Birth from clay Chinese porcelain watch. Chinese porcelain - history

The first mention of porcelain is present in the annals of the Han Dynasty (I

century BC). At that time, these were simple white bowls in form and design. After the decline of the Han, porcelain production took on a massive scale.Porcelain is usually obtained by high-temperature firing of a fine mixture of kaolin, plastic clay, quartz and feldspar. With the development of technology, varieties of porcelain appeared: alumina, zircon, calcium boron, lithium, etc.Depending on the composition of the porcelain mass, the so-called hard and soft headlights are distinguished. for . D To obtain the required density and translucency, it requires a higher firing temperature (up to 1450 °C). Soft porcelain is more diverse in chemical composition than hard porcelain; firing temperature up to 1300 °C, because has various chemical additives. Soft porcelain also includes bone china, which contains up to 50% bone ash.(obtained from the burning of animal bones), as well as quartz, kaolin, etc.

Chinese porcelain impresses with its diversity, technique, richness of colors. From the 6th century to the present day, recipes have been carefully guarded in China. The path to the creation of porcelain was long and laborious. The first porcelain vessels - slender, elongated light-colored vases and jugs with sculptural images of genre scenes on the lids - appeared during the Wei dynasty in the 4th century.

The period of the Tang Dynasty in the 6th-9th centuries is the period of unification of Chinese lands after 3 centuries of fragmentation. At this time, China turned into a powerful feudal state with a high culture and the development of trade relations. Merchants came from India, Iran, Syria, Japan. In order to study the sciences and crafts of China, the Japanese government sent its young people to advanced training in China.During the reign of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), which replaced the Song, China became a world power.

In the era of prosperity and the flourishing of culture, trade and art flourished. The brilliant era of the Tang reign, which lasted 300 years, entered the history of China as a "golden age." Xuan'an (present-day Xi'an) became the luxurious capital of the Tang kingdom. The center of Tang culture was the court of Xuanzong (r. 712-756).At the imperial court celebrations, dances were accompanied by the play of musicians, whose number reached 30,000. They were not only from China, but also from foreign countries. As, however, and music, musical instruments and exotic dances. The city gates were wide open for the exchange of culture and goods with the whole world. At court, they dressed luxuriously and elegantly. The ladies wore silk dresses, pinned their hair into elaborate hairstyles and put on make-up. China eraTang was cultured, this time was considered the golden era of poetic art. At that time, it was believed that only he can be considered a perfect person who is literary educated.At the exams for the highest official position, one had to demonstrate one's ability to compose poetry.Hunting was one of the favorite amusements of court society.

From Persia via Central Asia the game of polo came to China. Women, along with men, played music, danced, rode horseback and played polo.

During the Tang Dynasty, Chinese civilization spread far into the north and west of Asia.

A cultural flourishing began, which lasted three centuries.The capital of Chang'an was the starting point of the Silk Road, which served for many centuries

for contacts with Western Asia, Africa and Europe. Merchants, students and scholars from all over the world flocked to this city, which had a population of 2 million in the 8th century and was then probably the largest city in the world.

Muslims, Buddhists and Christians peacefully coexisted with each other.However, the "golden age" was not eternal. The uprisings and civil wars that have been going on for a centuryled to the fall of the empire.

The Tang period is known for the flourishing of poetry, the emergence of new forms of literature, the development theatrical art. Artistic crafts are developing more and more, especially the production of porcelain. From the multi-volume historical and geographical work "Description of the Fulyang area"

(the county in which the center of porcelain production was located in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province) became aware of the master Tao Yu, who supplied large quantities of porcelain to the court at the beginning of the Tang period (618-628).

The emperors of China sent their officials to Jingdezhen to control the production of porcelain, and most importantly, to maintain the court's monopoly on it. The court of the bogdykhan demanded annually 3,100 dishes, 16,000 plates with blue dragons, 18,000 cups with flowers and dragons, 11,200 dishes with the word fu, which meant "wealth".

Each of the porcelain items was performed as an independent and valuable piece of art. Poems were dedicated to porcelain, famous poets glorified its varieties, centers of production.In the 7th century, snow-white porcelain was supplied to the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, 618-628. Porcelain was considered so valuable that it was compared to the very expensive jade stone and was called "jade imitation".

Since 621, from this city, renamed Xinping and later Jingdezhen, master He Zhong-chu and his assistants regularly presented fine, jade-shiny porcelain to the imperial court.During the Tang period, porcelain was produced in many places: Yuezhou (Zhejiang Province), Xingzhou (Shanxi Province), Hongzhou (Jiangxi Province), Dan (Sichuan Province), etc.

Of the Tang varieties, porcelain from the city of Xingzhou (now Xingtai, Hebei Province) was considered the most valuable.The famous Tang poet Li Bo wrote: "Porcelain from the city of Xingzhou is like snow, silver," about another kind of thin-walled porcelain from Dan "porcelain of Dan furnaces is both hard and thin.. And with its whiteness it surpasses snow and hoarfrost."

China was and remains the founder of the creation of real hard porcelain, consisting of 50% natural porcelain stone and 50% white kaolin clay, without any impurities. Chinese porcelain ranks first in the world in terms of quality and perfection of artistic performance. White clay and porcelain stone in China are called the bones and meat of porcelain.The production of hard porcelain is not easy. Porcelain first goes through long technical processing. This is how the process of porcelain production in feudal China is described in the classic book on porcelain, Jingdezhen Tao-Lu. Kaolin, white clay is ground, soaked in running water to make it softer and more tender. Then kaolin is mixed with crushed porcelain stone in a large vat filled with water.

Pass through a fine horsehair sieve, and then through a bag of dense silk. The resulting suspension is poured into several clay vessels. In them, it is settled, after which the water is drained. The wet mixture is wrapped in a cloth, placed on a table and pressed with bricks. Then they throw it on stone slabs and turn it over with wooden spatulas until it becomes more plastic.Only then does a skilled craftsman begin to mold various products from this mass. He twirls the potter's wheel with his feet, and more often with his hands, and gives the desired shape to the clay ball of porcelain mass lying on it. Round vessels are made entirely on the potter's wheel. Items of a more complex shape are made in parts. Sometimes the liquefied porcelain mass is poured into molds.After molding, the manufactured items are dried (and sometimes drying lasts about a year) or are lightly fired. For the most part, their surface is covered with glaze. At a low temperature, the glaze melts only slightly and the paints applied to it fuse to the surface to the surface of the porcelain product. If these paints are fired at high temperatures, they can burn out and lose their color.

The glaze consists of crushed kaolin, feldspar, quartz and gypsum mixed with water. Decorated items are loaded into it. Glazes are colorless, but if oxides of certain metals are added to them, they acquire one color or another.Often, the vessel is painted with blue or red underglaze colors before the glaze is applied, or it becomes multicolored after the glaze has been applied.

For painting, special ceramic paints are used: copper gives green, manganese-violet, gold-pink, iridium-black, copper with crushed ruby ​​gives red color and cobalt blue.

Before applying paint to a porcelain product, it is rubbed, vitreous powder (flux) is added, and then the artists apply it to the porcelain with a thin brush.

Each product passed through the hands of 70 craftsmen.

Painting is underglaze and overglaze. A characteristic feature of underglaze painting is the application of a pattern to the surface of a porcelain object that has already been fired, after which the product is covered with glaze on top and fired again at a temperature of 1200-1400 degrees. In the oven, the glaze melts and covers the entire product with an even glassy layer, and the colors of the previously applied painting shine through the glaze.

Later, overglaze painting with enamel paints was invented - the highest achievement in porcelain painting, when the pattern is drawn on the glaze.

The invention of overglaze painting, which hardened at a low temperature, made it possible to increase the amount of cermic paints.
Porcelain products prepared for firing were placed in the kiln in refractory clay capsules capable of withstanding the intense heat of the kiln. In such an oven, up to a dozen small capsules were placed or they were replaced by one large vessel.

porcelain glowed red hot, and then to bright yellow. The firing continued for several days. The kilns were opened after 1-3 days after firing, because the capsules were red-hot and it was impossible to enter the furnace. On the fourth day, the workers put on gloves made of ten layers of cotton wool and soaked in cold water, covered their heads, shoulders and backs with damp clothes, and then only entered the oven for finished porcelain. While the furnace did not cool down, a new batch of products for drying was laid into it.

The history of porcelain goes back over 3,000 years. The beginning of porcelain production in China dates back to about the 6th-7th century, when, by improving technologies and selecting the initial components, they began to obtain products that are distinguished by the whiteness and thinness of the shard.

Initially, porcelain was decorated very modestly. The Chinese admired the snow-white shard, transparent glaze, and therefore did not produce any painting on the surface. And already in the Yuan period (this is the period of the Mongol conquest, the end of the 13th - the beginning of the 14th centuries), painting appears, which was introduced by Iranian ceramists. This is cobalt painting, underglaze, it requires a very high firing temperature. The product must be in an oven at a temperature of 1400 degrees, only then the cloudy gray paint becomes bright blue, and sometimes even with a magnificent purple tint. So, porcelain begins to be painted with cobalt. Painting themes are varied. Initially, these are complex ornaments - geometric, floral, floral, then images of stylized animals, dragons appear.

