Among the many emperors of the Ming Dynasty, there was such an emperor, who reigned for only ten years, died of illness at the age of thirty-six, but left three precious treasures for the Ming Dynasty, and we can still hear these three treasures named after xuande to this day. They are the "Three Absolutes of Xuande", namely Xuande Porcelain, Xuande Furnace, and Xuande Notes; and this emperor is Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of Ming.
Ming Xuanzong was the grandson of Chengzu, who reigned from 1425 to 1435 AD, he was both literate and martial, he was able to suppress rebellion, conquer Mongolia, and rectify the finances of officials, and was also a famous "emperor of literature and art", in addition to his love of promoting weaving and being jokingly called "Promoting Weaving Heavenly Son", his poetry and painting collection and appreciation were also very high-level.
Ming Xuanzong seated portrait scroll Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
Ming Zhu Zhanji's "Wuhou Gao Lying Map" Collection of the Palace Museum
According to the "Imperial Collection of Emperor Xuanzong of Daming", Xuanzong splashed ink, chanted and poems almost every day, and finally reached the realm of "Sunzhi Jingshi, long and short songs, and standing up with the pen", and when he encountered the imperial examination, he also had to play his own role, and then he was proud of "I should not meet the Yuan and the First Lord!" ”
Thanks to Xuanzong's efforts, the Ming Dynasty was socially stable, politically clear, and economically prosperous, and the people's national strength almost reached the peak of its national strength during the "reign of Ren Xuan".
Perhaps it is precisely because of the solid economic and social foundation, coupled with the high aesthetic level of the rulers, that the Three Treasures of Xuande came into being. Today, let us return to the Xuande Dynasty and take a look at the style of the Three Treasures of Xuande.
China's porcelain making process has a long history, the Early Ming Dynasty was built, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was in addition to the previous floating beam magnetic bureau, and set up an official kiln in Zhushan, Jingdezhen. The official kiln porcelain produced in Jingdezhen during the Xuande period developed to an extreme perfection, and the Ming Dynasty literati had a very high evaluation of Xuande porcelain.
Xie Zhaochun said in the "Five Miscellaneous Tricks" in the most detailed and clear: "Xuande is not only the style is correct, the color is fine, that is, its calligraphy and paintings are also exquisite"; "Now the Longquan kiln is no longer heavy, built by Jingdezhen in Raozhou, all over the world, every year the inner government issued a style, the era number is below, but Xuande style is the most refined, from one hundred and fifty years ago, its price is almost the same as that of the Song Dynasty." ”
Ming Xuande Jingdezhen kiln blue and white seawater white dragon pattern plate Shanghai Museum collection
In the evaluation of porcelain, there have always been thick ancient and thin, among which there are many Song porcelains, which can compare Xuande porcelain with the official kiln in Song porcelain, which shows its preciousness.
In the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor, who often wrote poems for his treasures, also greatly appreciated Xuande porcelain, and among the 199 poems of Yong porcelain, there were eleven official kilns in the Ming Dynasty, of which Xuande porcelain was exclusively composed.
Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory firing a variety of types of porcelain, according to the Ming Dynasty Zhang Yingwen in the "Qing Secret Collection" described: "I Chao Xuan temple kiln ware, the material is fine, faint orange peel pattern, ice crack eel blood pattern, several with the official, Ru kiln enemy." That is, the dark flowers, the safflowers, the blue flowers, all of which have never been found in ancient times, are a generation of masterpieces." It can be seen that it includes blue and white, glaze red, red glaze, blue glaze, blue and red color and multicolored ware.
According to the evaluation in the "Jingdezhen Pottery Record" - "all the materials are exquisite, and the blue flowers are the most expensive", which shows that Xuande blue flowers are the most famous. Xuandeguan kiln blue and white porcelain shape is simple, the glaze color is gorgeous, the ornamentation is diverse, the surface is crystalline, the temperament is elegant, the thickness is dignified, the tire quality is delicate, and the glaze is wrinkled with orange peel, which can be described as "the strangeness of the opening generation".
Ming Xuande Jingdezhen kiln glaze red three-fish pattern high foot bowl Shanghai Museum collection
Xuande Qinghua was destined to be extraordinary from the beginning of the use of materials, when an imported raw material called "Su Ni Bo Qing" was introduced. Su Ni Bo Qing, also known as Su Ma Li Qing, this raw material was brought back from the Samara region of Iraq when Zheng He went to the West, and it is recorded in the "Cyan Zhu of Things" that the "Yongle Xuande Kiln" used this mud as an ornament.
It is bluish-black or bluish-purple in color, with natural rust spots crystals and uneven bumps. With it as a raw material, Xuande porcelain can show different characteristics from other chao blue flowers, with a rich indigo color, but clear and transparent, crystal color, and occasionally faint, such as ink on paper.
