Pottery, porcelain and ceramics are three easily confused
terms to describe the earthenware production in China. Therefore, it seems
necessary to give you some explanations before we arrive at the Liulichang
Cultural Street in Beijing.
China is famous for its china - porcelain wares. Chinese porcelain wares
were and are exported to many nations and acquire high appraisement.
Porcelain also experienced a long history in China. During the Shang and
Zhou dynasties, primitive porcelain wares emerged in the middle and lower
reaches of Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Real porcelain wares appeared
in the Han dynasty. In the process of porcelain development, different
styles in different periods blossomed.
From the Han dynasty, celadon porcelain and black porcelain were mainly
produced. Celadon porcelain continued to develop during the later dynasties.
In the late Tang dynasty, celadon porcelain production techniques matured
and were manufactured in large scale. At the same time, white porcelain,
which appeared in the later Northern and Southern dynasty, reached its
peak too. White porcelain, mainly produced in Xing Kiln in Hebei province,
sounds like musical instruments when tapped.
The Song dynasty, the most important dynasty in Chinese porcelain history,
brought prosperity in porcelain production and appreciation. There were
many famous kilns, and Ru Kiln, Jun Kiln, Guan Kiln, Ge Kiln and Ding
Kiln were the top five among them. Ru Kiln produced creamy porcelain wares
while Jun Kiln produced rosy porcelain wares red as sunset glow. Ge Kiln
was specialized in artificial cracky wares. Among them, the most famous
were Ru Kiln wares. The fine and delicate Ru wares which used special
glaze with carnelian added. The Ru wares basically had four kinds of glaze
according to color, namely azure, sapphire, moon white and turquoise.
It was very difficult to control the firing temperature and glaze prescription.
Since the production of Ru ware lasted only 20 years, Ru wares are so
rare that only about 70 pieces are found nowadays in the world. In a word,
in the Song dynasty, porcelain production and techniques reached an unprecedented
height.
During the Yuan dynasty, porcelain industry continued its rapid development.
Blue and white porcelain, which emerged in the Tang and Song dynasties,
reached its maturity. The blue and white ware was painted with power blue
under transparent glaze. So the color was perfectly protected under the
hard glaze, enabling long-term use and reserve. Among those kilns, Jingdezhen
kiln made breakthrough in techniques. It remodeled material prescription
and improved firing temperature, hence facilitated producing large wares.
Second, blue and white wares and red-under-glaze wares were successfully
produced and rapidly matured, to mark that combination of Chinese painting
and porcelain production reached maturity and color-under-glaze porcelain
wares developed to a record high. Third, great achievement was made in
the producing of colorant glaze. Before the Yuan dynasty, people had few
color choice.
In the Ming dynasty, blue and white porcelain wares became the main stream
of porcelain production. Blue and white ware stepped into its golden era
during the Yongle, Xuande and Chenghua reigns. Delicate and thick glaze,
various patterns and affluent models are basic features of the Yongle
and Xuande porcelain wares. Chenghua wares were delicate and lighted colored,
with Chinese ink wash painting flavor. In the late Ming dynasty, blue
and white porcelain met another surge during the reigns of Jiajing, Longqing
and Wanli.
In the Qing dynasty, blue and white made a great leap forward to radiate
its worldwide influence. Among the Qing porcelain wares, those produced
in the reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong are the most famous. |
