How did Song porcelain develop?

The ceramic culture of Song Dynasty was at an unprecedented level in ancient China society. Song porcelain is an important part of Song Wenhua and a wonderful flower of Song Wenhua. The Song Dynasty was a glorious period for the development of China ceramics, which reached its peak in terms of types, styles and firing techniques. Song porcelain has the reputation of "gold is valuable and priceless" and "although rich, it is not as good as Jun porcelain". "Song Porcelain" has beautiful shape, quiet glaze color and delicate pattern. Generally speaking, it presents a quiet, elegant, dignified and noble character. " Its porcelain art and aesthetic realm not only surpassed the previous generation, but also the imitations of later generations could not match it. Song porcelain was the pinnacle in the history of ceramics and became a world-famous brand commodity in overseas trade at that time.

Porcelain in Song Dynasty can be divided into folk kilns and official kilns, and can also be divided into north and south areas.

The so-called official kiln is a kiln run by the national central government, which is specially produced for the imperial palace and the royal family. The so-called folk kiln is a kiln operated by the people to produce folk porcelain. Palace kiln porcelain, regardless of cost, strives for perfection, the location of kiln site and production technology are strictly confidential, and the technology is exquisite. Most porcelain handed down from ancient times are rare treasures. As for folk kilns, at that time, producers valued practicality and use value, and producers had to consider the cost, so the materials were not as exquisite as official kilns. However, it is not without exquisite artistic products. Throughout the porcelain altar in Song Dynasty, folk kilns are colorful and spectacular.

The five famous kilns were first created in Song Dynasty, namely Ru kiln, Guan kiln, Jun kiln, Ge kiln and Ding kiln. Representative works include celadon, white porcelain, secret porcelain and ice crack porcelain.

Ruyao was an official kiln established in Song Huizong at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. In Baofeng County, Henan Province, it belongs to the celadon family with the official kiln, the old kiln and the Jun kiln. Ru kiln celadon is famous for its exquisiteness, and Song people praised Ru kiln as the first. Less than 20 years before and after the kiln was built, it became the first of the "five famous kilns". Ruyao is mainly celadon, and its glaze colors are pink, bean green, egg green and shrimp green. Ruyao porcelain has thin matrix, thick glaze layer, jade texture and extremely thin glaze. Ruyao porcelain was fired separately in Zhi Ding, leaving tiny traces of Zhi Ding at the bottom of the porcelain. The upper body of the utensil itself is thin, the tire mud is extremely fine, it is fragrant gray, it is made regularly, and its shape is solemn and generous. The vessels are mostly modeled after ancient bronzes, mainly washing, furnace, image and plate. There are less than 100 works handed down from ancient times in Ruyao, which is very precious. Ruyao porcelain is most praised for its glaze color. Later generations commented that "its color is egg white, such as fat accumulation, but the juice is crowded like crab claws, and there are tiny Zhi Ding traces of sesame seeds at the bottom". It can be seen that the celadon fired by Ru kiln has a unique charm and is recommended as the first of the five kilns, worthy of the name.

During the reign of the Northern Song Dynasty official, Hui Zong built a kiln in Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) to burn imperial porcelain, which was called the official kiln in history. Bianjing official kiln porcelain has a delicate fetal quality, and the fetal glaze is as thin as paper, with glaze powder, moonlight, big green and gray oil.

Ru kiln has the most abundant shapes, which come from life. For example, the porcelain in the palace is crystal clear and soft, like a cup of solidified fat. There are cauldrons, onion tubes, empty feet, ears, milk stoves, ears, pot rings, ear pots, statues and some antique bronzes. Soon, due to the invasion of nomadic people, Bianjing was broken and the official kiln ended.

According to records, Bianjing (now Kaifeng), the capital city at that time, has not been excavated so far because the Bianjing site in the Song Dynasty has sunk underground, there is no archaeological excavation site, and there is not enough literature to support the site. Therefore, there are still different opinions about where the site is. Generally, there are three kinds: First, it is said that the official kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty is Ru kiln. The second theory denies the existence of official kilns in the Northern Song Dynasty. Third, it is said that the official kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty was the official kiln in Bianjing, which existed successively with the official kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, a new kiln was set up in the suburban altar of Wugui Mountain at the southern foot of Fenghuang Mountain in Hangzhou, which was called "the official kiln under the suburban altar". The tires of this official kiln porcelain are black, dark gray, light gray, beige and so on. , divided into thickness and delicacy. Glaze is opaque and multifaceted, which is called "crab claw pattern". Glaze colors are pink blue, light blue, gray blue, moonlight white, beige and so on. Because the glaze in the mouth is thin and slightly purple, it is red iron. Therefore, it is called "purple iron foot".

In addition to bowls, plates, dishes, washing and other daily utensils. There are also display porcelain and ritual vessels that imitate Shang and Zhou bronzes, such as Zun, Ding, Furnace and Sui. The green glaze is plain, elegant in shape and exquisite in production, which embodies the aesthetic orientation and pursuit of the emperors in the Song Dynasty. There are bowls, plates, washing utensils, antique copper and jade bottles, stoves and so on. Ru kiln has the most abundant shapes, which come from life. For example, the porcelain in the palace is crystal clear and soft, like a cup of solidified fat.

