How are the four famous potteries fired?

Ming Dynasty inherited the two Song Dynasty, especially since the Southern Song Dynasty, the rapid development of commercial trade, the Ming Dynasty business is very developed, the folk also became rich. The Qing Dynasty is the last dynasty of our feudal society, pottery and Ming Dynasty lineage, in this period of unprecedented development, the formation of China's ancient pottery in the history of the last peak, there is a "Ming have rough pottery, Qing have purple pottery," said.

This time the most famous is the achievement of China's four famous pottery, namely, purple sand pottery, nixing pottery, Jianshui pottery and Rongchang pottery.

Purple sand pottery refers to pottery made from the clay produced in the North Huanglong Mountain in Dingshu Town, Yixing, Jiangsu Province, known as purple sand clay.

Zisha pots originated in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, the founder of the Ming Dynasty Zhengde, Jiajing Gong Chun, known as the "for spring", he created the "for spring pots", then praised the "chestnut color dark, such as the ancient and modern iron, dunpang Zhouzheng", just 12 words, people like to see its pot.

Supply of spring later passed on to Shi Dabin, Li Zhongfen, the two and Shi Dabin's disciple Xu Youquan and known as the Ming dynasty after the Wanli "three great masters of purple sand. Shi Dabin's style of purple sand pots elegant, smooth and flexible modeling, although not the pursuit of craftsmanship carving, but the ingenuity of the craftsmanship, simple and elegant firm, wonderful.

Xu Youquan's handiwork is fine, and he is good at making Zisha pots in the form of ancient bronzes, which are ancient and solemn, simple and thick. Legend has it that when Xu Youquan was a young boy, he learned pottery from Shi Dabin and begged him to make a clay ox for him, but Shi Dabin refused.

A real cow passed by outside the house at this time, Xu Youquan in a hurry, grabbed a handful of clay, ran outside the house, the real cow pinched up, when Da-Bin greatly appreciated, thought he was very talented, and then gladly awarded all the masterpieces, and later really made his own.

The above four people for the first phase of the purple sand pottery masters. The second phase of masters of purple sand pottery for the early Qing Dynasty, Chen Mingyuan, Huimengchen. Chen Mingyuan to life in the common shape of chestnuts, walnuts, peanuts, rhombus, Cigu, water chestnuts, lotus, frogs, etc. into the pot, the craft of fine carving, good at piling up the flowers and mud, so that the shape of the Zisha pots more vivid, graphic, lively, so that the traditional Zisha pots into a sculpture of the work of art, full of vitality and vitality.

At the same time, Chen Mingyuan also invented the form of inscription on the bottom of the pot and sealing inside the lid of the pot, which formed a fixed craft procedure in the Qing Dynasty and had a significant impact on the development of Zisha pottery. As Chen Mingyuan's works were out of this world, he was famous for a while.

The third stage of Zisha pottery masters are Chen Hongshou and Yang Pengnian during the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the mid-Qing Dynasty. Chen Hongshou was a famous calligrapher, painter and seal carver in the mid-Qing Dynasty, and advocated innovation in art, advocating that "poetry, calligraphy and painting do not have to be very good," but must see the "heavenly interest".

He put this idea of art into Zisha pottery. The first major contribution, is the combination of poetry, calligraphy and painting with zisha pot pottery, the pot with a bamboo knife inscribed poetry, carving and painting. The second major contribution is that he improvised many novelty styles of Zisha pots with his talent, which brought vitality to the innovation of Zisha pots.

Zisha pots can be divided into five categories according to their craftsmanship: glossy pots, flower and fruit pots, square pots, ribbed pots, and pottery decorated pots.

Bright-bodied pots are round-based, and their shape evolves from the round, using a variety of techniques such as lines, depictions, and inscriptions.

Fruit and flower pots are made of melons, fruits, trees, bamboos and other species of nature as the subject matter for artistic creation, so that it fully expresses the natural beauty and the principle of returning to simplicity and truth.

Square pots are modeled with a combination of dots, lines and surfaces. It is derived from the subjects of vessels and architecture, and is decorated with calligraphy, painting, engraving, printing plates, painting and molding. The body of the pot is solemn and steady, rigid and flexible, better reflecting the aesthetics of the human body.

Ribbed diamond pots commonly known as "ribbed pots", is the top of the center of the pot to the periphery of the regular lines of the pot, vertical lines called ribbed, horizontal lines called lines, so it is also known as "ribbed ware".

Pottery pot is a kind of like a circle, like a square, like a square, like a flower, like a flower, like a tendon, like a tendon of the more abstract shape of the pot, can be used in oil paintings, paintings of patterns and colors to decorate the traditional and non-traditional ceramic art.

