Lecture Begins

Author: Erzi Congzhou

Lecture Begins

An Zhaiying shook his head: "The dragon pattern in the Ming Dynasty was strong but not agile enough. After that, the dragon pattern was basically finalized. It was not until Daoguang that the 'thin dragon' appeared again. However, the thin dragon at that time had weak muscles and bones, and was a 'sick and thin dragon'." 'Instead of the 'Qing Jian' of the Yuan Dynasty, its aesthetics are even worse than those of the Ming Dynasty."

"Azaka's taste" is talked about in the international collecting community. As soon as Azaka Eiichi finished speaking, everyone present nodded secretly.

Only Zhou Zhi shook his head secretly in his heart. An Zhaiyingyi's appreciation ability was not even a little bit worse than that of Mr. Wang.

The image of the dragon has been changing. It was fierce and vivid in the Yuan Dynasty. It was roughly the same in the Hongwu and Yongle periods of the Ming Dynasty. It was not until Xuande that it began to become rough and majestic, with its limbs and neck becoming thicker than before.

After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the dragon pattern became more delicate and elegant, but after the Wanli period, it began to become sloppy and weak.

This change in the dragon pattern in the Qing Dynasty is similar to that in the Ming Dynasty. The dragon pattern on the porcelain of the two dynasties secretly coincides with the trend of national destiny. This has to be said to be a magical thing.

Therefore, what Anzhai Eiichi calls the Ming Dynasty dragon actually refers to his impression of the Xuande dragon pattern in the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, the dragon mentioned by Anzhai is also the most common and familiar "horned dragon" on porcelain. His analysis is generally reasonable from an aesthetic point of view, but from the perspective of the development of the dragon pattern, it is not the same as the current Kui dragon. thing.

Mr. Wang had carefully discussed these things with Zhou Zhi at the Guobo Porcelain Research Institute while holding the fragments. After listening to everyone talking, Zhou Zhi's mood had changed from being cautious and anxious when he first entered the door, to becoming a little more relaxed.

These are all internationally renowned collectors. However, whether it is Goro Sakamoto who had just argued with him, Hou Zhongjin who was greedy before the golden age of Eastern collectibles, or Eiichi Anzai who is explaining it wrong now, it all shows that they have nothing to do with it. There is a huge difference between his vision, mentality and level of knowledge compared with the few real masters in China whom Zhou Zhi knows.

At first, Zhou Zhi equated these people with Mr. Wang, Fourth Cousin and the others, but now it seems that this is nothing more than that!

Just thinking of this, I heard Xu Zhantang shake his head and smile bitterly: "It's really hard to distinguish the dragon patterns on porcelain. The horned dragon is easy to tell, but the remaining Yinglong, Kuilong and Chilong are really hard to distinguish."

"It's true." Zhang Zongxian said: "I just can't see the dragon on this jar, so I gave it to my niece."

"Many big auction houses and museums have marked these types of dragon patterns incorrectly. It is indeed difficult to distinguish them." Goro Sakamoto said immediately: "But since Mr. Xiao Zhou can become Haitong's appraisal consultant at a young age, he must know Right?"

Lin Wanqiu smiled and said: "Zhou Zhi, you have studied with Mr. Wang and Mr. Qi for a while. Have the two old men explained it to you?"

Zhou Zhi looked at Goro Sakamoto. This man obviously wanted to praise him and kill him.

However, he was not afraid of this, and immediately nodded and said: "I have learned some."

"Come on, come on, please tell us, Mr. Xiao Zhou!" Li Jianchen took the lead in applauding: "How to distinguish these three kinds of dragon patterns?"

Zhou Zhi now felt that he no longer needed to be humble and polite to these people, and said with a smile: "Then let me tell you briefly. Starting from the Yuan Dynasty, the rulers established imperial factories in Jingde to bake porcelain for daily use in the palace. In these porcelains Among the decorations, the dragon patterns used to represent royal status are mainly divided into several types such as horned dragon, Yinglong, Kuilong, Chilong and bald-tailed dragon."

"A horned dragon is a dragon with two horns on its head. It is also commonly called 'Qiulong' or 'Jiaolong'. It is the most commonly used dragon pattern shape in Jingde Royal Factory. Its body shape can be described as 'nine-like', that is, the horns are like a deer.

