Full type of decoration, whether round or carved utensils, the entire utensil is covered with blue and white patterns. Some of the utensils are covered with blue and white patterns as many as 8 layers, thereby highlighting the magnificence of Yuan blue and white. Another form of full decoration of Yuan blue and white is to highlight the white pattern or make a diamond curve on the ground pattern, and paint a theme pattern inside the consecration. This full design method is mostly reflected in the octagonal utensils. It seems complicated, but in fact it is arranged in an orderly manner, with strong aesthetic effects and contemporary style.

The decoration of sparse forms emphasizes that whether it is round or the blue and white patterns of the carved utensils are composed of separate patterns, with sparse and lively and natural decorations. For example, the blue and white dragon-patterned jade pot spring bottle in the Toyo Ceramics Museum in Osaka, Japan, is painted with a one-stop coiled body of the utensil. The picture is simple, giving people the feeling of a dragon flying freely in the vast space, and the visual effect is excellent. Another sparse pattern is realistic or freehand porcelain painting, with a wider picture. In addition, some blue and white patterns of folk offerings and burial objects are more sparse and bold, and the patterns are quickly drawn with lines, which can be said to be done in one go and unique.

There are several more standardized patterns in the Yuan blue and white decorations, thus forming the characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty patterns:

1. The deformed lotus petal pattern is commonly known as the "eight-large size". Regardless of the round, the carving vessel often uses 8 lotus petals as decorative strips, and a variety of patterns are added to each petal, including flowers, clouds, flames, miscellaneous treasures, etc. The Yuan Dynasty style of the painting of lotus petals is more obvious, and a thick line and a thin line are used to outline the outline lines in parallel. Each petal is not connected, leaving a certain gap.

2. In the Yuan Dynasty, the flower patterns were mostly lotus and peonies, followed by ju flowers. The painting forms of these three flowers were relatively fixed, and the peony leaves were plump and pointed braided; the lotus flowers and leaves were gourd-shaped leaves with wings; the ju flowers and leaves were five-fork leaves. The three flowers were not filled with color and had natural white edges.

3. Gardenia is a unique pattern in Yuan blue and white. Five-petal small flowers and small leaf-shaped flowers are mostly used as borders. Relevant experts have proved that this flower is also called the Mutual Flower, and it is said to be a flower loved by Buddha.

4. Most blue and white plates have outer walls and bottles and jar shoulders decorated with lotus patterns. The outer walls of the plate are more common.

5. The shoulders of bottles and jars often have blue and white cloud head patterns, called "cloud shoulders". The cloud head patterns are decorated with seahors, sea lotus, folded branches, and linlin, etc., also known as drooping cloud patterns. They are very distinctive decorations on Yuan blue and white, and are rare in other eras.

6. A two-sided continuous pattern consisting of waves and seawater is drawn with thick solid lines in the seawater patterns depicted by thin lines to form wave patterns, forming a distinctive Yuan Dynasty seawater pattern.

7. Banana leaf pattern is often used as a border or decorative tape between the patterns. The painting method emphasizes the use of thick lines to describe the edge lines of the banana leaf, and then the use of thin lines to describe the leaf veins.

(III) Patterns

Among the main patterns of , plants include: peony patterns, lotus patterns, ju patterns, pine, bamboo and plum patterns, moon and plum patterns, etc. In addition to the above main flowers, morning glory, camellia, crabapple, roses, jujube flowers and daylily, Ganoderma lucidum, banana or bamboo and stone grapes, fruits, grass insects, etc. The animals include: dragon patterns, phoenix patterns, unicorn patterns, fish and algae patterns, mandarin duck lying lotus patterns, peacock patterns, deer patterns, seahorse patterns, etc. Among them, the dragon patterns in the Yuan Dynasty are very distinctive, with a slender body as a snake, a flat and long head, a double horn, a mouth exposed to teeth, a slender neck, a thin neck, a thin leg, a concave tendon, a concave and convex claws, three fingers, four fingers or five fingers, a strong split, and a elbow hair and a tail mane are all flaming.