After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the production of Chinese porcelain developed rapidly. In different historical periods, Chinese porcelain had its best examples. For example, the well-known Jiongqi porcelain of Henan province, characterized by a reddish luster, blue, purple and white tints and transparency, is the best porcelain of the Song Dynasty. During this period (10th-12th centuries) great advances were made in the manufacture of porcelain items. An example is Yaobian porcelain, which is of very high quality. Such porcelain could compete with gold and jade in value and sophistication. The most famous at that time were the products of the Dehua and Longquan workshops.

Dehua wares, as a rule, were covered only with white glaze, often decorated with engraving and relief drawings. In the workshops of Longquan, products were created covered with soft blue or light green glaze, which received the name "celadon" in Europe. During this period, although rather rare, there were paintings on vessels made with green, brown or yellow enamel, as well as monochrome vessels covered with red glaze.

The famous Qingqi Blue Porcelain, made in the Longqingyao Porcelain Kiln in Zhejiang Province, is famous for many virtues. People say about him that his blueness is like jade, his purity is like a mirror, and the sound he makes when touched is like the sound of Qing. This is an ancient percussion musical instrument in the form of a curved plate made of jade, stone or copper. Products from blue porcelain since the Sung Dynasty were widely bought in countries East Asia, Europe, America and Arab countries. For example, today in Turkey, the Istanbul Museum holds more than a thousand pieces of blue Longquan porcelain from the Song, Yuan, Ming and other dynasties.

In the first centuries of our era, workshops for the production of porcelain appeared in one of the cities of Jiangxi province, which later became known as Jingdezhen. It is located on the shores of the abounding Poyang Lake. Its name is associated with one of the most ancient, miraculous achievements of the Chinese people - porcelain.Chinese historians find it difficult to accurately establish the date of the founding of this city. For the first time his name is mentioned in the annals of the Han Dynasty, i.e. 2 thousand 200 years ago. In the 6th century AD, the city was known as Changnanzhen. Later, already in the years of the Song Dynasty, it was customary to write on the products of famous porcelain masters: "Made during the reign of Emperor Jing-de." This determined the new name of the city - "Jingdezhen".Jingdezhen porcelain has long been of high quality. Rumor has it that they were dazzling as snow, thin as a sheet of paper, strong as metal. Extraordinary art was achieved by masters of art painting on porcelain. Their paints are characterized by durability and purity. Drawings on porcelain, especially those in which the nature of China and its flora are recreated, are very vital. Among the porcelain artists were brilliant masters of painting roses, peonies, lotuses. chrysanthemums, orchids, plum or cherry blossom branches, bamboo stalks. The best that the craftsmen from Jingdezhen created was purchased by the imperial court or exported.As early as the 14th century, ovens were built here that worked for the needs of the court. Together with brocade and velvet. Chinese porcelain was sent along the "silk road" to the Middle East and Europe.
The history of Jingdezhen, which is more than 2 thousand years old, is a bright page in history Chinese culture. The city originated at the very kaolin clay mines on Mount Gaoling. The number of kilns grew every year and at the time of Jingdezhen's heyday reached several hundred. During the excavations, the remains of furnaces were found, built in the era of the Tang dynasty, that is, 1200 years ago. Sherds of ancient porcelain products give an idea that porcelain of exceptionally beautiful coloring was fired here. The excavations made it possible to restore entire stages in the history of Chinese porcelain.To prevent the secrets of making porcelain from falling into the wrong hands, the city of Jingdezhen, in which the main production was located, was closed in the evening, and armed detachments of soldiers patrolled the streets. Only those who knew a special password could get into it at that time.

* "Porcelain stone" - a rock made of quartz and mica, from which the mass was kneaded. This rock was mined in the provinceJiangxi. The secret of Chinese porcelain is the secret of the raw materials from which it is made. Jiangxi province turned out to be a treasure trove of "porcelain stone" - a rock composed of quartz and mica. Porcelain mass was made from briquetted powder of "porcelain stone" (pe-tun-tse) and kaolin (it gives whiteness to the product). The resulting mass was stored for more than a dozen years, so that it acquired plasticity. And for a special matte shine, the glaze was made up of several layers of different transparency.The Chinese imperial court made colossal purchases: every year 31,000 dishes, 16,000 dragon plates, 18,000 cups, as well as benches and gazebos. And in 1415, the famous Nanjing Porcelain Pagoda was built.

Musical instruments were also made of porcelain: they were vessels that were tapped with a thin stick. Perhaps it was from here that the custom began to check porcelain dishes with light tapping.

The first porcelain products of the Minsk era were pure white, without artistic painting, only slightly covered with glaze. In later times, blue-blue paint, which was brought from Java and Sumatra, was widely used for painting products. No matter how elegant the porcelain painted with this paint was, it was inferior to white porcelain in its artistic value. White porcelain retained its value even after the Chinese craftsmen began to apply large drawings to their products. Excavations have confirmed that the technology of Chinese porcelain production was at a very high level in those days. Suffice it to say that at that time the temperature in the furnaces reached 1400 degrees.

By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, the rapidly growing city of Jingdezhen had already become the center of porcelain production in the country. Porcelain products of this city are distinguished by their exquisite form, lightness, and beautiful colors. In particular, porcelain products "Tsinghuatsy" - blue flowers, "Fenghuatsy" - pink flowers", and Qinghonglinglongtsy" - miniature blue flowers, "Botai" - transparent porcelain - were considered a priceless treasure and served as the best gift among the imperial family and palace nobility.

The next stage in the development of Chinese porcelain is the period of the Ming Dynasty from the middle of the 14th century to the middle of the 17th century. Still cobalt is a favorite painting technique, but it becomes more complicated and a very complex double firing technology appears. First, the product is coated with cobalt blue paint, it undergoes high-temperature firing, and then overglaze paints are applied - yellow enamel, green, purple and a very interesting paint, the so-called “iron red”, which has a wide variety of shades from yellowish-ocher to purple-red .In the Chinese city of Nanjing, there was a nine-story tower covered from top to bottom with multicolored porcelain tiles. That's what they called it - the porcelain tower.The famous Chinese navigator Zhenghe of the Ming Dynasty went on a long voyage to the countries of East Asia and Africa 7 times. Among his goods and gifts there were many products made of just such porcelain.

Glazeapplied to finished porcelain products in several layers, varying the degree of transparency of each layer. This was done to give the dishes a special matte sheen. Cobalt and hematite were used as paints, which tolerate high temperatures during firing. The Chinese began to use the finish with enamel paints only in17th century.As a rule, the ancient masters used thematic plots and complex ornaments in painting, so several people painted one product. Some outlined the contours, others painted landscapes, others - the figures of people.

In the Ming (14th-17th centuries) and Qing (17th-20th centuries) eras, the method of decorating porcelain items with underglaze cobalt was widely used. Early Minsk items with cobalt underglaze painting were distinguished by a light gray-blue tint, most often floral ornaments were used in the painting. At the beginning of the 15th century, along with cobalt, red paint of natural origin began to be used. From the middle of the 16th century, a method of decoration known as "doucai" (rival colors) became very common - a combination of underglaze cobalt with variegated enamel paints. The Ming era as a whole is characterized by the invention of new types of colored glaze and enamel paints, which were widely used in porcelain production.

Qing era.

Since the 16th century, Europeans have become interested in Chinese porcelain. Catholic missionaries arriving in China first of all tried to find out the secret of precious Chinese porcelain, because porcelain was called so - “Chinese secret”. But Europeans did not recognize him until the 18th century. The royal and princely courts of Europe paid in gold for precious vases. It is even known that August of Saxony at the beginning of the 18th century exchanged several grenadiers for porcelain vases from the King of Prussia, Frederick.

Chinese craftsmen glued a porcelain cup from two halves - outer and inner, while their bottoms and upper rims were firmly connected. Inside the cup was painted with floral ornaments, and the openwork outer half remained white. When tea was poured into it, the finest painting of a smaller cup was visible through the porcelain lace.But the most surprising thing for Europeans was grayish porcelain vessels with patterns showing through on the walls. As the cup filled with tea, sea waves, algae, and fish appeared on it.

Many foreigners, posing as merchants or travelers, tried to find out the Chinese secret of making porcelain, but no one got answers to their questions. Only one person has come close to solving this mystery. His name was D "Antrecolle, and he was from France. Having decided from a young age to reveal the Chinese secret, he made every effort to do so. He learned the Chinese language and customs. He behaved quietly and politely - bowed to the rich and did not exalt himself in front of the poor, even helped them, than he could, he liked to tell interesting and cautionary tales, was a pleasant conversationalist, so they quickly got used to him and he became his own among the Chinese. But he never asked about porcelain.

Once he was introduced to a rich man who owned a Chinese factory. The rich man invited D "Antrekolla to visit, and the cunning Frenchman, on the way to the house, bowed not only to the servants, but also to the trees and bushes on the sides of the path. The gentleman liked the smart foreigner who, modestly drinking tea, told interesting stories, and the rich man invited him to the city of Jingdezhen, where the largest Chinese factories were located, and where foreigners were forbidden to enter. There, D "Antrekol learned something ...

