■ Liu Jianjun Liu Jianjun
The culture of Jun porcelain has a long history, and is a rare treasure of the Chinese nation's rich and colorful and brilliant cultural treasure house, shining with the brilliance of art. The depth of its connotation, the beauty of its artistic conception, the uniqueness of the system, the magic of fire, the ingenuity of art, and the charm of beauty occupy an important position in the history of ceramic culture.
Jun porcelain is one of the five famous porcelains of the Song Dynasty, which began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty, with a history of more than 1,000 years. Jun porcelain originated from The Town of Shen'an, the "Capital of Jun Porcelain in China", about 30 kilometers southwest of Yuzhou City, Henan Province. The Song Dynasty is a glorious era in the history of the development of Chinese ceramics, Jun porcelain occupies a unique position, jun porcelain copper red glaze firing success, is a breakthrough in high temperature color glaze, for the mainland ceramic technology, ceramic aesthetics opened up a new realm, the Chinese ceramic art to a new stage, the later development of the ceramic industry has a profound impact. Jun porcelain at that time famous kilns, each of the major kilns can be unique, and the emperors of the past "only allowed to use the court, not allowed to privately store" positioning, jun porcelain is a royal treasure, known as the treasure of the country.
Jun porcelain ranks among the five famous kiln porcelains of the Song Dynasty, because the art has its own unique features, it is based on the magical kiln transformation art crown porcelain forest with "one color into the kiln, out of the kiln with thousands of colors", "jun porcelain without pairs, the kiln becomes unmatched" and "thousands of changes, infinite artistic conception". The porcelain bone tire is dark gray, gray or purple brown, the tire quality is fine and solid, and the sound of tapping is sonorous and crisp. The shape is dignified and simple, solemn and generous, the ornamentation is concise, and the craftsmanship is fine. Jun glaze is the first high-temperature color glaze with copper as a colorant in the Song Dynasty of the mainland, the main feature is based on the thickness of the glaze, the glaze is thick and lively, the milk is lustrous, the glaze pattern is deep and changeable, or the glaze is suspended, or the glaze is floating, the layers are numerous, the vitality is dripping, and it has a rare three-dimensional sense. The glaze color is based on red, blue, blue, purple and white, red like roses and begonias, blue like deep sea, blue sky, purple lilac, roland, white like a crystal bright moon. The ribbon blends vertically and horizontally, shaped like a flowing cloud, brilliant like a sunset, unpredictable, with an introduction of fascinating artistic charm.
The ancients called this wonderful phenomenon "kiln change".
The achievement of this artistic achievement has changed the tradition of simply using iron oxides as coloring agents in the formula of glaze, but with copper, iron, phosphorus, tin and other elements, respectively, glaze, layered glaze, plus unique kiln technology, forming the artistic fusion and transmutation of earth and fire.
The glaze layer structure of jun porcelain is more complex, selectively absorbing and reflecting various light waves, so that the glaze layer contains light, like a gemstone. The bubbles in the glaze layer stir up the light, so that the ripples in the glaze change endlessly, the glaze is colorful, red as chicken blood, green as parrot green, pale white as autumn moonlight or deep blue sky, and jade non-jade like jade verdant green, etc., its color changes are innumerable. The ancients once used poems such as "a mountain cloud and mist, a smoke and a sky full of stars, a canyon waterfall rabbit silk wisp, a sunset purple jade suddenly into a lan" and other verses to describe the magic and wonderful transformation of the jun porcelain kiln.
Jun porcelain fun Tiancheng is indeed the result of the creative labor of craftsmen, is the crystallization of wisdom, and is a masterpiece in the process of glazing, glazing and firing. It is a great innovation in the porcelain garden of the Song Dynasty.