The eyes are like a shrimp, the neck is like a snake, the belly is like a snake, the scales are like a fish, the claws are like a phoenix, etc.”

"Everyone knows this very well, so there is no need to elaborate. The only thing that needs to be explained is that by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the five-clawed dragon pattern had been monopolized by the government, representing the emperor, and could not be used on folk kiln porcelain."

"There is also the shape of the ceratopsian, which has a lot to do with the political and economic development trends of the entire society. Generally speaking, the shapes of ceratopsians in the past dynasties each have their own characteristics of the times. We can even identify them through the scales, claws and head of the dragon pattern.

There are many details such as the parts, which can basically determine the approximate production period."

"Let's focus on the other dragon patterns."

"Let's talk about Yinglong first. The Yinglong pattern often appears in the manufacturing office's work files and the royal factory's firing list, which has caused some confusion for researchers."

"Actually, we can get the answer by studying ancient books. Yinglong refers to a winged dragon, commonly known as 'pterosaur' or 'flying dragon'."

"In "Huainanzi·Lanmingxun" written by Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Han Dynasty, it is recorded that Nuwa made five-color stones to mend the sky. She rode a thunder chariot, served the Yinglong, rode the green Qiu, aided Jue Rui, made a lotus picture, covered the yellow clouds, and white in front of the sky.

Chi, running behind the snake, floating and carefree...'"

""Wu Zhi·Wu Can Biography" also mentioned that 'Fu Yinglong regards flexion and extension as his god, and Fenghuang regards Jiaming as his noble one'."

"Researching with reference to cultural relic patterns, Yinglong's pattern decoration actually first appeared in ancient copper, jade, lacquerware, stone carvings, and paintings."

"So Yinglong, like Chilong and Kuilong, is a type of ancient dragon pattern."

"In the Southern Song Dynasty, Yinglong patterns began to appear on Longquan kiln porcelain. In official kiln porcelain, the appearance of Yinglong did not begin to appear until the rapid development of Yongxuan Yuchang porcelain in the early Ming Dynasty."

"The ancients often used mausoleums to refer to people. For example, Emperor Xuande was buried in Jingling. Therefore, in the notes of the ancients, Jingling was often used to refer to Emperor Xuande."

"Jiao Hong of the Ming Dynasty recorded in "Yutang Congyu": "One day in Jingling, when I was forbidden to read books, I was surprised to see a dragon flying with wings. In the pavilion where I asked questions, none of the three Yangs could answer me.

The historian asked: "Is there anyone who can know?" Chen Jishi responded to the following: "A dragon has wings and can fly, and it is called Yinglong." When asked where it was, he said: "See "Erya"." The order was taken from "Erya"

"Look at it and believe it."

"From this discussion, we can know that the Yinglong pattern should have appeared in the decoration of Xuande official kiln porcelain only after this incident occurred. This kind of decoration was not common at that time, otherwise it would not have even affected the great bachelors who had learned a lot.

I can’t even give an accurate explanation.”

"It is worth noting that the Yinglong pattern was originally one of the ancient dragon patterns, but during the Xuande and Chenghua periods of the Ming Dynasty, it had its own development, and even merged with the horned dragon pattern, causing difficulties in identification.

"

"The biggest features of the decorative patterns are the feet and flying wings. The feet gradually evolved into double claws and flippers, while the flying wings gradually differentiated into feather wings, bat wings."

"However, no matter how it evolves, domestic dragon patterns with legs and flying wings, whether they are traditional patterns from ancient times or patterns evolved after the Ming Dynasty, are collectively referred to as 'Yinglong patterns'."

"But one thing that still needs to be distinguished is another type of pattern in porcelain - Capricorn fish. The pattern of Capricorn fish also has double fins and wings, which is somewhat similar to the Yinglong pattern of fins and feet with wings."

"The most critical point of difference is not elsewhere, only in the neck and the legs connected to the flippers. The one with a neck and legs is a Yinglong, and the one without a neck and legs is a Capricorn."

"Yinglong was only popular for a while in the Ming Dynasty. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, most of the Yinglong pattern products were made by imperial factories to imitate Xuande Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, and there were fewer innovative productions of Yinglong pattern utensils with the characteristics of this dynasty."
Chapter completed!