Mystery, Color, Rise and Appreciation of Porcelain

The word "secret color" first came from the late Tang poet Lu Guimo's poem "Secret Color". In the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties so far, scholars have debated the exact meaning of the word "secret." According to the Song Dynasty, the five-generation Wuyue King’s money regulations stipulated that the more kilns were used for the burning of porcelain, and that the public could not use them, and the glaze recipe and production process were kept confidential. It is said to be close. Since then there have been records in all ages, but there have been a lot of different opinions. As a result, secret color porcelain has long been as mysterious as its name.

What is the secret color porcelain?

The concept of secret color porcelain has always been the focus of discussion in the academic community. There has been no real unification yet and there are many viewpoints. One view is that secret-colored porcelain is a kind of "respectable officials can't use," and specializes in exquisite kiln exquisite products, and the "secret" of secret color porcelain is interpreted as the secret of "mystery". In other words, its glaze formulation, production technology, and firing technology are all hidden. The researchers listed a large amount of historical materials, such as the records of the Qing Dynasty magazine Zhou Hui's Qingbo Magazine: "The more you use the color device, the Qian's has the date of the day, and the offerings are not allowed to be used. Therefore, the secret color is used." In addition, Zhao Lingjiong's Hou Houlu in the Song Dynasty, Zeng Qi's Gao Zhai Man Luan, and Ye Zhi's Tan Zhai Biheng also have similar records. In short, it is believed that "secret color" refers to "secret color porcelain because of serving a special object - the feudal palace, the world's rare mysterious situation." Another view is that the secret color porcelain refers to the kiln-colored moist kiln boutique. Some scholars used the mutual evidence of literature and objects, that is, during the Tang Dynasty Lu Guimeng's "Secret Color", in the poem "The Thousand Peaks and the Crimson Color", and the Five Dynasties Xu Rong, "The Tribute to the Secret Tea in the Gong Yu", in the poem: "Jade Cui Qing Rui The new, “Yueyuki-dyeing spring water,” and the “green ice cloud of thin ice” are depicted in contrast to the secret color porcelain of 13 pieces of green glaze that were excavated from the Famen Temple, and the “secret color” is used as the glaze color of porcelain. There are also some scholars who generalize the secret color porcelain to be the finest in the Yue Kiln celadon. The above three views are the most representative. However, some people also regard "secret color porcelain" as the substitute name for the Yue Kiln. Others believe that the original meaning of "secret color porcelain" should be celadon with the meaning of esotericism. Its "secret" pass is "secret", that is, secret teaching is not a secret in the ordinary sense. Some scholars believe that the original meaning of "secret color porcelain" is "the thin kiln made from enamel and fired from the kiln."

The word "secret color" first appeared in Lu Guimeng's "secret color" instrument in the Tang Dynasty: "Nine autumn winds exposed the kiln and won thousands of peaks and crests. "In the poem, metaphorical and exaggerated techniques were used to describe the secret color porcelain, and the original meaning of "secret color" was not revealed, leaving the mystery of "secret color" to the later generations. From the perspective of philology, the “secret” ancient works “secret” has been included in the Eastern Han Dynasty, “Shuo Wen Jie Zi”. The solution is “God” as well, or there are “hidden” and “exotic”. Although the word "secret" did not appear in "Shuo Wen Jie Zi", it has already appeared in "The Songs of the South, Chapter Nine, Shakespeare in the Past": "Secret Confidence". There are two explanations for the “secret” in the “Ji Yun” edited by Ding, a well-known script advisor of the Northern Song Dynasty. “(Ye must be) incense, or secret;” and “secret, dense”. "Kangxi Dictionary": "The secret of the transfer, the ancient tone Pu knot cut, tone, vanilla also." It can be seen, "secret" can be "secret" solution, or interpreted as "vanilla." As a saying that the secret color porcelain is a kind of "excellent not to use" and specially dedicated to the Yueyao boutique, although it is consistent with the word "secret" as the meaning of "secret" solution, there are still many questions. According to archaeological findings, kilns that were burned to create "secret color porcelain" were mostly distributed in places like Ning and Shao. These kilns were fired under the supervision of the government and some of the kilns were still ceramics. The nature of the kiln still belongs to civilian kiln, which mainly produces commercial porcelain. Therefore, its secretiveness is greatly reduced.