Zisha pots by industry can be divided into three categories:

Flower goods that is the natural form, the use of sculpture techniques or relief, semi-circular carving decorative techniques kneaded teapot, will be seen in the life of a variety of natural images and a variety of objects in the form of artistic techniques designed into the shape of a teapot, such as the pine tree segment pots, bamboo pots, prunus pots, watermelon pots, etc., rich in poetic and pictorial, rich in the atmosphere of life. Ming dynasty for spring tree boil pot is the earliest known flower goods alabaster pot.

Light goods that is geometric, characterized by the body of the pot is geometric, the surface of the plain. Light goods are divided into two categories: circle goods, square goods. Circle goods, that is, the cross-section of the teapot is round or oval, such as: round pots, beam pots, imitation drum pots, pick up the ball pots, etc.; square goods, that is, the cross-section of the teapot is a four-square, six-square, eight-square, etc., such as: the monk's hat pots, the stove pots, the ladybird shuttle pots, etc..

The sinewy goods are the modeling styles created from the life of the melons, petals, clouds and water patterns. This type of pot requires that the mouth, lid, mouth, base and handle must be made into a ribbed shape to match the texture of the pot. This also makes the craftsmanship to reach an incomparable degree of rigor. In recent times, common ribbed ware shapes include the Hualing pot and the Fengju pot.

The shape of the famous Zisha tree gall pot imitates a tree gall, the surface of the pot is uneven, with bark molded patterns, and the whole pot is dark chestnut color. It is a kind of pot style created by the Ming Dynasty's pot maker, Gongchun.

Again, such as the "ice heart Taoist" pot, the pot body color like porcelain glaze in the end of the tea leaves, the pot body is a concave niche in the front, sitting inside a person, the niche is decorated with peach trees, peach blossoms, peach leaves on the outside wall. The other three sides of the pot are carved cloud pattern, the bottom of the pot for "Bing Xin Taoist".

There is also the "Erquan" inscribed pot, which was inscribed by Shao Erquan, a famous Zisha artist at the end of the Qing Dynasty. This pot is a simple and ancient shape, pot for the earth yellow, around the bamboo shape, and a bat fluttering, and the ancients "blessing" will. On one side of the pot's belly, the inscription is in negative seal script: "The sky is clear, the wind is gentle", a poem derived from Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Collection Preface", signed by "Two Springs". The bottom of the pot is marked 'Tang Bing'.

Nixing pottery originated in Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and was known as Yue pottery in ancient times. According to historical records, it may have been invented before the Tang Dynasty, and became more refined in the Tang Dynasty. Qinzhou city east of Pingxin village at the foot of the mountain found in the free large mound, inside the Ning Road service pottery monument, next to a pottery pot, the monument is engraved with "Tang Kaiyuan twenty years" characters.

Nixing pottery in the Qing Dynasty in the middle period, there is no exact name, to the Qing Dynasty, Xianfeng years, Qinzhou pottery development boom, niqi ware can be widely used, so the name "nixing".

Nixing pottery products are mainly tea sets, stationery, food utensils, coffee sets, vases, flower pots, smoked tripod and antique products of eight categories, color varieties of more than 600 kinds. Large vases up to 2 meters high, small vases with a diameter of only 3 centimeters of small tea cups. Among them to all kinds of tea sets, vases and pen holders, bonsai and eating utensils are the most prestigious.

Nixing pottery flourished in the Qing Dynasty during the reign of Xianfeng, Nixing pottery grandfather Hu Laoliu, is an old potter to make Nixing chrysalis into a butterfly. Hu made three new attempts at making a small pipe: abandoning sandy soil and using red clay from the west side of the city, abandoning the cylinder and changing the kiln to a high-temperature calcination, and repeatedly polishing the pipe after it was fired.

At that time, just to make their own pipe more delicate and harder, he did not expect is, since this change, after firing the pipe was polished into a fine and smooth as jade, and showed a mysterious bronze color. This is the first time Qinzhou pottery kiln change.

What is more unexpected is that this change of the pipe is far better than Jiangsu Yixing and best-selling province, so that there have been more than 1,000 years of Qinzhou pottery began to have a name of its own: Qinzhou nixing pottery.

Subsequently, Zheng Jinsheng, Pan Yunxing and other nixing giants, so that at one time there are more than 40 production of nixing craftsmen gathered in the small nixing alley in Qinzhou, the nationally renowned, and the officials who came and went to buy nixing equipment to give to their friends and relatives, which is the beginning of the prosperity of the nixing of Qinzhou.

Then the production of a variety of smoking small clay ware, teapots, small vases and stationery. Engaged in this production of more than 40, of which the more prestigious "Lai Homeland", "Ren I Zhai", "Fu Guangyin", "Mai Xingji "Fu Guangyin", "Mak Hing Kee", "Pan Yun Xin" and so on.

