Enamel colored porcelain is the product of the development of porcelain-making technology in China, and it can be called the leader of ancient colored porcelain in China. It is a new kind of glazed porcelain that was successfully transplanted from Europe to porcelain according to the instructions of Emperor Kangxi during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. The output was the highest in Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, and it was rarely produced after Qianlong.

Enamel porcelain is an artistic treasure specially made for emperors and queens, because of its exquisite craftsmanship, high cost and low output. The white porcelain tires used are provided by Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory, and the painting and firing are completed by court painters and specialized technicians from the Qing Palace Department and the Yuanmingyuan Department. Almost all are small objects suitable for playing, not big objects. The firing of enamel porcelain was strictly controlled by the imperial court, which made enamel porcelain the most precious variety in Qing Dynasty. I. Manufacture and firing of enamel and enamel porcelain

Enamel, also known as "Fulang", "Folang" and "Flange", has similar pronunciations and is a kind of artificially processed vitrified substance. It uses natural feldspar, timely minerals as main raw materials, adding compounds such as soda ash and borax as fluxing agents, titanium oxide, antimony oxide and fluoride as opacifying agents, and adding metal oxides such as copper oxide, cobalt oxide, iron oxide, manganese oxide and antimony oxide as colorants. After crushing, mixing, calcining and melting, it is poured into water and quenched to obtain enamel frit, and then it is crushed and finely ground to obtain enamel powder. Enamel powder is mixed and coated on metal utensils such as gold, silver and copper, and baked to become metal tire enamel. If you use glass as a tire, it is called glass glaze; Those who take porcelain as embryo are called porcelain embryo enamel.

According to the different decorative techniques, metal fetal enamel can be divided into cloisonne enamel, enamel, painting enamel, transparent enamel and so on. If two or more of the above processes are combined to decorate an article, it is called composite enamel. Among them, there is only one kind of enamel technology related to porcelain, that is, painting enamel, which is generally called "enamel color", and its official name should be "porcelain embryo painting enamel". As for its common name "Guyuexuan", it has never been found on enamel porcelain in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong periods at present, but there are a few people who belong to this type on the enamelware of glass tire paintings in the late Qing Dynasty, so it is speculated that it is probably because the "Guyuexuan" glass tire paintings collected in the palace in the late Qing Dynasty were seen by antique dealers after they flowed out of the palace, and they mistakenly thought that the porcelain tire paintings were also marked with the word "Guyuexuan". The creation and firing of porcelain embryo painting enamel is closely related to Emperor Kangxi's love for painting enamel. In the 19th year of Kangxi (1680), the Qing court set up an enamel factory near Wuying Hall in the Forbidden City (it was returned to hall of mental cultivation in the 57th year of Kangxi), which mainly produced cloisonne with copper tires and enamel with chisel tires. In the 22nd year of Kangxi (1683), the Qing government recovered Taiwan Province Province and abolished the maritime ban. As a precious handicraft, European metal fetal glaze was brought to Guangzhou with missionaries coming to China and then paid tribute to the palace. These foreign products are deeply loved by Guangzhou court nobles and local officials for their fine painting techniques and gorgeous decorative styles. According to the personal letters from European missionaries at that time, Emperor Kangxi was also interested in this kind of foreign stuff, trying to let China enamel craftsmen master this technology. So the craftsmen who made enamel in Guangzhou and Beijing imperial courts tried to burn enamel in the two places, and after about ten years, they successfully fired the enamel of metal tires in China. After the fifty-fifth year of Kangxi (17 16), with the colored enamel craftsmen from Guangzhou and Europe entering the palace, they took part in guiding the enamel production in the office and even operated it themselves, and the colored enamel production showed a prosperous scene. In the fifty-fifth year of Kangxi, recommended by the Governor of Guangzhou, Guangdong enamel painters Pan Chun and Yang, three westerners, two enamel craftsmen and two apprentices entered the palace. That is, "Lynn Yang, the slave of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, is listening to the news. Westerners Yan Jiale, Ignaz kogler and Ni Tianjue all know astronomy, while Cantonese Pan Chun can burn flange objects, and his slave industry is also well known. Today, we found a Yang Zhangshi who can burn Fa Lan to test his skills. Compared with Pan, he can also help Pan Chun do it. Slaves also donated installation fees. On September 26th, three westerners, two craftsmen and two apprentices from Flange went to Beijing with Linda and Li. It's done. Then I found a flanged watch, diamond ring, flanged copper painting, instruments, foreign flanged materials, and rose gold mixed with red copper materials made by Pan Chun, and gave them to Li Dai. There are also unpainted and unburned gold buttons that have been laid, and they are also given to Li Shoudai for testing in Japan. The first one is Li He folded in half and presented. Really play. On September 28, the fifty-fifth year of Kangxi, I was a slave of Yang Lin. " At the end of the fold, Emperor Kangxi Zhu approved: "I see." (See China No.1 Historical Archives "Compilation of Zhu Pi's Memorial in Chinese Version of Kangxi Dynasty", Volume VII, page 45 1, published by Archives Publishing House, 1985. In the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi (17 18), it was approved that the enamel color of Wuying Hall was changed to hall of mental cultivation, and a prison number was added, which shows that Emperor Kangxi attached importance to the production of enamel color.

