Historical Development of Porcelain
The real porcelain in China appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220). First, it began to appear in the southern part of Zhejiang Province. Shangyu County, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province
Porcelain kiln sites and celadon in the late Eastern Han Dynasty were discovered in Xiaoxiantan, Shangpu. Porcelain bricks are fine in texture, shiny in glaze and closely combined with fetal glaze. It can be seen from the micrograph that there is no residual time under the glaze of celadon fragments. This kind of glaze has got rid of the primitiveness of primitive celadon in appearance and microstructure. Reach the standard of real porcelain.
After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the production of southern celadon such as Zhejiang Yueyao was always in a leading position in the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties (AD 220-58 1). Shaoxing, Yuhang, Xing Wu and other places also have kilns, forming a unique kiln system. The so-called kiln system means that a famous kiln and some kilns nearby or in other provinces all produce one or more products of the same type. These kilns form a kiln system and are named after the main and most influential kilns. Zhejiang is the earliest area where kiln system was formed in China, which may be related to the fact that it is the birthplace of China porcelain and the porcelain-making industry is particularly developed.
Yue kiln produced celadon and black porcelain, and celadon and brown-dotted porcelain were also produced in the late Western Jin Dynasty, that is, brown dots were added to the main parts of the utensils to break the monochrome style of celadon.
The tire quality of the Three Kingdoms Yue Kiln is hard, delicate and light gray. The glaze juice is pure, mainly light cyan, and yellow or cyan is rare; There are bowls, plates, pots, basins, washbasins, bowls, boxes, plates, ear cups, incense burners, spittoons, pots, pickle jars and other daily-use porcelain. New products such as flat pot, chicken pot, candlestick, evil spirits and so on appeared in the Western Jin Dynasty. Buddhism prevailed in the Southern Dynasties, and porcelain was mostly decorated with lotus petals or lotus flowers. During the hundreds of years from the Three Kingdoms to the unification of Sui Dynasty, the porcelain production represented by Yue Kiln has made great progress. It has many varieties and novel styles, and has penetrated into all fields of life. Become an electrical appliance that people can't live without for a moment.
In addition, there are famous kiln sites in the south, such as Wuzhou kiln, Xiangyin kiln and Fengcheng kiln.
The appearance of northern porcelain was later than that of the south, and it developed in the last hundred years from the late Northern Wei Dynasty to the unification of Sui Dynasty (AD 58 1-6 18). There are bowls, plates, cups, cans, pots, bottles, boxes and so on. Most of the celadon in the Northern Dynasties were daily necessities, and there were few furnishings. Lotus petal jar is a typical product of the Northern Dynasties. It is divided into three series, four series, six series and square series, round series and strip series, all of which are piled up from shoulder to abdomen into fat lotus petals, ranging from six to eight petals, with a circle of feet at the bottom. The artifacts that best represent the production level of celadon in the north are four lotus statues unearthed from Feng Tomb in Jingxian County, Hebei Province. Its largest piece is about 70 cm high, and it is decorated with flying patterns, treasure patterns, animal faces and dragon patterns from the mouth to the shoulders. There are six series of shoulders, with six layers of plastic under the shoulders and lotus petals covered on them.
Although the production of northern porcelain was hundreds of years later than that of the south, once the production of celadon was mastered, the production technology and craft level were quickly improved, and combined with the humanistic characteristics of the north, white porcelain appeared. White porcelain is developed from celadon, and the only difference between them lies in the difference of iron content in the tire and glaze. When the iron content of porcelain clay is low, the tire is white, and when the iron content is high, the tire color is dark gray, light gray or dark gray. As far as the development of porcelain itself is concerned, it is from single glazed porcelain to colored porcelain. Whether it is brown green, white and black flowers, blue and white, underglaze red, or fighting colors, multicolored, famille rose and enamel, white is used as a foil to show the gorgeous and wonderful colors. So the appearance of white porcelain has a far-reaching influence on the development of porcelain, which was formed in the Tang Dynasty? South, blue and white? Mode.
10 pieces of white porcelain unearthed from Fan Cui's tomb in the sixth year of Wuping in Northern Qi Dynasty (AD 575) are the earliest known white porcelain, including bowls, cups, three-series cans, four-series cans and long-necked bottles.
In the Tang Dynasty (AD 6 18-9 17), southern celadon, northern white porcelain and tricolor porcelain; The colorful porcelain of Changsha kiln in Hunan Province has also developed greatly.