How porcelain was made - 1825. Guangzhou, China. Gouache on paper

It turned out that tseny is made from white powder - kaolin, and qishi stone, ground into powder, is added to it. Products are fired in kilns, in special clay pots. D "Antrekoll was even able to see how the potters work and how the furnaces look like. He wrote a book about his journey, which was published not only in France, but also in other countries of the world. But neither D" Antrekoll, nor the scientists who read his book and did not reveal the secret of making porcelain - kaolin and qishi stone were not known in Europe. The Chinese mystery remained unsolved... Independent discoveries and chemical experiments began.

In the middle of the 18th century, when Prussia was ruled by Frederick I, the famous pharmacist Zorn lived in Berlin, who had a student Johann Betger. Betger was a very capable student, and in addition to studying apothecary, he was interested in alchemy. Frederick I learned about the successes in alchemy and ordered that a pharmacist's apprentice be brought to him, so that with the help of a philosopher's stone he would make gold out of lead for him. Upon learning of this, Betger secretly fled Berlin and settled in neighboring Saxony.

During this time Saxony was ruled by Augustus the Strong (who once exchanged Chinese vases for a company of soldiers). Having learned that an alchemist, a refugee from Prussia, had settled in Saxony, Augustus ordered that he be brought to his Albrechtsburg castle. This time Betger failed to escape and was brought to the elector. August the Strong, like Frederick I, demanded that the young scientist turn metal into gold. Not listening to Betger's assurances that this was impossible, he forbade him to leave the castle gates until Betger had obeyed the order. It is worth noting that the scientist was provided with all the conditions - a large bright room, his own servants, a modern laboratory. Yet Johann Betger remained a prisoner.

At that time, Ehrenfried Tschirnhaus lived in Saxony, who ran a Saxon factory for the manufacture of glass and lenses for telescopes. The elector decided to introduce Betger to Chirnhaus, so that the latter would help the alchemist to quickly start working on making gold. Chirnhaus turned out to be not only a good scientist, but also smart person. He suggested that Betger not linger over the unsolvable task of making gold out of lead, but try something more real - to unravel the mystery of Chinese porcelain. Then, selling his porcelain worth its weight in gold, the elector will finally set the scientist free.

Together, Johann Betger and Ehrenfried Tschirnhaus set to work on porcelain. They tried all kinds of clay, read D'Antrekolla's book about China, asked the elector to build a new porcelain kiln. After long and hard work, they succeeded. Betger presented August the Strong with the first cup of Saxon porcelain - only the cup was not white, Augustus liked the porcelain, but he demanded that Betger continue his work and make porcelain white, like Chinese.Saxon red porcelain was also a success and was eagerly snapped up by rich people. But on a dark background, multi-colored drawings were not noticeable, so such dishes were decorated with carved patterns and decorative molding.

Betger continued to work. Over time, Ehrenfried Chirnhaus died and Johann was left alone. The work did not go well, but Betger was helped by chance ... Once, when a servant came to him to twist his wig, Betger, having nothing to do, began to knead the powder with his hands. And oh, miracle! She turned into a small ball. Powder usually doesn't stick, but this one looked like dough. Johann asked the hairdresser about the powder. He replied that it was expensive to buy a real one, so he used clay ... Johann grabbed a box of powder and rushed to the laboratory at a run. After kneading the dough, he made sure that the clay was the same as the Chinese one, which was called kaolin.

In 1710, the first porcelain factory in Europe was opened in Meissen. In stores, along with red, they began to sell white Saxon porcelain. The dishes were set in gold and silver, painted with garlands of flowers, inserted gems. Soon, candlesticks, chandeliers, figurines of people and animals, figurines began to be made from porcelain. The Saxon (or Meissen) porcelain factory still exists today, its products are sold all over the world.

But Johann Betger August the Strong did not let go - he was afraid that he would reveal the secret of making porcelain. The young scientist died in the elector's castle. But his name became famous all over the world - Johann Betger, the first creator of European porcelain.

Once the Russian Queen Elizabeth received porcelain as a gift from the Saxon elector. Deciding to keep up with her neighbors, she summoned Baron Cherkasov and ordered him to build a new porcelain factory. Cherkasov was frightened - how can a factory be built if no one really knows anything about porcelain? Soon he invited Konrad Gunger from abroad, who claimed that he knew Johann Betger himself and also knew how to make porcelain.They decided to make a new porcelain factory in St. Petersburg on the site of an old brick factory, so as not to waste time on construction. While Gunger was traveling to Russia, Cherkasov began to look for him a suitable assistant, versed in pottery. The baron was recommended Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov, a mining engineer who studied in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Germany, and Cherkasov took him as an assistant to Gunger.

At that time, a well-known merchant, specialized in pottery, Opanas Kirilovich Grebenshchikov, lived in Moscow with his three sons - Peter, Andrei and Ivan. Deciding to get busy more profitable business, he built a faience factory, and took clay near Moscow, in the Gzhel district. Clay there was of two types - dry "sandy" and oily "Milivka". Only the youngest son, Ivan, continued to be wiser with clay and tried to uncover the secret of porcelain dishes.Baron Gunger and Vinogradov were sent to Grebenshchikov to get acquainted with the Gzhel clays and decide whether they could be used to make porcelain. Having examined the clay, Gunger and Vinogradov took both types and returned to St. Petersburg.Over time, it turned out that Konrad Gunger was by no means a master. He didn’t tell anything about the secret of making porcelain, he didn’t do anything, he only demanded money, and only at the end of the year he presented a cup that didn’t even remotely look like porcelain. Cherkasov got angry and expelled Gunger, placing Vinogradov in charge.And Vinogradov got down to business. Together with his friends - master Nikita Voin and artist Andrei Cherny - he re-read a mountain of books, studied clay from different parts of Russia, ground mountain minerals into powder, trying to find the famous qishi stone among them.

Two years after the start of work, Vinogradov presented the first Russian-made porcelain cup - a small one, without a handle, but made of porcelain. This cup has survived to this day. Now it is in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

1748 is the year of birth of Russian porcelain. After Baron Cherkasov showed Elizaveta Petrovna a new luxurious Russian-made porcelain service, many orders fell upon the factory.

Vinogradov could not cope with them, and therefore Cherkasov, suspecting Vinogradov of laziness, sent an overseer, Colonel Khvostov, to the plant, who treated the craftsmen very rudely.Khvostov immediately established his order. Vinogradov was locked in the workshop and a warder was placed over him, who regularly urged him on. Artist Andrei Cherny was put in chains after he responded to his boss's order not to be lazy, but to work even faster.

Baron Cherkasov did not pay attention to Vinogradov's written complaints, but he ordered that he treat the craftsmen even more strictly.Despite the oppression, Vinogradov still continued to work, making progress and achieving excellent results.

After the royal service, he made dishes, snuff boxes, figurines. Vinogradov recorded his achievements and discoveries in a book, which he called " Detailed description pure porcelain, as it is made in Russia".From time to time, the plant expanded more and more, even teenagers went to work on it. Now it is a porcelain factory. M. V. Lomonosov in St. Petersburg.

And Ivan Grebenshchikov sent his best porcelain cup to Baron Cherkasov, asking for financial assistance for a new factory. But Cherkasov did not respond, and Grebenshchikov, trying to set up production himself, went bankrupt.It is known that the English merchant Franz Gardner bought him out of the debt prison.

In the village of Verbilki, Dmitrovsky district, he built a porcelain factory for Grebenshchekov, where he became the chief master. But Franz Gardner received profit from the sale of porcelain ... This factory still exists, and the dishes produced by this factory were called Verbil porcelain.

So, in the 18th century, European porcelain was invented. However, interest in Chinese porcelain has not waned. Ships of the East India Company came to Amsterdam, bringing a huge amount of porcelain products: there are services, and huge palace sets of five vases, and decorations for open cabinets and shelves, as well as for fireplaces.

There are a huge number of types of painting. Thanks to the introduction of new colors in late XVII centuries, even whole polychrome compositions appear, which in Europe are called families. This is the black family, where the black background of the paint predominates, this is the green family, where two shades of green are the main ones in the presence of other polychrome enamels, and the pink family - this paint is formed by adding a certain amount of gold trichloride to the enamel, and an amazing soft pink or pale purple, depending on the firing temperature, paint.

It should be noted that the painting, decor and even the forms of the products themselves carried not only a decorative load, they were not only called upon to decorate the interior, they also had a deep symbolic meaning, encrypted in the decor. For example, the delicate meijoa plum symbolizes New Year, symbolizes joy, happiness, the beginning of life, and the combination of plum with bamboo and pine, which can be seen on an amazing glass for brushes from the beginning of the 18th century (painted with cobalt) - these are the three friends of the cold winter - a symbol of stamina, friendship and unbending will.

