Characteristics of Yuan Blue and White Porcelain

In the sixth exhibition hall of Henan Museum, there is a dazzling porcelain, which is a spring bottle of blue-and-white jade pot with dragon pattern in Yuan Dynasty. This bottle was unearthed in 1963 Amin's tomb in Xingyang, Henan. According to its tire, glaze, blue and white characteristics and production technology, relevant experts think it is a work of Yuan Dynasty. The bottle is 39.4 cm high and 9.3 cm in diameter. Open the neck, tuck in the abdomen and circle the feet. Blue and white dragons are painted from the neck to the abdomen, with rich colors and black spots. The bottle body is made of two parts, with obvious joint marks, which is also a remarkable feature of porcelain in Yuan Dynasty. Yuhu Spring Bottle is a bottle type created and fired in the Northern Song Dynasty. It was named after the word "the first spring of the jade pot" in the Song Dynasty. After the yuan dynasty, it was fired in various kilns in the north and south, with a tall and beautiful shape.

Dragon is a symbol of the Chinese nation, and ceramic artists of all ages have regarded dragon as a decorative theme, and expressed their artistic charm through different expressions. The dragon image painted on the bottle body is fierce, and the dragon body is long rolled on the bottle body, showing its majestic momentum in flight. Coupled with moire, it has the power to shake the sky when the clouds see the rain. It is a rare blue-and-white porcelain art of the Yuan Dynasty.

Blue-and-white porcelain is made of cobalt oxide, coated on the unfired body, and then fired with transparent glaze. Because the decorative pattern is painted under the glaze, it is also called underglaze color. It is characterized by strong coloring, bright hair color, little influence by the atmosphere in the kiln, wide firing range and stable color. White and blue, bright and elegant, with the artistic effect of traditional ink painting in China. Moreover, blue and white are decorated under the glaze and never fade, which is deeply loved by people.

As for the origin of blue and white, with the progress of archaeological excavations in recent years, it is proved that it originated in the Tang Dynasty. 1975 and 1983, two batches of blue-and-white porcelain pieces were unearthed at the Tang Cheng site in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, and the underglaze blue painted on them was clearly visible. From the shape point of view, this is a pillow piece from the Tang Dynasty. As for its origin, according to the test results of tire and glaze, it is proved that it was burned in Gongxian kiln in Henan Province. According to the new archaeological discoveries in recent years, it is proved that it is an indisputable fact that Tang blue and white flowers are fired in Gongxian kiln in Henan Province.

Blue and white porcelain was successfully fired in Yuan Dynasty, especially in Jingdezhen kiln in Jiangxi Province. There are two kinds of cobalt materials used in blue and white in Yuan Dynasty: imported and domestic. Imported materials have high iron content and low manganese content, so the hair color is rich and bright, and there are black crystal spots on the glaze, which go deep into the fetal bone and feel concave by hand. However, domestic blue and white materials have light hair color and no black spots. This Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white dragon jade pot spring bottle collected by Henan Museum is a fine product made of imported cobalt in Jingdezhen kiln. Modeling: Porcelain in different historical periods in China has different styles, and different styles are first manifested in modeling. The styles of blue-and-white porcelain in Yuan Dynasty were both inherited and innovated, such as jade pot, spring bottle and plum bottle, which obviously inherited the style of Song Dynasty. Open, slender neck, drooping abdomen, slightly curled feet. With the increase of archaeological data, the previous understanding that blue and white wares in Yuan Dynasty were big and heavy was rewritten. In the Yuan Dynasty, there were not only big plates, big bowls, big bottles, big pots and other utensils, but also smaller utensils with beautiful shapes such as jade pots and spring bottles. This jade pot spring bottle is a typical work at the end of Yuan Dynasty. The bottle mouth of Yuhu Spring Bottle is trumpet-shaped, the neck is obviously thicker than that at the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, and the abdomen gradually sags, and the overall shape changes from simple to stable. It is a representative object at the end of Yuan Dynasty.

