Pink Longquan celadon
Longquan celadon enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad. It is a wonderful flower in the hundred gardens of Chinese national art and a bright "China Pearl" in the history of China porcelain. Longquan County is located in Liutian Mountain, 70 miles south of Liu Hua, and most residents make pottery as their occupation. According to legend, Lao Zhang gave birth to two brothers in his life, but when they were unknown, Liutian's main kiln made celadon, ranking first in the world. My brother's name is Ge Yao, and my brother's name is Sheng Er Yao. "Continuation of the Seventh Revision": "Both Geyao and Longquan Kilns originated in Longquan County, Guizhou Province. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Hesheng brothers each had a kiln. Give birth to a pottery kiln and be brothers; The man who gave birth to two Taoists is called Longquan, which is also named after the place name. Its color is blue, with different shades; Its feet are all iron, with different shades. Old news is purple, but it is rare today. Only those with thin soil grain and pure glaze color are the most expensive. There are many broken lines in the Ge kiln, and there are more than 100 pieces. " Guangxu's "Longquan County Records" contains an article: "Where porcelain comes out of the second kiln, it is extremely fine, pure and flawless, and beautiful as jade. Today's rare people are still a bottle and a bowl, moving dozens of gold. Brother Jue's name is Shengyi Zhang, and his kiln is his. His instruments are all plain broken, and his number is broken, which looks like a past life. Today, it is particularly difficult for people to hide them. The world calls the brother a brother kiln, and the brother has two chapters. " Books such as Compilation of History, Notes on Nanyao, Eight Notes on Respecting Saints, Tao Shuo, Lu Tao in Jingdezhen, Appreciation of Yan Xianqing, and A Brief History of Natural History not only record brothers and brothers' kilns in detail, but also say, "The official kilns and brothers' kilns are of the same quality and rate." Zhu wrote "A Brief History of Longquan Celadon" and said: "It has been proved that there are many similarities between the official kilns in the Southern Song Dynasty and the black-tire celadon in Longquan, especially the celadon made of powder and Dai, which is really similar in form and spirit, and it is difficult to distinguish between' official' and' elder brother'."
Through the excavation of the ancient kiln site, it is confirmed that there are not only "Geyao" products in Longquan kiln site, but also two ways: one is that the tire is as thin as paper, the glaze is as thick as jade, the glaze is covered with stripes, the purple mouth is full of iron, and the tire color is gray and black, as described in the literature; First, the tire is thick and glazed, the glaze is covered with stripes, and the tire color is black. Most of the former came from the south of the county, which was the product of the mid-Southern Song Dynasty to the early Yuan Dynasty and was closely related to the "official kiln" in the Southern Song Dynasty. Most of the latter came from counties in the northeast, and most of them were products of the Yuan Dynasty. Longquan Kiln has no "Ge Kiln" products in other county kiln sites. In addition, there is the so-called "handed down Ge Kiln". Although there are stripes, the glaze color is beige or crab shell blue, which is different from the blue or light blue glaze color of Longquan "Geyao". Fetal bone is thick, beige or ochre. This is not a product of Longquan.
"Brother kiln" is also called "Longquan kiln". Its basic characteristics are: there are no lines on the glaze, the tire is white or the foot is scarlet, the glaze color is green and jade-like, and there are white marks on the edge or edge of the object (called "ribs"). Plum green and pink green are the best glaze colors. Plums are green, the color is like hanging branches and early plums, green and clear; Pink green, the color is like a light blue lake, soft and clear. Longquan celadon began in the Jin Dynasty and took shape at the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Song and Yuan Dynasties reached its peak, the scale of porcelain making was unprecedented, and the skill reached its peak. Longquan became a famous center of porcelain industry in China, and gradually declined in Qing Dynasty. After the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), production resumed under the care of Premier Zhou Enlai, and Longquan celadon reappeared and created more glories. Longquan celadon has the tradition of "old kiln" and "young kiln" Ge Kiln and the famous Guan Kiln, Ru Kiln, Ding Kiln and Jun Kiln are also called the five famous kilns in Song Dynasty. Its products are "the tire is as thin as paper, the glaze is as thick as jade, the glaze is full of stripes, the mouth is purple iron, the tire is gray and black, simple and dignified"; The white glaze of kiln tire is green, with pink green and plum green as the most, followed by bean green, beautiful and honest.
