Blue and white porcelain decoration in Yuan Dynasty

Jingdezhen potters in Yuan Dynasty made further innovations on the basis of inheriting the achievements of porcelain-making in Tang and Song Dynasties, making up for the lack of rough workmanship in form and making Yuan blue and white flowers more exquisite.

Kirin pattern is one of the themes with the characteristics of the times in Yuan blue and white decoration. Kirin is a legendary auspicious beast. In Yuan blue and white decoration, its image features are deer head, ox hoof and ponytail, which are often combined with flowers, melons and fruits for painting, and some of them are painted together with dragon and phoenix patterns.

The figure story pattern is the most respected decorative theme in Yuan blue and white decoration. Compared with other animal and plant patterns, Yuan blue-and-white wares painted with characters' story patterns are rare, but almost all of them are rare treasures. According to the known data, the main story patterns of the characters in Yuan Blue and White Flower are "Xiao He chasing Han Xin under the moon", "Liu Bei visiting the thatched cottage", "General Montaigne", "Moon Ji returning to Han", "Zhou Yafu Xiliuying", "Zhao Jun leaving the village", "Weichi Gong Savior" and "Four love figure", and there are also some patterns that are difficult to distinguish the characters' plots. Most of the stories of these patterns are based on the stories of historical celebrities loved by the people. Obviously, it is closely related to the popularity of storytelling novels in Song and Yuan Dynasties and the development of drama in Yuan Dynasty, which reflects the profound influence of literature and art on ceramic decoration technology in Yuan Dynasty.

In addition to the distinctive features of the theme patterns, many auxiliary patterns of Yuan blue and white decoration also have a unique style of the times, especially the deformed lotus petal patterns and cloud shoulder patterns. Deformed lotus petal pattern is one of the auxiliary patterns that can best represent the characteristics of yuan porcelain. In addition to the blue-and-white porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty, the egg white glaze and blue-and-white glaze products of Jingdezhen kiln in the same period and the celadon decoration of Longquan kiln in the Yuan Dynasty also existed. Its painting method is generally to outline the lotus petals with two lines with thick outside and thin inside. Each lotus petal is not connected, that is, there is a certain gap, and flowers, clouds, flames or precious patterns are painted inside the lotus petals. Chen Bao is also called Zabao. In the Yuan Dynasty, miscellaneous treasure patterns were often composed of fire beads, rhinoceros horns, ancient coins, silver ingots, gourds, lotus flowers and ganoderma lucidum, but the combination was not fixed. This kind of deformed lotus petal pattern is mostly decorated on the mouth edge, shoulders or feet of the utensils, some painted for a week, and some painted in different parts around, but there is no theme. Cloud shoulder pattern, also known as Ruyi Cloud Head or Ganoderma Head, commonly known as Big Cloud Shoulder, is often painted on the neck and shoulders of utensils. There are all kinds of dense animal and plant patterns in the pattern, which is named after drawing lessons from the shoulder embroidery patterns on the clothes of the nobles of Yuan and Mongolia. It can be roughly divided into two categories: fullness and sparseness.

Complete type

Whether round or cut-shaped, the whole-body decorative pattern is covered with blue-and-white decorative patterns, and some of them have as many as 8 layers to highlight the magnificent feeling of Yuan blue-and-white. Another manifestation of Yuan blue and white decoration is that the whole body takes rolling branches or sea water patterns as the ground, highlights white patterns or makes diamond curves on the ground patterns, and draws theme patterns under the light. This full design technique is mostly embodied in the octagonal device, which seems complicated, but in fact it is arranged in an orderly way, with strong aesthetic effect and style of the times.

Shu Lang type

Dense and dense forms of decoration emphasize that both round and cut blue and white patterns are composed of individual patterns, and the decorative picture is dense and vivid and natural. For example, the blue-and-white jade pot spring bottle with dragon pattern in Toyo ceramics museum, Osaka, Japan, is painted with a dragon winding body. The picture is concise, giving the impression that the dragon is flying freely in the boundless space, and the visual effect is excellent. Another kind of sparse decoration is realistic or freehand porcelain painting, which has a wider picture. There are also some blue-and-white decorative patterns of folk offerings and funerals, which are simple and bold, and the patterns are quickly drawn with lines, which can be described as one go and unique.

There are several patterns in Yuan Blue and White, which form the characteristics of Yuan Blue and White decorative patterns:

1, the petal pattern of deformed lotus, commonly known as "eight yards", is decorated with eight lotus petals, whether round or small, and each petal is painted with various patterns, including flowers, clouds, flames and miscellaneous treasures. The painting method of lotus petals in Yuan Dynasty is obvious, with a thick line and a thin line parallel to outline the outline, each petal is not connected, leaving a certain gap.

2. Lotus and peony were the main flower patterns in Yuan Dynasty, followed by chrysanthemum. The painting forms of flowers and leaves of these three kinds of flowers are relatively fixed, and the leaves of peony flowers are fat and braided; Lotus flowers and leaves are gourd-shaped leaves with wings; Chrysanthemum mosaic is a five-pronged leaf. All three kinds of flowers are not filled with colors, but have natural white edges.