Ding kiln is a folk kiln. Ding kiln mainly burns white porcelain, which is delicate, thin and shiny, and the glaze is as smooth as jade. Ding kiln not only burns white glaze, but also burns black glaze, blue glaze and sauce glaze. Disks and bowls are the most sculpted, followed by plum bottles, pillows and boxes. It is common to carve the words "Fenghua", "Juxiu", "Cifu" and "Guan" on the bottom of the vessel. Dishes and bowls have the characteristics of raw edges due to burning and tearing due to drooping glaze. There are various patterns, such as flowers carved with a knife, embroidery carved with a needle, "bamboo silk brush pattern" and "tear pattern" made by special effects, and so on. The words "official" and "staff sergeant's bureau" were found in the unearthed Ding kiln porcelain, indicating that some products of Ding kiln were fired for the official and the court. Ding kiln printing and Yao kiln carving in Song Dynasty are new contributions to porcelain decoration.

Jun kilns are divided into official kilns and folk kilns. Guan Jun Kiln is the second official kiln in Song Huizong after Ru Kiln. Jun kilns are widely distributed in Yuxian County (now Zhou Jun), so they are named Jun kilns. Baguadong Kiln and Juntai Kiln in the county are the most famous, firing all kinds of royal porcelain. Jun kiln porcelain has always been called "the treasure of the country", which is unique among the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty because of its "gorgeous glaze and beautiful scenery". Jun porcelain was fired twice, the first time was plain firing, glazed after coming out of the kiln, and then fired. Jun porcelain glaze is unique in color, dry and changeable, and red, blue, cyan, white and purple blend together. It creatively uses copper oxide as colorant to fire the kiln-changed copper red glaze under reducing conditions, and thus produces a variety of kiln-changed colors, such as tomato skin purple, begonia red, lilac purple, cinnabar red and rose purple, with purple in red, blue in purple, blue in green and blue in green.

The glaze color of its "kiln color-changing glaze" changes like running water. Poets in the Song Dynasty once praised it as "the sunset is green, and suddenly it becomes a haze". This is because the ingredients are mixed with copper vapor in the firing process, which is an artistic effect. This is a great invention in the history of porcelain making in China, and it is called "kiln change". Due to the thick glaze layer of Jun porcelain, during the firing process. Glaze naturally flows to fill the gap, and after coming out of the kiln, it forms regular flowing lines, which are very similar to the traces of earthworm crawling in the soil, so it is called "earthworm walking through the mud". Jun kiln porcelain is mainly aimed at the demand of "Huashi class" in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and flowerpots are the best.

Ge kiln, the exact kiln site has not been found so far. According to historical legend, Zhang Shengyi and Zhang Sheng built a kiln in Chuzhou and Longquan County, Zhejiang Province. The kiln built by my brother is called "Ge Kiln" and the kiln built by my brother is called "Ground Kiln". Also known as Zhang Yao and Longquan Kiln. Some experts believe that the Geyao porcelain handed down in the palace was actually fired by the official kiln in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Ge Kiln is mainly decorated with porcelain, mostly in the form of antique bronzes, such as ear jar, chrysanthemum petal plate, animal ear jar, string jar, long neck jar, three-legged ear jar, tripod jar, five-legged washing, sunflower wash, sunflower mouth bowl and so on. Getz tires are very dense, dark purple, gray or khaki; There are many kinds of glaze colors, such as pink, emerald, gray, beige and so on. The glaze is thin and smooth as jade, and there is a layer of ghee that is not very bright on the surface.

The main feature of Ge kiln is that there are large and small irregular lobes on the glaze, commonly known as "lobes" or "wenwu tablets", also known as ice cracks and broken lines. Known as "the beauty of flaw" and "the beauty of flaw", it is thought-provoking, and its crystalline glaze such as "oil drop", "rabbit hair" and "tortoise shell" is the pioneering work of Song people. As small as roe, it is called "roe pattern", while the curved slice is called "crab claw pattern", and the same size is called "hundred pieces". The texture of the small grain is golden yellow, and the texture of the big grain is iron black, so it is called "gold wire". Among them, the porcelain imitating the official kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty is black, and there are also "purple mouths and iron feet". The tire color is black, dark gray, light gray and khaki, the glaze color is opaque and opaque, and the glaze color is mainly grayish blue. Common uses include stoves, bottles, bowls, dishes, washing, etc. They are all exquisite in texture and fine in workmanship, and they are all the styles of palace porcelain, which are very different from those of folk kiln porcelain. The porcelain handed down from Geyao has not been unearthed in the tomb of Song Dynasty, and its kiln site has not been found, so researchers generally believe that the porcelain handed down from Geyao belongs to official kiln porcelain.

Famous Song porcelain products are stacked, which is often found in Song porcelain museums.