China porcelain is famous at home and abroad for its long history, beautiful shape, excellent texture and beautiful decoration. The relationship between porcelain and CHINA is so close that the English word China has double meanings of "China" and "porcelain".
Before we further understand the double meaning of the English word "CHINA", let's briefly describe the origin of porcelain and its development in China.
The Emergence and Development of China Porcelain
The predecessor of porcelain is primitive celadon, which is the product of the transition from pottery to porcelain. The earliest primitive celadon in China was found at the Fenglongshan Cultural Site in Xixia County, about 4200 years ago. There are pots and bowls. Primitive celadon is widely distributed in China, and is found in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the southern region.
The real porcelain in China appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220). First, it began to appear in the southern part of Zhejiang Province. Porcelain kiln sites and celadon in the late Eastern Han Dynasty were discovered in Shangpu Xiaoxiantan, Shangyu County, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. Porcelain bricks are fine in texture, glossy in glaze and closely combined with fetal glaze. It can be seen from the micrograph that there is no residual time under the glaze of celadon fragments. This kind of glaze has got rid of the primitiveness of primitive celadon in appearance and microstructure. Reach the standard of real porcelain.
After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the marriage of the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty? Forced burial? 20-58 1 year) The production of southern celadon such as Zhejiang Yueyao has always been in a leading position. Shaoxing, Yuhang, Xing Wu and other places also have kilns, forming a unique kiln system. The so-called kiln system means that a famous kiln and some kilns nearby or in other provinces all produce one or more products of the same type. These kilns form a kiln system and are named after the main and most influential kilns. Zhejiang is the earliest area where kiln system was formed in China, which may be related to the fact that it is the birthplace of China porcelain and the porcelain-making industry is particularly developed.
Yue kiln produced celadon and black porcelain, and celadon and brown-dotted porcelain were also produced in the late Western Jin Dynasty, that is, brown dots were added to the main parts of the utensils to break the monochrome style of celadon.
The tire quality of the Three Kingdoms Yue Kiln is hard, delicate and light gray. The glaze juice is pure, mainly light cyan, and yellow or cyan is rare; There are bowls, plates, pots, basins, washbasins, bowls, boxes, plates, ear cups, incense burners, spittoons, pots, pickle jars and other daily-use porcelain. New products such as flat pot, chicken pot, candlestick, evil spirits and so on appeared in the Western Jin Dynasty. Buddhism prevailed in the Southern Dynasties, and porcelain was mostly decorated with lotus petals or lotus flowers. During the hundreds of years from the Three Kingdoms to the unification of Sui Dynasty, the porcelain production represented by Yue Kiln has made great progress. It has many varieties and novel styles, and has penetrated into all fields of life. Become an electrical appliance that people can't live without for a moment.
In addition, there are famous kiln sites in the south, such as Wuzhou kiln, Xiangyin kiln and Fengcheng kiln.
The appearance of northern porcelain was later than that of the south, and it developed in the last hundred years from the late Northern Wei Dynasty to the unification of Sui Dynasty (AD 58 1-6 18). There are bowls, plates, cups, cans, pots, bottles, boxes and so on. Most of the celadon in the Northern Dynasties were daily necessities, and there were few furnishings. Lotus petal jar is a typical product of the Northern Dynasties. It is divided into three series, four series, six series and square series, round series and strip series, all of which are piled up from shoulder to abdomen into fat lotus petals, ranging from six to eight petals, with a circle of feet at the bottom. The artifacts that best represent the production level of celadon in the north are four lotus statues unearthed from Feng Tomb in Jingxian County, Hebei Province. Its largest piece is about 70 cm high, and it is decorated with flying patterns, treasure patterns, animal faces and dragon patterns from the mouth to the shoulders. There are six series of shoulders, with six layers of plastic under the shoulders and lotus petals covered on them.
Although the production of northern porcelain was hundreds of years later than that of the south, once the production of celadon was mastered, the production technology and craft level were quickly improved, and combined with the humanistic characteristics of the north, white porcelain appeared. White porcelain is developed from celadon, and the only difference between them lies in the difference of iron content in the tire and glaze. When the iron content of porcelain clay is low, the tire is white, and when the iron content is high, the tire color is dark gray, light gray or dark gray. As far as the development of porcelain itself is concerned, it is from single glazed porcelain to colored porcelain. Whether it is brown green, white and black flowers, blue and white, underglaze red, or fighting colors, multicolored, famille rose and enamel, white is used as a foil to show the gorgeous and wonderful colors. Therefore, the appearance of white porcelain has a far-reaching impact on the development of porcelain. By the Tang Dynasty, the pattern of "southern blue and northern white" had been formed.