Longquan celadon has been sold all over the country for emperors to use, and has been exported to Asia, Africa and Europe since the Song Dynasty.
Modern Longquan celadon has inherited the characteristics of ancient products, and made some breakthroughs and developments. Over the years, it won the first prize in various national competitions. Its fine products are known as "national treasures" and are displayed and collected by the Great Hall of the People, Ziguangge, Zhongnanhai, Palace Museum and China History Museum. 1998 10 10/3, the State Post Bureau issued a set of four special stamps of "China Ceramics-Longquan Kiln Porcelain".
Longquan celadon industry is very prosperous, and its products are exported to more than 60 countries and regions.
Longquan porcelain industry has formed various unique customs in the long-term development process.
Ancestor worship: In Longquan, the founders of Ge Kiln, Shengyi Zhang and Zhang Shenger, were honored as the ancestors of kiln industry by later generations. In the past, the kiln heads of Dragon Kiln and Carp Kiln, which burned porcelain, were all affixed with "Master List". In addition to the position of offering sacrifices to the master, the master list also includes offering sacrifices to mountain gods, land, carrying water and transporting water. On the second and sixteenth day of the lunar calendar, porcelain makers must buy wine, meat, tea and rice, light incense candles in front of the master list in Yaotou, kowtow and worship, and then divide the offerings, commonly known as "living the day".
Selection of infrastructure kiln: Please ask Mr. Feng Shui to choose Dingjidi and Huangdao Jiri before starting kiln construction. When we start work, we should set up a sacrifice to the gods in the kiln and burn the porcelain. On the day when the kiln was built, children and pregnant women were forbidden to enter the kiln pool, and no one was allowed to pick a dung bucket and pass by the kiln, so as not to offend the gods and bring disaster to the kiln.
Sacrificial kiln: July 18th of the lunar calendar is the day of sacrificial kiln. It is said that this day is the day when Shengyi Zhang, the founder of Ge Kiln, made "kiln-changed porcelain". At that time, the pottery trade union bathed and fasted, put boys and girls made of flour on the ancestral incense table, arranged sacrifices in front of the list of kiln head masters, lit incense sticks and bowed down, praying for the ancestors' blessing to burn exquisite porcelain.
Dining in the kiln: Kiln workers can't talk when eating in the kiln, and chopsticks can't touch the table or put on the bowl when eating.
Enter the kiln: enter the kiln on the 3rd, 6th and 9th to worship ancestors, mountain gods and land. In the whole process of entering the kiln, we should speak auspicious words, and it is forbidden for dirty things to pass by, so as to prevent dirty gas from entering the kiln and affecting kiln burning.
Do kiln blessing: when Longquan builds porcelain kiln, tile kiln and charcoal kiln, there should be a "kiln owner" next to the kiln. When a kiln is opened to make a fire, it is necessary to offer sacrifices to the kiln owner and prepare wine and vegetables for the kiln owner, that is, to be the kiln owner's blessing. Three stages in the historical development of Longquan celadon
From the Five Dynasties to the Early Northern Song Dynasty
Longquan is rich in porcelain stone, dense forest and other mineral resources, and it is also an important birthplace of Oujiang River, so it not only provides sufficient raw materials, fuel and water resources for porcelain handicraft industry, but also provides convenient water transportation for product sales, with superior natural conditions.
