A detailed introduction to the famous cloisonne porcelain in history

One originated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Cloisonne, known as enamel in history and "copper tire cloisonne" in technology, is a famous traditional special handicraft in Beijing.

By the Jingtai period of the Ming Dynasty (1450- 1457), this technology was very mature, especially the blue glaze had a new breakthrough, which was as rich and noble as sapphire, so it was called "cloisonne".

In modern times, although cloisonne handicrafts have various colors, the customary title of "cloisonne" is still used.

The production process of cloisonne is to use copper as the tire first, then flatten it with fine copper wire, make various patterns by hand, or pinch, or weld, or stick it on the matrix, add five-color enamel glaze, and go through many processes such as firing, polishing and gold plating.

The production process of cloisonne not only adopts the traditional bronze and porcelain firing process, but also absorbs the traditional painting and carving processes. The handicrafts made have the artistic characteristics of dignity, wealth and elegance.

The origin of cloisonne is not well recorded in historical documents, and there is also a lack of early products with reliable years as the date basis, so experts and scholars have different opinions and it is still difficult to draw a conclusion.

At present, there are two most concentrated views:

First of all, cloisonne craft originated in China.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Gou Jian's hilt was embedded with enamel glaze. The bronze pots of the Han Dynasty unearthed in the city are also decorated with enamel; The tang dynasty bronze mirror, hidden in Masakura, Japan, is painted with enamel on the back of the mirror.

In China, the use of enamel has a long history. However, due to various reasons, this process did not continue to develop until the Ming Dynasty.

Secondly, the emergence of cloisonne craft in China began in the Yuan Dynasty.

During Kublai Khan's Western Expedition, this technology was introduced to China from the * * * region of West Asia. It was first popular in Yunnan, and was later loved by the people of Beijing, so it was introduced to the Central Plains.

According to the "New Gegu Tips Ancient Kiln Big Food Kiln", it is recorded that "the big food kiln is a big grain-producing country.

People who use copper as the body and burn five-color flowers with drugs are similar to Franco inlay.

Taste incense burners, vases, boxes, lamps, etc. But they are used in women's boudoir, not for literati to play in their study.

The world is also known as the ghost kiln. Today, Yunnan people make more wine lanterns in Beijing, commonly known as ghost country inlay, and the author in the inner government is warm and lovely.

"The craftsmen in ancient China quickly mastered the production technology of' Big Food Kiln', and combined with the traditional technology in China, after several improvements, they produced a brand-new metal tire cloisonne with national characteristics.

At this time, there are more than a dozen translated names of enamel, such as "Buddha Forest", "Buddha Lang" and "Blue Hair".

Although the above two views on the origin of cloisonne craft are quite different, one thing is the same: this craft did not begin in the Jingtai period of the Ming Dynasty, and its historical origin can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty or even longer.

In addition, it is also recognized by academic circles that cloisonne can achieve extremely high artistic achievements in a short time, mainly because in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, China already had mature metallurgical technologies such as casting copper, glass and glaze, and mastered the control of calcination temperature, which created good conditions for the development of cloisonne technology.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, cloisonne technology developed greatly and became a wonderful flower in the field of traditional arts and crafts in China.

As the national capital, Beijing has a history of one hundred years, and has always been a place where outstanding talents are concentrated and various skills are blended. It can be said that "things are rich and beautiful, and people are outstanding", and Beijing's cultural and artistic achievements also stem from this unique advantage.

As the main birthplace and the most important producing area of cloisonne craft, the imperial envoys in Ming Dynasty and the establishment department in Qing Dynasty both set up enamel workshops for the royal family in Beijing.

Cloisonne craft in Beijing first flourished in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, the cloisonne craft in Beijing had matured.

Cloisonne products in the Ming Dynasty, the copper tire texture is better, mostly red copper, and the carcass is slightly thicker. Therefore, at this time, the shapes of products are mostly antique, and the colored glazes used to imitate bronzes are all natural mineral materials, with deep and realistic colors.

The Qing Dynasty is another peak of the development of cloisonne craft in Beijing, especially during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty (1736- 1796), cloisonne craft got unprecedented development.

From the perspective of style, the cloisonne craft at this time not only inherited the luxury, classicality and elegance of cloisonne in Ming Dynasty, but also began to show delicate and beautiful style characteristics.

At this time, the gold plating technology has far surpassed that of the Ming Dynasty, with heavy gold plating and more and more "round and solid, golden and brilliant".

In the early years of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, the output of cloisonne began to decline until Daoguang period (182 1- 1850), and there were not many works left.

But at this time, the distinctive national style of cloisonne handicrafts began to attract the attention of westerners and win their favor. Cloisonne handicrafts began to be exported as important export commodities, which restored and developed cloisonne production to a certain extent.

Under the influence of foreign trade, in addition to official enamel workshops, people also set up businesses and shops dealing in cloisonne products, such as Laotianli, Baohuasheng, Jingyuantang and Zhiyuan Hall.