Among them, the porcelain of Changsha kiln has been unearthed in 73 places in Asia, Africa 13 countries, which shows that its influence has spread all over the world. Judging from the Hu sculpture, date, palm print and Arabic characters in its products, there may be porcelain specially produced for export.
The Song Dynasty (960- 1279) appeared on the basis of the Tang Dynasty. Ding, Ru, Guan, Ge, Jun? The phenomenon that five famous kilns are famous in the world at the same time.
The Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1279- 1368) was a turning point in China porcelain production, with innovation and development in many aspects. From Kublai Khan in Yuan Shizu to the 15th year of Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1278), the Yuan Empire was established in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi? Floating beam porcelain bureau? It created favorable conditions for the development of Jingdezhen porcelain production, and became the center of China porcelain industry in the Ming and Qing dynasties and enjoyed a world-renowned reputation? Porcelain capital? Laid a solid foundation. Jingdezhen made a new breakthrough in porcelain-making technology in Yuan Dynasty, the most prominent being firing blue and white and underglaze red.
Blue-and-white porcelain generally refers to underglaze colored porcelain, with cobalt as colorant, then covered with transparent glaze and fired at high temperature once, showing blue flowers on a white background. Blue and white porcelain fully embodies the national characteristics of China. Once it appeared in Jingdezhen, it developed rapidly with strong vitality, became the mainstream of production for hundreds of years, and exported to all parts of China and Asian and African countries. Red in glaze is a kind of underglaze red porcelain, which is made by painting decorative patterns on the tire, covering it with transparent glaze and firing it in high temperature reducing atmosphere. It is difficult to braise under glaze, and the yield is low, especially the solid color is less. Glazed red is bright in color, and red flowers on a white background are eye-catching and very popular.
The Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368- 1644) and the Qing Dynasty (A.D.1644-1911) were the heyday of porcelain production in China, and the quantity and quality of porcelain production reached the peak. Jingdezhen as? Porcelain capital? The establishment of Jingdezhen kiln ruled the porcelain altar in Ming and Qing dynasties for hundreds of years until today. At that time, all kinds of glazed porcelain and painted porcelain were outstanding representatives of Jingdezhen porcelain-making level.
Maintenance method of porcelain
First, porcelain is fragile, so attention should be paid to shock prevention, extrusion prevention and collision prevention when storing it. When appreciating the collection, be careful not to bump or fall, and try not to touch it with sweaty hands. It's best to wear gloves when looking at the collection, and the table is padded with flannel. Don't pass it on to each other when watching. One person should put it on the table after reading it, and others should hold it.
Second, bottles, cans, statues and other porcelain are generally spliced from bottom to top, and you can't lift the neck of the upper part of the object when moving. The correct way is to hold your neck with one hand and your ass with the other. Some bottles, jars and statues are decorated with ears, so you can't just lift the ears when you take them away, so as not to break or damage them. Thin-walled containers are thin, light and delicate, so be more careful when handling and placing them. Hold the bottom with both hands, and never use it with one hand, especially the bottle, which has small feet and long body and needs to be blown down by the wind.
Three, just bought high-temperature glaze or underglaze porcelain, should be soaked in water 1 hour, then use detergent to wash off the appearance of oil, dry the water with a towel and put it in the box. The box should be filled with foam, and the diameter after adding foam should not exceed 0.5 cm. The collection should be moderately elastic in the box to avoid squeezing and prevent the collection from being damaged.
4. Unearthed low-temperature glaze and glaze color. There will be a lot of impurities in glaze color, and even the phenomenon of stripping and discoloration will occur. A small amount of adhesive should be added between the fetal glazes, and then a layer of soft adhesive should be coated on the glaze to prevent the glaze from falling off in a large area. If high-temperature glaze or underglaze color is buried underground for a long time, a large number of calcium and silicon compounds, namely soil rust, will also be produced on the surface of porcelain. It can be washed with clean water once, soaked in 3% hydrogen peroxide for about 3 hours, soaked in clean water for more than 30 hours, and washed with clean white cloth, which can generally remove soil rust. If it cannot be removed, you can apply acetic acid to the soil rust with a brush. After 5 hours, use a medical scalpel to remove soil rust obliquely, and the blade can only cut in one direction. After most of the soil rust is removed, clean it with Bai Jie cloth and toothpaste until the soil rust is completely removed. This method is only suitable for high temperature glaze and underglaze color.