First, the evolution of plum bottles
The white glaze bottle of Xingyao in Tang Dynasty, which is now in the Palace Museum, is a kind of vessel that looks like a plum bottle and belongs to the category of large-mouthed vessels. In addition, a kind of pan-mouth bottle similar to plum bottle was unearthed in Yuezhou in Tang Dynasty. Whether it is far-fetched to compare it with plum bottle requires further archaeological excavation results.
Although the Khitan people are a minority in Mobei, China, who live a nomadic life by fishing and hunting, they have their own civilization history and created their own characters and customs. In the process of continuous communication with the Tang Dynasty, it absorbed and enriched their civilization process and promoted the development of the handmade porcelain industry of the Qidan people. As far as the production of ceramics is concerned, the production of Liao tricolor is more prosperous because of the prevalence of Tang tricolor. Similarly, in the Tang Dynasty, the white porcelain production in the north tended to be mature (such as the white porcelain unearthed from the burning wall in Xi 'an, Shaanxi), and the white porcelain in the Liao Dynasty was almost perfect. The appearance of any kind of ceramic ware is inseparable from life. In the Tang dynasty, porcelain mostly imitated the types of gold and silver vessels, while in the Liao dynasty, ceramic vessels were often produced according to their own needs. The appearance of chicken leg bottle illustrates this point.
When "Plum Bottle" appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, it still retained the brand of the Liao Dynasty drumstick bottle, such as the plum bottle carved in the Ding kiln in the Song Dynasty in the Palace Museum, the white and black plum bottle unearthed in Zhenping, Henan Province in 1974, and the plum bottle engraved with peony patterns in the green glaze of Yaozhou kiln (in Shanghai Museum). Although their shoulders are higher than the drumstick bottle, their mouths and gaskin are very similar to those of the drumstick bottle. During the confrontation between the Song and Liao Dynasties, the plum bottles produced by the cylinder tile kiln in the Liao Dynasty were very similar to those in the Song Dynasty, that is, 1974 plum bottles carved with peony patterns on white background unearthed from Faku Tomb in Liaoning Province. The middle and late Northern Song Dynasty was a prosperous period of ceramic production. After absorbing the advanced experience of other nationalities, Meiping gradually formed its own evolution and development, and its own style appeared. At this time, plum bottles are ever-changing, with many changes in the mouth, shoulders and abdomen. It can be said that the plum bottle at this time has completely broken away from the shackles of the early chicken leg bottle model and become a unique modeling variety, completing the evolution process.
Mei Ping in the Jin Dynasty continued to retain the northern style in the early Northern Song Dynasty. Their representative works include: 1972 Luyan Tumei Bottle unearthed in xian county, Hebei Province, Gu Qingmei Wine Plum Bottle in Cizhou Kiln of Jin Dynasty now in Shanghai Museum, and Bailong Zhengba Plum Bottle in Black Place in Bacun Kiln of Jin Dynasty.
Plum bottles in the Southern Song Dynasty became short and pithy, the bottle body was not as slender as the early plum bottles, and the shoulders were not as plump as those in the Northern Song Dynasty. Generally speaking, the plum bottle at this time gives people a round feeling. This is closely related to the spread of plum bottle modeling to the south. When this kind of modeling was accepted by kiln factories in the south, it abandoned the rough and stalwart style in the north, giving people a small and exquisite feeling. The representative plum bottles are the carved plum bottles of Jingdezhen kiln shadow in the Southern Song Dynasty now in the Palace Museum, the black glazed plum bottles unearthed from Jizhou kiln in Jiangxi Province 1972, and the covered plum bottles unearthed from Longquan kiln in the first year of Qingyuan in Songyang County, Zhejiang Province195.
The modeling of plum bottles in Yuan Dynasty has developed quite maturely, especially the production of blue and white plum bottles in Jingdezhen, which laid the foundation for the modeling continuation of plum bottles in Ming and Qing Dynasties. At this time, the plum bottle restored the original style of the northern plum bottle, but the shoulders, abdomen, feet and other parts became thicker and the mouth skills were exquisite. The artifacts of this period are represented by the blue-and-white plum bottles stored in Gao 'an, Jiangxi Province, the blue-and-white octagonal plum bottles unearthed in Baoding, Hebei Province, and the blue-and-white plum bottles now in Yangzhou Museum, Jiangxi Province. In terms of shape variation, plum bottles in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty have unique styles of round shoulders and shins, such as the plum bottles carved and covered in Longquan kiln in the Yuan Dynasty in the Palace Museum and the "Chunshou" plum bottles in Hongwu blue and white in Shanghai Museum.
Although there are underglaze red, blue and white, red glaze, sacrificial blue glaze, white glaze, Longquan glaze and imitation elder brother glaze in the Ming Dynasty. Although the modeling style of plum bottles at this time has changed in different times, the overall style is still unified. These include 1957 Ming Hongwu underglaze red pine-bamboo-plum covered vase unearthed from Songhu tomb in Jiangning, Jiangxi, Xuande blue-and-white covered vase in the Palace Museum, and Wanli blue-and-white covered vase in the Dingling Museum in the Ming Dynasty. In addition to handed down products, a large number of Ming Dynasty plum bottles unearthed in tombs have undoubtedly become the standard device for identifying plum bottles.
Plum bottles in Qing Dynasty are basically made in front of us as handed down from generation to generation. At this time, porcelain production mostly appeared in the form of imperial kiln factory, with the color of emperor's likes and dislikes. At this time, the shape of plum bottle basically continued the style of Yongle and Xuande in Ming Dynasty, giving people a calm and solemn but slightly flashy feeling. Plum bottles in Qing dynasty changed the round shoulder shape of plum bottles in Ming dynasty, and most of them appeared in front of us with rich shoulders and straight shoulders.
In a word, the modeling evolution of Meiping has gone through a long process, and its appearance reflects the integration of customs and cultural connotations of China's multi-ethnic family.