The characters in the blue and white Yuan Dynasty are unique and combined with drama to transplant the storylines of famous historical figures onto porcelain pictures, presenting a new artistic realm, with strong infectiousness, which is incomparable to other eras.

The characters are all painted on larger objects, such as lid jars, plum bottles, jade pot spring bottles, etc. The lid jars and plum bottles have thicker belly diameters and large painting areas, and are mostly used to express the subject matter with a broad scene. The pictures are mostly placed in the main part of the middle section of the utensil, with outstanding visual features and strong impact. The neck and shoulders of the Yu pot spring bottle are slender, with a large belly sagging, and generally choose pictures with few characters and small scenes. If you need to express a large scene, you often use the whole tool to paint.

The main themes of this type are General Meng Tian, ​​Zhou Yafu, Wen Ji returns to the Han Dynasty, Zhao Jun goes out to the frontier, Xiao He chases Han Xin, visits Han cottages three times, respects De Save the Lord, Tao Yuanming loves jujube, etc. The blue and white porcelain painted with such patterns has a delicate texture, white and even glaze color, and the cobalt oxide materials used for coloring, whether domestic blue and imported Su Nibo blue materials, are very pure. The painter's painting skills are superb. At the same time, there are very few porcelain kilns that meet these conditions, which is also the reason why there are few blue and white porcelains in the characters. If there are, most of them are from Jingdezhen Kiln, which has the highest porcelain art level at that time.

In addition, the decorative patterns of Yuan Dynasty porcelain are combined with Buddhist art. Lotus petals, lotus flowers, miscellaneous treasures, etc. have almost become the necessary decorative content on , explaining the influence of Buddhist art on arts and crafts.

There are many types of auxiliary patterns of Yuan blue and white, with realistic content or geometric patterns of pattern. After the Ming Dynasty, most of the blue and white porcelain patterns followed the Yuan blue and white painting methods, but there were slight variations. This difference has a more obvious reflection on auxiliary patterns and is an important proof of identification of Yuan blue and white.

1, waves

The wavy patterns on Yuan blue and white are used on the edges of the plate, the isolation between the patterns inside the plate and the shading of the floral patterns. The plate with wavy patterns on the edges is generally a diamond edge.

Wave patterns are composed of two parts: wave patterns and ripples. The wave patterns on are outlined with thick lines of lightness and weight change, and are like "Buddha's hand", like palm leaves and ginger buds, called ginger buds and sea water. The ripples are drawn with extremely fine lines, radial or vortexy, and the latter is like a human fingerprint. There is white space between waves to increase the sense of space. Some wave patterns are painted with simple flowers.

Some of the printed floral patterns are corrugated and extend the adjacent wavy patterns.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the blue and white wave patterns were simplified. The wave patterns were hollowed out with thin lines. Some were painted with small circles to indicate the waves. The ripples were thick and sparse, layer by layer, and surging. There were no fingerprint-like vortexes.

2. Variety lotus petals

Lotus petals are divided into realistic and abstract properties. The latter is a variant lotus petal, which has a different meaning and is widely used.

The variant lotus petals on Yuan blue and white are decorated in bottles, jars and tibia. Each petal is independent and consists of double frames of thick outer and thin inner frames. The inner frame is drawn in one stroke, and the outer frame is doubled and then filled in color or thick lines. The thick lines are drawn in two strokes, both starting from the middle. The shoulders of the lotus petals are folded squarely. The inner frame lines and the inner pattern of the lotus petals are connected. The lotus petals are filled with mixed treasures (flames, beads, etc.), flowers (mainly lotus chrysanthemums) or cloud head, and a circle is added under the cloud head.

The outer frames of the variant lotus petals in the early Ming Dynasty borrowed each other, with slightly round and soft shoulders, simple patterns inside the lotus petals, including treasure flowers, vortex patterns, etc.

3. Retard

The back patterns on originate from the cloud and thunder pattern of bronze ware. They are drawn in single form, and the strokes are counterclockwise from the upper left. From the outside to the inside, they are generally stacked with two frames, and there are also single frames. There are deformed back patterns, and the strokes are simplified but incomplete.

