In the thirteenth year of Qianlong, it was recorded in the [Chronicles] of the "Records of the Thirteenth Year of Qianlong": "November 28: The treasurer Bai Shixiu, Dazi, and the leader of the seven products, Samha, burned Tang Ying into a total of 127 pieces, such as colored samples, bottles, and cans...... Order: A pair of holly horse hanging bottles, a pair of Jiqing Tianqiuzun, and a pair of double elephant ear four seasons chrysanthemum vases are left, and the rest are handed over to the division. Chin this. "The Qianlong Emperor selected three pieces of porcelain from 4,000 pieces to be left for furnishings, which shows that these three pieces of porcelain must have their own unique attraction. Among them, the "holly horse hanging vase" and "double elephant ear four seasons chrysanthemum vase" can be confirmed with today's surviving objects, and these two types of porcelain are currently recognized as valuable treasures.
However, in the mind of Emperor Qianlong back then, the Ji blue glazed Tianqiu bottle was not inferior to the first two, and they were both his favorite things. It is the cherishing of the blue glazed celestial ball bottle, the number of Qianlong Dynasty is slightly more than that of the Yongzheng period, but the complete circulation of the world is extremely limited, only a handful, and the size is even more rare.
The shape of this product is elegant and dignified, the lines are beautiful and round, and the inside and bottom of the vessel are glazed. The whole body is decorated with blue glaze, uniform and bright, dazzling, just like the sapphire blue of Xuan kiln, its outstanding beauty is unique to the Qing generation, and it is the crown of Qianlong's similar imperial porcelain. With a height of 55 centimeters, it is magnificent.
At present, most of the other Qianlong Ji blue glazed celestial globe vases are known to be lower than this height, which is one of the largest sizes of the Qianlong imperial kiln celestial globe vase, and the only ones that can be compared with it can be seen in the Nanjing Museum collection of "Qing Qianlong · blue and white entangled branches and flower pattern celestial globe bottle", the Beijing Palace Museum collection of "Qing Qianlong · pastel nine peach picture celestial globe vase", "Qing Qianlong · pink blue glaze convex cloud dragon sea pattern celestial globe vase" and the Beijing Palace Museum collection of "Qing Qianlong · blue and white glaze red cloud dragon pattern celestial globe vase" and so on.
Ji blue glazed porcelain is one of the traditional Chinese porcelains with the following typical characteristics:
1. Ji blue tone: Ji blue is the typical color of porcelain, and this color is the result of the interaction between the glaze used in the firing process and the copper oxide.
2. Transparent glaze: The surface of Ji blue porcelain is usually very smooth, showing a transparent glaze, which makes the porcelain look brighter.
3. Crystal clear: The texture of Ji blue porcelain is very hard, with very high density and strength, and at the same time has a certain transparency, and the porcelain body under the glaze can be seen.
4. Slender shape: The shape of Ji Lanjing porcelain is usually very exquisite, mainly slender, with smooth lines, showing the elegant beauty of porcelain.
5. High-temperature firing: Jilan porcelain needs to be fired at high temperature, and usually needs to be fired more than twice to ensure its quality and color.
6. Handmade: Ji Lan porcelain is one of the traditional porcelains mainly handmade, and the production process needs to go through multiple links, including tire making, glaze coating, carving, firing, etc.