Characteristics of plum bottles in different dynasties

"Plum blossom bottle" belongs to a single type in the research field of ancient ceramics in China, with a history of more than 1000 years. At the same time, it is also a beautiful and highly respected object.

Plum vase, also known as "Jing vase", first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, was popular in the Song and Liao Dynasties, and many new varieties appeared. Xu Maodong Zhiheng described in detail the shape, characteristics and origin of the name of plum bottle in his book "Talking about Porcelain in Drinking Liuzhai": "Plum bottle is thin and short in neck, extremely wide in shoulder, slightly narrow in shin, and its caliber is only commensurate with the thin bones of plum, so it is named plum bottle."

Regarding the use of plum bottles, there are poems about "selling alcohol" and "drunken sea" on the belly of plum bottles in Cizhou kiln. Plum bottles are not only vessels for holding wine, but also ornamental products that people can't put down. Therefore, this kind of container is beautifully made, not only considering the wine storage capacity, but also paying attention to the beautiful shape.

The characteristics of plum bottles in different dynasties are as follows:

On the changing characteristics of plum bottles in Ming Dynasty from the perspective of object modeling

If the shape of plum bottles in the Song Dynasty can be described as tall and graceful, it can be summarized as tall and imposing in the Yuan Dynasty, but not in the Ming Dynasty. Their instruments have different characteristics from the early Ming Dynasty to the late Ming Dynasty, as follows:

The shape of Hongwu plum bottle basically inherits the vessels of the Yuan Dynasty in height, and the vessels handed down from generation to generation are generally about 40 cm high, which is slightly shorter than the large vessels of the Yuan Dynasty. However, compared with the Yuan Dynasty, the details of Hongwu Meiping have obviously changed.

Mainly manifested in two aspects: first, the mouth of plum bottles in Hongwu is mostly slightly convex and round, which is different from the lip folded outward along the flat edge in Yuan Dynasty; Although there are many shoulders in Hongwu Meiping, most of them are arc-shaped, which is not as flat as the shoulders in Yuan Dynasty. The inward curvature of Hongwumei bottle is larger than that of Yuan Dynasty, so the bottle body of Hongwumei bottle is bulging, and the gas skin of the bottle body is basically straight down, which is different from the style of slightly outward skimming of the gas skin in Yuan Dynasty. Although it is not as stable and healthy as the Yuan Dynasty in overall characteristics, it has a beautiful feeling.

Secondly, during the Hongwu period, there was a plum bottle style with a waist, which was quite deep and curved, which had a great influence on the plum bottle style in the late Ming Dynasty.

On the basis of Hongwu, the shape of Yongle plum bottle has changed to some extent. There are three kinds of common vessel shapes: one is similar to the typical vessel of Hongwu, and its height is between 40 and 45 cm, but the knob end covered with a ball is slightly rounder than that of Hongwu.

The shape of the other vessel seems to have cut off a part of the plum bottle, so although the shape is similar, it looks fat and short. The height of the container is usually between 27 and 32 cm. The third kind of vessel is developed from Hongwu Yaomei bottle, but the details have changed obviously. For example, the mouth has changed from Hongwu's lips to wider lips, and the neck is shorter, the shoulders are fuller, and the radian of the neck is symmetrical, which is obviously different from Hongwu's trumpet-shaped short neck. Although the lower part of the abdomen is adducted, the adducted part of Yongle is on the lower side, and the outer arc is large, showing a step shape as low as the bottom.

However, Hongwu's lower abdomen adduction position is higher and leans to the bottom.

The shape of Xuande plum bottle is quite contemporary. Typical utensils are higher than Hongwu and Yongle, generally reaching about 45-55 cm. The shoulders and abdomen are rounded, the neck is raised, the lips are turned outwards, and the lower part of the blood vessel is more adducted. Although the overall shape is tall and steady, it does not lose the feeling of graceful. Xuande's waist plum bottle can also be as high as 55 cm, with a raised neck, shoulders not as wide as Yongle's, and legs as extravagant as Yongle's exaggeration and stepping on the foot.

Plum bottles, which appeared in Yongle period, continued to be popular in Xuande period, but compared with them, Xuande had a fuller upper abdomen and a larger diameter at the bottom. Some virtuous propagators handed down from generation to generation are made by connecting this short plum bottle with the bottom of the device. Although bottles with seats were very popular in the Yuan Dynasty, the typical feature of Xuande porcelain was to connect plum bottles with the bottom.

During the orthodox, Jingtai and Tianshun periods, the output of plum bottles was large. Due to the lack of standard utensils, it is difficult to distinguish the three generations of plum bottles, but some utensils have their own characteristics in the morning and evening.

According to the published data, the styles of the three generations of plum bottles can be roughly divided into three categories: one is short, only about 28 cm high, with upturned lips, but not rolled out, and the short necks of some utensils have recovered the characteristics of slight convergence in Yuan Dynasty. The other vessel is similar to the above-mentioned vessel, but it is about 37 cm high, and its abdomen is straight down or curved, with slightly raised shoulders in the early stage and curved shoulders in the later stage.

During the Tianshun period, a special plum bottle style appeared, with a small mouth and slightly convex lips. Compared with the previous blood vessels, the neck is obviously higher, and it is adducted into a tubular shape, with rich shoulders, the lower abdomen is quite adducted, and the bottom is correspondingly smaller, commensurate with the upper mouth. Its shape is divided into high and low.