In the Qing era, the production of all pre-existing types of porcelain continued. The most brilliant period in the development of Qing porcelain is the 18th century, when hundreds of workshops were operating throughout China. Among them, the Jingdezhen factories stood out, producing highly artistic and high-quality products. The richness and variety of colors distinguished the glaze with which the products were covered. At this time, preference was given to monochrome glazes. Still very famous are vessels and vases covered with so-called. "flaming glaze" and "bull's blood" glaze. By the 18th century, the invention of pink enamel paint, which began to be widely used in combination with enamel of other colors, dates back. In Europe, depending on the color of the predominant enamel paint or glaze, porcelain began to be divided into yellow, pink, black and green. At this time, porcelain products were distinguished by an extraordinary variety of forms, a large number of figurines appeared. The search for new forms by craftsmen sometimes led to excessive pretentiousness, and sometimes to a loss of a sense of material, which was expressed in imitation of bronze, wood, etc. Porcelain products not only went to the domestic market, but also turned into one of the main export items . At the end of the 19th century, porcelain production began to decline.

There are several centers of porcelain production in China - Liling in Hunan Province, Tangshan in Hebei Province, Yixing in Jiangsu Province, Zibo in Shandong Province. Porcelain products produced in different places differ in their style and color.

Even before the invention of porcelain Eastern countries and Europe, craftsmen from ancient times made beautiful dishes from clay, similar to porcelain, but heavier and with thick walls. They called it faience. The craftsmen tried to fake faience products like porcelain, also covering them with white glaze, and depicted Chinese, dragons and triple-roofed houses on them. Even the paints were taken the same as those used in China. But that's just it was still a fake, especially since the faience dishes did not ring like porcelain, if you knock on it with your fingernail. And no one managed to recreate the famous porcelain cups from earthenware. But all the same, among the masters of faience there were great creators, whose works are still kept in museums around the world.

After the formation of the PRC, the government began to restore the destroyed porcelain factories. Well-known masters of their craft were involved in the work. A lot of work has been done to restore the lost recipes for dyes and firing methods. Modern high-quality porcelain products testify to the continuation of the best traditions of the past and significant new achievements.

Chinese porcelain, developing over the centuries, takes on a new life in the 20th century.

Interest is high both in antique items, which are very highly valued and arouse interest at all auctions, and in modern ones, moreover, amazing, wonderful author's works appear, where traditions and innovative ideas are combined.

Protoceramics, YUAN TAO-QI,原陶器

Pottery is one of the oldest crafts mastered by man. In Chinese tradition, its invention is attributed to the legendary rulers Shen Nong (Divine Farmer) and Huang Di (Yellow Emperor). And modern archaeological excavations show that in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, already in the Neolithic period (VIII millennium BC), the skill of working with clay (in Chinese is called tao qi, 陶器) was developed quite highly.

Cups were the main items of household and ritual utensils. bo(缽), bowls- peng(盆), bowls- van(碗), glasses- bay(杯), dishes- sir(盤), glasses- dow on a high leg (豆), boilers- ugh(釜) and tripods- din(鼎), pots- guan(罐) and jugs- hu (壺).

photo: vessel of the Neolithic Yangshao culture (V-II millennium BC)

The preparation of raw materials began with the removal of impurities and litter contained in the rock. Clay was diluted in water and shaken, a heavy clay mass settled at the bottom, and rubbish rose to the surface and was removed. The degree of purification determined the quality of the future ceramic test. To reduce shrinkage of clay during drying and prevent cracking of vessels during firing, quartz (in the form of coarse sand), finely ground pearl oyster shells, talc, fireclay were added to the ceramic dough.

The molding of future products took place manually, without the use of a potter's wheel: from clay ribbons, which were folded into rings along the width of the future product, building one on top of the other (band ceramics). At the end of IV - beginning of III millennium BC. (i.e., almost a thousand years earlier than in the Mediterranean), the potter's wheel was also used, but complex products continued to be sculpted by hand.

The walls of the vessels were polished with bamboo combs, bone, wood or ceramic burnishers until a characteristic sheen appeared. After polishing, the vessel was immersed in a liquid clay solution, dried, and a layer of engobe (a precursor of glaze, a colored clay-based decorative coating) was applied. Paint was applied to the engobed surface: a geometric or floral ornament, images of plants, animals and people. Monochrome ceramics could also be decorated with carved (engraving with a sharp or blunt instrument), stamped (impressions of wickerwork, ropes, plant seeds, leaves and cereals) and stucco (convex stripes and figures) ornament.

in the photo: Yu-tao (釉陶, glazed ceramics), II millennium BC e.

Products of the Shang-Yin era (II millennium BC) in modern art history are called yuanshi(原始瓷), "primitive porcelain" or "proto-porcelain". Fired at a temperature of 1050-1150 ° C, these products were produced by workshops located in the regions of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River (northern of the Henan province), as well as in the regions of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze (on the territory of the present-day Anhui province in the area of ​​the Huangshan mountains , Jiangsu - in the region of Taihu and Zhejiang lakes, in the regions of Hangzhou and the Tiantaishan mountains).

photo: glazed ceramics of yuanshi qingci, 原始瓷​ , I millennium BC

Over a long history, the technological methods of pottery have been improved many times, but the essence has remained unchanged. And today, clay is mined from the ground, dried, crushed, washed and aged, mixed with various additives, molded, decorated with painting, carving or appliqué, glazed and fired.

CERAMICS-TAO陶 and PORCELAIN瓷

Both porcelain and ceramics contain porcelain stone kaolinite (in Chinese, kaolin tu, 高嶺土), a substance formed during geological processes from aluminum and silicon-containing rocks ( chemical formula: Al20 2Si02 2H20). The term comes from the toponym Gaoling (高陵, High Hills), the name of a hilly range at the junction of the provinces of Henan and Hebei. And in Chinese, all ceramic varieties containing kaolin, including porcelain, are denoted by the word tsy 瓷. However, according to the composition of the ceramic dough and the features of the technological process tsy subdivided into many varieties.

Pictured: Porcelain stone mining in the Gaoling Mountains

Depending on the structure, ceramic products can be thin (fine-grained or vitreous shard) and coarse (coarse-grained shard). Fine ceramics include porcelain, faience, majolica and stoneware. Porcelain products have a homogeneous, translucent, very hard shard, which is not scratched by a knife and does not absorb water, and rings when tapped. Faience, majolica and stoneware shards are porous, opaque, easily scratched, hygroscopic (water absorption 9-15%). Porcelain production involves preliminary thorough cleaning of the components, so the porcelain shard is white. The ceramic shard has a greenish, cream or grayish color.

Porcelain is divided into hard and soft. Solid contains 47-66% kaolin, 25% quartz and 25% feldspar. Soft consists of 25-40% kaolin, 45% quartz and 30% feldspar. As for ceramics, it may contain different proportions of the above components, as well as chalk, flux and other additives. The firing temperature of ceramics ranges from 1050°C to 1250°C, and when firing porcelain, it must be at least 1300°C in order to begin the transformation of the molecular structure of the ceramic mass and it becomes vitreous and completely waterproof. Hard porcelain is the most refractory, requiring a firing temperature of 1400 °C to 1460 °C.

Pictured: Jingdezhen porcelain

Huge deposits of kaolin-bearing rocks are located in the southeastern and southern regions of China. They lie in layers, and depending on the depth and the specific area, the properties differ significantly. Throughout history, numerous pottery centers, organized around large kilns, arose, flourished and fell into decay in these lands. Each of them had their own recognizable style, technological methods and work organization.

FURNACE-YAO 窑

In the earliest stages, kilns were vertical structures 1–3 m high and 2–3 m in diameter at the base. The firing chamber was located directly above the firebox. Rectangular holes were made at the top through which smoke and gases were removed, which made it possible to provide a more uniform temperature in the firing chamber.

In the era of the Warring Kingdoms (V-III centuries BC), kilns appeared in which the firing chamber was located not directly above the firebox, but on the side. They had a somewhat elongated shape, which gave them their name Mantou (馒头窑, "Pampushka"): on average, about 2.7 m in length, 4.2 m in width and about 5 m in height. Warm air from the furnace passed through an inclined gas duct and entered the firing chamber through three branches through small rectangular holes. Such a device made it possible to achieve greater temperature uniformity. The items to be fired were put into the kiln in crucibles in stacks in several rows. Before firing, the loading opening was filled with bricks and smeared with clay. The famous Ding-yao, Jun-yao, Zhu-yao porcelain was fired in Mantou kilns. In some places, similar structures are still used for firing.

Pictured: Mantou Yao Ancient Kiln

In the era of the Five Dynasties, Danxing kilns (蛋形, Oval shape) appeared in the territory of Jiangxi province, which are an ascending arched tunnel (angle of inclination of about 3 °) with a furnace placed in a recess. In the arch of the tunnel (resembling in shape the upper half of a giant jug buried in the ground) there were holes for exhaust air. Thrust was created by a tall pipe. Volume interior was 150-200 cubic meters. Pine wood was used as fuel. The most famous Danxing kilns that have survived to this day are located in the Jingdezhen area.

in the picture: danxing oven

During the Song Dynasty, Long Yao's design, the Dragon Furnace, appeared: a large brick tunnel (15 meters long, 2-3 wide and 2 high) that was built on a hill. The design feature of the Dragon Furnace was the absence of a chimney. Thrust was created by the difference in height: the slope of the hill was 23°. The fire was kindled below, laying a huge amount of firewood in the firebox below (in the Dragon's Head). Hot air went through the arched tunnel to the outlet at the top (Dragon's Tail). On the sides of the tunnel there were windows for loading fired items, in the vault there were additional holes for air draft. The temperature in such a furnace reached 1400°C. The blanks were fired in an open and closed way. In the first case, under the influence of the flame, the surface of the objects melted, the color changed unpredictably, and the proportion of culling was high. For protection, the fired product was placed in a refractory ceramic container (closed, muffle method).

in the picture: Dragon oven

To reach the temperature required for firing, you need to make a very strong fire. And this means that you need a lot of firewood, a lot of coal, a lot of people who maintain and control its temperature, which must be constant and kept in the optimal range. A large oven takes a long time to gain heat and cools down for several days. Therefore, firing is a whole event. They prepare for it for weeks and simultaneously fire the workpieces of all the potters living around.

