What's the difference between multicolored and fighting colors?

Beijing Art Museum has a collection of colorful porcelain handed down from Jingdezhen kiln, with exquisite craftsmanship and complete decoration. There are both connections and differences between them.

Characteristics of multicolored porcelain

The collection of Jingdezhen kiln multicolored porcelain can be divided into two categories: glazed multicolored porcelain and blue-and-white multicolored porcelain. Overglaze color is first fired into white glazed porcelain, then painted with pigment and then fired twice at low temperature. This Ming Jiajing multi-color figure jar in the collection is a typical example: from the cover to the bottom of the jar, it is decorated with red, yellow and green colors, such as tangled branches, flowers, banana leaves, triangular geometric patterns, peony patterns, sea water patterns and ruyi moire patterns. The theme of the abdomen is an unfolding picture of a courtyard piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, with red and green as the main colors, interspersed with a small amount of yellow, and the colors are bright and gorgeous.

Blue and white multicolor is a multi-color variety that combines underglaze blue and white with underglaze red, yellow, green and purple. Take this colorful deer wash in the Ming Wanli Blue and White Collection as a typical example. The rocks, some floating clouds and bats are all painted in underglaze blue and white. The egrets on the outer wall pond, the shrimps swimming in the inner wall water and the inner double deer, plum blossoms, seawater and gossip are all painted in red, yellow and green on the glaze. Dense decorative patterns, rich colors and rich folk customs. In addition, after careful observation, we can see the following details, that is, except the blue and white patterns, all the patterns painted on the glaze are first outlined in brown and black.

Blue and white multicolor experienced the transition from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty and reached its peak in the Kangxi period, showing new characteristics of the times. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, light orange red was used instead of deep jujube peel red, and green was divided into cyan, grass green and light green, which made the colors more and varied. In addition, various colors were popular during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. For example, this blue-and-white multicolored dragon Kangxi sauce horn bowl in the collection is white glazed with broken branches and palindromes alternately painted along the mouth. The blue and white double-ring decoration on the insole is dedicated to the collection131-0/71-3004 Mr. Qin Hailong pattern. The outer wall of the bowl is painted with light sauce glaze, flowers and blue-and-white dragon patterns are alternately painted along the edge, colorful seawater dragon patterns are painted on all sides of the outer wall, and blue-and-white poems are written in Japanese corners. The decoration is very complicated, showing a high level of technology.

Characteristics of fighting color porcelain

Doucai is to outline the outline of the pattern with underglaze blue and white, and then put it into a kiln for firing. Then, all kinds of underglaze pigments are filled in the outline of blue and white, and then the second low-temperature firing is carried out. The underglaze blue and white is in sharp contrast with the underglaze color, with strict layout and elegant style. For example, the Ming Jiajing Doucai Ganoderma lucidum pattern folding plate in the collection is decorated with blue and white strings inside and outside for two weeks. Draw a double circle and ruyi cloud pattern with blue and white colors, and then fill the lines with red and yellow colors. The outer wall is painted with red, yellow and blue ganoderma lucidum patterns. Accurate color filling and elegant color setting are exquisite works in the late Ming Dynasty.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the production technology of Doucai in the Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty has made great progress, and new colors of orange, black and emerald have appeared, which are pure and bright. During the Yongzheng period, fighting color combined with famille rose technology made the color materials thick and rich in layers. During the Qianlong period, a large number of gold was used in the bucket color, which was magnificent. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the fighting color basically kept the tradition of the previous dynasty, and there was almost no innovation in design. For example, this horseshoe-shaped bowl in the collection has a bucket pattern on the outer wall and a pomegranate pattern in the middle, which is accurate in color filling and neat in drawing.

Technical Relationship and Difference between Multicolor and Doucai

First of all, look at multicolored glaze and bucket color. As one of the colorful varieties, glaze color has little to do with fighting color. It was developed from red and green products fired by Cizhou Kiln in Jin Dynasty and matured in Jingdezhen Kiln in Hongzhi and Zhengde periods in Ming Dynasty. The decoration technology is relatively unique. The pattern is sketched on the underglaze tire, and then painted on the glaze. The outline is outlined in alum red or black, and the colors are usually malachite green, alum red and yellow. The layout is dense, the painter is delicate, and the colors are bright and elegant. During the Jiajing period, the colorful colors on the glaze were a little richer. The popular beeswax yellow, big green, light green, orange red and jujube skin red were very beautiful and dense. During the years of the Apocalypse and Chongzhen, the over-glaze colors were mostly made by folk kilns, with free and easy painting and literati painting style.

Secondly, look at the blue and white colors and fighting colors. Blue-and-white multicolored is a colorful variety, which was first burned in Jingdezhen kiln in Xuande period of Ming Dynasty, developed highly in Jiajing and Wanli periods of Ming Dynasty, and reached its peak in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty after the silence in the late Ming Dynasty. For example, in the collection, this blue-and-white multicolored Hua Die pattern pen holder of Qing Kangxi is painted with blue-and-white multicolored patterns. As a color, blue and white depict rocks, grasslands, branches and leaves. Due to the painting technique of "five colors in ink", the color scale of blue and white has become very rich, with changeable colors and suitable shades. The red, yellow, brown and green on the glaze complement the sun, flowers, bamboo, butterflies and dragonflies. , the level is clear, more three-dimensional.

Doucai and blue and white multicolored can be described as the same strain, both of which were fired in Jingdezhen kiln during Xuande period of Ming Dynasty. Take a pair of blue and white colorful lotus pond Yuanyang bowls collected in Sakya Temple in Tibet as an example. The lotus pond mandarin duck pattern outside the bowl is painted with underglaze red flowers and green grass, underglaze blue and white flowers and underglaze ochre yellow. In addition to blue and white hair, there are blue and white water ripples, and the foot wall is also decorated with Zhou Qing flower sea water ripples. This vessel is bright in color and vivid in description, and it is also a masterpiece of early blue-and-white colorful porcelain. After Xuande, blue-and-white multicolor and bucket color declined once, but the output of bucket color increased greatly during Chenghua period, reaching its peak, and both quality, skill and artistic realm reached an unprecedented level. However, it was only during Jiajing and Wanli that blue and white multicolored flowers began to develop at a high level and ushered in the peak of firing. No matter the degree of decoration, gorgeous colors, full composition and enthusiastic artistic style, it is in sharp contrast with Chenghua Doucai.

In addition, blue and white multicolor and barrel color can be identified not only according to the process technology, but also according to their development background. For example, during the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the blue-and-white multicolored craft in folk kilns was quite high, but the color fighting was not fully developed. After Yongzheng and Qianlong, the blue-and-white multicolored craft declined, and the fighting color developed rapidly. Especially during the Qianlong period, Doucai not only used a lot of gold, but also absorbed western painting methods in ornamentation and composition, forming a picture with soft and continuous lines, which made the flowers and leaves roll up and have an exotic flavor.

(The article comes from the original author of online copyright)