As far as lacquerware is concerned, it entered the golden age of lacquerware development in the period of Kang, Yong and Gan in Qing Dynasty. The lacquerware produced by the official department can best represent the production level of lacquerware in Qing Dynasty, among which lacquerware of one color produced in Qing Dynasty includes vermicelli, black lacquer and gold lacquer.
Black paint and vermilion paint are the most commonly used decorative techniques in painting process, and they are also the most widely produced and popular varieties in painting process.
Black paint and vermicelli are produced with the appearance of paint making technology. The Qing dynasty inherited this traditional craft with thousands of years of history and made many black lacquers and vermicelli utensils.
Most of the black lacquerware and Zhu lacquerware in Qing Dynasty have practical value. Black paint includes round-legged tables, long tables, dining tables, incense sticks, inkstone boxes, holding boxes, pen containers and so on. There are desks, spittoons, incense boxes, holding boxes and so on.
Although this kind of lacquerware has no decoration and pattern, it wins with beautiful shape and pure paint color. Among them, the bodiless vermicelli plates, bowls and boxes made during the reign of Qing Qianlong are representative works of vermicelli.
Gold lacquer is the practice of sticking gold on objects. The methods of bronzing include gilding, gilding and clay bronzing. The most famous gold lacquerware in the Qing Dynasty is the golden lacquer dragon throne and screen displayed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which symbolizes the majesty and sacredness of imperial power. In the Qing Dynasty, lacquerware was mainly made of gold lacquer, and other decorative techniques were added, such as gold lacquer, silver lacquer and lacquer painting.
There are two kinds of gold lacquer: black lacquer and vermicelli lacquer. There were few gold lacquers in the early Qing dynasty, but a large number of gold lacquers were made in Yongzheng and Qianlong periods.
During the Qianlong period, there were not only a large number of gold lacquerware, but also a combination of black lacquer and vermilion lacquer, as well as a small amount of purple lacquer and gold lacquer.
Covering gold paint should be called "tracing gold and covering paint". Generally, a layer of transparent paint is covered on the gold-painted pattern, and the gold-painted pattern can still be seen. This technology has been used in lacquerware in the late Ming dynasty, and most of them are plate parts.
The Qing dynasty inherited this painting tradition, and the utensils made were still mainly plates, depicting mountains and rivers, or poems and flowers. Covering with gold lacquer not only protects the golden color of the utensils from being worn, but also makes the pattern different from the gold lacquer and unique.
For example, the Qianlong black lacquer gold lacquer winning box is 36.7 cm long, 19 cm wide and 3.7 cm high, and it is shaped on both sides. The whole body is covered with black paint, painted like gold, and sprinkled with golden patterns. The center of the double plate is illuminated by a shape, with landscape figures, pavilions and pavilions painted inside, and flowers and brocade decorated on the edge of the plate.
Outside the dish, there are patterns of chrysanthemums, stone pillars, plum blossoms, peonies and orchids. The bottom of the dish is painted with black paint, with golden flowers and broken branches, and painted with red paint texture. The pen is concise and the pattern is neat and beautiful. In the center of the outsole, there are two lines of regular script and two sides of gold.
Among decorative lacquerware, besides gold lacquer, there are painting and oil painting. Paint tracing is the most commonly used lacquer technology in early lacquerware, that is, the practice of drawing patterns with various colors of paint on the lacquer layer of light elements, also known as "colored paint" and "painted paint".
Among the lacquerware in the Qing Dynasty, the lacquerware in the early Qing Dynasty has peony patterns and rectangles. There are many lacquer paintings in Yongzheng period of Qing Dynasty. During the reign of Qing Qianlong, the number of lacquer products decreased relatively, and there were few works with brushwork.
Lacquer painting is also a kind of painting, but the color is simpler and more enjoyable. It uses one color paint to paint the pattern on the painted floor, and then uses black paint, gold paint or other colors paint to paint the texture.
Oil painting is the practice of drawing patterns on lacquerware with oil instead of pigment. The difference between oil painting and lacquer painting is that oil painting can be made in any color, with many color changes and colorful patterns.
