the Mountain", and the lower part of the fourth layer is the deformed lotus petal pattern inside the painting of Chenbao
The ghost valley in the story is a Chu people in the middle of the Warring States period, and the achievement of the zongheng family. The pattern is of Oniguzi sitting on a cart pulled by a tiger and a leopard up and down the mountain.
The story comes from the Yuan Dynasty print "Le Yi Tu Qi Seven Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Later Collection", which shows the story of The Warring States Period during the War of Qi and Yan, Sun Bin was imprisoned by the State of Yan, and his master Ghost Guzi went down the mountain to rescue his apprentice.