Ornaments: The decorative patterns of blue and white in Yuan Dynasty were influenced by the literati painting style at that time to some extent. There are many freehand brushwork techniques, rich themes and extensive materials, and some draw lessons from the patterns of silk fabrics at that time. The decorative patterns of blue and white flowers in Yuan Dynasty are characterized by rigorous, dense and multi-layered composition of large objects. An object has as many as seven or eight layers, and the picture is full. Although there are many levels, they are handled properly, with clear priorities and seamless integration, giving people a rich, elegant, harmonious and perfect feeling. But there are also smaller objects decorated with sparse features, which are naturally lively. Dragon pattern is common in Yuan blue-and-white porcelain, and it is one of the main decorations of Yuan blue-and-white porcelain. Dragon is a legendary deity, which can walk, fly, swim and call the wind and rain. Therefore, it shows different trends in porcelain, such as Haishuilong and Yunlong. Since the Tang Dynasty, the dragon pattern has a close relationship with the imperial power, and the dragon pattern has become a symbol of the imperial power. The dragon patterns in the past dynasties are different and have their outstanding characteristics of the times. The cloud dragon pattern painted on this blue-and-white jade pot spring bottle represents the basic characteristics of the cloud dragon pattern at the end of Yuan Dynasty. It still takes dragons as its theme and clouds as its auxiliary decoration. Faucets in this period are generally relatively small, with long upper and lower lips, slender body, raised back and backward horns, like antlers. There are three claws, four claws and five claws. The dragon on the bottle has five claws, which is very powerful. The scale of the dragon body painted in this bottle is grid-shaped, which is also one of the main characteristics of the dragon pattern in Yuan Dynasty. The moire is a cloud with a floating head, indicating that its cloud angle is very long, like a ribbon. This is also an important feature of moire as an auxiliary decoration in Yuan Dynasty.

Blue and white: According to a large number of unearthed and handed down physical evidence, there were about three kinds of blue and white in Yuan Dynasty. First of all, imported cobalt materials (from Islamic regions) are used, which contain less manganese and more iron. Therefore, they are rich in color and have black crystal spots on the glaze. If you touch them with your hands, you will feel concave in the fetal bone. Second, the domestic cobalt material is used, which has less iron content, light color, no black crystal spots on the glaze and simple decoration. Third, the imported cobalt materials are combined with domestic cobalt materials. Rich hair color and light color. This jade pot spring bottle blue and white is made of imported cobalt, which is rich in hair color, especially its wishful moire, which not only has prominent color crystal spots, but also has obvious halo characteristics. It represents the characteristics of imported cobalt materials used in blue and white in Yuan Dynasty.

Fetal glaze: The fetal quality of Yuan Blue and White is white and clean, which was developed on the basis of blue and white porcelain in Song Dynasty. The bones of the fetus are strong and heavy. In addition, the aluminum oxide content in the tire is slightly higher and the mechanical strength is greater. Therefore, we can see that there are relatively many large pieces of blue-and-white porcelain in Yuan Dynasty, but compared with blue-and-white porcelain in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the tire soil is not as detailed as that in Ming and Qing Dynasties, so there are many sand holes and iron spots at the bottom of the sand. At the same time, due to the high iron content in the fetus, erythema of flint can be seen everywhere. The flint red spot at the exposed tire at the foot end of this jade pot spring bottle is very obvious. In addition, its glaze color is white, middle-aged and crystal clear, which is also the remarkable feature of Yuan blue-and-white glaze.

Technology: the shell of bottles, cans, cans, etc. In Yuan dynasty, blue and white flowers are all spliced in sections, and the seam marks are generally obvious. The joints are not carefully trimmed, and there is an obvious concave and convex feeling when touched by hand. There are obvious contact marks on the abdomen of this jade pot spring bottle, which can not only be touched, but also be seen by us. This is also an important feature that porcelain makers left to future generations to identify Yuan blue-and-white porcelain.

The successful firing of blue-and-white porcelain wares in Yuan Dynasty is of epoch-making significance in the development history of China ceramics. But less has been handed down. According to incomplete statistics, there are about 300 pieces handed down from ancient times, and there are more than 100 pieces in China, mainly two batches of Yuan blue-and-white porcelain in Gao 'an, Jiangxi and Baoding, Hebei, which are the most famous. At present, there are very few blue-and-white porcelain collections in Henan Province, only one in Henan Museum. Therefore, Yuan blue-and-white porcelain is precious among the porcelain handed down from generation to generation.