To the Qing dynasty Tongzhi years, engaged in the nixing craft family, most of the residents in the city south of Yuliao cross-street set up store business, forming a nixing alley, that is, "pipe alley".

Qing Guangxu years, Nixing pottery has been famous in the provinces, since Chin set up a Taoist Office, officials come and go more, not to buy Nixing pottery out of the provinces, spreading the name around. During the period has participated in the world of ceramics competition, were awarded the Grand Prize.

Nixing pottery in a unique style of white clay bottle, bottle height 29.8 centimeters, the bottom of the drop print Yang pattern "Qinzhou kilns" paragraph. From its body and production process concluded that the use of clay is very delicate, after firing are polished, jade effect, which is different from other kilns to produce the main features of the pottery.

Qinzhou Nixing pottery production process is passed down from generation to generation. Artists make use of the clay, which has strong plasticity, to carve poems and paintings on the vessel blanks, which are elegant in content, and the paintings are mainly based on landscapes, flowers and birds, which are rich in the style of Chinese painting.

People carve on the clay blanks according to the pre-designed patterns, such as the fairy scattering flowers, Guilin Elephant Mountain, Water and Moon Cave, the Eight Immortals across the sea or a variety of flowers and birds, etc., the knife method is old, old-fashioned and exquisite craftsmanship, the knife is like a pen.

After the pattern is carved on the body, another kind of niqi is filled in the mark, for example, white niqi is filled in and fused while the niqi is wet, and the effect of white flowers on red ware and red flowers on white ware can be burned, so that the niqi ceramics reveals a kind of mellow and strong humanistic flavor in the simple simplicity and it is a kind of elegant crafts, and it also has a higher practical value, and it is loved by the people.

Nixing pottery in the firing process without the addition of any ceramic pigments can produce kiln variations, in the traditional process of firing, the color is mostly vermilion or purple-red.

Occasionally, one or a few products produce dark green or bronze "kiln change" body, which is unpredictable and uncontrollable, known as "kiln treasure". Qinzhou Nixing pottery "kiln" technology, known as "China's best".

Ni Xing pottery products through the kiln, the surface layer still retains the original color of vermilion or purple red. After polishing the surface layer to discover its true nature, the formation of a variety of gorgeous natural colors, hidden copper, dark green, purple red, tiger stripes, sky blue, sky spots, gold, chestnut, iron blue and many other colors, texture delicate and glossy, has a high appreciation and collection value.

Ni Xing Tao is acid and alkali resistant, non-toxic, it is uniquely breathable and impermeable natural double pore structure, which is conducive to long term storage of food. Practice has proved that the tea in the nixing pottery canisters for several years without mold. Tea set to make tea, taste and mellow aroma, overnight and the color and flavor unchanged. Long-used empty pots into the white water still has a fragrant tea flavor, is the top of the tea set.

The traditional carving technique of nixing pottery, is in the nixing pottery semi-finished billet, with a sharp steel knife to carve out the text and patterns, divided into two major parts of the process of flat carving and relief process, flat carving is in the half-dry and slightly wet mud blanks, with line carving, hollowing out, sculpture, inlaid and other techniques. Relief carving is carried out on the whole dry billet, there are high relief, low relief, Yang carving and yin carving and other techniques.

Jianshui pottery, also known as Jianshui purple pottery, was produced in the Qing Dynasty, beginning in the Daoguang period, and developed on the basis of the flourishing production of crude pottery in the Ming Dynasty.

Jianshui ancient city in the northern suburbs of a kiln burned out of the village "bowl kiln village". Bowl kiln village began when there is no way to prove, the descendants only know that here for generations to ceramics as a business, the village was born from the production of ceramics. The red soil slope behind the village stretches for miles from east to west, where there is a large area of ancient kiln ruins and piles of ceramic debris with clear traces.

The clay for Jianshui purple pottery is taken from the territory of Jianshui. The traditional mud-making method is: different pottery clay were pounded into powder, sieve discarded coarse sand, according to the requirements of the pottery will be different powdered clay ratio, and then into the tank with water to make a slurry mixing and washing, to be sandy slurry mud sinking to the bottom of the tank, it will use a spoon to take the top of the rinse slurry poured into the other tank for washing again.

After repeating this for five or six times, the clay will naturally dry out in a closed state, and then it will be as creamy as a paste, without any sand particles. Because of the fineness of the clay, in the wet state of plasticity is relatively weak, therefore, Jianshui purple pottery generally do not take the way of grouting injection mold made of ware, but also not suitable for the production of large-scale devices, but also because of this feature, but also the achievement of the Jianshui purple ceramics can be done on the surface of the object to make a fine carving filling mud and glaze-free polishing of the special technology. This is also the most essential difference between Jianshui purple pottery and other sand-containing pottery.