From the records of ancient literature, especially the poems of the “Gong Yu Mi Soke” of the Five Dynasties Xu Wei and the sentence “Tao Cheng Xian De Gong Fu Jun” in the poem indicate that the secret color porcelain was not specifically designed for the beginning of production. Blessed things. Instead, after selecting the tribute porcelain, the rest can be sold. Similarly, because of the special nature of the unearthed porcelain of Famen Temple, the secret color porcelain is associated with the confessional beliefs of the Tang Dynasty royal family. It is also one-sided. In contrast, under the combination of “secret” and “color”, it is more appropriate to understand “secret colors” as a glaze of porcelain. Most scholars agree with this view as to which shades they belong to. There is no unified understanding yet. Some think that it is "vanilla", while others think it is "bicolor." The meaning of "secrecy" has changed constantly with the changes of the times, and its original meaning has gradually been overshadowed by the extension of meaning. Some scholars discussed the evolution of the meaning of "secret color porcelain" in different eras. The study of the meaning of "secret color porcelain" either focuses on "secret" or emphasises on "color", but it actually splits the meaning of itself. Mr. Chen Wanli summarily pointed out the criteria for judging the color of porcelain in his “Yueyao and Securi Color Porcelain” paper: one view of its color, two ways of distinguishing its style, and three whether it is a device of choice. Compared with other viewpoints, this point of view more fully reveals the connotation of the "secret color porcelain" modeling work, the glazed green, thin, bright, finely burned, and the sacrificed objects. In the face of the vague concept of "secret color porcelain," researchers can only make preliminary inferences based on limited data. As for its exact meaning, it remains to be further revealed.

Where to make a secret color porcelain? Guan Yao or Gong kiln?

From the perspective of ancient records, the earliest clear indication of the origin of the "secret color porcelain" was Song Lu's "Old Learning Notes": "Yaozhou produced celadonware, which was said to be a device that resembled the color of Yuyao County. "Ming Jiajing's Yuyao County Chronicle" said: "The secret color porcelain was first introduced into the Linhu Lake, and the Tang dynasty and the Song Dynasty were placed in the official kiln and the waste was recovered." At the same time, a pot of Tang dynasty unearthed near Shanglin Lake was engraved with " The middle and five years of age were on March 5 in Bengchen, and finally in Shanglin Township, Cixi County, Mingzhou.... Guangqi was three years old when Ding Wei died on February 5th when he was in Baoshan Kiln. This further confirms the records of the ancient literature on the production of secret color porcelain in Zhejiang Yueyao. Since the 1950s, it has been determined that the "secret color porcelain" of Yue kiln was successively excavated in Shaanxi, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. The most notable is the 14 kiln celadon kilns excavated in the garrison of the Famen Temple in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province in 1987. Among them, 13 were recorded in the same “Undercarriage of Real Self-supporting Props and Gifts of Gold and Silver Clothing”. And called it "porcelain secret color." For the first time, this finding corresponds to physical records and literature records.

Regarding the specific origin of the secret color porcelain, the viewpoint of the academic community tends to be the same. It is believed that Shanglin Lake in Cixi is the main producing area of ​​secret color porcelain. This view is not only based on literature, but also a lot of archeological evidence. For example, the Kwai Kok bowl in the secret garden of Famen Temple is similar to the shape of the Kwai Kou bowl unearthed in the kiln sites of No. 30, No. 36, No. 66 and No. 26 kiln of Shanglin Lake. It is exactly the same as the specimens of No. 60, No. 61 and No. 62 kiln. In 1954, the Imperial Palace Museum also collected relic fragments of octagonal bottles at the Shanglinhu kilns. Similarly, the celadon style of the Qiu's tomb in Lin'an late Tang water is consistent with that of a bowl of “Xingjing Temple” unearthed in No. 66 of Shanglin Lake in 1981. The shape, glaze color, and the decoration of the porcelain of the secret color porcelain unearthed in various places are consistent with the specimens and utensils in the Yue Kiln site of Shanglin Lake.

Under the premise of the unanimous view of the origin of the secret color porcelain, scholars began to discuss the nature of the secret color porcelain kilns. From the historical tribute of "secret color porcelain" and the physical example of the "secret color porcelain" attribute, the existence of "secret color porcelain" as a tribute porcelain is credible. Since this is the case, the kiln of the “secret color porcelain” is definitely different from the kiln kiln that burns ordinary celadon. In 1977, Tang Guangqi unearthed in Shanglin Lake of Cixi in three years (887 years) inscriptions in pots of pot-shaped epitaphs: "Middle and five years old in B, March 5, finally in Shangxi, Cixi County, Mingzhou The township,... The three years of Guang Kai (887), when Ding Wei was born on February 5, was in the northern foothills of Baogong Kiln.” It shows that from the Tang Dynasty Shanglin Lake had a “Kong Kiln”. The “Kong kiln” is a natural kiln with a strong connection with the government.