1904, the "Baoding Furnace" made in Tian Li won the first prize at the Chicago World Expo (and won the first prize again at the Panama World Expo in 19 15). Since then, Beijing cloisonne has gained a great reputation in the world, and merchants from all over the world have come to order it.

From the Republic of China to before liberation, the development of cloisonne craft in Beijing and the production and operation of the whole industry were basically in a state of wandering and depression, because the whole country was in turmoil.

Cloisonne industry is dying because of the rising cost of raw materials, the weakening of market purchasing power and the sharp decline of employees.

After liberation, the state implemented the policy of rescuing, protecting and supporting traditional crafts, and cloisonne crafts were also restored and developed.

By 1958, Beijing has successively established Beijing Cloisonne Factory and State-run Beijing Enamel Factory.

Beijing Arts and Crafts School, founded in 1958, has also set up a metal craft major to train cloisonne designers.

During this period, the cloisonne industry has made rapid development, and the cloisonne craft has made great development and progress in modeling and decorative patterns, as well as in color and artistic level.

In the 1980s and 1990s, authentic cloisonne manufacturers, represented by the former Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory and Beijing Enamel Factory, always insisted on quality for survival and variety for development. On the basis of inheriting the tradition, they have made great development and innovation.

However, during this period, due to the good economic benefits of cloisonne products, the development of domestic cloisonne market was overheated, and Beijing and other places began to develop cloisonne products, but most of these latecomers could only engage in rough work or a certain production link. Although the production of cloisonne has been expanded and developed, its excellent traditional skills and artistic value of products have been seriously impacted.

In recent years, with the expansion of people's collection scale, the artistic value of cloisonne treasures has been paid more and more attention.

Production technology of cloisonne

The production technology of cloisonne is a comprehensive art, which combines the techniques and knowledge of art design, sculpture, inlay, metallurgy, glass melting and so on.

A product has to go through more than a dozen processes to complete.

The first is design:

Including modeling design, pattern design, color map design, etc.

Because the lines of cloisonne pattern are limited by tire shape, silk craft and glaze color, they can't be too thin or too dense. Therefore, designers should not only have certain art knowledge and painting ability, but also be familiar with the production process of cloisonne and understand the performance of various raw materials, so that when creating ideas, they can fully consider the characteristics of the production process and make the products have an overall harmonious aesthetic feeling.

Followed by tire manufacturing:

The beauty of cloisonne products first depends on the technology of "tire making"

Tire making is to cut qualified copper sheets into different sectors or different circles according to the drawings, and beat them into copper tires of various shapes with a hammer.

Take the bottle body as an example, it is formed by hammering and welding the bottle mouth, bottle body and bottle bottom.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were techniques of casting, stripping and drilling tires. With the development of modern technology, there are some early tires that are turned, pressed, rolled and turned by machinery, and the tires are made by machinery.

After tens of thousands of experiments, Zhang Tonglu, a master craftsman, recovered the lost cloisonne casting tire, made the tire mold by copper casting, and then twisted the wire to burn the glaze.

This cloisonne is characterized by its heavy tire shape and complicated shape. Except for the part of burning blue brocade, the exposed surface of gold is generally larger.

This kind of gold face is generally gilded, and the works are more brilliant.

The third step is to clamp wire and welding wire:

The wire pinching method is to pinch (break) the soft, flat and tough copper wire into various patterns according to the design draft with tweezers, dip it in Bletilla striata paste and stick it on the copper tire.

Then the finished product is finished by welding, blue-marking and gold-plating.

It is not easy for the author to pinch a vivid picture with skillful techniques.

After liberation, the art of pinching silk has developed greatly.

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Jin Shiquan, an arts and crafts artist, is a skillful craftsman who can design and make silk.

The fourth step is blue and welding:

The matrix of silk is pinched tightly, and after welding, pickling, flattening and straightening, it enters the blue dot process.

The method is to use a blue gun (gun) (metal shovel) to fill the ground glaze into the gap of the spinner, and then put the blue product into a high-temperature furnace and melt it at a high temperature of 800 degrees Celsius to melt the glaze.

Generally, cloisonne needs to be burned three times, and polishing process needs to be burned at least two or three times.

Before liberation, the color of cloisonne was dull and monotonous. After liberation, the expressive force of cloisonne dotted blue art was expanded by using techniques such as rendering, covering dyeing, baking dyeing and stripping dyeing.

In order to express the reflection of clouds, water, fog and water, the blue artist and the choke artist jointly created the silk-free point halo method.

It is to pinch out the silk workers with different heights, and the different glaze colors are dizzy, so that these glaze colors are naturally connected.

After firing, the high wire is exposed, and the short silk is contained under the glaze, which enhances the adhesion between the copper tire and the glaze color and makes the patterns of the works more colorful.

The fifth step is polishing:

Polishing, commonly known as "grinding".

This is the most bitter and tiring process in the whole cloisonne production process, which is divided into punching, grinding and polishing.