Jianshui purple pottery is made of red clay, and the color-filled clay is white clay. Some gray-green, light reddish-red, and orange-yellow natural colorful clays are wonderfully applied to the purple pottery blanks, and this artificial innovation and play greatly highlights the artistic expression of Jianshui purple pottery.

"Remnants of the paste" is the clay on the billet for the color of the art interpretation of the gods. The practice of residual paste is: the billet on the characters and paintings, respectively, to the yin and yang two kinds of carving method cross-carved, in the carving of the mold to the color of the clay alternately filled, more than five or six pieces, less than two or three stickers, so that the viewer's heart with the God to move, imaginative.

Jianshui purple ceramics production of the beginning, the main production of pipe, tea, vase, pen holder, seal box, candlestick and other objects, most of the modeling is simple and elegant, unique; to the Qing Dynasty Guangxu began to produce a unique modeling for stewed chicken "Yang Lin pot", also known as "Yang pinch", unique and original.

The Yanglin pot, also known as the "Yang pinch", is unique, the appearance of flowers, birds, insects, fish, grass, wood, mountains, water drawings, poems, exquisite, with "pottery a show" reputation.

The literati's words and paintings are located on top of the purple ceramics, the ancient Jianshui ceramics point into a classic. Pottery as paper, not only to retain the brush and ink of the law ready to gas, but also to take into account the pottery in different arcs and wet state of the soft and glutinous characteristics, catching the hair moistening ink from the thick elbow of the brush skills.

Writing and painting on purple pottery do not win with the impact of colorful perspectives, but with a kind of pure and serene elegance to communicate with the viewer, which conveys a kind of beautiful and simple serenity.

The charm of Jianshui purple pottery also lies in the fusion of the contrast between the pottery dancing marks and the roundness of the slender hair constituted by its carving and mud filling process. After inking the billet, the carver will immediately carve the ink on the billet in the wet state into a mold, and the carving marks are smooth and angular, and there is no rough edge like the natural cracking of the lines of the carved stone.

However, the beauty lies in the fact that after the carving mold is filled with mud, repairing the billet, air-drying, baking, and grinding and polishing in stages, the lines actually appear as if they have been rusted by a thousand years of weathering and mottled texture changes, and so there is a golden stone atmosphere of natural antiquity. Carving craftsmen are mostly women, and most of them are not familiar with the theory of painting and calligraphy, but they are very familiar with the clay and knife skills.

"Unglazed polishing" is the feature that most distinguishes Jianshui purple pottery from other pottery, and a good piece of work needs to go through seven or eight processes. The use of coarse and then fine grinding tools to complete, to coarse sandstone grinding away the fire skin, and then fine sandstone polishing left behind by the wire, and finally with pebbles polishing, meticulous and complex process, the original dull rough pottery body was ground out of the mirror light, showing its fine texture and glossy changes.

Jianshui purple pottery masterpieces such as purple pottery remnants of stickers, incense pots, three-legged brush pots, Bogu bottles, medium-sized brush pots, imitation bronze table lamps, large purple pottery flower jar and other pottery treasures.

Rongchang pottery originated in Anfu Town, Rongchang County, Sichuan Province, before the Qing Dynasty called the magnetic kiln, the earliest historically attested pottery appeared in the Han Dynasty, the Ming and Qing Dynasties have been widely developed.

Rongchang pottery mainly produces daily-use pottery, packaging pottery, arts and crafts pottery, garden construction pottery, due to Rongchang's clay viscosity and plasticity, fired containers with non-leakage, preservation of freshness and so on, known as the "mud" of the fine reputation, people therefore gave the Rongchang pottery, "thin as paper, bright as a mirror, sound as a chime". As a mirror, sound like a chime," the evaluation of the nine words.

Rongchang pottery varieties, craft pottery in the plain firing of the "clay goods", with natural color, giving a sense of simplicity and elegance. Decorated with a variety of color glaze "glaze goods", the view of the crystal clear shape, knocking can send a crisp and pleasant sound, decorative generous and simple and rich in change, with a strong national style and local characteristics.

Anfu town has high-quality red and white clay, fine quality and color, plasticity, suitable for pottery, especially called the best is that the Rongchang pottery on the storage of the goods do not cascade, do not taste, do not ooze color, can be a long time to preserve the quality of the taste, preservation of freshness, very practical.

Rongchang pottery adds an indispensable link to China's ceramics and arts and crafts. At the earliest, Rongchang mainly produces tanks, pots, bowls, jars and other coarse pottery products, the shape is simple and natural, rough, wild beauty; from the Jiaqing time began to gradually develop to the Qing Xianfeng time of the "mud fine", is a fine pottery.