Pictured: Long Yao in action

Pottery is the art of fire. The quality of the finished product depends on the source material, the skill of molding and kiln firing. Everything that the master does, he does before firing, and the fire either accepts his work or sends it to the scrap: under the influence of heat, the workpiece is always deformed (“shrinks”), its shape and color change. Uneven heating, hidden defects or excessive temperature always lead to a fatal outcome.

in the photo: the result of an unsuccessful firing

Around the ancient large furnaces one can always see long hedges and even small buildings made of shards: fragments of failed bowls, vases, pots and other objects.

In the photo: a street in Jingdezhen city

The modern electric kiln is much more efficient than Long Yao, where the temperature is so difficult to control. However, many well-known masters, despite the risk, burn their creations in the ancient Dragon kilns, following the tradition of their ancestors, because craftsmanship and family secrets in most cases are passed along with old clays by inheritance - from fathers to children.

Glazed porcelain Yu-tsy釉瓷

Despite the fact that porcelain is practically impervious to water and gas, porcelain blanks, like ceramic ones, are usually covered with a transparent glaze.

Technological process of production yu-tsy , glazed porcelain, consists of repeated firing of the workpiece after applying the next layer of glaze. On average, the number of layers does not exceed 4-5, the maximum number is 10, after which the final firing follows. The pre-firing temperature of the workpiece was about 800°C, the glaze firing temperature ranged from 1200-1300°C.

The color of glazed products has a wide range of colors and shades. The most surprising color is given by solutions of transition metal ions, which absorb light of various wavelengths depending on the concentration and degree of oxidation. Iron ions during the redox reaction that occurs during the firing process, give a color from yellow and green to brown and black. Ions of manganese - from violet to brown, chromium - from pink to green, cobalt - blue and blue, copper - from green to blue. To use these substances, it is necessary to know their properties well, since the energy levels of their outer electrons are highly dependent on the composition of the glaze. So, copper gives a blue color in alkaline glaze and green in lead.

Glaze can be applied to both ceramic and porcelain blanks. The more layers, the stronger the effect of light scattering and transparent depth. But numerous layers of glaze greatly thicken the walls of the product, making it too massive, heavy. Therefore, as technology developed in the direction of thinning the shard and improving the quality of the glaze itself, the products became more and more elegant.

Pictured: a Sung porcelain vessel from the Jun-yao kilns

Glazed porcelain青瓷

The Song Dynasty had its heyday qing-tsy , 青瓷, glazed porcelain known today by the European name celadon. Iron oxide, which was part of the transparent glaze, gave the products delicate shades of green tones, and repeated coating made their surfaces shiny, as if wet. Because of different speed When the porcelain base and glaze cooled, tiny cracks appeared on the surface, which were poetically called “cicada wing”. The magnificent creations of the masters of the Celestial Empire became the decoration of palace feasts or were sent as gifts to the heads of foreign embassies.

The largest centers of qing-tzu production were Jun Yao 钧窑, Zhu Yao 汝窑, Guan Yao 官窑, Ge Yao 哥窑, Ding Yao 定窑. They employed hundreds of people who mined the clay, cleaned, ground and dried it, prepared molding dough and glazes, molded products on a wheel or with the help of templates, decorators and glazers who achieved an amazing variety of visual effects, and, finally, firing masters.

in the picture: preparation of ceramic dough

Porcelain TEA,柴.

During the Five Dynasties (907-960), imperial porcelain was produced in workshops in what is now Zhengzhou, Henan Province (河南郑州). According to the "Historical Records" of the Ming historian Cao Zhao, after several unsuccessful attempts to meet the highest demands of Emperor Zhou Shizong (周世宗, adopted son of the ruler Guo Wei, the last in the Five Dynasties, who before adoption bore the name Chai Rong, 柴荣), the Zhengzhou workshops were rejected and the attention of the monarch was attracted by others, south of Xinzheng. To the question of the masters, what should be the imperial porcelain, Chai Rong replied: “ Like the sky after the rain» (雨过天晴).

Pictured: Emperor Chai Rong

The result was magnificent products of amazing color and noble shapes. According to contemporaries, "a piece of porcelain Tea worth more than a gold bar. However, not a single such piece has survived to subsequent generations. After Zhou Shizong's death, General Zhao Kuang-ying usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor of the new Song dynasty, which eventually unified China. The descendants of Zhao Kuan-ying avoided mentioning the overthrown house of Chai and everything connected with it. As for palace utensils, they preferred products from Yue-zhou and Ding-zhou kilns, until the eighth successor to the throne, Huizong, the emperor with the soul of a poet and artist, revived the sky-blue tea porcelain.

Pictured: Emperor Huizong

Putting the government of the state at the mercy of unscrupulous officials, Emperor Huizong (徽宗) devoted all 25 years of his reign to the arts - painting, calligraphy and literature.

In the photo: a fragment of a scroll by Hui-zong "Collection of Writers" (文会图, silk painting), collection of the Taipei National Museum.

He left behind the famous "Tea Notes" (大觀茶論, Da Guan Cha Lun) and several beautiful painting scrolls ("Lotus and Golden Pheasants", "Autumn Pond", etc.). He was the greatest master of his time - inspired and highly educated, with an impeccable aesthetic sense and a deep understanding of the philosophy of Taoism. And the blue porcelain from Zhu Yao's kilns became one of the material embodiments of his concept of "heavenly purity".

in the photo: “Cranes over the Palace”, silk painting by Emperor Huizong, collection of the Liaoning Museum.

Zhu Yao汝窑

under the collective name Zhu-yao汝窑 From the Five Dynasties (907-960) to the late Qing (1840-1911), there were several pottery centers scattered around Zhuzhou County, 汝州, near the capital of Kaifeng (now Baofeng County, 宝丰, Henan Province) and producing qing-tsy, glazed porcelain that inherited the features of Chai porcelain, 柴.

Zhu's glazed porcelain was remarkable for its amazing softness of colors and elegance of forms. “It is blue like the sky, smooth as precious jade, covered with a pattern as thin as the wing of a cicada, shining with the light of the morning star,” poets wrote about it.

Alas, the neglect of state affairs ended tragically: in 1127, Jurchen troops captured the capital Kaifeng. The emperor with his family and 14,000 former subjects was sent to northern Manchuria, where he died in captivity after 8 years. Along with the era, the craftsmen who produced wonderful items for the palace, and their pottery kilns, also sunk into oblivion. Many times over the course of subsequent history, attempts were made to recreate them, but time always makes its own adjustments to human creations, and no matter how good the various replicas of Zhu porcelain are, no one has managed to reach its sky-high heights.

photo: bowl from Zhu-yao kilns, Song era

To date, about 70 objects that once shone in the light of the imperial halls have survived - 21 in the Taipei Palace, 17 in Beijing, as well as several objects in Shanghai museums, the English Foundation for Chinese Art and private collections. glazed tian-lan, (天蓝, sky blue), feng-qing(粉青, pale azure) and yue bai(月白, moonlight) - they illustrate the Zen philosophy of pure mind. Looking into the soft, transparent texture of a smooth coating, gentle curves of shapes and a delicate pattern of cracks, contemplating these wonderful objects plunges into a state of peace and harmony.

... The taste of tea, like the taste of life itself, changes from cup to cup. With each new sip, the future passes through us, through the fleeting present, to blend with the past and become part of history. And only tiny, darkened cracks, absorbing the breath of time over and over again, keep a glimpse of past tea parties, reminding that everything that has passed was once alive and real. Reading their complex, mysterious pattern, we peer into the bottomless well of time and catch our fleeting reflection in it...

Wang Jian Rong, director of the National Chinese Tea Museum in Hangzhou

In 1952, as part of the "revival cultural heritage» Zhu kilns began to recover literally from the ruins, and in 1958, after numerous studies and experiments, the first batch of handicrafts covered with light green glaze was produced dou-luy-yu(豆绿釉). In August 1983 sky blue tianlan-yu(天蓝釉) Zhu-yao porcelain was recognized by experts not only not inferior, but also superior to Sung. From now on modern products Zhu-yao became a special pride of Henan potters.

guan yao, 官窑.