During the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty, the local people took advantage of the local superior natural conditions, absorbed the porcelain-making technology and experience of Yue kiln and Ou kiln, and began to burn celadon. During this period, celadon works were rough and the kiln industry was not large. However, in the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to bow down, the rulers of Wu Yueguo provided countless "secret porcelain" to the monarch of the Central Plains every year to show their restoration. Such a huge output made Yuezhou Kiln unable to bear it, so under such circumstances, Longquan Kiln gained an opportunity for its own development by undertaking such a "peaceful" tribute task. At that time, Longquan kiln industry had begun to take shape, and the technology of firing celadon had reached a considerable level. In addition, Guangdong kiln introduced the most advanced production technology, and a number of excellent porcelain craftsmen settled in Longquan one after another, and the product quality of Longquan kiln was rapidly improved.
Longquan kilns in this period are all light blue glazed porcelain, and the fetal bones are mostly gray white, and a few are gray black. The tire wall is thin and hard, and the texture is solid and delicate. Longquan is geographically remote, but the Oujiang River flows through it, and cargo ships can go downstream from Longquan County to Wenzhou Port. With the development of water transportation, Longquan kiln system stretches for hundreds of kilometers, even affecting the kiln mouth in northern Fujian. The porcelain produced in this range is Longquan kiln style. Most porcelain workshops in Longquan kiln are built on the foothills of rivers or gullies. The kiln workers built a dragon kiln on the gentle slope of the mountain, and a small piece of flat land next to the kiln built workshops and houses. The kiln and workshop are integrated, with reasonable layout and convenient operation. There are trees on the mountain, and there are porcelain stone mines nearby, so the raw materials and fuel needed for porcelain making are convenient to take; Nearby streams and rivers can not only provide industrial water for workshops, but also transport products to sales places by water transport means such as boats and rafts.
From the Five Dynasties to the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Longquan became the first kiln in the south of the Yangtze River. Those "secret color porcelain" praised by countless people are also the beginning of Longquan celadon's interpretation of its beautiful legend.
Late Northern Song Dynasty to Southern Song Dynasty
The Southern Song Dynasty was the golden age of Longquan Kiln, and celadon was completely new. After the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, a large number of northerners moved south, and the national political and economic center moved south. In the north, famous kilns such as Ru Kiln and Ding Kiln were destroyed by the war, and Ou Kiln and Yue Kiln also declined one after another. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, due to the introduction of northern porcelain-making technology, Longquan Kiln combined southern art with northern crafts, creating a peak in the history of China celadon.
During this period, a kind of thick glazed porcelain similar to jasper appeared in Longquan kiln, which was divided into black and white tires. At the same time, in order to solve the financial difficulties and encourage foreign trade, the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty took advantage of the rise of maritime trade to export Longquan celadon in large quantities from the sea and sold it to all countries in the world, which became one of the main export commodities at that time. Mikami Tsugio, a Japanese ceramic scholar, praised this sea route for transporting porcelain as "the road of ceramics". The large demand generated by foreign trade has led to the emergence of a large number of new porcelain workshops, and the quality of product firing technology has been continuously improved.
At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Longquan Kiln entered its heyday, and the successful firing of pink and plum leaves a glorious page in the history of China porcelain. Pink green and plum green are recognized as the peak of celadon glaze color, which not only means the improvement of porcelain-making technology in Longquan kiln, but also contains richer aesthetic implications. The new shapes of many objects in Longquan kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty were inherited from ancient bronzes, such as Zun-style bottles and Ding-style furnaces. People can't help but exclaim when they look at these exquisite Longquan kiln celadon in the Southern Song Dynasty. They brought too much official kiln porcelain. As a monopoly, official kilns are absolutely not allowed to be copied by the people. The similarity between Longquan celadon and the official kiln just shows that it was influenced by the official kiln. Although there is no clear record of the establishment of an official kiln in Longquan in the Southern Song Dynasty, there are indications that the court at that time was likely to send technicians and bureaucrats to supervise the production of "tributes" in Longquan and other places.