Historical Origin of Porcelain Prints

Shu Xiaoling, director of the donghu district Cultural Center in Nanchang, said that although porcelain prints began in the late Qing Dynasty with a history of only 100 years, we have to start from the Tang Dynasty to trace their historical origins. According to its introduction. Porcelain prints evolved from China traditional porcelain. At first, porcelain was only for practical use, but it gradually developed into decoration in the Tang Dynasty. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, western enamel was introduced to China, so fighting colors and multicolored colors were added, which added a lot of colors to the art of ceramic painting. After the Qing Dynasty, colored porcelain glaze developed into a colorful state, and a group of people began to get involved in the art of painting porcelain.

Since the prevalence of over-glaze color in Qing Dynasty, many porcelain shops in big cities have not only sold Jingdezhen colored porcelain, but also bought Jingdezhen white-tire porcelain to meet the requirements of local customers, and hired experts to paint and set up their own red stoves for firing. Porcelain shops in Nanchang, Jiujiang, Ji 'an and other cities in Jiangxi have long set up their own red stoves to add color, especially in Nanchang, where the number of porcelain paintings is the largest, and the focus of portrait development on porcelain has also shifted here. In the early years of the Republic of China, Liang Dunshi, a native of Nanchang, opened Lizexuan Porcelain Village in the prosperous section of Zhongshan Road in cash, recruited apprentices, and hired artists to draw portraits and pastel porcelain according to customers' requirements, which pioneered the development of Nanchang porcelain printmaking. At that time, Li Zexuan hired Liang, Wu Yueshan, Yang, You Jiafa and others, trained many apprentices and made great achievements in the art of porcelain portrait painting. Yang Houxing, Zou Kunlun and Yang Zhixing, who had great influence in the later period, also began to study in Lizexuan. Every portrait they painted was written with the words Liang Dunshi as the producer.

Under the leadership of Liang Dunshi, the "China Porcelain Village", "Lu Xiao Porcelain Museum" and "Li Fang Porcelain Museum" on the Zigu Road opened in Nanchang one after another, and a large number of porcelain printmakers were born. Such as: Wu Yueshan, Liang, Yang Houxing, etc. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army stormed Nanchang, and porcelain painters were forced to flee everywhere. In order to make a living, they also spread the portrait art to various places objectively. However, many artists died in flight. Liang Duishi was killed on the way to Sichuan, and Wu Yueshan, Yang Houxing's master, died on the way to Lichuan. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, artists returned to their hometowns one after another, and there were several more porcelain galleries in Nanchang. For example, Xia Dao opened a large-scale "New China Porcelain Museum", Liang's son "Xinlize Zexuan", Yang Houxing's "Most Porcelain Museum" and Chen's "Porcelain Museum".

After the founding of New China, ceramic artists successively set up Nanchang Porcelain Painting Cooperation Group, Nanchang Porcelain Carving Craft Society and Nanchang Arts and Crafts Factory. With the attention and care of the government, the living conditions of artists have been greatly improved and their creative enthusiasm has been stimulated. The development of porcelain prints has made a new leap in artistic level, and one person of porcelain prints has also developed from 30 people who established the porcelain carving craft society to hundreds of people.

Since the 1940s, Nanchang porcelain prints have gone abroad as far as Southeast Asia. After the reform and opening up, Hong Kong photographer Qiu Yongping and Nanchang porcelain printmakers jointly created a large number of exquisite porcelain prints, which pushed Nanchang porcelain printmakers to all parts of the world. Artists from Japan, Australia and other countries also came to Chang to study the art of ceramic printmaking, which established the position of Nanchang ceramic printmakers in the world art history.