Cowpea red is a valuable variety in the monochrome glaze of the Kangxi period, also known as beauty drunk, peach blossom slices and so on. Cowpea red is a name in the antique industry, named because its glaze color resembles cowpea.
The name cowpea red first appeared in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty document "Drinking Stream Zhai Said Porcelain": "This color also evolved from the sacrifice red, similar to cowpea, so it is called cowpea red." There are many green moss dots or large green spots in the glaze, and there are also pure reds, with the Kangxi model being the most. According to expert research, cowpea red also refers to the blowing red of the Kangxi period, the main feature is that the copper red glaze is uneven in color, after many layers of blowing, after many layers of blowing, the copper red glaze and the fruit blue glaze blend to form a mottled effect.
▌[Qing Kangxi] Kangxi style cowpea red glazed lychee bottle
Height 19.9cm Caliber 3.2cm Foot diameter 3.9cm
It is now in the Palace Museum
In the process of glazing and firing, due to the different distribution density and particle size of copper and the appearance of different hues, it is the most difficult variety of color glaze to be fired, and it is difficult to master. The copper red glaze on the outer wall of the utensils is fired at high temperature after being blown glaze in stages, because the glaze blowing levels are different, and there will be different degrees of water stains in the glaze after firing. Under the action of the oxidation atmosphere, the mouth edge or the glaze of the body will reveal green moss dots, and in the integrated light red glaze, doped with star-like green spots, this defect in firing technology is also considered to be a kind of accidental beauty. Hong Liangji of the Qing Dynasty used the poem "Green as spring water for the first birthday, red as when the morning sun is about to rise" to describe this unpredictable glaze color. Although this green moss point has become the yardstick for identifying cowpea red, it is itself a defective product in cowpea red, and the genuine product should be the whole body of the red, just because of the monochrome glaze made of spraying method, the firing difficulty is too high, and the red is extremely rare, so a large number of finished products are green moss points.
In contrast, cowpea red is more difficult to burn than Lang kiln red, so the heirloom is generally a royal court object, and it is extremely rare to scatter in the folk. Due to various reasons, the production of cowpea red was only popular in the Kangxi Dynasty, and the firing technology was once lost, and imitations began to appear in the later Guangxu and Republic of China, but the utensils seen were basically with green moss dots, and it was almost impossible to see the cowpea red on the product of the red robe.
In addition to a small number of willow leaf bottles and plates of cowpea red porcelain, which are signed with blue and white italic "Great Qing Kangxi Year System" six-character double-line official kiln model, the rest of the bottom foot are signed with blue and white italic "Great Qing Kangxi Year System" six-character three-line official kiln model. The soles of the cowpea red utensils are glazed with white glaze, and there is no sidebar outside the model. In the works commonly known as the "cowpea red" literary room "eight yards", there are official models with the same style, and all the works that are signed have both the "Daming Xuande Year System" sustenance and the "Great Qing Kangxi Year System" this dynasty.
▌ [Qing Kangxi] blue and white italics "Great Qing Kangxi Year System" six-character model
Edgeless bar
▌ [Qing Kangxi] Blue and white italics "Daming Xuande Year System" six-character imitation model
There are double circles
This article is excerpted from the 2019 "Collection" magazine issue 7 "Classification and analysis of high-temperature copper red glaze porcelain in the Kangxi period", for more content, please pay attention to the current issue of the magazine.