China ceramics has a long history and a wide variety, which is the crystallization of China culture. Many people like ancient ceramic works of art, but few people know how to identify them. Because the identification of ancient ceramics is a comprehensive technology, it takes a lot of effort to master it. For example, to identify the authenticity of a ceramic antique, we must first know something about the production of ceramics in China for thousands of years, and then we can make an accurate judgment from the aspects of embryo, glaze color, shape, decoration, style and even weight. For beginners, if they can concentrate on their studies step by step, they can completely master some methods of identifying ancient ceramics.

Look at the tires and distinguish the glaze.

According to the characteristics of ceramic embryo and glaze color in each period.

Generally speaking, the age and kiln mouth can be seen from the tire quality and glaze color. For example, 4000 years ago, Shang and Zhou celadon, also known as primitive celadon, was a low-level stage of celadon, with grayish white and grayish brown tires and a high degree of porcelain. Its glaze color is blue, and the glaze layer is thin and uneven. This is because glazing was used at that time. Another example is that the glaze color of the Five Dynasties is azure. According to legend, Chai Shizong of the Zhou Dynasty after five generations said that it was sunny after the rain and said to the official who asked him for the color of imperial enamel, "After the rain, Qingyun broke, so the color will be in the future." Therefore, the glaze of the five dynasties porcelain was designated as azure. This kind of glaze is bright and smooth, thin, with a hint of blue in green. The glaze of Jiangxi porcelain in Yongle in Ming Dynasty, Xuande in Qing Dynasty and Kangxi in Qing Dynasty has its own characteristics. In Yongle period, white glaze was the most famous. The enamel color was thick, moist as fat, pure white as jade, and the glaze color was clear and crystal clear. The tire color is pure white, the tire quality is delicate, and the thickness is uneven. For example, under strong light, you can see that the fetal glaze is pink, meat red or shrimp red. This feature is not found in other porcelains. Although the time of Xuande in Ming Dynasty was close to that of Yongle in Ming Dynasty, the glaze color of porcelain fetus was quite different. The same vessel was thicker in Yongle and thinner in Xuande. During the reign of Xuande, the bottom of large tools was mostly unglazed, and there were often red spots on the exposed tires, commonly known as "flint red spots" and rust spots. The imitation Xuande porcelain of Kangxi and Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty did not have this feature. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, the glaze color of porcelain was white, pure, delicate and hard, and the carcass was the heaviest compared with that of other dynasties. In addition, during this period, two kinds of white glazes were often applied to the same utensil, and white glazes were applied to the inside, mouth and outsole of the utensil, and the glaze layer was thin, often with small glaze shrinkage; At the bottom, there are still spinning marks of blank tires. The body is glazed with green glaze, which is bright and bright, and the combination of fetal glaze is extremely firm. Two kinds of glazes are applied to a vessel, which is the biggest feature of porcelain produced in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty. It is a reliable basis for us to identify the age and kiln mouth of ancient ceramics by mastering the main characteristics of porcelain tires and colored glazes in various dynasties.

Observation modeling

Judging from the ceramic modeling of various dynasties

Ceramic identification and modeling is an important foundation. It has obvious characteristics of the times and directly reflects people's aesthetic standards in different social periods. The rice bowl is an indispensable utensil in our daily life, and most people may not pay much attention to it. In fact, its form is constantly changing with the development of society. The rice bowls in the Tang Dynasty were generally deep-bellied, straight-mouthed, flat-footed, with a thick fetus and heavy weight. The bowl of the Ming Dynasty is left outside the mouth, with a deep and full belly and a round height, giving people a feeling of being clumsy and stable. After the Qing dynasty, especially during the Kangxi period, the bowl mouth was left out in the cold, but the radian was not as big as that of the Ming dynasty, the abdomen was deep and thin, and the circle foot began to shorten. After Yongzheng, the circle foot at the bottom changed from the level of Ming Dynasty to a circle (commonly known as "loach back"). Another example is our common small mouth, rich shoulders and perfect plum bottles, which also change with the times. In Song Dynasty, the shape of plum bottle is small roll, short neck, particularly plump shoulders, slender body and round fullness, giving people a sense of simplicity and beauty. In the Yuan Dynasty, the small lip in the Song Dynasty was changed to a plate lip, the short neck was raised, the straight neck was changed to a trumpet shape, the lower body was thickened, and the figure became bigger. In the early Ming Dynasty, his mouth was changed to curl his lips, his shoulders were plump and inclined, and his lower body was slightly fat, which changed his beautiful figure in the Song Dynasty and developed into a steady and practical one. This is the most beautiful period of plum bottle modeling. Plum bottles developed from the Qing Dynasty to Yongzheng were made in imitation of those at the beginning of lighting, but the bottle mouth was often slightly higher than those at the beginning of Ming Dynasty, and the neck was not as beautiful as those at the beginning of Ming Dynasty. During this period, plum bottles were rich in shoulders, but the upper part of the shoulders was flat or inclined downward, and the lower part was thickened, which made them dull and lost the beauty of lines. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, its modeling was more rigid and rough, and its artistic appreciation value was worse. Pen container is one of Four Treasures of the Study. During the Shunzhi period, the pen container was flat and unglazed, with a thick tire and heavy weight. In the Kangxi period, this number decreased slightly. At this time, the sidewall of the pen container is moderate, and there is a small round concave in the center of the bottom, which is coated with white glaze. The outer side of the concave circle is flat, with a circle of white glaze on the outer side and no glaze on the inner side. This bottom shape looks like a jade wall, so people call it "the foot of the wall". However, after Yongzheng and Qianlong, the pen container was slightly wider and thinner, and the bottom was changed from "flat bottom" and "wall foot" to "circle foot" Different shapes bear distinct marks of the times. Therefore, it is very important to understand and remember the shapes of utensils in different times. For example, pick up a "chicken head pot", knowing that this pot is the product of the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Speaking of "Palace Bowl", we should know that it was a modeling product in the period of Zheng De in Ming Dynasty. If it is Guanyin Zun, croquet bottle, stamen, Taibai jar, willow bottle, etc. These should all be artifacts produced during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the type is very important for the identification of ancient ceramics.