10 pieces of white porcelain unearthed from Fan Cui's tomb in the sixth year of Wuping in Northern Qi Dynasty (AD 575) are the earliest known white porcelain, including bowls, cups, three-series cans, four-series cans and long-necked bottles.
In the Tang Dynasty (AD 6 18-9 17), southern celadon, northern white porcelain and tricolor porcelain; The colorful porcelain of Changsha kiln in Hunan Province has also developed greatly.
Among them, the porcelain of Changsha kiln has been unearthed in 73 places in Asia, Africa 13 countries, which shows that its influence has spread all over the world. Judging from the Hu sculpture, date, palm print and Arabic characters in its products, there may be porcelain specially produced for export.
In the Song Dynasty (960- 1279), on the basis of the Tang Dynasty, five famous kilns "Ding, Ru, Guan, Ge and Jun" appeared at the same time.
The Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1279- 1368) was a turning point in China porcelain production, with innovation and development in many aspects. From Kublai Khan in Yuan Shizu to the 15th year of Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1278), the Yuan Empire established the "Floating Beam Porcelain Bureau" in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, which created favorable conditions for the development of Jingdezhen porcelain production and laid a solid foundation for it to become the national porcelain center and the world-renowned "porcelain capital" in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Jingdezhen made a new breakthrough in porcelain-making technology in Yuan Dynasty, the most prominent being firing blue and white and underglaze red.
Blue-and-white porcelain generally refers to underglaze colored porcelain, with cobalt as colorant, then covered with transparent glaze and fired at high temperature once, showing blue flowers on a white background. Blue and white porcelain fully embodies the national characteristics of China. Once it appeared in Jingdezhen, it developed rapidly with strong vitality, became the mainstream of production for hundreds of years, and exported to all parts of China and Asian and African countries. Red in glaze is a kind of underglaze red porcelain, which is made by painting decorative patterns on the tire, covering it with transparent glaze and firing it in high temperature reducing atmosphere. It is difficult to braise under glaze, and the yield is low, especially the solid color is less. Glazed red is bright in color, and red flowers on a white background are eye-catching and very popular.
The Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368- 1644) and the Qing Dynasty (A.D.1644-1911) were the heyday of porcelain production in China, and the quantity and quality of porcelain production reached the peak. The establishment of Jingdezhen "porcelain capital" made Jingdezhen kiln rule the porcelain altar in Ming and Qing dynasties for hundreds of years until today. At that time, all kinds of glazed porcelain and painted porcelain were outstanding representatives of Jingdezhen porcelain-making level.
The road of cultural exchange between Chinese and foreign ceramics
By the Han Dynasty, the famous "Silk Road" had communicated the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, and China was gradually called the "Silk Country". After entering the Middle Ages, with the export of China porcelain, China became famous as "the country of porcelain". China ceramics have been exported since the end of the 8th century. From the late Tang Dynasty to the early Song Dynasty, it reached its climax. The varieties of ceramics exported at this stage include Tang Sancai, Xing Kiln (including Ding Kiln) White Porcelain, Yue Kiln Celadon, Changsha Kiln Colored Porcelain, and Olive Glazed Celadon (bowls produced by kilns in Guangdong coastal areas and jars used as storage containers). The export regions and countries are: North Korea and Japan in Northeast Asia; Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in Southeast Asia; Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India in South Asia; Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Oman in West Asia; Egypt in North Africa; Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. At this time, there are two main maritime traffic routes, one is from Yangzhou or Mingzhou (now Ningbo) via North Korea or directly to Japan; The second route is from Guangzhou to Southeast Asian countries, or out of the Straits of Malacca, into the Indian Ocean, and through Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan to the Persian Gulf. At that time, some ships continued to sail westward along the Arabian Peninsula and reached Africa. Porcelain unearthed from medieval sites in Asian and African countries in the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty were transported through these two routes.
The Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties were the second stage of China porcelain export. At this time, the porcelain varieties exported abroad mainly include Longquan celadon, Jingdezhen celadon, blue and white porcelain, underglaze red porcelain, underglaze black porcelain, Jizhou kiln porcelain, Ganzhou kiln porcelain, celadon produced in some kiln sites in Fujian and Guangdong, Jianye kiln black porcelain, Zhejiang Jinhua Tiedian kiln imitation jun glaze porcelain, Cizhou kiln porcelain, Dingyuan kiln porcelain, Yaozhou kiln porcelain and so on. It is particularly worth mentioning that 1 1 times was excavated in the aforementioned sinking of the ship in Xin 'an, North Korea, and more than 20,000 pieces of ceramics were unearthed. Except for a few Korean and Japanese porcelains, they are all produced in China, and most of them have been identified as Yaokou. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, porcelain exports increased greatly, including all countries in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, most countries in South Asia and West Asia, countries on the east coast of Africa and inland Zimbabwe. During the Song, Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, there were mainly routes to Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean routes to the Persian Gulf. During this period, China's achievements in navigation were mainly manifested in the Indian Ocean route. First, you can go west from the Persian Gulf along the coast to Jeddah Port in the Red Sea, and then land in Mecca; You can also go ashore at the port of Ed Hab on the Sudanese border, carry it to the Nile, and then go downstream to Fausta (ancient Cairo); You can also cross the Mande Strait from Hongkoukou to East African countries. The second is to open a route across the Indian Ocean from Malé Port in Maldives to the east coast of Africa.