Due to lack of evidence, we couldn't figure out how much the official government played a role in the “Kong Kiln,” but Ming Jiajing’s “Yuyao County Chronicle,” “secret color porcelain, first emerged from the Linhu Lake, was set in the Tang dynasty and the Song Dynasty, and was inspected and abolished”. Records have left us with some clues, which is that there may be some relationship between the management of “Kong Kilns” and “Settlements of Guan Kilns”. Although there are still disputes about the nature of “settled with official supervision and inspection of kiln” in the academic circles, there is no objection to the role of the “housekeeping supervision kiln” as the resident of the court in strengthening the function of porcelain production management or reconciliation. From the Late Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty on Shanglin Lake, the prevalence of “coexistence and co-existence of two kinds of rough and coarse products coexisting with the kiln” also indicates that “Kong Kiln” satisfies Shanggong and also burns civilian porcelain. .

In addition to the "Kun Kiln Theory," there is the "Guan Kiln Theory," and it is believed that the secret color porcelain is the "guan kiln." The most direct basis for this view is the unearthed batch of secret colors carved with "official" and "official" characters. At present, there is inconsistency in the views of academics on porcelain with the word “official”. There are two general understandings. The first view is that “official” refers to the imperial court or government, and “official” porcelain is the official kiln; The viewpoint holds that the word “official” is related to “setting the official supervision of the kiln”. The credibility of the "Guan Kiln Theory" is relatively low. First, the historical documents did not record the establishment of the official kiln. Secondly, the production properties of the crude product blended with the kiln in the Shanglin Lake area are essentially different from the “guan kiln” operated by the government. Therefore, the author believes that the "official" character is more reasonable in relation to "setting the official kiln".

The rise and fall of secret color porcelain The timetable for speculation on the ceiling age of secret color porcelain firing was conceived by some scholars before the nineteen fifties, mainly based on a batch of two years (848) of Tang Dazhong, Heyi Road, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. Yue kiln celadon. Most scholars based on the unearthed porcelain of Famen Temple underground palace and "clothing account" records, one view that the absolute burning of secret color porcelain was Xiantong fifteen years ago; another point of view taking into account the product from burning From the time it takes for the package to be transported, it is more accurately calculated that the absolute burning limit of the secret color porcelain is 13 years (872 years). In 1995, many experts and scholars at the "Yueyao and Secret Color Porcelain International Symposium" basically agreed that the "secret color porcelain began to burn in the late Tang Dynasty". As for the exact age, it still needs further research. In the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, the products of the famous kilns in the north, Dingxiang, and Xi, successively entered the court and gradually replaced the status of the secret color porcelain; and the rise of the Longquan kiln and Jingdezhen kiln in the south also occupied the market of the Yueyao kiln. The last record in the literature is that the Chaozhou tribute secret color porcelain is in the "Song of the Song Dynasty," and "Song Zong Xining (1068) in December of the Shangshu Account Department's local tribute to the Daofu Prefecture... Yuezhou,... ... The fifty-something porcelain of the secret color.” Regardless of the development of the Yueyao or documented records, it is reasonable to regard the sixties to seventies of the eleventh century as the lower limit of the color of the secret color porcelain. In addition, there are scholars who have made in-depth discussions on the issue of the rise and fall of Yueyao and Securi.

About the Period of Burning Age of "Miscellaneous Porcelain" in Yue Kiln. One view is that the Yue Kiln "secret color porcelain" can be divided into early, middle and late stages. In the early period of the Late Tang Dynasty, the secret color porcelain unearthed from Fufeng Famen Temple and the tombs of the Qian and Qiang couples was represented; in the middle period of the Five Dynasties, the tombs of Qian Yuanzhang and his wife from the suburbs of Hangzhou, the tomb of Qian Yuan and the seven sons of Suzhou, The unearthed tombs of the Five Dynasties were represented; in the late period of the Northern Song Dynasty, they were represented by the secret color porcelain unearthed from the Tomb of Emperor Li Hou of Song Dynasty, the Tomb of Princess Liao Chenguo, the Tomb of Han Dynasty, and the Tomb of Chaoyang.

