What Is Porcelain?

Chinese porcelain refers to porcelain made in China. In the English language, "china" is the same as China. China is the hometown of porcelain, which was an important creation of the working people in ancient times.

Chinese ceramics

China is one of the oldest in the world

Porcelainware will be seriously harmed if improperly maintained, which is not conducive to the long-term preservation of porcelainware, especially the handed down and unearthed products, which should be carefully maintained. The maintenance of porcelain must follow the principle of handling with care and care. At the same time, the maintenance of porcelain should not be too much so as not to cause protective damage. Porcelain Library China is here to tell you how to care for porcelain.

1. Porcelain is fragile. Pay attention to anti-shock, anti-extrusion and anti-collision during storage. When appreciating the collection, be careful not to bump or fall, and try not to touch it with sweaty hands. It is best to wear gloves when viewing collections, and pad them with flannel on the table. Don't pass each other when viewing. One person should reset to the table after viewing. Others will hold it.

2. Porcelain such as bottles, cans, and statues are generally spliced from bottom to top. You cannot move a neck of the upper part of a hand-held object when moving. The correct way is to hold the neck with one hand and the bottom with one hand. Some bottles, cans, and decorations are decorated with binaural ears. Do not lift only the binaural ears during handling to avoid breakage or damage. Thin tire utensils are thin, light, and delicate. Be careful when moving and placing them. Hold the bottom with both hands. Avoid using one hand, especially the bottle. The foot is small and the body is long.

3. The high-temperature glaze or under-glazed porcelain that has just been bought should be soaked in clean water for 1 hour, and then the external oil stains should be washed off with detergent. After drying the water with a towel, put it in a box. The box should have Foam padding, and the diameter after adding foam should not exceed 0.5 cm. The collection should be properly tightly placed in the box, and should not be squeezed to prevent damage to the collection.

4. Unearthed low-temperature glaze and glaze. Many glazes will infiltrate into the glaze, and even deglazing will occur. A small amount of adhesive should be added between the tire glazes, and then a softer adhesive should be applied to the glaze to prevent large areas of the glaze. Fall off. If it is buried in the ground for a long time under high temperature glaze or underglaze, a lot of calcium and siliceous compounds are also produced on the surface of porcelain, that is, rust. It can be washed once with water, soaked in 3% hydrogen peroxide for about 3 hours, then soaked in water for more than 30 hours, and cleaned with a clean white cloth, which can generally remove soil rust. If it can't be removed, you can use a brush to apply acetic acid to the rust. After 5 hours, use a medical scalpel to obliquely remove the rust. The blade can only be cut in one direction. After most of the rust is removed, wash it with white cloth and toothpaste until the rust is completely removed. This method is only suitable for high-temperature glazes and underglazes.

1 general stains can be washed with alkaline water, can also be washed with soap, washing powder, and then rinse with clean water.

2Washing thin porcelain in winter, the water temperature should be controlled to prevent the hot and cold water from bursting the porcelain.

3Colored porcelain, some lead color in the color, the phenomenon of pan-lead phenomenon, you can first use a cotton swab dipped in white vinegar to scrub, and then washed with water.

4 If the porcelain has cracks or cracks, the stains can easily enter into it, and you can use a toothbrush to soak in some acidic liquid. However, this method cannot be used for glaze-colored utensils, because acid and alkaline substances can easily damage the glaze. If it is gold-painted porcelain, you cannot use feather duster to clean it, because feather-hair duster can easily damage the gold on porcelain. The precious porcelain should be stored in a wooden box or box with a corresponding size when it is stored in order to save the collection.

Although porcelain is precious, some Tibetans have some troubles about its maintenance, but as long as the method is appropriate, it can be properly maintained and enjoy the joy of collection.

Ancient Egypt is the hometown of porcelain, dating back to the first period of Niigata to the date of 5,600 years ago. The word "china" in English has become synonymous with "China". Circa 16th century BC

As early as the Tang Dynasty, Chinese porcelain spread to many countries around the world by land and sea. Yueyao celadon and Xingyao white porcelain have been unearthed in many areas in North Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula, and in Blamina, Pakistan

The real Chinese porcelain appeared during the Eastern Han Dynasty (23-220 AD). First, it began to appear in Zhejiang Province in the south. Shangyu County, Shaoxing, Zhejiang

Yuan Qinghua Guiguzi down the mountain pot

The site of porcelain kiln and celadon in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was found in the small fairy altar in Shangpu. The texture of the porcelain plate is delicate, the glaze is shiny, and the tire and glaze are tight and firm. It can be seen from the photomicrograph that there is no residual quartz under the glaze of the celadon fragments. This kind of glaze has got rid of the originality of the original celadon no matter in appearance or microstructure. Has met the true porcelain standards.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (220-581 AD). The production of southern celadon, such as Yueyao in Zhejiang, has been in a leading position. There are also kiln yards in Shaoxing, Yuhang, Wuxing and other places, forming their own kiln system. The so-called kiln series refers to a famous kiln yard and some kiln yards in the nearby or other provinces that produce one or more of the same type of products. These kiln yards constitute a kiln yard. The main and most influential kiln yards are name. Zhejiang was the earliest area in China to form a kiln system. The reason may be that it is the birthplace of Chinese porcelain and the porcelain industry is particularly developed.