First, the surface glaze of the product higher than the filament is polished with diamond sand to expose the filament, then the filament with bright black glaze is polished with Yellowstone, and then the basswood charcoal is dipped in water and ground horizontally and vertically until the product emits uniform light.

At present, the electric grinder is widely used, which saves a lot of manpower, but the special-shaped leveling still needs manual grinding.

The sixth step is gold plating:

This is the last major process in the production of cloisonne, that is, plating a layer of gold on the surface of the product, in order to prevent the product from oxidation and make the product more durable and beautiful.

Hang the product in a gold bath, electrify it for gold plating, take it out, rinse it with clean water, and then dry it with sawdust. The whole production process of cloisonne was declared complete, and a cloisonne handicraft was born.

Identification and collection of cloisonne

Cloisonne craft began in Jingtai period of Ming Dynasty. It is said that Jingtai is the son of Xuande, and attaches great importance to bronzes and casting and smelting copper. Jingtai was deeply involved in it since childhood, but Xuande had reached the peak of casting and was unable to break through, so he found another way in color and made a surprise attack.

Finally, cloisonne was created.

During Chenghua period, we inherited the legacy system, did not change the legacy system, and still managed to burn it, so cloisonne objects were the most common in Jingtai and Chenghua periods.

Generally speaking, the copper of cloisonne tires in Ming dynasty is better, mostly copper tires, and the tire body is slightly heavier, so the shape is antique. The main color glaze used to imitate bronze is natural mineral materials with deep and bright colors, such as ruby red and turquoise green.

At this time, the silk is thicker and the gilded part is thicker.

Most colored glazes have sand holes.

There is a "Daming Jingtai Year System" or "Jingtai Year System", which has both a guarantee and a border payment.

Cloisonne craft in Qing dynasty is better than that in Ming dynasty. The tire is thin, the thread is thin, the glass is brighter than that of the Ming Dynasty, and there is no sand hole. The patterns are complex and diverse, but not as vivid as the ornaments of the Ming Dynasty. The gilded part is thin gold, but the gold is beautiful.

During the Republic of China, the overall level of cloisonne was not as good as that of the previous generation, with thin carcass, bright colors and rough workmanship.

At this time, there were only "Shenyi" and "Dexingcheng", and the cloisonne made was fine in workmanship and good in quality.

There are many antique bronzes in shape, or imitations of the Qianlong period, but they are all carved.

Cloisonne has a lot of furnishings at this time, which is not practical.

Nowadays, with the continuous development of cloisonne technology and the needs of the market, some special-shaped products, practical products, tourist souvenirs and high-quality, large-scale, refined, sharp and high-grade cloisonne are produced in large quantities, and new varieties, new colors and new technologies are constantly emerging. In recent years, there have been cloisonne without tire, cloisonne with silver tire, cloisonne painted with enamel and cloisonne, cloisonne made by machine, and silver crystal blue imitating Qibao burn in Japan.

In particular, the combination of multi-process and cloisonne is particularly prominent.

This is a cloisonne craft as the main body, combined with tooth carving, jade carving, wood carving, lacquer art and filigree inlay and other crafts.

Collection tips Cloisonne collection, in addition to a clear understanding of the age, in the choice of device types should be led by people and animals.

Cloisonne imitation began in the 1960s, mainly after Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty.

The main pigment used in cloisonne is enamel pigment. In order to reduce the cost, other pigments are often used instead.

The general method of forgery is: first make copper tires and knead them into various patterns with copper wires. Then grind ordinary pigments, fill them in and burn them, then plate them with gold, and then grind off the hard edges of the surface with fine stones.

After each process is completed, a layer of dried apricot porridge should be coated on its surface to prevent it from rusting.

After dozens of days, remove the rust on the surface and wipe it with rouge oil again. Its color and smoothness can be confused with old utensils, but collectors can tell the authenticity by careful observation.

Cloisonne in Ming Dynasty is the best. The products made in the Ming Dynasty are all transparent materials without magnetism, and the color of big green is even more transparent than other colors.

Its performance is similar to that of glass. Its color is oil green as jade, red as chicken blood, purple as dark amethyst, blue like blue, white like solidified fat, light green like blue, yellow like the juice squeezed from yellow rice, its silk embryo is all brass, with large gold plating, and trachoma on the vessel.

In the Qianlong period, no matter what color, its material is opaque and magnetic, because

The Ming dynasty's bright material has disappeared at this time.

Therefore, its silk tires are mostly red copper, and gold plating is also fire plating. Made by dry embossing, yellow and white are the best. Its yellow is yellow and dry, just like the boiled egg yellow. Later, it was copied, mostly yellow-green or red, which was not similar to the dry yellow when dry embossing.

Dry white is also the most difficult to imitate for the following reasons.

Two points: First, because there is no difference between its white color and the color of Dongqushi, the imitator must have six kinds of fixed beads, but the fixed beads are not easy to obtain. First, because it is white and dry, although later chefs invented a dry material, it is not easy to melt when burning. Compared with other materials, eating fire is particularly fierce. If it is not made by excellent craftsmen, the utensils are easily injured.