The creation of blue and white porcelain in Yuan Dynasty is an epoch-making event in the history of ceramics. Since then, colored porcelain with blue and white as the main body has become the mainstream variety of porcelain, while colored glaze, which once occupied the mainstream position, has retreated to a secondary position, and ceramic aesthetics has also entered a colorful modern era from the Middle Ages with elegance as its beauty. Therefore, the historical value and artistic value of Yuan blue and white flowers have been recognized by academic circles and immediately attracted the attention of art collectors. Yuan Qinghua's market price soared.
Most of the shapes in the Yuan Dynasty were dull and childish, and blue-and-white porcelain was more prominent than ordinary Song and Ming porcelain. In particular, tableware, tea sets and other utensils commonly used in daily life often have considerable shapes. For example, the caliber of the red bowl in the blue-and-white glaze handed down from ancient times is 42 cm, and the caliber of the red plate in the blue-and-white glaze is also about 45 to 48 cm. Because the matrix is thick, it is not easy to fire, and there are often defects such as warping, flattening, concave heart and convex bottom, so there are many theories about the roughness of porcelain in the literature.
The overall characteristics of porcelain modeling in Yuan Dynasty are vigorous, dignified, magnificent and full of charm, especially the advanced fine porcelain, including blue and white porcelain, which is particularly obvious.
The blue-and-white designs in Zheng Zhi not only have some decorative forms of western Asian art, but also have strong characteristics of traditional folk designs in China. The layout is dense and the style is gorgeous and warm, which is very similar to the pattern and effect of brocade at that time. From the development history of ceramic art, the decorative patterns of blue and white in Yuan Dynasty not only far exceeded the black color patterns of Cizhou kiln in Song Dynasty, but also showed superb skills and exquisite and vivid pictures.
The perfect blue-and-white hair color is green and rich, and the blue-and-white decorative brush strokes are slightly dim, and the shades match each other and change naturally. The thickest part turns black and penetrates into the fetal bone, emitting black and silver iron spots. Touch the glaze with your hands, and the black color penetrates into the fetal bone, which makes you feel depressed.
Yuan blue and white flowers, regardless of the size of plates, bowls, cups and lamps, are painted inside and outside, blue and white flowers on a white background, blue and white flowers on a white background and blue and white flowers on a blue background, interwoven at different levels. Some white flowers are convex, in the form of bas-reliefs, pre-carved on the embryo, showing the fine production of Yuan blue and white flowers.
The glaze color of Yuan blue and white is generally bluish white, which is bluish in the early stage. The glaze is thick and often has tears, and the color of tears is mostly bluish gray. In the later period, especially the perfect boutique, the glaze color is suitable for shade, and the glaze color is bright and close to white. Glazing in the container is less and thinner, and the seam marks are more obvious.
In recent years, the craze for Yuan blue and white flowers in the collection of ancient porcelain has been heating up, and hundreds or even tens of thousands of Yuan blue and white flowers have appeared in the domestic market and collectors. The dispute between true and false has troubled many ancient porcelain lovers. Can the imitation of modern blue and white flowers reach the level of authenticity? This requires dialectical analysis. Ancient porcelain is a comprehensive product of various natural and social sciences under the social and cultural background at that time. Modern antique porcelain has no conditions to completely reproduce the Yuan Dynasty more than 600 years ago from the raw materials of tire soil, glaze formula, pigment processing, firing technology and other aspects. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for Yuan Qinghua's imitation and the real thing to have no difference in all characteristics.
The traditional identification of ancient porcelain is usually based on the visual inspection of the shape, glaze color, green material, decorative pattern, tire, style and technological characteristics of the utensils, and through some auxiliary means such as touching, weighing and listening to the sound, the authenticity, kiln mouth, production age and artistic value of the porcelain can be distinguished. This identification method is called "ophthalmology" or "eye identification" for short.
Among the ancient works of art in China, the blue-and-white porcelain of Yuan Dynasty has eternal charm. Different from the exquisiteness and richness of blue and white in Ming and Qing Dynasties, blue and white in Yuan Dynasty is full of passion and magnificent, which is the crystallization and portrayal of meta-culture.