In the early Ming Dynasty, there were two groups of blue and white patterns, with strokes connected and a side line borrowed. Another way to draw the pattern in the early Ming Dynasty was to complete the entire decorative strip in one stroke, draw it from the outside to the inside and then draw it in the reverse direction, and start the second unit.

4. Curly grass pattern

Each unit of curly grass patterns on the blue and white Yuan Dynasty is drawn independently, one positive and one opposite. Some are also connected with two upper and second uppers. There is no central wave and valley curve. In the early Ming Dynasty, the curly grass patterns are first drawn with a central wave and valley curve, and the curly grass patterns are stretched on top. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there are curly grass patterns that do not draw the central wave and valley curve.

5, money pattern

The money patterns on the Yuan blue and white are decorated on the edge of the plate and the bottle mouth, and there are decorative bands made of whole money, and there are also decorative bands made of half money crossing. The money patterns are based on the outer circle and the inner square, and there are various changes. Some money patterns are drawn in the square pattern, and some are added to each side of the diamond, such as the drawing method of diamond-shaped decorative band.

6, diamond

The diamond-shaped ornament on the blue and white Yuan Dynasty are painted on the edge of the plate or as the spacing between bottles and cans. A large round-mouth plate is decorated with diamond-shaped ornamented in one section. Each single body is two diamond-shaped ornamented, and some are filled with green in between. There are a little bits in the center and four sides of the inner diamond.

7, Banana Leaf

The banana leaf pattern on the originates from the patterns of bronze ware in Shang and Zhou dynasties, and is decorated on the bottleneck and lower abdomen. The middle stem of the leaf is painted to the tip of the leaf, and one stroke is drawn or two strokes is drawn before coloring. The edges of the leaf are outlined with thin lines and then colored after coloring. The leaf veins are outlined with thin lines. There are two ways to draw single layer and front and back double layer.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the middle stem of the banana leaf pattern was drawn with two flat and thin lines until the tip of the leaf without filling it with color. The middle stem of the leaf was no longer the tip of the leaf. The leaf pattern was as fine as a fish bone. The edges of the leaf were as sharp as serrated, and the outline was thickened with a duplex stroke. It is generally a double-layer painting method for front and back.

8, Ruyi Cloud Head

The Ruyi cloud head on the is drawn with three thin lines on both sides, including the second, third and fourth levels. The patterns inside the cloud head are dense and plump, with fine floral patterns, sea water patterns, etc. Some are painted with animal patterns on this base.

There are several decorative methods for the Yuan blue and white cloud head:

(1) The cloud head decorated on the upper part of the utensil is drooped (called cloud shoulders), and the cloud head decorated on the lower part of the utensil is stretched. It is generally composed of 3, 4 or 6 cloud heads.

(2) Decorated around the center of the large plate, the cloud head extends to the center of the plate, and the cloud heads are not connected, and are composed of 6 third-level cloud heads symmetrically.

(3) Consecration is composed of two cloud heads connected or four cloud heads connected. The former is used for the bottle belly and the latter is used for the center of the disc.

In the early Ming Dynasty, double-distance lines with thick and thin inside were drawn with the outside and thin inside. The cloud heads were connected by simple arcs without reverse cloud heads. The cloud heads were reduced or distributed in size. Simple patterns were drawn inside the cloud heads, or branches, flowers, leaves, or veins or coloring.

In the early Ming Dynasty, there were also decorative methods for using a single cloud head to consecrate.

In addition to the above patterns, the auxiliary patterns of also include fish scale patterns, cloud patterns, vortex patterns, triangular band patterns, etc.

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The symbols of

Yuan blue and white phoenix wearing peony patterns holding pot

There are very few blue and white porcelains in Yuan Dynasty. They are now invented with a pair of blue and white elephant ear bottles from the Great Vader Art Foundation in the UK. There are 5 lines and 62 words written in blue and white: "Zhang Wenjin, a disciple of Jingtang Club of Dejiaoli, Shuncheng Township, Yushan County, Xinzhou Road, and enjoys a pair of incense burners and vases, praying for the sake of peace and safety of the family. Remember the good days of the 11th year of Zhizheng. The Xingyuan Ancestral Hall, Marshal Hu Jingyi, gave sacrifices." This is a special offering style written on the offering vessel. It has the name and specific age of the offer, and it has important reference significance for identifying the age of the artifact. Zhizheng is the year name of Emperor Shun at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. This pair of bottles should be a representative work of blue and white porcelain in the late Yuan Dynasty.