3. Gardenia is a unique decorative pattern in Yuan blue and white flowers, and five-petal flowers and lobular bound flowers are mostly used as side decorations. Experts have demonstrated that this flower is nicknamed mushroom flower, which is said to be the Buddha's favorite flower.

4. The outer wall of most blue and white plates and the shoulders of bottles and jars are decorated with lotus patterns wrapped with branches, and it is more common to see six lotus flowers on the outer wall of the plate.

5. There are often blue and white clouds on the shoulders of bottles and cans, which are called "cloud shoulders". Yuntou pattern is decorated with seahorse, sea lily, bougainvillea, Lin Lin and so on. , also known as hanging moire, is a very distinctive decorative pattern on blue and white in Yuan Dynasty, which is rare in other times. 6. Two-way continuous pattern composed of waves and seawater, in which waves are outlined by thick solid lines in the seawater pattern described by thin lines to form a wave pattern, forming a distinctive seawater pattern in Yuan Dynasty.

7. Banana leaf patterns are often used as decorative strips between side decorations or decorative patterns. In the painting, the edges of banana leaves are drawn with thick lines, and then the veins are drawn with thin lines. (1) Main decorative patterns

Among the main decorative patterns of blue and white flowers in the Yuan Dynasty, plants include peony pattern, lotus pattern, chrysanthemum pattern, pine and bamboo plum pattern, moon plum pattern and so on. In addition to the above main flowers, morning glory, camellia, begonia, rose, jujube, day lily, ganoderma lucidum, banana or bamboo grapes, melons and fruits, insects and so on appear in the form of combined patterns as the background. Animals include: dragon pattern, phoenix pattern, unicorn pattern, fish algae pattern, mandarin duck lying lotus pattern, peacock pattern, deer pattern, hippocampus pattern and so on. Among them, the dragon pattern in the Yuan Dynasty is very distinctive, with a slender body like a snake, a long and flat faucet, double horns, an open mouth, a slender neck, four thin legs, concave and convex tendons, and claws with three fingers, four fingers or five fingers, which is highly separable. Both elbow hair and tail mane are flame-shaped.

The figure patterns in blue and white flowers in Yuan Dynasty are unique. Combining with drama, the story plots of historical celebrities are transplanted into porcelain paintings, showing a new artistic realm, which is extremely infectious and incomparable to other times.

The stories of characters are painted on larger objects, such as cans, plum bottles, jade pots and spring bottles. Cover cans and plum bottles have large abdominal diameter and large painting area, which are mostly used to express the broad theme of the scene. The picture is mostly placed in the main part of the middle section of the object, with outstanding vision and strong impact. The jade pot spring bottle has a slender neck and shoulders and a drooping abdomen. Generally, pictures with few characters and small scenes are selected. If you need to show a big scene, you will often use the whole painting.

Such themes mainly include General Meng Tian, Zhou Yafu's westward journey to Britain, Moon Hee's return to Han, Zhaojun's departure from the fortress, Xiao He's pursuit of Han Xin, three visits to the thatched cottage, respect for virtue and salvation, and Tao Yuanming's love for chrysanthemums. Blue-and-white porcelain painted with this pattern has fine texture and white and symmetrical glaze color. Cobalt oxide materials used for coloring, whether domestic or imported Sunibo materials, are very pure. While the painter's painting skills are superb, there are few porcelain kilns with these conditions, which is also the reason why there are few blue-and-white porcelain in the character stories. If there were, most of them came from Jingdezhen kiln with the highest level of porcelain-making art at that time. In addition, the decorative patterns of porcelain in the Yuan Dynasty were combined with Buddhist art, and lotus petals, lotus flowers and miscellaneous treasures almost became the necessary decorative contents on blue and white porcelain in the Yuan Dynasty, showing the influence of Buddhist art on arts and crafts.

(2) Auxiliary decorative patterns

There are many kinds of auxiliary decorative patterns of blue and white in Yuan Dynasty, which have realistic content or geometric patterns with pattern nature. Most of the decorative patterns of blue-and-white porcelain after the Ming Dynasty followed the blue-and-white painting method of the Yuan Dynasty, but there were some variations. This difference is more obvious in the auxiliary pattern, which is an important evidence to distinguish Yuan blue and white flowers.

1 and wave

The wavy patterns on Yuan blue and white flowers are applied to the edge of the market, the isolation between the decorative patterns in the market, and the light and shade of flower patterns. Large plates with wavy edges are usually diamond-shaped.

Wave pattern consists of two parts: wave pattern and ripple. The wavy patterns on blue and white flowers in the Yuan Dynasty are outlined with thick and changeable thick lines, which are shaped like "bergamot", such as palm leaves and ginger buds, and are called ginger bud sea water. Ripples are drawn as extremely fine lines, radial or spiral, which are like human fingerprints. There is white space between waves, which increases the sense of space. Some wavy lines are drawn with simple strokes and flowers.