Jun porcelain highlights the beauty of glaze color, and through the kiln to transform the art of natural nature. In the firing process, according to the different types of utensils and the glazing technique and high temperature melting flow, the natural kiln transforms to present those glaze colors that resemble flowers, like the color lines of rabbit hair, the traces of earthworm mud, the three-dimensional beads and the stars that glow. This is the rabbit silk pattern, the earthworm walking mud pattern, the caviar pattern, the pearl dot and the stars full of the sky and other precious patterns.
The thick glaze on the corresponding type, through calcination and melting flow, glaze color and grain are strange, completely constitute a magical picture, with people's rich imagination, ever-changing, showing a wonderful spectacle. Such as alpine clouds, canyon waterfalls, jackdaws return to the forest, snow and snow, rain over the sky, purple and green smoke, night fireworks, Xianshan Qiongge, mountain flowers, don't have a cave sky, lihua doucai, goldfish playing water, lotus pond moonlight, clear sky and so on.
These magical kiln transformation art is that no master of art can only rely on artificial design and painting, which can really be described as "the painter is clumsy, Danqing is difficult to paint; the poet complains about the poor words, and the verses are difficult to describe.". These color art can be called a masterpiece of jun porcelain, and the ancients' poem "Sunset Purple Jade Suddenly Becomes Lan" depicts the natural aura and natural beauty of Jun porcelain.
The shape of jun porcelain has a strong national artistic tendency, reflecting a pure national spirit. It is thick and dignified, simple and generous, concisely decorated, majestic and rough, with free lines and smooth shapes, reproducing the boldness and atmosphere of the descendants of Yanhuang. Its body shape in the treatment of lines, put an end to the molding of the frivolous fancy, the pursuit of dignified and solemn grandeur, showing the implicit beauty of its content, with a thousand years of attractive charm of the times.
The natural beauty of jun porcelain, on the one hand, is of course a factor of glaze and firing, on the other hand, it is also the aesthetic spatial structure of jun porcelain. Proficient in the art of jun porcelain craftsmanship, since ancient times to the present, attaches importance to the treatment of shape, the richness of the shape. As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, the shape of jun porcelain showed diversity. Out of the halberd, open mouth, drum nail washing, disc shaped flower pot, diamond shaped pot, chicken heart bowl, high foot bowl, with handle washing, three-legged stove and ding, bowl, cup, cup, cup, bottle, plate, pillow, etc. These rich and stereotyped utensils laid the foundation for the formation of a diverse and unified style of Jun porcelain in the future. In terms of modeling, the most ingenious thing is the simplicity of the main structure of jun porcelain. It is not difficult to see that although the jun porcelain type is diverse, the main body mostly adopts a rough linear shape, simple and few accessories, making the whole shape appear simple, simple, solid and full. Its intention is to emphasize the rich and simple dignified beauty, but also to provide suitable conditions for displaying the unique color and quality beauty of Jun porcelain, which is conducive to reflecting the gentleness of glaze decoration, the spacious surface space, and the simple and fresh beauty.
Jun porcelain is a precious heritage in the traditional handicrafts of the mainland, after thousands of years of vicissitudes, from the Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty is a period of development, the late Northern Song Dynasty entered the Golden Age, the Jin people invaded and went downhill, and the long-term suspension of production after the Ming Wanli. Although there were imitations of the Kang, Yong, and Qian dynasties of the Qing Dynasty and the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, they were not successful.
In the 1950s, Jun porcelain was reborn and shown to the world with a new look. Nowadays, the production of jun porcelain is becoming more and more perfect in terms of styling design, firing process, variety glaze color and artistic style. Especially in recent years, the traditional craftsmanship of the artists of Jingao Town for thousands of years and the artistic essence of Hui Baijia have achieved a perfect combination in the process of modeling and thick glaze. The Jun porcelain masters of Shenyuan absorbed the essence of their predecessors and integrated modern aesthetics to create a colorful jun porcelain masterpiece, which made the strange flower of jun porcelain bloom again in the hundred gardens of porcelain.
As the saying goes: a home is not as good as a piece of jun porcelain. We believe that more and more people will love to collect jun porcelain.
This article is from The Times Report, No. 12, 2021