Riding the wind of rebirth

“I acquired this item a long time ago,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “This is a collection I acquired in my hometown under the guidance of my fourth cousin. At the time, I also acquired a Southern Song Dynasty Longquan celadon lotus leaf-shaped covered jar. These two items were the starting point for my entry into the world of collecting, and they are of great significance, so I have always been reluctant to take them out to display.”

"Do your parents know?" Master Ma asked.

“The two elders didn’t know before, but now that they’ve been communicating more with my fourth cousin, they should know that I have this item, though they’ve never seen it in person,” Zhou Zhi said.

“You’ve hidden it really well! This thing could be the subject of a research article and published in the journal ‘Cultural Relics’,” said Master Ma.

"Huh? Why do you say that?" Yan Zhenwei asked.

“Don’t listen to Master Ma’s nonsense. Yuan Dynasty porcelain is indeed rarely known to the academic community for a considerable period of time because very few pieces have survived.” Zhou Zhi said, “However, after the establishment of the Fuliang Porcelain Bureau in the fifteenth year of Zhiyuan in the Yuan Dynasty, which adopted a binary formula of porcelain stone and kaolin to improve the firing capacity of large pieces and introduced Persian cobalt material Sumali blue to create blue and white porcelain, the official kiln system was actually established.”

"Yuan Dynasty porcelain is an important stage in the development of Chinese ceramics. It inherited the foundation of Song and Jin porcelain making and promoted technological innovation. The production pattern was centered on Jingdezhen. Underglaze painting techniques such as blue and white and underglaze red were mature. The plum green glaze of Longquan kiln was as lustrous as jade. Painted decoration became the mainstream. The egg white glaze created was extremely famous at that time."

"The egg-white glaze of the Yuan Dynasty was developed on the basis of the Jingdezhen celadon glaze of the Song Dynasty. Its color is white with a slight bluish tint and is opaque, much like the color of a duck eggshell, hence the name 'egg-white'. The egg-white glaze was highly favored by the Yuan Dynasty court, which often ordered the Jingdezhen kilns to fire it for the use of the government. 'If ordered, it will be supplied, otherwise it will be stopped'. The most common surviving pieces are egg-white glazed porcelain commissioned by the Privy Council, the highest military institution of the Yuan Dynasty. The Privy Council commissioned porcelain has the characters 'Shu' and 'Fu' printed in the decoration of the plates and bowls, so the egg-white glaze is also known as 'Shufu' glaze."

“Yuan Dynasty ‘Shufu’ porcelain was meticulously crafted and of excellent quality. It often featured printed decorations, with cloud and dragon motifs and intertwined floral patterns being the most common. Because ‘Shufu’ glaze is an opaque glaze, the patterns were not very clear. It was often necessary to first create the texture on the porcelain body by carving or applying patterns before glazing the surface. This characteristic is inherited from northern kilns such as Cizhou kiln, Dingzhou kiln, and Anji kiln.”

"Compared with the egg-white glazed porcelain used by the common people, Shufu porcelain is particularly exquisite. The foot is neatly trimmed, the bottom is unglazed, and there is a nipple-shaped protrusion in the center of the bottom. The body is of moderate thickness. It can be known that it is a famous product of the Yuan Dynasty official use. It belongs to a high-end porcelain made by order and can be classified as 'official kiln'."

"Since there were official kilns in the Yuan Dynasty, it was naturally not limited to warm white porcelain; the same applies to blue and white porcelain."

"In the past, Yuan blue and white porcelain was mostly classified as early Ming dynasty porcelain, so there was not much research on it. Gradually, due to the long-term lack of archaeological data, a prejudice was formed that Yuan porcelain was scarce and of coarse quality, resulting in a tendency to focus on Song and Ming dynasties and neglect Yuan dynasty porcelain in ceramic research."

"With the introduction of the concepts of Shufu porcelain and Yuan blue and white porcelain, the academic community's research on Yuan dynasty porcelain treasures has become increasingly comprehensive, filling many gaps in our understanding of Yuan dynasty porcelain and attracting more and more attention."

"Just a few years ago, everyone thought that dragon patterns on Yuan dynasty porcelain mostly appeared on meiping vases and porcelain plates. As for large jars, which were extremely difficult to fire, the official kilns often chose to avoid dragon patterns and instead use pictures of opera stories."

