Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 799 Lecture

Eiichi Anzhai shook his head: "In the Ming Dynasty, the dragon patterns were more than strong but not flexible enough. Afterwards, the dragon patterns were basically fixed. It was not until Daoguang that the "thin dragon" appeared again. However, the thin dragon at that time was weak in muscles and bones, but it was "sick and thin." ’ instead of the ‘Qingjian’ of the Yuan Dynasty, which is even worse than that of the Ming Dynasty in terms of aesthetics.”

"A Taste of Ataka" is something that the international collectors love to talk about. After Eiichi Ataka finished speaking, everyone present nodded secretly.

Only Zhou Zhi shook his head secretly in his heart, Eiichi Anzhai's appreciation ability was not a bit worse than Mr. Wang's.

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

After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the dragon pattern tended to be fine and delicate, but after Wanli, it began to become scribbled and weak again.

This change in the dragon pattern in the Qing Dynasty is also similar to that in the Ming Dynasty. The dragon pattern on the porcelain of the two dynasties secretly coincides with the trend of the country's destiny, which has to be said to be a miraculous thing.

Therefore, Eiichi Anzhai's so-called Ming Dynasty dragon actually refers to the impression of the Xuande dragon pattern of the Ming Dynasty.

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

These things were all carefully explained by Mr. Wang to Zhou Zhi with the fragments at the Guobo Porcelain Research Institute. After listening to everyone chatting, Zhou Zhi's mood has changed from being cautious when he first entered the door to a little relaxed.

These are all world-renowned big collectors, but whether it’s Goro Sakamoto, who quarreled with him just now, or Hou Zhongjin, who was greedy before the golden age of oriental collections, or Eiichi Ataka, who explained wrongly now, it all shows that they don’t matter. Vision and mentality are still level of knowledge, compared with the few real masters in China that Zhou Zhi knows, there is a huge difference.

In the beginning, Zhou Zhi equated these people with Mr. Wang and his fourth cousin, but now it seems that it is nothing more than that!
Just thinking of this, Xu Zhantang shook his head and smiled wryly: "It's really hard to distinguish the dragon patterns on the porcelain. It's easy to talk about horned dragons. The remaining Yinglong, Kuilong, and Chilong are really hard to distinguish."

"It's true." Zhang Zongxian said, "I just didn't like the dragon on the jar, so I gave it to my niece."

"Many big auction houses and museums have marked these types of dragon patterns incorrectly, and it is indeed difficult to distinguish them." Sakamoto Goro said immediately: "But since Mr. 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 period of time. Have the two Mr. Wang explained it to you?"

Zhou Zhi looked at Goro Sakamoto, he obviously wanted to flatter and kill him.

But he is not afraid of this, he nodded immediately and said: "I have learned a little bit."

"Come, come, please tell us, Mr. Zhou!" Li Jianchen took the lead in applauding: "How do you distinguish these three dragon patterns?"

Now Zhou Zhi also felt that he didn’t need to be modest and polite with these people anymore, and said with a smile: “Then let me briefly talk about it. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the rulers have established imperial factories in Jingde to make porcelain for daily use in the palace. Among the decorations, the dragon patterns used to represent the royal status are mainly divided into horned dragon, Yinglong, Kuilong, chilong and bald-tailed dragon."

"The horned dragon is a dragon with two horns on its head. It is also called 'qiulong' or 'jiaolong'. It is the most commonly used dragon pattern in Jingde Imperial Factory. The body shape can be described as 'nine like', that is, the horns are like a deer. Eyes like shrimp, neck like snake, belly like snake, scales like fish, claws like phoenix, etc.”

"Everyone knows these things very well, so I don't need to say more. There is only one thing that needs to be explained, that is, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the five-clawed dragon pattern has been monopolized by the government, representing the emperor, and cannot be used on porcelain in folk kilns."

"There is also the shape of the horned dragon, which has a lot to do with the political and economic development trends of the whole society. Generally speaking, the shape of the horned dragon in the past dynasties has its own characteristics of the times. We can even use the scales, claws, and head of the dragon pattern. Department and many other details can basically determine the approximate production period.”

"Let's focus on the rest of the dragon patterns."

"Let's talk about Yinglong first. Yinglong's patterns also often appear in the work files of the manufacturing office and the firing list of the imperial factory, which once brought some confusion to researchers."

"In fact, we can get the answer as long as we study ancient books. Yinglong refers to a winged dragon, commonly known as 'winged dragon' or 'flying dragon'."

"In "Huainanzi·Lan Mingxun" written by Liu An, the king of Huainan in the Han Dynasty, it is recorded that after Nuwa smelted five-color stones to mend the sky, she rode a thunder chariot, served Yinglong, Qingqiu, aided Juerui, Xi Luotu, Luo Huangyun, Qianbai Chi, running behind the snake, floating freely...'"

"It is also mentioned in "Wu Zhi · Wu Can Biography" that 'Fu Yinglong regards bending and stretching as his god, and Fenghuang regards Jiaming as his most precious'."

"Referring to the research on the patterns of cultural relics, the patterns and decorations of Yinglong actually first appeared in ancient copper, jade, lacquerware, stone carvings and paintings."

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

"During the Southern Song Dynasty, dragon 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, so in the ancients' notes, Jingling was often used to refer to Emperor Xuande."

"Jiao Hong in the Ming Dynasty recorded in "Yutang Congyu": "Jingling was forbidden to read books for a day, and he was surprised to see the dragon with wings flying. The historian said: "Is there anyone who can know?" Chen Jishi came out and said in the following: "The dragon has wings and can fly, and it is called Yinglong." When asked where it was, he said: "See "Er Ya." "Look at it, believe it."

"From this discussion, we can know that the Yinglong pattern should have appeared in the decoration of Xuande official kiln porcelain after the incident. And this kind of decoration was not common at that time, otherwise it would not be possible for the academicians who are well-educated and rich. I can't even come up with an accurate explanation."

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

"In terms of decorative patterns, the biggest feature is the feet and flying wings. The feet gradually evolved into claws and flippers, and the flying wings gradually differentiated into wings and bat wings."

"However, no matter how it evolves, this kind of dragon pattern with two feet and flying wings, whether it is the traditional pattern of ancient times or the pattern evolved after the Ming Dynasty, is collectively referred to as 'Yinglong pattern' in China."

"However, one thing that needs to be distinguished is another type of pattern in porcelain - Capricorn fish. The pattern of Capricorn fish is also double-finned and winged, which is somewhat similar to the Yinglong pattern with flippers and wings."

"The most critical point of the difference is not elsewhere, only the neck and the legs connected to the flippers. If there is a neck and legs, it is a dragon, and if it has no neck and no legs, it is a Capricorn."

"Yinglong was only popular for a while in the Ming Dynasty. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, most of the products with Yinglong patterns were entrusted by imperial factories to imitate Xuande and Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, and there were few innovative products with Yinglong patterns that are unique to this dynasty."

(End of this chapter)