In the fifty-eighth year of Kangxi (17 19), the French enamel painter Chen Zhongxin was called to the palace to direct enamel production. This incident can be traced back to the 58th year of Kangxi, and Lynn Yang, the governor of Guangdong Province, continued to report to other villages. That is: "On May 12th this year, there was a Franciscan, including an Antai, a French surgeon, and Chen Zhongxin, who could burn the skills of calligraphy and painting. The slave trade union and the governor sent people to Beijing to file a case on June 18. Today, June 1 1, I arrived in Mao Ying, carrying pepper, black lead, shark's fin and other goods. On June 15, I went to Maoying Yangmao again to load lead and denim. In the second year, those who did not have western knowledge and skills all continued into the second year and tried to print newspapers together. Really play. In the fifty-eighth year of Kangxi, Lu Yue spent twenty-four days as a slave to Lynn Yang. " At the end of the fold, Emperor Kangxi Zhu Pi said, "I see." (See China No.1 Historical Archives "Compilation of Zhu Pi's Memorial in Chinese Version of Kangxi Dynasty", Volume VIII, page 547, Archives Publishing House, 1985. With the joint efforts of Chinese and foreign artisans, the palace enamel department quickly mastered the firing technology of metal tire enamel and fired a large number of metal tire enamel products with strong palace charm (as shown in Figure 2). At the same time, the enamel workers of the manufacturing institute also tried to transplant this technique to the porcelain tire, thus producing the porcelain tire painting enamel, which is called "enamel color" today. Second, the enamel porcelain of Kangxi period

The enamel porcelain in Kangxi period was in its infancy, and its color matching, decorative layout, content and style all imitated the enamel effect of bronze tire painting at that time. The white porcelain provided by Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory is generally glazed only in the inside and inside, while the outer wall of the utensils is glazed, commonly known as "anti-porcelain". Most of the paintings on the exterior wall are painted in light yellow, dark blue, carmine, bean green, crimson purple and other colors, and then the flower patterns such as peony, rose, lotus and so on are depicted by the double hook technique of various colors, with flowers but no birds. Some people fill in birthday greetings such as "Wan", "Shou", "Long" and "Spring" in the four flowers, and the decoration style is rigorous and gorgeous. The color materials used are imported from the west, and the paintings used are provided by Ruyi Pavilion in the Palace Hall. Because of the thick color, the pattern has a sense of piling up and small cracks appear. In the enamel porcelain of Kangxi period, there are also some paintings directly on the Yongle white porcelain plate of Ming Dynasty collected in the palace. During the Kangxi period, there was also a kind of Yixing Zisha fetal enamel, which is now mostly collected in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. At that time, it was called "Yixing fetal enamel". Shapes include holding pot (Figure 4), lifting beam pot, cover bowl, cover cup, etc. The decorative theme is mostly flowers. Some people paint directly on the purple sand tires, and some may consider that the purple sand tires are not as delicate and smooth as white porcelain, so they paint the tires brown first, and then paint them. The color of coffee not only resembles the color of purple sand, but also enhances the luster of the surface of the vessel. This brown color only applies to the outer wall of the vessel, not to the inner wall. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the patterns of porcelain tire paintings and enamelware were all placed on the outer soles of the wares, and most of them were "Kangxi Imperial" four-character double-row carmine or deep blue seal-type overlapping, with two sides of the coat and a thick outer frame and a thin inner frame. Individual ones, such as the purple enamel lotus vase collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing, have the words "Kangxi Imperial System" engraved on the outsole and a single wireframe engraved on the periphery. There are also some artifacts, such as the Kangxi painted enamel lotus diamond fancy plate (Yongle white porcelain tire) collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Although the outsole is also designed with the words "Kangxi Imperial System", the periphery is not a double-sided frame, but a double-line circle with a thick outside and a thin inside. As for the information of the enamel outsole painted on the Yixing tire in Kangxi Dynasty, it is generally a four-character double-line yellow pile with a double-line frame on the periphery. For example, the four-season pattern teapot of Yixing fetal painting enamel collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei has the word "Kangxi Imperial System" on the outsole arranged up and down and left and right, and the periphery is a double-line frame with begonia flowers. It is precisely because yellow can form a sharp contrast with brown ground that Yixing fetal painting is written with yellow enamel, but it is not clear enough to set off red or blue enamel with brown ground. As mentioned above, the enamel porcelain fired in the late Kangxi period mainly pursues the effect of coating enamel with copper tires, and mostly paints on "anti-porcelain" to set off the pattern. However, at this time, there are also some painted enamel porcelain painted directly on white porcelain. For example, in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, there are painted enamel porcelain painted directly on the white glazed diamond fancy plate in Yongle during the Kangxi period. Although this kind of enamel porcelain has lost the gorgeous feeling of colored glaze painting, it presents a fresh and elegant artistic effect. This laid the foundation for a large number of enamel porcelain directly coated with white glaze during Yongzheng and Qianlong periods.