Some embossed floral decorative ribbons are lined with ripples as an extension of adjacent wave patterns.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the blue and white wavy patterns were simplified, and the wavy patterns were hollowed out with thin lines and double hooks, and some of them were painted with small circles to show the waves. Ripples are thick and thin, and layers of ups and downs. No fingerprint vortex.

2. Variation of lotus petals

Lotus petals can be divided into realism and abstraction, and the latter is a variant lotus petal, which is different from others and has a wide range of uses. Variant lotus petals on blue and white flowers in Yuan Dynasty were decorated on bottles and jars and the neck of Gaskin. Each petal is independent and consists of a double-layer frame with thick outside and thin inside. Draw a thin line in the inner frame, and paint or draw a thick line after the outer frame is hooked. The thick line is divided into two strokes, both drawn from the middle. Lotus petals fold at the shoulders. The inner frame lines and lotus petals are decorated with Lian Bi. Lotus petals are filled with miscellaneous treasures (flame, orb and the like), flowers (mainly lotus chrysanthemums) or cloud heads, and a circle is added under the cloud heads.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the lotus petal frames borrowed from each other, and the shoulders were slightly round and soft. The patterns of lotus petals are very simple, including precious flowers and spiral patterns.

3. Palindrome

Blue-and-white palindromes in Yuan Dynasty originated from bronze ware Yun Leiwen. Monograph, counterclockwise from the upper left, generally two boxes are nested from the outside to the inside, also see a single box. There are distorted palindromes, and the simplification of strokes is incomplete.

In the early Ming Dynasty, blue-and-white palindromes were grouped in pairs, with strokes connected and a sideline borrowed. Another way to draw palindromes in the early Ming Dynasty is to draw a complete ribbon from the outside to the inside and then draw the second unit backwards.

4, roll grass pattern

Each unit of the scroll grass pattern on blue and white flowers in Yuan Dynasty was independently drawn, one was positive and the other was negative. There are also two or two. There is no central groove curve. In the early Ming Dynasty, a central groove curve was drawn for the grass scroll pattern, and the grass scroll pattern stretched on it. Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, there have been grass-rolling patterns without drawing the curve of the central groove.

5. Money mode

The money on the Yuan blue and white flowers is decorated on the rim and bottle mouth, and there are decorative ribbons consisting of whole money and half money cross ribbons. The inside of the outer circle of Qian Wen is the basic shape, and there are various changes. In some patterns of money, the square wear is painted as a diamond, and a little is added on each side of the diamond, such as a diamond lace painting.

6.diamond shape

The diamond ribbon on the blue and white flowers in Yuan Dynasty was painted on the edge of the dish or as a decorative space for bottles and cans. Part of the disc is decorated with a diamond ribbon. Each monomer is nested with two diamonds, some of which are filled with green. There is a little on the center and four sides of the inner diamond.

7.banana leaves

The plantain leaf pattern on Yuan blue and white comes from the pattern of Shang and Zhou bronzes and is decorated on the bottleneck and lower abdomen. Draw the middle stem of the leaf to the tip of the leaf and fill it with color after one or two strokes. The edges of the leaves are outlined with thin lines and then colored. Fine lines outline veins. There are two kinds of painting methods: single-layer painting and double-layer painting.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the stems in the leaf pattern of banana were drawn to the tip of the leaf with two flat thin lines, which were not colored, and the middle stem of Yongle leaf had not yet reached the tip. Leaves are as thin as fishbones. The edge of the blade is as sharp as a sawtooth, and the outline is thickened with double pens. Generally, it is a double-layer painting.

8. Ruyi Yuntou

Ruyi Yuntou on the blue and white flowers in the Yuan Dynasty was drawn with three lines, thick in the middle and thin on both sides, with two, three and four orders. Yuntou ornamentation is dense and plump, with tiny flower patterns and sea water patterns. There are also some animals painted on this base.

There are several ways to decorate the round blue and white clouds:

(1) The cloud head decorated on the upper part of the utensil hangs down (called the cloud shoulder), and the cloud head decorated on the lower part of the utensil sticks out. It usually consists of three, four or six clouds.

(2) Decorate around the center of the large plate. The cloud heads extend to the center of the plate, and the cloud heads are not connected, and are composed of six third-order cloud heads symmetrically.

(3) The "opening" consists of two cloud heads butting or four cloud heads connecting, the former is used for the belly of the bottle and the latter is used for the center of the dish.

In the early Ming Dynasty, double hook lines with thick outside and thin inside were drawn. Clouds are connected in a simple arc without inverting them. The size of cloud heads is alternately reduced or distributed. Draw simple patterns in the clouds, or break branches or veins or fill in colors.

Blue and white in the early Ming Dynasty, decorated with single clouds.

In addition to the above patterns, the auxiliary patterns of Yuan Blue and White also include fish scales, moire patterns, vortex patterns and triangular patterns.