Gold lacquer is a general term for gold lacquer and painted lacquer. One of the characteristics of lacquerware in Qing dynasty is the comprehensive application of various lacquerware techniques, that is, two or more lacquerware techniques are applied to one object.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were a large number of gold lacquer works with colorful shapes, which were divided into two categories: practical and ornamental. Generally, the outline and detailed texture of the pattern are outlined with gold paint, and the pattern is decorated with colored paint, which is both magnificent and magnificent. Gold lacquerware includes plates, boxes, cups, bottles, pen containers and pens. Among them, there are sunflower petal type, begonia type and rhombus type, and the box types include cross box, longevity box, octagonal box, gourd box and six petal box.
Gold-plated paint is two processes of "gold plating" and "color paint" applied to a device at the same time. There are two kinds of gold paints: one is "filled with gold paint" and the other is "golden paint".
Lacquerware made by these two methods existed at the same time in the Qing Dynasty, and both used "gold" to outline the outline of patterns and the detailed texture of branches and leaves.
The earliest gold lacquer in Qing Dynasty was an artifact of Kangxi period. Among them, there are Un-yong Kim Wen Fang Ji, Un-yong Kim Wen Kang Biao and Jin Yunwen Kwai disc. Some of Kangxi's painted works in the Qing Dynasty were decorated directly on the painted ground, and some were made into painted brocade ground and decorated with patterns on the brocade ground. Although there are differences in the production process of the two, from the perspective of the decorative effect of the utensils, the latter is better, which seems to be the icing on the cake.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, golden lacquerware was rich in modeling and ornate in decoration, and the bottom of the lacquer ware was named according to the decorative pattern. For example, Shuangfeng Box, Auspicious Plate, Eight Immortals Box, Crane Deer Box, Cao Ruiyuan Box, Ruyi Palace Box, Double Happiness Square Box, Linghuafeng Box, Begonia Fairy Box, Wanfufeng Plate and so on. As can be seen from the names of objects, most of them are auspicious patterns related to longevity and blessings.
In addition, there are gold lacquer Shouchun plate, silver treasure box, fish box, peach box, Yunlong chrysanthemum petal box, six-petal plate and so on. They all achieve the coordination and unity of form and content with their unique shapes and varied patterns. This exquisite handicraft is beyond the reach of lacquer craft after Qing Qianlong.
The mother-of-pearl inlay technology in Qing Dynasty has made great progress on the basis of inheriting the tradition of Ming Dynasty. There are more and more lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl, with rich shapes. There are both large pieces of furniture and small plates and bowls; There are both thick mother-of-pearl and thin mother-of-pearl, and bright mother-of-pearl has appeared.
In Qing Dynasty, mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquerware included pure mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer, and also combined with gold lacquer, colored lacquer and other techniques.
Among the mother-of-pearl lacquerware inlaid in the Qing Dynasty, it first began in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. Among them, the black lacquer inlaid mother-of-pearl flat case, the black lacquer inlaid mother-of-pearl dragon box, the black lacquer inlaid mother-of-pearl book case and the black lacquer inlaid mother-of-pearl box are all fine products of the early Qing Dynasty.
For example, Kangxi black lacquer inlaid with colorful mother-of-pearl landscape flowers is 223 cm high, 1 14 cm wide and 57 cm vertical. The book case is a pair, with four layers of nanmu tires, square corners and squares. Each floor board is supported by three belts, and the top board is mounted on the board through the belts. Add a bar and a head between the bottom four feet. The bookcase is painted with black matte paint, and the painted surface is inlaid with colored mother-of-pearl and gold and silver pieces, forming 66 different patterns of 136 pieces, including 8 kinds of figures and landscapes, 22 kinds of flowers, fruits and insects, and 36 kinds of brocade patterns. It is the most decorated book case ever seen, with four legs inlaid with copper-plated cylindrical corners.
There is a belt in the middle of the second floor below, engraved with the words "Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty". Fine workmanship, rich patterns and brilliant colors, especially the mother-of-pearl and inlaid gold and silver pieces are extremely thin. Making brocade patterns of more than ten units in a narrow area shows high technical skill.
In the Qing Dynasty, the most lacquer was carved during the Qianlong period, including red, yellow, colored, black and rhinoceros. The scope of lacquer carving involves almost all aspects of court life. Among them, etiquette supplies include thrones, screens, wishful thinking and so on. Furniture includes tables, chairs, embroidered piers, tables, etc. There are bottles, flower beds, statues, screens, Tiantan bottles, furnace bottles and boxes. There are pen containers, complete sets of stationery, pen tubes, pen boxes, and a large number of beautifully made antiques.