Also included are blue and white underglaze red tower-style four-spirit lid jars with the famous "Dayuan to Yuan Wuyin June, Renyin Aijing" and blue and white underglaze red tower barns with the inscription "Hou to Yuan Wuyin May". The "Wuyin Year" is the fourth year of Hou to Yuan, that is, 1338 AD.

The blue and white glaze lid jar with five-character regular script written in the blue material "Seventh year of Zhizheng" should be in 1347 AD. The blue and white tangled Ganoderma lucidum pattern jar with the inscription "Yuzi □□" is in the eighth year of Zhizheng and 1348 AD. The blue and white cloud dragon pattern elephant ear bottle with the inscription "Yuzi □□" is in the eighth year of Zhizheng and 1348 AD. The blue and white cloud dragon pattern elephant ear bottle with the inscription "Yuzi 1351 AD.

The Yuan blue and white double phoenix pattern high-foot cup collected by Pingxiang City Museum in Jiangxi Province, with the word "Fu" written in the heart of the cup. This auspicious word style continued from the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and was extremely common in folk kiln blue and white porcelain.

In addition, some s are written on one or two characters at the bottom or in the gilt, while others are written on the heart of the bowl with blue and white inscriptions. In 1980, a blue and white high-foot cup with cursive script at the bottom of the heart of the blue and white porcelain was unearthed in the cellar of Gao'an County, Jiangxi Province. The poem "I'm always drunk for a hundred years, and I'm counting 36,000 scenes" is poetic and bold, and it conforms to the character of the nomadic peoples of the Yuan people.

Finally, we will mention the Chinese Yuan blue and white objects hidden in the Atbir Temple in Iran. Some of these objects are written or carved in Arabic in the bottom or tibia. According to relevant experts, these Arabic words are the name of King Abbas of Iran or the speeches of Abbas in the title of Abbas, and some are symbols of the Tibetans. Abbas was the king of Iran in the 16th century and dedicated Chinese Yuan blue and white to the temple to collect, which shows the worship of Yuan blue and white in the Islamic countries. However, after analysis and confirmation by Iranian experts, the seal style on the Yuan blue and white objects is Persian. It is inferred that it is a signature, and it may be the name of the craftsmen for their works.

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Official kilns and folk kilns of

The official kilns and folk kilns in the Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain can only be distinguished from the patterns. The reason is that since the first year of Yanyou in the Yuan Dynasty, the "double-horned five-clawed dragon pattern" and "kirin, phoenix, white rabbit, Ganoderma lucidum", etc. are not allowed to be used. Therefore, all blue and white utensils with banned patterns are also official kilns produced by folk kilns, but a considerable number of s that do not draw these patterns are official kilns. The three claws and four claws and dragon patterns in the and the thicker objects are basically the folk kiln products used by the Yuan Dynasty.

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Key points of identification of

To identify a piece of , you must master the following points:

(I) View the shape of the instrument

For bottles and cans, you should carefully look at the edge, neck, shoulders, abdomen, and soles of the foot to see if there are characteristics of Yuan Dynasty utensils. At the same time, you should also identify the weight of the utensils and analyze the shape of the utensils. In the Yuan Dynasty utensils and cans, you should generally have a thicker carcass and a hard body.

(II) Look at the glaze color

The glaze color of is slightly blue and bright, but there are also blue and white porcelains on the white side or blue side. In the early Yuan Dynasty (Yanyou period), blue and white porcelains such as blue and white porcelains are covered with transparent blue and white glaze. The glaze surface looks like glutinous rice, and sometimes the glaze color shows a matte wood color. The blue and white porcelain with blue and white porcelains appear light blue and gray when viewed at close range. When viewed at closely, there are sparse white spots sticking to the blue and white glaze. The fine leather shell layer can be seen on the glaze surface of a few instruments. The glaze is slanted and transparent, and the glaze shows irregular glaze silk stripes. The white glaze that began firing in the Zhizheng period, Shufu glaze and egg white glaze have mostly white and slightly blue, which is a white glaze containing blue and blue, showing a transparent glass texture.