"This practice is somewhat similar to the 'official-private joint firing' in the Ming Dynasty. If it was decorated with dragon patterns, it could not be used by the common people. If any flaws appeared during the firing process, such a large piece would have no choice but to be destroyed, resulting in a complete loss."

"If the story is depicted, even with some flaws, it can still be resold to the public. This was likely a compromise that the porcelain kilns at the time chose for porcelain with a high scrap rate."

"However, as research work in major museums has unfolded, more and more archaeological discoveries that had been overlooked have come to light."

"For example, the Zhenjiang Museum has a hoard unearthed in April 1966 from the Huxi Brigade of Taoxi Commune in Jintan, Jiangsu Province. The pattern is a dragon motif that is basically the same as this porcelain jar. Most importantly, when the jar was unearthed, it contained a batch of Yuan Dynasty silverware, one of which had an Arabic inscription with an Islamic date, recording the date as January of the 4th year of the Islamic calendar, which corresponds to the first year of the Yanyou reign of Emperor Renzong of Yuan. The Yanyou reign of Emperor Renzong of Yuan was in the mid-Yuan Dynasty, which provides reliable evidence for determining the approximate age of this type of large porcelain jar." "Master Ma believes that this porcelain piece can overturn the academic consensus that 'large Yuan blue and white porcelain pieces do not have dragon motifs,' but he is unaware that the academic community had already discovered this problem years ago."

"Which book, which issue?" Mr. Ma asked earnestly. "Who is the author?"

"Regarding the June issue of 'Cultural Relics,' the authors are myself and Ma Chengyuan, the director of the Shanghai Museum. You've been too busy these past two months to have read the magazine, haven't you?"

"I've noticed you're quite cunning," Master Ma joked with a smile, not wanting to lose face. "You're using Dean Ma's name as a shield, ostensibly to defend the Zhenjiang Museum's blue-and-white dragon-patterned jar, but actually you're using their large jar to endorse your own. The Zhenjiang Museum has one, and you have one too. The Zhenjiang Museum's doesn't have a lid, but you do, right?"

"Actually, there is also a covered one in the Forbidden City...that one is also blue and white porcelain."

"Hehehe, trying to take advantage of the Forbidden City? The Forbidden City is just a white dragon, the opposite of what you have. You're scheming, trying to make up for it by using Zhenjiang when you can't get the Forbidden City to do it."

There are two basic methods for drawing blue and white dragon patterns in the Yuan Dynasty. One method is to outline the dragon's body with blue and white, and the other method is to carve and paste patterns on the blank space, and then draw sea waves and clouds around it, leaving the dragon's body blank.

The Palace Museum does indeed have a dragon-patterned jar, which has recently been re-identified as dating back to the Yuan Dynasty. However, it is a blue-and-white porcelain with white background, a style that Mr. Ma is aware of and immediately used to ridicule Zhou Zhi.

"Are you all this meticulous when authenticating cultural relics?" Yan Zhenwei couldn't help but chuckle. "Why is it like you're just arguing for the sake of arguing?"

“We were just joking,” Master Ma laughed. “This artifact is actually a genuine piece, as they say in the trade, and it’s quite easy to authenticate.”

"This large jar has a straight neck, a square-rounded lip, a bulging belly, a flat bottom, and a thick body. These are typical characteristics of Yuan dynasty vessels."

"The neck of the jar is decorated with a blue-and-white diagonal checkered pattern, and the shoulder is painted with a band of stylized lotus petals filled with auspicious symbols and flowers. The lower belly is decorated with a band of stylized lotus petals, with the area near the bottom left blank. This is also a typical characteristic of Yuan dynasty artifacts."

"The body of the jar is decorated with a three-clawed double dragon design, which is then outlined in painting. The surrounding area is also decorated with blue and white waves, and the dragon claws are painted with swirling cloud patterns. It vividly depicts the magnificent scene of a blue dragon surging in the blue sea."

"The dragon has a small head and slender neck, agile limbs, and strong claws, leaping through the clouds. These techniques are all standard Yuan Dynasty techniques."

"The cobalt blue is pure, and the glaze is bluish-purple with dark brown spots where it is thickly applied. The decoration has some blurring, which is a characteristic of the early Sumali cobalt material."

"The cloud and dragon pattern employs a technique of carving first and then painting, reflecting the transitional period of porcelain craftsmen 'discarding the knife and embracing the brush.' This has resulted in a unique artistic style." (End of Chapter)