When
I was married in 1979, my father-in-law gave me eleven pieces
of tea sets named "underglaze wucai plum". Then I put
it in the cabinet for decoration for more than ten years.
On one evening of 1997, while watching TV, I saw the whole process
of auction for artistic works in Hunan province by chance. The
"7501 royal porcelain" showed on TV reminded me of my
tea sets collected long ago. On the following day, I took them
out and found that they were just the same as "7501 royal
porcelain" from the aspects of the sense of reality and veins.
So I bought a book and then made a detailed contrast between the
two kinds of tea sets. They are so alike in the glaze color, sense
of reality, whiteness and veins. But what made me surprise was
that 7501 porcelain was fired by Jingdezhen kiln and marked with
"made in Jingdezhen", which was not found on my tea
sets. Besides, there is little difference between them in the
shape. What is more, the branches of the plum in "7501"
stretches leftward while mine is just the opposite. Although my
tea sets do not belong to "7501" porcelain, I still
believe that they are different from common daily-used ceramics.
But all remain unknown.
My father-in-law worked in Zhuzhou before who likes collecting
ceramics. It happens that Liling kiln locates in Zhuzhou where
royal ceramics were made. But that is only my guess. It was not
until my seeing of an article about royal ceramics did I realize
that my tea sets are ceramics used by UN.
China's entry into the UN in 1971 is a historical event at that
time. So experts in Liling devoted themselves in making the ceramics
used by UN. These tea sets include eleven pieces all together.
The basal parts of the four cups were fully glazed and the kettles
all have ring feet. Generally speaking, the tyre of the tea sets
are white and exquisite, the surfaces are smooth and bright. The
plums and bamboos on the tea sets are not only lifelike but elegant
in style.
Since 1997, "7501 porcelain" was frequently auctioned
which surprised the world. As we all know, China is rich in ceramics.
What matters is the mutual amalgamation and penetration between
different ceramics so as to flourish the ceramic field.