In addition to the raw materials, its blue and white ornamentation is also very distinctive. Perhaps influenced by the personal preferences of the Xuande Emperor, his blue and white ornamentation was often dripping with brushwork and bold lines. There are many character stories, including Tibetan songs and dances, the West Queen Mother riding a crane, a lady riding a car, a baby play sixteen sons, moon viewing, moon worship, immortals riding phoenixes, banana leaf inscriptions and so on. Among them, the dragon pattern is strong and powerful, and it is also the best in the dragon pattern of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Just as Chen Jiru said in the "NiguLu": "Xuanmiao kiln ware, material selection, sample making, painting utensils, inscriptions, all of them are exquisite." ”
Ming Xuande Jingde kiln blue and white seawater dragon pattern plate Shanghai Museum collection
Xuande porcelain is not only high in artistic achievement, but also in large quantity. According to the "Great Ming HuiDian", in the eighth year of Xuande alone (1433), the imperial court issued a task to the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory to burn 443,500 pieces of Dragon and Phoenix porcelain, which shows the large scale and quantity of its firing. Naturally, these many products are not only for the daily life of the court, but more as a witness to foreign relations, or as a gift of gratitude and tribute, or as an export commodity, which is spread overseas.
Although the Xuande Dynasty lasted only ten years, Xuande porcelain has become an eternal classic in the history of porcelain making, from Ming Chenghua to the Republic of China, has not stopped imitating and firing Xuande porcelain, of which the Three Dynasties of Kang Yongqian are the most original, the shape, size, and ornamentation are very close to Xuande porcelain, and have both The characteristics of Qing porcelain, reaching a very high level.
Qingqianlong imitation Xuande blue and white three fruit pattern holding pot Collection of the Palace Museum
Xuande furnace, that is, the copper incense burner that Ming Xuanzong personally participated in the design and supervision of in the third year of Ming Xuande (1428 AD), referred to as "Xuan Furnace".
At the request of Xuanzong, the shape of the furnace must be selected from the "Xuanhe Bogutu", "Archaeological Map" and other classics and hundreds of Song and Yuan famous kilns in the inner house, after sorting out and selecting elegant and applicable instruments, drawing a pattern, and then marking the source and allusion to Xuanzong to choose, and then screening through the final sample casting link before it can be officially cast.
The basic shape of the Xuande furnace is open, square or round lips, short and thin neck, flat drum belly, three blunt tapered solid feet or crotch empty feet, bridge-shaped ears or shaped ears or animal-shaped ears on the mouth edge, and the inscriptions are mostly on the outer sole of the furnace.
Ming Xuande Binaural three-legged copper furnace Shenyang Palace Museum collection
The model has been selected, and the raw materials and technology have also been greatly changed. Song Yingxing once said in "Tiangong Kaiwu" that the birth of the Xuande furnace came from a fire house: "I went to the Xuan furnace, and it was also due to an occasional disaster in a certain library, gold, silver, copper and tin turned into a ball, and the fate was cast copper (the real one is wrong cash color). Dong Xiaowan's husband, Mao Xiang, echoed this statement.
"Xuande Ding Yi Spectrum" made a clear record of the birth of the Xuande furnace, Xuande Emperor did not look at the furnishings of the Time Ding Yi, so it played an antique retro heart, coinciding with the Siamese tribute tens of thousands of pounds of refined copper, "Que number wind mill, color tongyang Mai", whether this wind ground copper is brass or copper white copper, there is still scholars to dispute.
But regardless of its material, it is certain that this copper is born with a golden luster. Generally, the stove is quenched four times, but the Xuande furnace is quenched twelve times, and a variety of precious metals such as gold and silver are added.
After this tedious and expensive quenching process, the Xuande furnace presents an extremely delicate, skin-like texture, with a light color that melts inward and conceals glow. This color alone, there are more than forty kinds of historical records, such as eggplant skin color, Tibetan scripture color, earth ancient color and so on.
Another subtlety of the Xuande furnace is that if it is roasted on the fire, it will show brilliant and changeable colors, even if it falls into the sludge, wipe it clean, and look like a new life. Mao Xiang also sang a song for this purpose: "There is a furnace light strange and strange, and the muscles and flesh are good and clear." Narrow-sided grasshopper ears hide the color of the scriptures, and the yellow clouds are hidden and poorly carved. ”
Ming Xuande Purple Copper Furnace Collection of Nanjing Museum
According to the "Xuande Ding Yi Genealogy", the final recast of the large and small Ding Yi totaled 15,684 pieces, of which the Xuande furnace had several thousand pieces, some of which were used for the suburban altar taimiao and the inner court sacrifice, and some were used to reward the princes and ministers, and there was no production since then. In addition, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Chongzhen Emperor took all the copper utensils hidden in the inner house to smelt and mint copper coins because of the economic crisis, and the same was true in the Xianfeng period, and in modern China, there were frequent wars, and the batch of copper incense burners that were really minted in Xuande for three years was extremely rare and precious.