Distinguish currency

Judging from the style of ceramics in past dynasties

The inscription, also called the year number, is written on the bottom center, the heart, the middle of the body or the edge of the mouth of a porcelain, such as the words "Ming Chenghua Year System" to indicate the year number record. Some of this year's models are specially made for the court and are called "official kiln" models; Some of them were fired by the people and were called "folk kilns". In addition to recording the year, there are also temple numbers (such as the title and hall), hall numbers (such as the Zhonghe Hall, the hall where Emperor Kangxi lived in Yuanmingyuan), eponymous names, mysterious names, auspicious names, pottery wages, support, expenses (such as the Zhonghe Hall system in the Xinhai of Kangxi), and fancy (such as white rabbits, Pisces, and flowers with broken branches). ) and so on. These are called money knowledge, which refers to the artifacts produced by a certain dynasty. Brush identification is an important link in the identification of ancient ceramics. The earliest known ceramic patterns should be pottery in the late Neolithic period. Inscriptions and emblems on bronzes in Shang and Zhou dynasties have always been popular, but there are official patterns on pottery, which can definitely be the word "Wang" on the pottery unearthed in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province. Some time ago, a site of Qin and Han Dynasties was excavated at No.5 Zhongshan Road in Guangzhou, and a piece of pottery with the word "official" was found. A "bedroom" model was also found in a tomb of the early Western Han Dynasty in Sanyuanli. The inscriptions on porcelain are generally related to the government. From the Five Dynasties to the early Northern Song Dynasty, northern white porcelain often had the seal cutting of "official" and "new official"; In the porcelain of the Song Dynasty, there are also the titles of "Daguan" and "Zheng He"; Jingdezhen porcelain in Yuan Dynasty often has the words "Shu Fu" and "Tai Xi". These are chronologies related to official porcelain. From the founding of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were 27 emperors in more than 500 years. Porcelain in this period usually writes the year number of the emperor. We can find their regularity and particularity when we identify these year numbers. Ming and Qing dynasties have the most money, but there are also many fake money. Therefore, in the identification, we should make more comparisons and pay attention to the font, style and characteristics of each stroke in each dynasty in order to accurately judge the authenticity. The chronology of Ming and Qing dynasties has certain regularity. Most of the chronicles are written with the title of country and emperor. For example, only Qin Long once wrote "calendar year" instead of "calendar year". The earliest writing method in the Ming Dynasty began in Yongle, but its style was only written in the "Yongle Year System". The Yongle Year System of Ming Dynasty and Yongle Year System never have regular script, and if there is, it is also fake. From Xuande in the Ming Dynasty to Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the year numbers are all in six-character regular script. However, there are six-character and four-character versions of Yongzheng (that is, "Qing Yongzheng Year System" and "Yongzheng Year System"). During the Qianlong period, seal script prevailed and regular script became less and less. In Jiaqing and Daoguang periods, seal script was the main character. However, in the third year from Xianfeng to Xuantong, regular script was resumed in the Four Dynasties, and seal script was no longer used. This is the regularity of monetary knowledge in Ming and Qing Dynasties. For example, the writing style of Tongzhi porcelain should be regular script, and when we identify it, we find that the writing style of Tongzhi porcelain is seal script, so we should put more question marks on the authenticity of this work. To identify ancient ceramics, we should not only pay attention to the laws, styles and characteristics of writing in different dynasties, but also pay attention to the colors of writing in different dynasties. Different dynasties used different pigments and colors. Take blue and white materials as an example. Blue-and-white styles from the Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty can be seen under a magnifying glass, and there are tiny and uniform bubbles around them, but the imitations in the late Qing Dynasty do not have this feature. These are all things that everyone must pay attention to when identifying porcelain.