For example, the red treasure box of "Washing Tung" carved by Qianlong is 12cm high and 29.6 cm in diameter. The box is painted with red paint and the lid is opened with a shape. The ground is engraved with brocade patterns of heaven, earth and water, on which are carved clouds, stones, bamboo, curved columns and phoenix trees. An old man is sitting in the yard and a boy is standing there. Five kinds of flowers, such as peony, chrysanthemum, plum blossom, lotus and rose, are carved on the wall of the box, with miscellaneous treasure patterns carved outside the opening and back patterns carved at the mouth.
The inside and bottom of the box are painted with black paint, with the name "Bao Tong Box" on the cover and filled with gold, and the bottom is engraved with "Qianlong Year System in Qing Dynasty" in regular script.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, hall of mental cultivation Manufacturing Institute also set up a "lacquer workshop" to make various lacquerware supplies used by the royal family. Royal carved lacquer is not made in the factory, but in Suzhou. There are clear records in the official files.
Qi Diao in Qing Dynasty inherited the style of Jiajing and Wanli in Ming Dynasty, and was not good at hiding the front and revealing the knife marks. Although polished, it is far less round and smooth than in the early Ming Dynasty. Nevertheless, Qi Diao technology in the early Qing Dynasty still surpassed the previous generation in rich forms of expression and fine carving, and reached the peak of history.
For example, the golden painted dragon chair in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, that is, the dragon chair in which the emperor wears royal clothes, is172.5cm high, 49cm high and158.5cm wide. The feet in front of the seat are 30 cm high. There is a "round-backed chair" on the throne, which is made of golden nanmu and engraved with a lifelike Panlong. The "round-backed chair" of the throne gradually descends from the middle to both sides. The backrest and backboard are carved into a plane pattern.
There are corresponding patterns on the whole throne, and there are 13 golden dragons coiled. The whole throne was painted with golden paint, and it looked splendid and magnificent. It was the largest and highest-grade ritual vessel in the Forbidden City and even the whole country at that time.
Qing Jiaqing carved and painted the "Happy Goose" pen holder with brushwork, and both the knife method and the pattern style maintained the characteristics of the Qing Qianlong period.
Goose-watching pen container is 14.8cm in height and 10.2cm in diameter. The pen container has a narrow edge, a flat bottom and a seat. The outer wall of the cylinder is carved with landscape pavilions and trees. There is a pool of clear water in the picture, and geese are swimming in the waves. An old man sat in a pavilion in Chi Pan, watching geese swimming in the water. There are two people walking on the bridge, and the boy behind him holds the piano in his arms in order to visit his friends with it.
Although there are many scenes with distinct levels, the artistic conception is bleak and far-reaching. Carve several kinds of brocade on the vessel to show different spaces. The bottom is painted black, and the four characters of the seal script "Jiaqing Year System" are engraved in the center.
This pen holder has a thick paint layer, precise carving, deep and powerful ridges, clear and eye-catching patterns and bright colors. Its knife technique and pattern style kept some characteristics of Qi Diao in Qianlong period.
This pen container is the only one of Qi Diao's works with Jiaqing style, which is very valuable for studying the development and changes of Qi Diao's technology after Qianlong and the style characteristics of Qi Diao in Jiaqing period.
After Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty, Qi Diao's technology declined gradually. This technology was lost in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty. On the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, Suzhou was ordered to undertake lacquerware and could only make a Qi Diao.
The development of lacquerware in Qing dynasty was highly praised by the emperor, so lacquerware was widely used in the palace, infiltrating into all fields of court life, and local officials also paid tribute to the court as an important tribute.
The establishment of the Qing dynasty concentrated skilled craftsmen from all over the country and had a solid material foundation. Because of the cost, the lacquerware produced is gorgeous and exquisite, which represents the highest level of lacquerware art in Qing Dynasty and also reflects the royal artistic style and aesthetic taste.