Another view is to further refine the stage of the secret color porcelain. In the first period, before and after Tang Yuanhe (806-820), it was represented by the earthly excavated material of Mrs. Jun Wang’s tomb of the Yuan Dynasty in the Yuan and Five-year households, which was “the period when the secret color porcelain began to roast”. In the second period, Dazhong and Xiantong (from 847 to 873) were divided into two sections. During the period of Dazhong-DPRK (847-859), it was represented by unearthed artifacts from Heyi Road, Ningbo, and Xiantong Dynasty (860-873). The paragraph is represented by the unearthed Famen Temple. This period is "the development period of the secret color porcelain firing." The third period is divided into two phases. The first phase, Tang Guanghua and Tianfu Dynasty (898-903), was represented by the excavated objects of the Qian family of Wu Yueguo. The second stage was for the five generations of Tianfu, Kaiyun and Guangshun (936-953), and they were represented by the Qianmu king of the King Wenmu and the burial articles of Wu Hanyue. This period is the "prosperous period of roasting porcelain." The fourth period is around the Taiping Xingguo Dynasty to the Xianping Dynasty (976-1003) during the Northern Song Dynasty. This period can be said to be the "heavenly era of the production of secret color porcelain." The fifth period from the early years of Xianfeng to the first year of Xining (1003-1068) was the period of “decline and stop the burning of the secret color porcelain”. Each of the above two stages has its own characteristics and each has its own reasons. In particular, the division of the second viewpoint is more specific and the arguments are more adequate.

The craftsmanship of the secret color porcelain and the beauty of the arts are the finest items in the kiln. The firing craftsmanship is also unique in the following three aspects: 1. Porcelain clay - special smashing, panning, decay, pinching Training process to achieve a higher "degree of vitrification"; Second, glaze - glaze purification, removal of impurities in the glaze, and improve the glazing method, the whole body glazing, glazing after taking the nail holder method;匣钵 匣钵 匣钵 匣钵 匣钵 匣钵 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用 用.

As for the glaze color of the secret color porcelain, there are different shades of blue, and some scholars have conducted scientific analysis. The proton-excited X-fluorescence analysis (PIXE) was used to measure the types and contents of the main and minor elements in the secret color ceramic specimens and glazes. By comparison, the chemical composition of different glaze specimens of the Shanglinhu kiln was determined. The composition is basically the same"

The cause of the different glaze colors can only be in the firing process. In the firing process of the secret color porcelain, improving the reduction rate of the iron element in the enamel is the most important reform, so controlling the reducing atmosphere is a key. When the reducing atmosphere is strong, a considerable part of the iron oxide in the glaze is reduced, and the glaze appears as a purer cyan; conversely, the reducing atmosphere is weak, and a considerable part of the iron in the glaze remains in an oxidized state, and the glaze is expressed as yellow in the green. Tones. The archaeological excavation of the furnace structure shows that most of the Shanglinhu area is long strip-shaped kiln-fired porcelain, and the kiln's front, middle and back kiln temperatures are different, and the kiln atmosphere is difficult to control, eventually leading to post-firing Secret color porcelain presents different shades.

In the aspect of decoration technology, the secret color porcelain is mostly plain and the appearance is simple and unadorned. This kind of design is not focusing on the decorative effect, but the artistic beauty of the decoration is focused on the modeling of the utensils and the enamel. Mainly highlights the "material beauty", fine fetal quality, pure glaze, so secret color porcelain with "jade-like" artistic effect. Due to the influence of Tang Dynasty gold and silver styling and decoration, the secret color porcelain combines the popular gold and silver strips, gold pottery crafts and traditional gold and silver buckle crafts in the Tang Dynasty, and created a golden and silver decorative porcelain in the history of ancient Chinese ceramics. The two pieces of gold and silver flat-tipped ceramic bowls unearthed in Famen Temple are the best interpretations.

