The Evolution and Characteristics of Dragon Patterns on Ancient Porcelain from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

In addition to the entwined floral pattern, "dragon" is also a common decoration on blue and white porcelain, this unique Chinese theme after thousands of years of development, powerful, vivid and flexible, and has the image of the magic of the image, has long been the keynote of the dragon pattern of the various generations. But in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties on the blue and white porcelain, due to painting techniques and aesthetic concepts of different reasons, the potters still give the dragon many different changes, so this paper in accordance with the times successive, the evolution of blue and white dragon general.

One, the yuan dynasty dragon pattern the yuan dynasty potters to outline the shape of the dragon pattern, the dragon head for the oblique angle of the side view, the mouth is slightly open, the tongue from the spit out, round eyes as if wearing glasses, forehead slightly raised, the head of the hair and the joints of the leg hairs are in the shape of a band, the surface of the body with a fine line to depict the scales or grid pattern, the limbs of each of the three claws or four claws, claws are long and pointed, as sharp as the eagle claws general.

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For example, Figure 1 shows a Yuan dynasty blue and white dragon on a Yuan dynasty blue and white flat pot with a slightly wider trapezoidal body and a narrower body, the surface of which is separated by a cloud-head pattern with two decorative motifs, the inner part of which is filled with dense twining branches of flowers and two phoenixes; and outside the cloud-head pattern on the surface of the vessel there are two dragons in the form of one rising and one falling, side by side. On the surface of the vessel, beyond the cloud-head motif, there are two dragon motifs, one ascending and one descending, juxtaposed on the waves. From the partial close-ups taken from the picture, we can see that the dragon motifs of the Yuan dynasty use both thick and thin lines to outline the images of open mouths, spitting tongues, arching bodies, and dancing claws, with long strips of hair scattered and fluttering, and with rhythmic lines to present a lively and vivid style. The same dragon pattern can also be seen in the Turkish Topkapi Palace Museum collection of blue and white flying dragon flat pot, although the mouth of the vessel was changed to gold casing, the shoulders of the double system has also been missing anonymous, but the pot is still intact, the surface in addition to the cloud head pattern surrounded by the twining branches of flowers, in the center of the portrayal of a dragon, alone in the waves above the dragon's limbs are flexible and curved, long whiskers and hairs are fluttering from the eyes of its spectacles, Eagle's claw, tongue, forehead slightly convex, body with scales and separate band of hair, are typical features of the Yuan Dynasty dragon pattern.

Second, the Ming dynasty dragon Ming dynasty blue and white porcelain, although it is developed on the basis of the Yuan dynasty, but the image of the dragon has been a significant change, this change is manifested in the dragon's head, body and claws on the most obvious.

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For example, Figure 2 is a partial close-up of a blue and white dish made during the Xuande Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, with the inner bottom of the dish depicting a swimming dragon with its head held high and its chest held high as it strides across the ground, surrounded by clouds, as if it were tumbling through the clouds. The head part of the dragon to maintain the form of the spectacle dragon, but the mouth is closed, lips upward, flat forehead, head of hair into a bunch of floating forward, the body surface with the green material painted a piece of scale, five paws are evenly distributed, as if the windmill, the overall style seems to be quite stable. And this eyeglasses eyes, lips, flat forehead, windmill claws and bunches of hair floating forward, is the biggest feature of the Ming dynasty dragon, such as the Palace Museum in Beijing collection of Xuande dynasty blue porcelain, that is, there are many decorated with dragons for the bowl, bowl, cups, plates and other artifacts, all with the above qualities. However, after the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there were some changes in the blue and white dragon pattern under the change of painting techniques.

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For example, Figure 3 is a partial close-up of a blue-and-white dish from the Wanli Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, showing a dragon pattern painted on the inner bottom of the dish, with the head of the dragon still in a diagonal, side-viewing position, the hairs on the head in bundles drifting forward, and the five claws spread out like a windmill, in a shape similar to that of the Xuande period. However, the body of the dragon is outlined with simple lines for the scales, and then filled in with even colors using a long, flat brush, with the toes and claws painted in one stroke, and the interior filled in with the same colors. This simplified brushwork and flat coloring method made the dragon motifs of the late Ming dynasty appear rather haphazard. For example, in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, many of the blue-and-white ceramics belonging to the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli dynasties have dragon motifs that show such a simplified style.

Three, the Qing dynasty dragon Qing dynasty blue and white porcelain both imitation of the Ming dynasty works of antiquity, there are contemporary innovative style, this phenomenon is naturally also reflected in the production of the dragon pattern, but most of the imitation of the Ming dynasty dragon pattern in the Qing dynasty has the shape of the godless, can not be compared with the Ming dynasty dragon pattern, but the design of the new style of dragon pattern at that time, but because of a completely new meteorological and become the symbol of the era. The emerging dragon motifs of the Qing dynasty changed from the simpler and sloppier motifs of the late Ming dynasty to a more powerful and realistic image. Because of the lack of pictures of blue-and-white dragons, we have temporarily used the same pattern as the one shown in Figure 4, which is the green-and-yellow dragon pattern. Figure 4 shows the yellow ground green color dragon pattern to illustrate.

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This dragon pattern is painted on the inner bottom of the yellow and green colored plate, which is a work of the Kangxi dynasty of the Qing dynasty, with the head of the dragon in the shape of an open-mouthed roar, with the eyes slightly protruding, the forehead bulging upward, the chin as long as a bailer, the hair on the head is fluffy and disorganized, and the scales on the body have the three-dimensional sense of realism, and the five claws are spread out to form a form of "four plus one" as if it were a chicken's paw, with the joints of the limbs having less hair, which became the typical characteristic of the Qing dynasty dragons. This is a typical feature of dragon motifs in the Qing Dynasty. The same dragon motif can be seen on the Kangxi blue-and-white vase with seawater dragons and the blue-and-white seal box with seawater dragons in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, whose twisting and leaping, powerful and forceful image presents the unique momentum and spirit of the Kangxi dragon motif. During the Qianlong period, dragon motifs began to emerge, led by frontal images, such as the Qianlong dynasty blue-and-white dragon and longevity motif chi dragon ear hexagonal vase in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, which was designed by Tang Ying, the kiln superintendent at the time, to celebrate the birthday of the Qianlong emperor. The bottle is hexagonal in shape, with a variety of motifs from the mouth to the footrim, the six dragons on the belly of the bottle being the main motifs of the whole vessel, the dragon's head taken from the front, with a raised forehead, rounded eyes, and an open mouth revealing fangs, and with fluffy hair flying upwards from the cheeks and the top of the head, which was the most distinctive feature of the Qianlong dynasty dragon motifs.

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However, after the Jiaqing period, the dragon motifs of the Qing Dynasty, which are known for their powerful and realistic images, also began to change,? As illustrated by the dragon shown in Figure 5, which was painted on the inner bottom of a blue-and-white dragon bowl of the Guangxu dynasty, the high forehead, double convex eyes, fluffy and disheveled hair, claws open like chicken claws, and short jointed hairs are all typical features of the Qing dynasty dragon motifs. However, the loose hair hanging back, the body with simple lines outlining the scales, and then filling in the colors in a way that approximates the flat-painting method not only lacks the three-dimensionality and realism of the dragon motifs of the early Qing dynasty, but the spirit of the dragon motifs is not as majestic as in the early period. Ancient Chinese blue and white dragon pattern, in different painting techniques showing lively, stable and realistic features, not only reflecting the style of the different eras, but also the basis of our appreciation of blue and white porcelain.