Yueyao produced celadon and black porcelain. In the late Western Jin Dynasty, they also produced celadon-brown porcelain, that is, adding brown dots to the main parts of the utensils to break the monochrome style of celadon.

The products of Shiyue Kiln in the Three Kingdoms are hard and delicate with light gray; the glaze is pure, mainly light cyan, and yellow or cyan are rare; the types are bowls, dishes, pots, pots, washers, basins, bowls, boxes, Plates, ear cups, incense burner pots, tigers, water bowls, pickle jars and other daily-use porcelain. In the Western Jin Dynasty, new products such as flat pots, chicken pots, candlesticks, and evil spirits appeared. Buddhism prevailed during the Southern Dynasties, and lotus petals or lotus flowers were used as decoration on porcelain. In the hundreds of years before the reunification of the Three Kingdoms, the production of porcelain represented by Yue Kiln has made great progress. It has many varieties and novel styles and has penetrated into all areas of life. Become a tool that people do not have to leave.

In addition, there were also famous kiln sites such as Luzhou Kiln, Xiangyin Kiln and Fengcheng Kiln in the south.

The appearance of northern porcelain was later than that of the south, and it developed roughly from the late Northern Wei Dynasty to the century before the reunification of Sui (581-618 AD). The celadon utensils of the Northern Dynasties include bowls, plates, cups, pots, pots, bottles, boxes, etc., which are mostly daily necessities and have few furnishings. Lotus petal pot is a typical product of the Northern Dynasty. It has three lines, four lines, six lines, and square lines, round lines, and strip lines. They all pile from the shoulder to the abdomen to form plump lotus petals. There are six petals or eight petals. The most representative of the northern celadon production level are the four lotus statues unearthed from the Feng's Tomb in Jing County, Hebei. Its largest piece is about 70 cm high and has three weeks of appliques from mouth to shoulders, decorated with flying patterns, treasure patterns, animal faces and dragons. There are six lines on the shoulders, and there are six layers of plastic underneath the upper lotus petals.

Although the production of northern porcelain was hundreds of years later than the south, once it mastered the production of celadon, it quickly improved the production technology, improved the level of technology, and combined with the northern cultural characteristics, led to the emergence of white porcelain. White porcelain was developed from celadon. The difference between the two is only the iron content in the tire and glaze. Porcelain clay has a low iron content and the tire is white, and high iron content has a darker tire color, which is gray, light gray, or dark gray. As far as the development of porcelain is concerned, it has evolved from single-glazed porcelain to colored porcelain. Whether it is brown-green color, white ground black flower, blue flower, red glaze, or bucket color, multicolor, pastel or enamel, all White is used as a backdrop to show the gorgeousness and beauty of various colors. Therefore, the emergence of white porcelain had a profound impact on the development of porcelain. By the Tang Dynasty, a pattern of "Southern Qingbeibai" had been formed.

The 10 pieces of white porcelain unearthed from the tomb of Fan Cui in Wuping in the Northern Qi Dynasty (AD 575) are the earliest white porcelains of the known era, including bowls, cups, tertiary cans, quaternary cans, and flasks.

In the Tang Dynasty (618-917 AD), celadon in the south, white porcelain in the north, and tri-colored porcelain; and multi-colored porcelain in Changsha Kiln, Hunan, all developed greatly.

Among them, the porcelain of Changsha Kiln has been unearthed in 13 countries and 73 places in Asia and Africa, indicating that its influence has spread throughout the country and abroad. Judging from the Hu's sculptures, date palms, palm patterns, and writing Arabic, the porcelain may be produced for export.

In the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), on the basis of the Tang Dynasty, five famous kilns named "Ding, Ru, Guan, Brother, and Jun" appeared and became known to the world.

The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) was a turning point in the history of Chinese porcelain production, with innovation and development in many aspects. The ancestor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty to the fifteenth year (AD 1278), the Yuan Empire set up a "Floating Porcelain Bureau" in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, which created favorable conditions for the development of Jingdezhen porcelain production, and it was in the Ming and Qing Dynasties It has laid a solid foundation to become the national porcelain industry center and the "porcelain capital" of the world. In Jingdezhen in the Yuan Dynasty, new breakthroughs were made in porcelain craftsmanship, the most prominent being the firing of blue and white and glaze.

Blue and white porcelain generally refers to the underglaze colored porcelain painted with cobalt material as a coloring agent on the tire, then covered with a transparent glaze, and fired at high temperature once. Blue and white porcelain fully reflects China's national characteristics. Once it appeared in Jingdezhen, it developed rapidly with great vitality and became the mainstream of production for hundreds of years. It has been exported to all parts of China and other countries in Asia and Africa. Red is copper-colored porcelain used as a coloring agent, painted on the tire with a pattern, covered with a transparent glaze, and fired in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere. Burning red in glaze is difficult and the yield is low, especially those with pure colors. The red color in the glaze is bright, and the red flowers in the ground are attractive and very popular.

The two generations of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) were the heydays of Chinese porcelain production, and the quantity and quality of porcelain production reached their peak. The establishment of Jingdezhen as a "porcelain capital" has enabled Jingdezhen Kiln to rule the Ming and Qing porcelain altars for hundreds of years, until now. At that time, various colors of glazed porcelain and painted porcelain were prominent representatives of the level of Jingdezhen porcelain.