For example, the mother-of-pearl pentapod inlaid with black lacquer is 6.8 cm high, 16.8 cm in diameter, round and flat-topped. Mother-of-pearl is inlaid in black paint and plated with gold. A woman sat in front of a stone table under a buttonwood tree, watching Wuzi play in front of the court. The box is embedded with the twelve genera of white jade and the album "Poems of Imperial Shoumin".
In addition to manufacturing firms, lacquerware with strong local characteristics has also been produced in many parts of the country, such as inlaid lacquerware in Yangzhou, bodiless lacquerware in Fujian, colored lacquerware in Shanxi and leather lacquerware in Guizhou. , as well as lacquerware with unique characteristics in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Sichuan, Guangdong and Beijing.
Yangzhou is an important place to make lacquerware in history. By the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou was a famous commercial city, and its jade and lacquerware were famous all over the country.
The highest achievement of Yangzhou lacquer art is the inlaid craft. Lu Kuisheng is a famous painter in Yangzhou, who is good at hiding treasures. Lu's works are mostly stationery for study, such as inkstone boxes, paint pots, pen containers, fruit boxes, box sets, handrails, pipa and so on.
Fujian in the Qing Dynasty was famous for making bodiless lacquer and woodcarving gold lacquer. Shen Shao 'an, a famous lacquerer in the mid-Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, mastered the lacquerware technique, and realized the popularization of the method of making clay statues and clips in China, thus creating a unique bodiless lacquerware.
Besides diluting the original paint with oil, the lacquerware made by Shenshi also uses gold powder and silver powder as blending materials, which solves the difficulty that the general paint darkens after drying and is difficult to blend with other bright pigments, and blends many unprecedented paint colors, such as coral red, light yellow, orange, white, apple green, pine green and other bright colors.
Guizhou in Qing Dynasty was famous for making lacquerware for leather tires. It was presented to the court as a variety of local lacquerware. Leather tire lacquerware is lighter and tougher than wood carcass.
It is made by painting the cowhide tire with black paint or vermilion paint, then painting the pattern with gold on the painted ground, and painting the others with a layer of covering paint. Most of the gold-coated lacquerware for leather tires produced in Guizhou are plates, bowls, pots, boxes and other daily necessities, which have high use value.
Suzhou is the center of carving lacquer made by the Qing court, and its shape, pattern and style are directly under the command and control of the court. In addition to the official workshops directly serving the court, the local lacquerware workshops are also deeply influenced by the court lacquerware, with the same carving style.
Every year on Cixi's birthday, many ministers also buy Beijing carved lacquer as a valuable gift to enter the palace. For example, the jade screen carved by Empress Dowager Cixi. According to legend, it is a Qi Diao made by the Governor of Liangjiang to congratulate Empress Dowager Cixi on her 60th birthday, which was made by the famous Suzhou craftsman Liang. The throne is 1 15cm high and 127cm wide. Screen height is 27 1 cm, and connector height is 3 14 cm.
Hangzhou was once one of the lacquer making centers in the Southern Song Dynasty, and there were many lacquer workshops. Hangzhou in the Qing dynasty still retains the traditions of the past. Lacquerware is made by one household, mostly for covering paint.
Among the local tributes, there are few records about Sichuan lacquerware, only the record that Wang Zhanzhu, the envoy of Sichuan Province, paid tribute to carve lacquerware in the 52nd year of Qing Qianlong. Among them, there is a square box with the words "sincerely made by Sichuan Persuasion Bureau" at the bottom. This box has simple composition, sparse decorative patterns and smooth lines, and adopts two painting techniques: color painting and color painting. From the analysis of this box, this lacquer ware was made by a government-run workshop in Sichuan in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, and its shape is exquisite and unique.
Guangdong is an important foreign trade port in the Qing Dynasty, and it is also a famous place for making various handicrafts in the Qing Dynasty. Products made in Guangdong, such as ivory, furniture, enamel, glass, tortoiseshell and snuff bottles, are very famous in Beijing, and they are also the main handicrafts of Guangdong officials to pay tribute to honest officials.
Beijing lacquerware is mainly carved. During Guangxu and Xuantong years, the lacquer carving of exiled Qingganlong was studied in workshops such as Decheng Bureau and Furunzhai in Beijing. In addition, after Guzhai, the three masters also made carved lacquer, but the carved lacquer they made did not imitate ancient times and had their own unique methods.