More than 200 years from the middle and late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty was the golden period of China porcelain export. The exported porcelains are mainly Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain, colored porcelain, Guangdong Shiwan porcelain, Fujian Dehua white porcelain and blue-and-white porcelain, Anxi blue-and-white porcelain and so on. Among them, the more exquisite export porcelain are mostly foreign products, and their shapes and decorations are mostly western colors. Some have family, company, group, city and other patterns painted on the decorative patterns, which are called heraldic porcelain. During this period, there were a large number of exported porcelain, with an annual output of about 200,000 pieces in17th century and a maximum of about one million pieces in18th century. The exporting countries are the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and America. One transportation route is from China, Fujian and Guangdong coastal ports to Africa, then bypassing the Cape of Good Hope and sailing along the west coast of Africa to western European countries; The other is from Zhangzhou and Xiamen ports in Fujian to Manila in the Philippines, and then across the Pacific Ocean eastward to Acapulco port in Mexico. After landing, it will land, pass through Mexico City to the port of Veracruz on the Atlantic coast, and then the shipowner will go to Western European countries. 17 and 18 centuries, China porcelain was sold all over the world by sea and became a world commodity, which played a positive role in the development of human history.
China and China.
/kloc-in the 7th century, the royal families and courts in western Europe began to collect China porcelain. A celadon bowl in the Lund Museum in Kassel, Germany, with the heraldic pattern of Count Thelen Borg (1435- 1455) on it, is the earliest surviving Ming dynasty porcelain in Europe, and has been a family heirloom of the Hessian family for hundreds of years. After Portugal opened a new air route, porcelain became the most precious gift in European society. Vasga? Da? Gama and Amanda both won the favor of Portuguese Wang Man Neuer I with porcelain. The existing blue-and-white pot with the emblem of Manuel I (1469- 152 1) in the cortes exhibition hall in Lisbon is the earliest export porcelain specially made by China for western Europe. During the years of Zheng De and Jiajing, most of these orders were sold to Europe through Portugal. 1604, the Dutch looted the Portuguese galleon St. Catherine named this batch of porcelain Kraaksporeleint and shipped it to Amsterdam for auction. King Henry IV of France and King James I of England also participated in the purchase, so the influence of China ceramics spread in Europe.
The European rococo artistic style, which originated at the end of17th century and continued at the end of18th century, is characterized by vividness, elegance, lightness and naturalness, and the artistic style advocated by it is similar to that of China. Rococo style is popular in France, and the French are particularly fond of tea, silk and porcelain in China. At that time, France was the center of European literature, art, drama, etiquette, clothing and decoration, so articles with "Chinese style" spread all over European society.
When porcelain first entered Europe, the French called it celadon, the hero of the popular novel estelle the Shepherd. King Louis XIV of France ordered Mazar -e-Lan, the prime minister, to set up a porcelain company to order porcelain with French armor in Guangdong. There is a room in Versailles dedicated to the collection of China ceramics. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, the British directly referred to porcelain from China as "porcelain". Queen Mary Ⅱ of England also loves porcelain. There are many glass cabinets in the palace to display all kinds of porcelain. As a result, the decoration and daily use of China porcelain became popular in British society, and porcelain gradually became an indispensable display in the living room and inner room.
With the wide spread of China porcelain in Britain and continental Europe, the word China has become synonymous with porcelain, making "China" and "porcelain" inseparable puns.
According to the Chinese entries in English-Chinese Dictionary of Vocabulary-Ocean (edited by Wang, National Defense Industry Press, 1987), the meaning of porcelain as porcelain originated from Persian chini (from China or China). Due to the influence of China's appearance on China, vowels changed, from chini to China, and became porcelain.
As for when this change was finally finalized, it is still unknown, but what is certain is that it is based on the brilliant achievements of ancient ceramics in China, and the spread of ceramics caused by it, which makes this kind of article with unique China characteristics loved by people all over the world, and makes China and porcelain together forever.