The Guan-yao furnace, also located near Kaifeng and destroyed during the Mongol invasion, and then finally buried under the ruins as a result of the flood of the 17th century, it remained in historical references and few that have survived to this day museum exhibits. A characteristic feature of Guan-yao objects was a thin rim on the neck, which was poetically called "brown mouth". The rim was of different shades - from light brown to brick red and was formed due to the fact that during firing, the iron contained in the glaze was oxidized. Products were covered with glaze of pale blue, light green, violet and pinkish shades. Outwardly, Guan-yao products are similar to those from Zhu-yao, due to the use of the same clays, glazes and firing techniques.

In the photo: a bowl from Guan-yao ovens, a collection of the Beijing Gugong Museum

Jun-yao, 钧窑.

Jun-yao kilns (Jun-zhou county, Henan province) turned out magnificent objects, repeatedly covered with layers of glaze - pink, carmine red, purple, purple, sky blue, azure, violet and bright green. The particles of silica, aluminium, iron, phosphorus and copper contained in the glaze showed color differently depending on the proportion and firing temperature. The technology was very complex, the temperature sometimes reached 1380°C, and as a result, almost 70% of the products went to waste. Today, Jun-yao products are considered among collectors in the highest degree valuable and rare.

In the photo: a bowl from Jun-yao kilns

Ding Yao, 定窑.

Thin-walled white porcelain products Ding-yao (located in the Baoding district of Hebei province, 河北省保定市) were distinguished by their simplicity and elegance of form. Engraving was used as a decoration - images of sea waves, swimming fish, animals, children playing and flowers. Sometimes a gold or silver border was used as decoration.

Pictured: Ding-yao kiln bowl, collection of the Beijing National Gugong Museum

longquan kilns, 龍泉.

Longquan County is a famous historical and cultural center located at the junction of Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. The network of local workshops and kilns, formed in the 10th century, received a collective name in history longquan龍泉 (Dragon Spring). During the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316), two brothers from the Zhang 章 family founded the first porcelain factory here. Their ovens subsequently received the nickname Ge-yao, 哥窑 (Oven of Big Brother) and di yao, 弟窑 (Kiln of Little Brother).

In the Song Dynasty, Ge-yao kilns made mostly white and light green objects, covered with matte smoky blue glaze with a grid of large dark lines. They also had a "brown mouth" like Guan Yao porcelain.

Di-yao products were characterized by blue, emerald, aquamarine and the famous "green plum", meizi-qing, 梅子青, as well as a thin shard and soft shapes. Soon more and more workshops began to appear around them. In the 13th-15th centuries, glazed ceramics from Longquan spread to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and reached Europe, where it received the name "celadon". About 1300 items of porcelain that have survived to this day are the property of the largest museums in the world and private collections.

In the photo: a bowl from the Ge-yao ovens, a collection of the Beijing Gugong Museum

The specificity of Longquan products was that each item was produced by the same master at all technological stages. Thus, each product contains the soul of its manufacturer, it reflects the technical level and original style of the author. Longquan porcelain flourished during the Southern Song Dynasty. However, over the past three hundred years, the manufacturing technology has been lost. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, work began on researching and restoring the ancient technique, which was fully restored in 2000.

From a video clip taken during one of our trips to Zhejiang Province, you will find out how things are at the Longquan Porcelain Factory today.

Glazed Porcelain HEY-ZI 黑瓷

Tea tournaments dou-cha, which became widespread in the Song era, and the custom of frothing tea became very popular Heitsy, black porcelain, which was also called hey-yu(黑釉, black glaze), uni jian(乌泥建, black jian clay) or zi jian(紫建 jian purple). Emperor Huiezong's famous "Da Gua Cha Lun", "Tea Essay Written During the Years of the Da Guan Motto" notes: "... The black bowl, with a pattern of streaks, is especially valuable."

Pictured: Daimao Ban (Turtle Shell) bowl from the Jizhou kiln, Song Dynasty

Dark porcelain was produced in Jiang-yao, 建窑, and Jizhou-yao, 吉州窑 kilns. Jiang-yao kilns were located in the area of ​​Shuiji Zheng (水吉镇), Jiang-yang Qiu (建阳区) in Nanping County, Fujian Province, southeast of the Wuyishan Mountains. Jizhou-yao were located on the territory of modern Jiangxi province in the Jizhou district (currently Ji'an urban district, 吉安市). Founded in the Tang Dynasty, under the Songs, these kilns reached their peak, after which they gradually fell into complete decline. Using different compositions of glazes and methods of applying them, experimenting with the firing temperature, the craftsmen working in them showed real miracles of ingenuity. Against the background of black, purple, dark gray, reddish-brown glazes, amazing patterns appeared: Tuhao Ban (兔毫斑, Rabbit Fur), Zhegu Ban (鹧鸪斑, Partridge Feathers), Zejing Bing Yu (结晶冰釉, Ice Crystals) , Zhima Hua Yu (芝麻花釉, Sesame Flowers), Junle Wen Yu (龟裂纹釉, Craquelure), Daimao Ban (玳瑁斑, Turtle Shell) and others.

Pictured: Ganhei bowl, Song Dynasty

The main coloring components of the glaze Chunhai Yu(纯黑釉, Black Glaze), also known as Ganhei(绀黑, Dark Purple), were iron oxide and manganese oxide (1%). Numerous layers of glaze with the smallest frozen bubbles created the effect of a wet, foggy surface.

famous technique Tuhao Ban(兔毫斑, Rabbit fur) was based on the fact that microparticles of iron oxides, which are part of the glaze, melted at temperatures above 1300 ° C, flowed down, forming the thinnest streaks of silver, bronze or golden hues. Numerous layers were superimposed one on top of the other, sintering and forming grooves on the surface, visually and tactilely reminiscent of delicate rabbit fur. The reddish-brown rim of the neck of the bowl was always exposed, so in some cases it was covered with gold or silver foil.

photo: Tuhao Ban bowl (兔毫斑, rabbit fur), 1185

In engineering Zhegu Ban(Partridge feathers) oil was used as an additive to the glaze along with iron oxide. In the process of increasing the temperature, bubbles formed inside the glaze, which then burst, leaving a pattern resembling plumage.

Pictured: Zhegu Ban (鹧鸪斑, Partridge Feathers), Song Dynasty

Technic bowls Yaobian Tianmu(曜变天目, Shining Eyes of the Sky), received special recognition in Japan under the name Tenmoku. The 3 bowls that have survived to this day have the status of a National Treasure there. A distinctive feature of the technique are light spots on dark glaze, shining and iridescent, depending on the angle of view, in different colors.

Pictured: Temoku bowl (天目, Tian Mu, Heavenly Eye)

The inside of the bowl was often decorated with appliqué patterns. To do this, the bowl was covered with a layer of dark glaze and fired, then dragons and phoenixes cut out of paper, auspicious hieroglyphs, etc. were glued on top of which a layer of contrasting glaze was applied and fired again. In the flame of the furnace, the appliqué burned out, and a pattern remained in its place.

on the photo: a bowl of Ptarmigan's Feathers with a pattern of phoenixes on the inner surface.

No less interesting was a similar technique, when a tree leaf was used as decoration. It was placed at the bottom of the bowl and icing was applied on top. In the oven, the sheet burned, and the ashes sintered with the glaze, leaving a clear imprint of all the smallest veins. Often these were the leaves of the sacred bodhi tree ( Ficus religiosa), under which Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment.

In the photo: a bowl of Mu Ye Tian Mu (木叶天目, Mu Ye Tian Mu, Wood leaf) from the Jiang Yao kiln

Jingdezhen porcelain, 景德鎮

During the reign of Jingde (1004 - 1007), Emperor Zhenzong issued an order according to which the kiln makers of Changnan Zheng (昌南镇, now Jingdezhen City, 景德鎮, Jiangxi Province) were to produce porcelain for the needs of the court and for for each subject: "Produced during the reign of Jingde"(景德年制). Since then, Changnan Zheng's kiln products have been called porcelain. Jingdezhen, 景德鎮.

in the picture: a typical picture from the life of the official pottery in Changnanzheng

State-owned potters produced white porcelain "white as snow, thin as paper", with blue patterns, which poets compared to "an ever-youthful blue flower". The underglaze ornament was applied with paint containing cobalt oxide, which, under the influence of high temperature, acquired blue and blue hues. And although the color palette of the paintings soon expanded noticeably, the white and blue tonality remained forever. hallmark Jingdezhen porcelain.

Photo: Jingdezhen kiln bowl, Qing Dynasty, collection of the National Gugong Museum, Beijing.

In the Yuan era, Jingdezhen products became favorites at the court, more and more furnaces appeared in the town, technologies improved and the skill of potters improved. Under Ming, bowls, vases and dishes that came out of these furnaces spread widely outside the Celestial Empire, becoming a symbol (in English, porcelain and China sound the same, China) and a collectible of aristocrats in Europe and Asia. The famous English white and blue porcelain and Russian Gzhel originated as a replica of Jingdezhen products, eventually forming independent handicraft traditions.

In the photo: Linglong porcelain

Openwork porcelain Linglong, 玲珑瓷, (another name for Mitun, 米通, rice grains) appeared in Jingdezhen kilns during the reign under the motto Yongle("Eternal Happiness"). The airy, light objects of Linglong give the impression of exceptional fragility and weightlessness. To achieve the effect, a thin-walled workpiece is skillfully decorated by cutting tiny through holes in the wet mass of porcelain, after which it is painted, covered with transparent glaze and fired. Glaze fills holes in the form of the thinnest transparent glass. And in order to enhance the effect of porcelain lace, where it does not interfere with the functional purpose, the holes are left through.

