Exquisite Antique-modelled Porcelain of Ming and Qing
1 min readWhile in fervent pursuit of the luxurious and magnificent style, the porcelain made in Ming and Qing also manifests strong adoration of the simple and graceful celadon of the Song dynasty. Such dichotomy reflects theparadoxical emotion of traditional Chinese literati, who tried to find inner peace out of clamorous appearance and to excel the worldly aesthetic taste. As a result, products of all renowned Song kilns, such as Ru kiln, Guan kiln and Longquan kiln, were imitated during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The style of these antique-modelled ware changes with different reign. With technological improvement, the craftsmanship of antique-modelled porcelain is close to perfect. They can hardly be identifiedfrom authentic antique if without seal marks of the Ming or Qing dynasties at the bottom.
The porcelain industry flourished in the Ming and Qing era was not only evident in their gorgeous colors and abundant species, but in their ingenious forms. With the development of techniques, lots of novel shapes were created, such as the zhuanxin vase (vase with reticulated exterior and independently revolving interior), and jiaotai vase (vase with the upper and lower halves interlocked).
The producing and firing process of these extremely complicated porcelain shapes has left us so many queries, up to now they are still stirring people’s desire to explore.