With regard to the artistic features of the secret color porcelain, scholars have obtained some research results through the analysis and comparison of unearthed artifacts. Some scholars have used the secret color porcelain unearthed in the Famen Temple underground palace as an example. From the analysis of species and shapes, it is believed that the secret color porcelain has bowls, plates, dishes, and bottles. The types seem to be less, but there are many similar artifacts. Changes. Its shape is characterized by imitating Tang Dynasty gold and silverware. These artifacts provide us with a set of important patterns of late Tang dynasty for us to recognize and study the secret color porcelain of the Tang Dynasty. There are also scholars from the modeling, tires, glaze, decorative techniques, patterns theme, loading method and other aspects of the secret color porcelain staged, that: the first stage of a variety of utensils, bowls and other devices imitation of gold and silver utensils. Gray and delicate fetal quality, covered with glaze, foot scraping glaze, glaze has green, green gray, blue and yellow, glaze evenly moist. The decoration of the table is mainly plain, with a small amount of scribed flowers, prints, and brown colored paintings. The second period has been improved on the basis of the previous period of inheritance. Changes in the shape of the device, the device is generally narrow and high compared to the previous period, the new emergence of the foot plate, the plate. The firing method has also been improved. A gasket has been created to replace the burning method of the mud interval. The branch burn marks have moved from the bottom of the ring foot to the inner bottom of the ring foot, making the ring foot smooth and glazed. The third phase of the modelling and baking process slightly changed from the previous period. The abdomen of the bowl sagged, and the ring foot height increased. The color of the tire and glaze are slightly darker than the previous period. The glaze layer is thin and transparent, and the glass texture is strong. In the firing technology, the thicker sand-clay adobe is gradually replacing the porcelain enamel.

The secret color porcelain has reached the highest level both in craftsmanship and artistic features. First of all, it is expressed as "the beauty of materials", which is reflected in the quality of the fetal material and the glaze. The most important feature of the secret color porcelain is the exquisite quality of the fetal material and the pure glaze. It has a very natural artistic effect. Followed by "the beauty of modeling." Judging from the unearthed color porcelain, the number of animaloid-based formulators is relatively small, and there are many exterior designs based on plant flowers. In terms of modeling, they all follow the symmetry, balance, and master-slave coordination. The rules are simple and neat, plain and unpretentious, and they emphasize the combination of practicality and aesthetics. The last is "the beauty of ornamentation." The secret color porcelain uses the line carving and thin carving as the main decoration methods, which makes the ornamentation of the utensils complement each other with the glaze color and the shape, showing a pure and elegant artistic style.

Looking forward to more in-depth studies, after the founding of New China, some exquisite celadons were excavated in the tombs of Qian’s and Chenchong’s officials of Wuyue Guo, five generations of Hangzhou and Lin’an in Zhejiang Province. Their tombs were of definite chronological age, and the tombs were noble. Does not think of whether these celadon is the "secret color porcelain" in the literature, but because the evidence is not enough, it is only speculation. In 1987, 14 pieces of green glazed porcelain were unearthed at the Fachang Temple Tower Basement Palace in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province. Among them, 13 were clearly recorded in the same monument entitled “Sending the Real Body to Bring the Proper Body Support and Gifts to the Gold and Silver Clothing”. "China's secret color", so "secret color porcelain" mysterious veil has finally been opened. This unearthed not only demonstrated the highest level of late Tang celadon craftsmanship, but also provided a number of standard instruments for the identification of “secret color porcelain”, which solved a number of outstanding issues in the academic community regarding “secret color porcelain” in our country. The history of ceramics is of great significance. Since then, “Secret Porcelain” has become a new academic hotspot and has received great attention from archeology, ancient ceramics, and the scientific and technological circles. In 1995, the “International Conference on Yueyao and Secluded Porcelain” convened in Shanghai put the secret "Porcelain" research has pushed a new climax. The following is a summary of the main issues and different opinions on the study of "secret color porcelain" in the past two decades.

On the whole, the study of "secret color porcelain" mainly focuses on the above aspects. Regarding the origin of the secret color porcelain, the academic community has reached a consensus that it is produced in Yueyao, Zhejiang, and the main producing area is in the Shanglin Lake area of ​​Cixi. The era of burning was also confirmed as Late Tang. The concept of the secret color porcelain and the nature of the kilns have always been the focus of debate. There are many points of view that need further confirmation. At present, the study of "secret color porcelain" is mainly confined to China, and overseas scholars have studied very little. The number of researchers is not large, and the quality of some papers is not high. Most of them remain at shallow levels of analysis and description. The research on the craft characteristics and cultural connotations of "secret color porcelain" is not enough. In terms of research methods, scholars often rely on literature as a basis, but lack of understanding of archaeological data, and thus there are some situations on which to talk about soldiers. Therefore, in-depth research on "secret color porcelain" is imperative. Scholars engaged in archeology, history, art history, and scientific research should collaborate with each other to further investigate the unearthed "secret color porcelain" and kilns, and analyze them with the aid of modern science and technology methods. The exchanges and cooperation among various disciplines will make the research more systematic.