(III) Look at the blue and white

The color of the is unstable, and the color of the blue and white porcelain is diffuse. Blue and white materials are divided into two types: one has thick, fresh, green and bright colors, with black rust spots in thick places, commonly known as "black flaws". When you touch the thick places with your hands, you will feel uneven on the blue and white glaze. The color of the domestic materials is blue and white, and some are blue and gray, or blue and white, and blue and white, and blue and white colors are blue and gray. The peony patterns of the blue and white color are deep into the body, which is like lurking on the body, showing a three-dimensional feeling. The blue and white floating upwards are close to the glaze surface, and the dark blue and white blue are exploded. The floating blue and white glaze surface shows thick black silk and small dots. The blue and white patterns are close to the glaze surface and slightly concave. This is also the basic point of identifying the in Jingdezhen.

(IV) Look at the patterns

The patterns of blue and white porcelain in the Yuan Dynasty can be divided into two categories. One is the painting patterns based on imported materials, which have the characteristics of dense composition, rich layers, and neat paintings. For example, the patterns of large plates are mostly composed of three to five layers of dense patterns, and the patterns of bottles and jars are mostly composed of three to eight layers of pattern patterns. The patterns are coordinated by the main and guest, and are complex but not chaotic. The patterns are rich and diverse, with the stories of characters, tangled flowers, fish and algae, lotus pond, double phoenix flowers, and blooming. The patterns of light-breaking branches, bamboo, stone, flowers, melons, fruits, etc. are composed of patterns. The patterns are characterized by large flowers and large leaves. Among them, the petals of the tangled lotus are mostly painted in gourd shape, the edges of the peony pattern are painted in white beads, the auxiliary variant lotus petal patterns are mostly spacing, and the interior of the border is decorated with blue and white characteristics. Another type of blue and white painting is made of domestic materials, and the patterns are smooth and unrestrained. The composition of the patterns is simpler and the painting is rougher, and various flower patterns are more common.

(V) Look at the inner wall

In vases, the inner wall of the jar is mostly not glazed, and the inner wall is a sand body. The body of the instrument is generally made of segments and bonded, so there are often obvious tire joint marks between the abdomen and the bottom of the instrument. The connection between the plum bottle and the shoulders is mostly not repaired, so it has a rough feeling. The tire joint marks on the inner wall are mostly convex tire joint marks ranging from about 1 to 2 mm, with irregular thickness and size, and a round and delicate texture when touched. The inner wall sand tire is slightly pale yellow, and the inner wall sand hole and the inner wall of the tire are obviously visible. There are generally no tire repair treatment on the upper part of the abdomen. There are mostly tire repair marks on the lower part of the abdomen to the bottom, and the inner wall of the bottle is obviously visible. The inner wall of the bottle is slanted and the star points flash, which emit bright light, also known as yin and yang light spots.

(Six) Look at the bottom

In the Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain vases, the bottom of the jar type is mostly inwardly shaped with the foot, the soles of the feet are wide and thick, and a small amount of the soles are obliquely shaped on the outside, and the feet are shallow and deep, and the feet are mostly shallow. The ring foot of the bowl and plate type is mostly obliquely shaped on the outside, but whether it is a carving or a round device, the ring foot has a relatively regular and irregular feeling. Some bottles and cans, such as the soles of the feet show a tight feeling, while others have a slightly loose body texture, with fine sand holes and black paste spots clearly visible, and some are slightly raised and chicken heart-shaped. The soles of the jars and jars are mostly spiral marks, flint red and ochre red. Some are obviously visible on the bottom of the ring and the soles of the feet, with sparse glaze marks of different sizes and blocks, and naturally exploded.

