Blue
glaze
Blue glaze is first found in the "Tang sancai".
But it is still low temperature blue glaze. It has
only sense of gorgeous but lack of the color tone
of steady. The high temperature blue glaze is produced
in the Yuan dynasty. Not only is the number of blue
glazed ware much but also the quality of the blue
glazed ware is fine after the Ming dynasty, especially,
during the years of Xuande. Therefore, it is regarded
as the top grade among the porcelain made during
the years of Xuande. A lot of new varieties such
as cassius blue, cerulean blue and so on are produced
down to the years of Kangxi in the Qing dynasty.
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Blue
glazed "zun" in the shape of hoof (Qianlong)
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Peacock
blue
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The cover coat of the ordinary
blue glaze doesn't peel off easily because it is
fired by high temperature. But the glaze cracks
and peels off easily when peacock blue glaze is
glazed directly on the unglazed body. Or it is glazed
on the white glazed wares before it is firing. It
is low temperature glaze. Most of the peacock blue
glaze belongs to the big plate category of different
pecification and small wares are less. In addition,
there is still amphora vase similar to the animal
jar in the years of Hongzhi. It belongs to ritual
ware made in official kiln during the years of Jiaqing.
The vessel shape is shorter slightly than the one
in the years of Hongzhi. The peacock blue is glazed
on the ware from the top to the bottom. It is bright
colored but it is not even.
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Altar
blue
It is also called deep blue or sacrificial blue.
Its characteristic is that the color and lustre
is deep, the cover coat does neither flow nor crack,
the shade of the color tone is even and the color
generation is relatively stable. The altar blue
glaze flourishes during the years in the Ming dynasty.
It is mentioned in the same breath with shiny red
and sweet white in the Record of the Southern Kiln.
It is regarded as the top grade among the porcelain
made during the years of Xuande. Gold enamel is
often decorated on the altar blue glazed wares besides
the single color glaze. In addition, there are also
the ones carved with flowers secretly or the ones
printed in flowers secretly and this kind of products
is the most among the products made during the years
of Xuande. It has gained great achievements in the
developments of the altar blue during the years
of Kangxi in the Qing dynasty. There are no cracks
in the thin glaze and the color of the glaze is
relatively dark.
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Blue
Sky
Sky blue, evolves from the celeste glaze, is a kind
of high temperature color glaze. It is first fired
during the years of Kangxi. The glaze color is not
only suffused with blue but also light. It is sparkling,
pure, simple and elegant just like a bright blue
sky. Therefore, it is called "sky blue".
The content of cobalt is below 2%and the mental
elements such as copper, iron, titanium and so on
play a role as color generation in the glaze. Its
color generation is stable, fine and good-looking.
It can favorably with cowpea red.
The category of the sky blue glazed wares belongs
to the small studying appliance during the years
of Kangxi. The vessel shape such as vase, canister
and so on cannot be found until the years of Yongzheng
and Qianlong. Moreover, most of them made in official
kiln. Sky blue glazed decahedron six bowls made
during the years of Yongzheng is very characteristic
and a cluster of purple grapes or bat is drawn on
every side. The way of drawing and decoration imitate
foreign porcelain. Most of them are fired by single
firing.
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Cassius
blue
Cassius blue is called "alabaster blue" or "azure
blue". It is called cassius blue because it has navy-blue
speckle like water on the light blue ground just like the
sprinkling blue blob. Cassius blue has already produced
during the years of Xuande in the Ming dynasty, but it is
not mature until the years of Kangxi at the Qing dynasty.
The technology of application of glaze has changed a little.
First, cobalt blue pigment is blown to the body. It will
form cyan dot. Secondly, the white glaze is blown to it.
It is really lovely after it is fired because there are
some snowflakes flying in the cyanine. They belong to the
top grade products including various kinds of gold flower
or blue and white design are painted on the cassius.
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