Because of its good quality, people at the time imitated Xuanpai as a furnace, and the Xuande furnace was enshrined as the standard shape of the copper furnace, and the same was true for posterity, especially the literati of the middle and late Ming Dynasty and the emperors of the Qing Dynasty. Among them, Wu Bangzuo, who was in charge of the casting at that time, was quite famous, and he gathered officials and craftsmen to recast according to the craftsmanship of that year, and the style was recognized as "Qin Shuluo" and "Wu Bangzuo", which was closest to the original Xuande furnace.
The act of imitating the Xuande furnace in the Yongqian Second Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty reached a climax, and the official personally imitated the Xuande furnace. Among them, the Qianlong Dynasty antique is the most prosperous, the Qianlong Emperor included the "Xuande Furnace Spectrum" in the "Four Libraries Complete Book", the word "Xuande" can often be seen in the work files of the office, this batch of copper furnaces still has a certain number of surviving, and some of the funds have also fallen to xuande to trace the legacy.
Qing Xuande copper smoker Collection of the Palace Museum
Xuande paper, also known as Xuande note, is a kind of famous paper produced by Xuande Dynasty. It includes natural color paper (that is, white paper), gold flower five-color paper, five-color pastel paper, five-color curtain paper, magnetic green paper and other varieties.
Among them, the natural color paper is smooth and white, fine and durable; the gold flower five-color note is painted with various patterns of mud on the five-color leather paper dyed with plant dyes; the magnetic blue paper is dyed with indigo dye, the color is blue and black, and most of the scriptures are written on it with mud gold.
According to Shen Defu's "Flying Language Strategy", Xuande paper was originally the imperial paper of the Inner Province, which was later introduced to the people, and its value was comparable to that of the Jinsu Mountain Tibetan Scripture Paper, Xuanhe and Dragon and Phoenix Notes at that time, and was mostly decorated.
If there is a print on Xuande paper "Xuande five years to make frangipani paper", this kind of paper is pure white as jade, uniform and with curtain patterns, of which "Chen Qing" is the best, Tongcheng Fang Yizhi recorded in the "Physics Of Little Knowledge" that Xuande Chen Qing's paper "White skin is thick, can be uncovered three or four sheets, sound and harmony and have a long." Its mulberry skin is tooth colored, and the alum light can be booked. In the early Qing Dynasty, this kind of paper can even be called together with the Chengxintang paper, which is known as the "king of paper".
In the Qing Dynasty, Zha Shenxing also wrote a poem about Xuande paper, "Kai Gong Waiter Reading Hui Xuande Paper Walking Pen Xie No. 2":
The small seal is clearly Xuande year, and the price of the Southern Tang and Western Shu is competing.
The Nong family loves Chen Qing and does not take the five-color note of the golden flower.
If porcelain is a housekeeping skill, and a copper stove is a sacrificial heavy vessel, then the paper is closely related to the development of culture. Before Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, due to the repeated turmoil in the years of Hongwu Yongle, the officials and the people were in danger, and the people's hearts were at peace, although Emperor Renzong pardoned his old subjects and rehabilitated unjustly imprisoned, but he reigned for only a year, and the burden of reversing the social atmosphere actually fell on Xuanzong's shoulders.
Ming "Zhu Zhanji Xingle Tu" Collection of the Palace Museum
Emperor Xuanzong exerted great efforts to govern and persuaded nongsang, and at the same time vigorously promoted the development of handicrafts and commerce, so that the economy of this period developed rapidly, and the social ideological trend and culture and art also showed great vitality due to liberation - "The rule of Ren Xuan, the officials call their posts, the government is peaceful, the discipline is repaired, the cangyu is full of envy, and the years cannot be disasters." Gai Mingxing is the sixtieth year of the calendar year, the people's morale is gradually relaxed, and the steaming has the image of peace. ”
The vigorous growth of painting, printmaking and other arts put forward higher requirements for paper products, so the notes represented by "Luoxuan Change Ancient Notes" and "Ten Bamboo Zhai Notes" came into being. Even the notes of folk demand had to be of good quality and beauty, not to mention the officials led by Emperor Xuanzong of Literature and Art.
He loves calligraphy and painting and pays attention to craftsmanship, so naturally he will not treat himself badly, and the Internal Government Official Paper Bureau was originally mainly based on the production of bao banknote paper, and also specially produced Xuande paper for the royal use. In addition, the fine works of folk tribute are also given the name Xuande paper, just like the draft.
Through the Three Treasures of Xuande, what we can see is not only the ultimate of porcelain, copper stoves and paper notes, but only the peak of national strength and vigorous culture can support masterpieces full of precision and heritage.
Just as the Xuanzong couplet, which was still the emperor's grandson, zhu Zhanji prostrated his head and replied: Unifying the mountains and rivers, the sun and the moon, the Ming Dynasty began to climb from the rising sun, gradually to the fierce, leaving an eternal bright mark on the history books, reflecting the four directions, and yi Ze was born in the future.