(7) Look at the color rendering and bubbles

The color rendering of is also very important. The outer foot circle of the bottle and jar is generally thicker and water-green, and there are also duck eggs blue. The glaze surface of the body of the instrument often appears blue-white, light blue, or yellow-brown. In the early Yuan Dynasty, blue and white porcelain bottles, jars and other colors are obvious. The color rendering is to show different colors of the glaze according to the changes in the dryness, humidity, temperature, and seasons in the air. In the early Yuan Dynasty (Yanhu period), bottles and jars sometimes have faint sweat on the glaze surface, which is generally hot season. In addition, most of the blue and white glaze and Shufu glaze in the early Yuan Dynasty, there are bubbles on the blue and white glaze and egg white glaze, but there are two types of bubbles in the small and small bubbles. Most of the glaze surfaces of appear dry and transparent.

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Characteristics of imitation products of

It is indeed difficult to identify high-quality imitations. If necessary, modern high-tech means must be used to assist in the identification. However, as for general imitations, as long as you master the knowledge of ancient ceramic technology, you can make a clear judgment. The following lists common problems in imitations. Anyone with one of the following characteristics must be modern imitations.

(1) If the porcelain body is too white, too thin or too dense,

The body quality of the Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain produced in Jingdezhen is similar to that of the Song Dynasty blue and white porcelain, except that the alumina content is about 1.5% higher than the latter, which contains trace iron elements, which looks white and gray. During the processing of raw materials for the Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain, except for the use of water mills and water mills during rough processing, the rest are all manually operated. Compared with modern materials processed by ball mills and vacuum training, there are obvious differences in fineness and density. Generally, low-end imitations are produced using mechanical processing raw materials to reduce costs. The body quality is either too white, too thin or too dense.

(II) Those with oxidized rust colored by artificially applied or sprayed on the exposed tires of the bottom foot

In society, it was generally believed that the exposed parts of the Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain had "flint red" phenomenon, and this was used as an identification standard. In fact, the "flint red" phenomenon only exists on some Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelains, and there is a considerable number of ancient authentic products without "flint red". A large number of experiments have proved that the occurrence of the "flint red" phenomenon must have two basic conditions: one is that there is a certain amount of free iron in the blank, and the other is that the blank contains sufficient water when entering the kiln. Only in this way, at the initial stage of the fire and heating of the kiln, as the moisture in the blank evaporates rapidly, the free iron is brought to the surface of the blank

It becomes "flint red". Generally speaking, the first condition is an internal cause, which is generally possessed by the Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain, while the second condition is an external cause, which is not a necessary condition for the Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain. Some objects are "dry thoroughly" before firing, and even the "pad cakes" used when loading kilns no longer contain moisture. If so, the surface of the burned utensils rarely appears. Since the blanks of low-grade imitations do not contain free iron, imitators use the method of applying or spraying oxidizing rust to fake it. In fact, it is to cover up and make it clear. It has a significant difference from the real "flint red" and "paste rice bottom".

(III) Those with smooth inner walls without traces

In the Yuan Dynasty, most objects used hand-pulled or deflattened molding, and obvious fingerprints and spiral patterns often flowed down on the inner walls of bottles, cans and other objects. If no fingerprints and spiral patterns were found on the inner wall of the objects, they were low-end imitations produced by modern grouting molding. We carefully observed the inner bottom of this type of object and found a circle of concave "grouting prints". If it was an object with both ears, its ears were often made of hollow grouting, and there were exhaust holes hidden below it. The grouting molding process was introduced to my country from Europe after the mid-Republic of China, and was only widely used in the production of craft porcelain after the 1950s.

(IV) If there are marks on the inner wall of the blank repair knife

Anyone who knows the making process of Jingdezhen ceramics knows that there are two types of knives used for repairing blanks. One is called "striped knife", which is used to trim the inner wall of the utensil; the other is called "striped knife", which is used to trim the outer wall and foot circle of the utensil. The emergence of "striped knife" has been at least more than 2,000 years, and "striped knife" was only found during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. In other words, before Kangxi, porcelain only repaired the outer wall and did not repair the inner wall. Porcelain after the middle of Kangxi began to trim the inner wall. Some imitators do not understand this point, but only made it based on the catalogue, and often painted the snake to trim the inner wall.
To be continued...