How to choose tea ware - the history of porcelain
The Underlying Logic of Porcelain
As a tea set practitioner, I would like to share my knowledge about porcelain so that those who love porcelain can gain a deeper understanding of its charms. I hope my sharing can bring you new feelings and thoughts.
In the next content, I will lead you to understand how to judge the advantages and disadvantages of a piece of porcelain and how to select the porcelain that meets your needs from the perspective of connoisseurship. I believe that through in-depth understanding of the production process, historical development and aesthetic characteristics of porcelain, everyone can find their own tea ware.
What is good tea ware?
It all started with one question - what is good porcelain?
To answer this question, I will start from the birth of porcelain and introduce its development. Due to my limited English skills, some of the content will be translated with the help of translation tools, if there are any errors, please feel free to correct them. If you want to reprint or quote this article, please indicate the source.
The birth and development of porcelain
Humans have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years from walking upright to using tools.
Our utensils have also evolved over thousands of years from primitive pottery to more refined ceramic vessels. In Chinese culture, ceramic wares from different dynasties have unique styles and characteristics.
Origin of Pottery
The history of pottery can be traced back to 20,000 years ago, and the pottery shards unearthed in Xianren Cave in Wannian, Jiangxi Province are considered to be the earliest pottery remains in the world. The initial pottery was relatively roughly made, and due to the backward firing process (usually made by applying clay to the surface of strawware and then firing it), the surface was prone to peeling off after long-term use. In the next, I will cover the development of porcelain in the order of the Chinese dynasties.
Photo: Pottery shards excavated in Xianren Cave
The Development of Porcelain
Xia, Shang and Zhou periods: the transition from pottery to porcelain
At this stage, people gradually skilled in the use of tools, and began to record the text. Pottery is mainly practical, the shape and decoration of the vessel is relatively simple, has not yet formed a real sense of porcelain.
Photo: Xia Dynasty Ceramics (Shanxi Museum)
Qin and Han Dynasties: The King's Power Drives Ceramics Development
After the unification of the six kingdoms by Qin Shi Huang, pottery developed rapidly, and the Terracotta Warriors are the representatives of ceramic craftsmanship in this period. The Han Dynasty ceramics more economic and practical, daily small vessels increased, the large apparatus to reduce.
Photo: Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty: The Peak of the Ceramic Industry
This was a dynasty with a highly developed economy, politics and culture. The royal aristocrats were very extravagant, and after their deaths, they would be accompanied by a large number of burial objects (Tang Sancai is the most representative cultural relics). At that time the society of the common people also very pursuit of ceramics, so stimulate the development of handicrafts. So much so that in the contemporary Tang Dynasty, the ceramics industry had already reached its peak and was even sold overseas.
Photo: Tang Sancai
Song Dynasty: The Rise of Minimalist Aesthetics
The Song Dynasty evolved and became more literate, when people no longer pursued luxury and opulence. Instead, they had a deeper understanding of culture and art. So the ceramic ware of the Song Dynasty is more elegant and elegant compared to the Tang Dynasty. This is the development of literature and art and the social atmosphere of the Song Dynasty is inseparable. (I personally believe that the Song Dynasty utensils opened the door to the minimalist style of Chinese ceramics) far and famous “five kilns” (five kilns refers to China's Song Dynasty, the establishment of the five kilns to burn porcelain) was born in the Song Dynasty.
Photo: Song Dynasty Porcelain
Yuan Dynasty: blue-and-white porcelain
The Yuan Dynasty was a dynasty that carried on from the past to the present, and the blue and white porcelain of Jingdezhen best characterizes the ceramic industry of this dynasty.
Photo: blue-and-white porcelain
Ming Dynasty: Establishment of Jingdezhen
The Ming Dynasty marked an important turning point in the development of Chinese porcelain, with the development of monochrome glazes and painted porcelain, which distinguished it from the predominantly blue and white porcelain of the past. The porcelain of this period paid more attention to the general aesthetics of the public, and as a result, porcelain had a great development in the folk. The Ming dynasty will be the most important ceramic manufacturing center in Jingdezhen. Also set up the official kiln, that is, for the imperial court used ceramic ware.
Photo: Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain
Qing Dynasty: the prosperity and decline of porcelain
In the early Qing dynasty developed a series of long-lasting security policies, reduce taxes and fees, abandoned the threshold of becoming a craftsman, which played a positive role in the development of ceramics, they are mainly concentrated in: Kangxi / Yongzheng / Qianlong three dynasties. And to the late Qing government, due to the corruption of the government at that time and the war factor, with the disintegration of feudal society, the development of ceramics gradually decline.
Photo: Qing Dynasty Porcelain
Modern times: the revival of Jingdezhen
After the demise of the Qing government and the end of feudal society, Jingdezhen faded from the public eye. But moving forward in time to the modern era, Jingdezhen reopened its kilns and re-fired in 2016, rekindling new hope. Let us in the fast-changing contemporary era can also appreciate the porcelain through the history to bring us cultural precipitation.
Personal opinion
All in all, if I look at it from my personal subjective point of view, from emergence to development, from roughness to refinement.
Song Dynasty is a very special period, it not only gave birth to the five famous kilns (this I will mention in future content). It not only gave birth to the five famous kilns (which I will mention later), but also allowed the porcelain industry in China to develop in different styles from north to south, and also made Jingdezhen famous all over the world.
Ming Dynasty established Jingdezhen in the center of the ceramics industry (Ming Dynasty period in Jingdezhen set up exclusively for the royal family and the use of porcelain field).
These two dynasties changed porcelain a lot.
Conclusion
If you've read this far, I'm sure you have a keen interest in porcelain. Thank you for reading and making my sharing more meaningful.
This post serves as the opening of my blog, combing through the development of Chinese porcelain from ancient times to the present. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to leave a comment. What else would you like to know about porcelain or tea sets? Your feedback will provide me with a clearer creative direction.
The above content refers to a number of books, and combined with personal experience, there may still be omissions, but I hope to bring you new inspiration.