In June 2014, we went to Jingdezhen and filmed a short film about porcelain production.

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The world owes the creation of porcelain to the ancient Chinese, who discovered this material more than three thousand years ago. After his invention, he reigned exclusively in the world. Those few things that got to Europe were made only in China. The inhabitants of China kept the production recipe and components in the strictest confidence. It was forbidden to divulge to foreigners the secret of manufacture under pain of death.

Story

Since 1004 The city became the center of porcelain production in China. Jingdezhen(also called Dingzhou) located on the shore of the lake Poyang, where they produced products for the imperial court. Back to top 18th century about a million people lived in it, and three thousand porcelain kilns worked. Porcelain products from this city were of high quality. Chinese porcelain flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries when the craftsmanship of its manufacture has reached perfection.

In the 17th and 18th centuries a large amount of Chinese porcelain came to Europe. It was taken out by Dutch and Portuguese seafarers and merchants. rare for medieval Europe The sailors purchased the goods when they sailed from the harbor of Arita in the province of Hizen. In this harbor, porcelain was called "imari".

Features of the composition and production of Chinese porcelain

Porcelain is translated from Farsi as "imperial". Only the rulers and members of the imperial family could afford dishes from it. To prevent the secrets of making porcelain from falling into the wrong hands, the city of Jingdezhen, in which the main production was located, was closed in the evening, and armed detachments of soldiers patrolled the streets. Only those who knew a special password could get into it at that time.

Why was porcelain so revered and why was it so valued by Europeans? For thinness, whiteness, melody and even transparency. The quality of products depended on the content of white clay in the porcelain mass. It was mined not everywhere, but only in some provinces of China.

It was this component that gave whiteness to finished porcelain products. Also, the quality was influenced by the degree of fineness of grinding the “porcelain stone” powder (a rock made of quartz and mica), from which the mass was kneaded. This breed was mined in the province Jiangxi.

The mixed porcelain mass was aged for about 10 years before being used. It was believed that in this way she acquired greater plasticity. After such a long exposure, it was also beaten off. Without this, it was impossible to sculpt from the mass, it simply crumbled in the hands of the master.

Ancient Chinese potters fired porcelain products in special ceramic pots-capsules at a temperature of 1280 degrees (products from ordinary clay, for comparison, were fired at a temperature of 500 - 1150 degrees). The kiln was loaded to the very top with finished products, walled up, leaving a single small opening to observe the process.

The stoves were heated with wood, and the firebox was at the bottom. They opened the oven only on the third day and waited until the pots with products cooled down. On the fourth day, workers entered the kiln to carry out the finished fired porcelain. But even then, the furnace had not yet completely cooled down, so the workers were in wet clothes and gloves made of several layers of wet cotton wool. For the manufacture of only one piece of porcelain, the efforts of 80 people were required.

Glaze applied to finished porcelain products in several layers, varying the degree of transparency of each layer. This was done to give the dishes a special matte sheen. Cobalt and hematite were used as paints, which tolerate high temperatures during firing. The Chinese began to use the finish with enamel paints only in 17th century.

As a rule, the ancient masters used thematic plots and complex ornaments in painting, so several people painted one product. Some outlined the contours, others painted landscapes, others - the figures of people.

The first Chinese porcelain cups were white with a slight greenish tinge. When tapped, they made a melodic ringing, reminiscent of the sound “tse-ni-i”. That is why porcelain in ancient China was called "tseny".
Europeans learned about porcelain through the mediation of merchants. Most of all, they were struck not even by the quality of porcelain products, but by cup making technology. They were just unique. Chinese craftsmen glued a porcelain cup from two halves - outer and inner, while their bottoms and upper rims were firmly connected. Inside the cup was painted with floral ornaments, and the openwork outer half remained white. When tea was poured into it, the finest painting of a smaller cup was visible through the porcelain lace.
But the most surprising thing for Europeans was grayish porcelain vessels with patterns showing through on the walls. As the cup filled with tea, sea waves, algae, and fish appeared on it.

The value and quality of porcelain is determined by several components: material, shape, decor and glazing. The color of the finished porcelain product should be warm, soft, creamy.

Near 1700 prevailed in painting green color, therefore, products dated from this time belong to the so-called "green family". At a later time, painting began to dominate and pink color . This is how porcelain appeared, which belongs to "pink family".
Some stages in the history of production Chinese porcelain and the products in which they were made bear the name of the imperial dynasty that ruled at that time.

In 1500 The technology of making porcelain from the Chinese is adopted by the Japanese. The quality of the first Japanese porcelain was much lower than the Chinese one, but the painting was more luxurious. It was distinguished by a wide variety of plots and ornaments, the brightness of colors and real gilding.

Porcelain was once revered as a handicraft miracle, and daredevils paid with their lives for the secret of this ceramic material. Then they began to reinvent it here and there - as a result of which the world was enriched with new varieties and varieties of porcelain. Over time, all the physical properties of porcelain were in demand, and in the last century, porcelain products were divided into industrial and household.

Where did it all begin?

History of porcelain

China is the birthplace of porcelain. While the Europeans - even the most civilized, the ancient Greeks - were sculpting amphoras, gouging stone bowls and trying to cast glassware, the Chinese were working intently on the creation of porcelain. The first successful experiments of Chinese masters are documented in 220 BC.

The Chinese themselves tend to increase the age of porcelain by at least a thousand years. European science believes that not all ancient Chinese ceramics are porcelain, but only those that, with a light impact, ring “jing-n” ... And such products began to appear in China only in the middle of the first millennium of the New Era.

Do not be lenient with the auditory evaluation criterion. There is an opinion that both the English-language name of China, and the Slavic "xin", and the Chinese name for porcelain come from the same source - the onomatopoeic "jin".

In any case, the geographical area of ​​the appearance of Chinese porcelain is called Jiangxi to this day; British China is an anglicized attempt to read the ancient Chinese tien-tse, which was later transformed into tseane and served as the name, among other things, for any piece of porcelain.

According to some linguists, the Russian "blue" is still the same tracing paper from the Chinese tseane. After all, the first products made of Chinese porcelain were decorated exclusively with blue mineral paint. Does this mean that the Slavs got acquainted with Chinese porcelain thousands of years ago? An interesting but unsupported hypothesis.

Why was porcelain born in China?

Strictly speaking, the pace of development of ceramic craft in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, India and other areas remote from China were approximately equal. And the Chinese did not introduce anything fundamentally new into the technology of molded clay firing. The same domed stoves, the same charcoal...

The secret of the origin of porcelain lies in raw material preferences. Masters all over the world preferred to take oily red clay for making ceramics. The Chinese were lucky enough to operate with a substance, although refractory, but beautiful, especially after intense, with the melting of the outer layer, firing.

It was not easy to achieve success in creating an efficient porcelain technology. Therefore, the Chinese, who were very willing to trade in porcelain, strongly opposed the disclosure of their know how.

Louder than jade, whiter than snow

The first examples of Chinese porcelain consist of mashed kaolin and ground kaolin. The best porcelain, according to the ancient poets, was "bell like jade, shining like frost, white like snow".
According to the precepts of the first masters, in order to achieve the proper quality of products, well-moistened porcelain dough was sent for a century of exposure to deep pits. The dissociative decomposition of minerals in an alkaline medium ensured both plasticity and homogeneity of the resulting material.

A visual analysis of Chinese porcelain shards could not tell the then Europeans either the composition or the features of the product technology. A more or less successful imitation of porcelain was glass welded with a large addition of tin oxide, as well as several variants of a mixture of tin (called opal) glass with clay.

But the resemblance was only superficial: consumer qualities counterfeit porcelain products remained low. And the cost of milky white glass with antimony and tin exceeded the price of Chinese porcelain ...

Spies went to China.

Persians are the keepers of the porcelain secret

Attempts of porcelain espionage, undertaken at the end of the first - beginning of the second millennium of our era, were unsuccessful. From which the interested Europeans hastily deduced the opinion about the severity of the old Chinese regime of secrecy, and composed tales about the demonstrative executions of captured intelligence officers.

In fact, the Chinese were very friendly towards foreigners, and even merchants were welcomed as relatives. But China's porcelain exports of those times belonged entirely to people from Persia and (to a lesser extent) India. Buying porcelain products cheaply, Eastern merchants sold them at a multiple mark-up. It is not for nothing that Li Shang-Yin, the famous poet of the 9th century, writes: “It is strange to see a poor Persian ...”

So there is nothing surprising in the fact that travelers on foot and on horseback, heading to China for porcelain, disappeared without a trace long before reaching their goal. The Arab-Persian trading mafia did not let them through! It was not in vain that navigators searched for a waterway to the East so stubbornly that they even discovered America...

The Polo Family - European Ambassadors to China

The visit of the Venetian merchant Niccolo Polo to China fell on the difficult period of the Mongol conquests, but was surprisingly successful. The son of Niccolo Polo, Marco, lived in China for seventeen years, after which, showered with gifts from the khan, he returned to Venice.

Western experts in the history of porcelain argue that truly high-quality Chinese porcelain was born simultaneously with the arrival of Marco Polo in Beijing. And all porcelain products of the previous period, that is, created before the middle of the XIII century, are of little value in technological and artistic terms.

Among the foreign gifts brought by Marco Polo from China, porcelain cups turned out to be especially interesting. One of them was covered on the outside with the thinnest porcelain mesh. The other was attracted by a colorful pattern that appeared after filling the vessel with hot water. The third was translucent with the most delicate shade of pink - for which the tongued Italians called the material "piggy" - porcellana.

The name stuck. In vain did the famous traveler tell the legend about the addition of the blood of Chinese virgins to porcelain dough. His countrymen excused themselves with the similarity of pinkish porcelain with shells of a mollusk, which is just the same and is called "pig".

And by the way, the Venetians tugged at the traveler, what, besides virgin blood, is part of the Chinese porcelany?

Persistent porcelain secret

We do not know what Marco Pola answered the questions of fellow citizens. And what could he say? In China, porcelain is made by thousands of artisans: they take white clay in Kaoliang, grind the porcelain stone, mix it, age it ... then they mold it and fire it. All!

But what is Kaoliang's white clay? What is porcelain stone? And most importantly, why does not one of the white clays of local occurrence give the desired effect?

There was no answer.

Centuries have passed. At the end of the 17th century, a French priest, Father Francois Xavier d'Entrecol, arrived in China. The monk arrived well prepared not only for missionary work, but also for intelligence work. He spoke Chinese and held permission to visit Jin-te-zhen, a district that produces porcelain in abundance both for the imperial court and for sale.

They say that the crafty monk had to experience miracles of spy luck in order to obtain and send samples of porcelain raw materials to his homeland, France. True, René Réaumur, the famous physicist and final addressee of the d'Antrecol letters, did not find anything useful in the monastic correspondence. Neither Kaolian clay nor the mysterious porcelain stone seemed to exist in France...

The decline of the Chinese porcelain monopoly

However, the advanced science of the middle of the 18th century was already burning with the idea of ​​French porcelain. Pierre Joseph Macer led the theoretical research of the porcelain composition formula. Jean Darcet painstakingly studied samples of domestic clays until he found a material near Limoges that met all the requirements. The fat Limoges kaolinite was quite consistent with the white Kaolian clay.

The solution to the mystery of the so-called "porcelain stone" took place even earlier. At the beginning of the century, the Germans Ehrenfried Tschirnhaus and Johann Bötger established that equal amounts of and should be added to clay to make thin, fine-grained and low-porous ceramics.

True, the first of the materials created by German scientists does not quite correspond to the Chinese standard. However, by a happy coincidence, reserves of excellent china clay were discovered in the vicinity of Meissen, and therefore Bötger and Tschirnhaus soon managed to achieve real success.

In the second half of the 18th century, white porcelain excellent quality began to be produced in France, and many more where in Europe. Does it happen in human history that priority is not disputed?

English, Japanese, Russian porcelain

When, in 1735, d'Entrecol's work on porcelain was published, the book was also read in England. Thomas Briand was appointed agent and sent to France, where he succeeded in mastering the porcelain trade. Shortly after Briand's return to England, it turned out that the porcelain patents were already ready and production could begin.
Technologies borrowed from France, and with them the Florentine (late 16th century) methods for making porcelain mass, allowed the British to create real masterpieces. The special merit of England is the invention of bone china.

Japanese porcelain saw the light before European, but came to Europe only occasionally. Japanese craftsmen improved the Chinese methods of decorating products in their own way, and at the time of the production of the first French porcelain, the masters were tasked with copying Japanese samples in high quality.

The history of Russian porcelain officially begins in the 18th century. However, according to some historians, Gzhel white clay began to be used for the production of porcelain as early as pre-Mongolian times.

According to unverified information, on the territory of the current Ramensky district of the Moscow region, shortly before the Mongol-Tatar invasion, craftsmen who completely copied Chinese technologies worked. Some art historians believe that the modern Gzhel tradition of painting porcelain in blue on white grows out of medieval Chinese antiquity...

But why did the 18th century become the time of the rapid and widespread spread of porcelain?

The first European porcelain comes from Dresden!

Johann Friedrich Bötger felt like an alchemist from a young age. Having mastered the technique of gilding silver coins, Bötger went to the elector of Saxony Augustus and assured the ruler of his alchemical power. Not surprisingly, Bötger, appointed the state's chief gold miner, was soon sentenced to death for embezzlement and failure to fulfill obligations.

To the credit of the king, he did not insist on the beheading of the violent Bötger's little head, and instructed the indefatigable experimenter to create, well, at least something, for example, porcelain loved by the elector. Oddly enough, the secret of thin, sonorous and translucent ceramics succumbed to the young alchemist.

In 1709, the novice researcher compiled the original recipe for Meissen porcelain. August highly appreciated the find, pardoned Bötger and rewarded the creators of the porcelain miracle, and in addition, he founded a manufacturing factory and took precautions against divulging the secret.

Meissen porcelain emblem pretty soon steel crossed swords- as a reminder of the responsibility for encroachments on the secret. Bötger, who was dismissive of the "pot" business, received the strictest instructions. In this connection, he made one of his assistants the keeper of the secret of porcelain proper, and entrusted another student with saving the secret of the glaze.

The elector, however, did not particularly believe in Bötger's silence and, according to rumors, poisoned the poor fellow. But it was too late... Bötger's friend Christoph Hunger, trained in gold appliqués on porcelain, escaped from Saxony and began to travel around Europe and sell the secrets of Meissen porcelain. The inns of Dresden were filled with adventurers eager to find out the great porcelain secret.

Queues of suitors lined up for the daughters of porcelain masters - but the marriages lasted only until the sons-in-law entered the family business. Having learned the secrets and somehow mastered the porcelain know-how, unprincipled spies hastily left German wives and fled towards fame and fortune.

Receiving information feed from several sources, porcelain manufactories grew all over Europe like mushrooms after rain. As a result, by the beginning of the 19th century, every self-respecting ruler could boast of his own porcelain!

Porcelain in terms of science

It is customary to distinguish between two types of porcelain: soft and hard. The difference between the types is determined by the composition. Soft porcelain contains a greater number of so-called fluxes - components that have a relatively low melting point. Hard porcelain is fired in kilns that are 300 degrees hotter. Technical porcelains, as a rule, are hard.

Porcelain tableware is made mainly from soft porcelain: it transmits light better, although it is more fragile. Hard porcelain is very strong, refractory, chemically resistant - and therefore is in demand in the production of equipment, insulators, laboratory glassware, metallurgical refractories.

The composition of hard porcelain includes kaolin (50% by weight), quartz and feldspar (in equal or approximately equal shares, together up to 50% by weight). In soft porcelain, the percentage of feldspar and other flux additives is much higher than in hard porcelain, and the amount of quartz is reduced.

Composition of noble ceramics, developed in 1738 in France and largely repeating the old Chinese recipe, makes it possible to produce exactly soft porcelain. The French proposed to prepare porcelain dough from 30-50% kaolin, 25-35% silicates, 25-35% of the so-called frit - a raw composition that includes several components that give porcelain shine, ringing and light transmission.

Among others, modern frits include carbonates, calcites, fossils and... !

porcelain technology

Grinding and mixing of raw materials is the most important preparatory operation. The homogeneity of the porcelain dough particles guarantees uniform heating and the same sintering rates throughout the entire body of the product.

Porcelain is fired in two or three stages. The first firing - this stage is called by specialists “for scrap” or “for linen” (“linen” refers to unpainted rough porcelain) - is carried out in order to obtain high-quality molded products with a raw surface. The second firing (“for pouring”) melts the glaze applied to the primary product over the artistic paintings.

After the second firing, finishing decoration is carried out: overglaze painting, gilding and other finishing operations. Fixing the overglaze painting usually requires a third, most gentle firing. If firing "for scrap" and "for watering" is carried out at temperatures in the range from 1200 to 1500°C, then the "decorative" third firing does not require heating above 850°C.

Porcelain products are dyed with dyes consisting of powdered metal oxides. And if the underglaze painting never comes into contact with the environment, the metals from the overglaze painting can in some cases migrate from the surface layer of the dish into the food.

Conscientious porcelain makers prevent this by mixing dyes with glassy fluxes. Unfortunately, in an effort to reduce the cost of products, some modern tableware manufacturers paint porcelain with unstable paints.

Avoid buying suspiciously cheap food china!

Instead of a conclusion

In ancient China, porcelain was called tien-tse, which means "son of the sky." Meanwhile, the “son of heaven” in China has always been titled emperor. The Persians only copied the title: baarura in ancient Persian, like farfura in Turkish, means "Chinese emperor".

Thus, acquiring porcelain, our contemporary joins the greatness of the Chinese Empire and touches the material, which even the emperors - "sons of heaven" are worthy of. The pathos and aristocracy of history do not make porcelain inaccessible to the people. Everyone can collect a worthy and representative porcelain collection today.

Is it worth it to start? Of course it's worth it!