Ceramic wine appreciation

- Apr 12, 2018-

China's earliest wineware was pottery, and it was widely popular in the late Neolithic period, mainly black clay pots and pottery pots. At that time, our ancestors were able to make a jug with a mouth. Today, when these four-thousand-year-old wines were displayed before people, everyone's hearts were shocked by the outstanding wisdom and creativity of the ancients.

In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the bronze culture was developed. At this time, the wines were mainly bronze wares, and they occupied a considerable proportion in the bronze ritual vessels, reflecting the social status and value of the wine culture itself.

Porcelain was developed from pottery. China's earliest porcelain was produced during the Shang and Zhou dynasty and was called the original porcelain. It has matured in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Book of Songs says: "Sake is a pot". It can be seen that in the Spring and Autumn Period, the jug has been widely used. Judging from the large number of unearthed materials, ceramic wines in the Qin and Han Dynasties were very popular. In the early Han Dynasty, the jug was slightly extravagant and the neck was longer. The shoulders were tilted and the symmetry ears were fitted with herringbone patterns. The belly legs were shorter. To the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the ring foot became even lower and became a flat bottom, attached to the ear to make a half-circle, or to stick to the top, or to pile plastic faucets. By the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Hukou had made a distinct trumpet shape. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the most popular wine set was the dish pot. Its caliber was high, and the disk inside the mouth was very small. The caliber at the junction of the caliber was clearly ridged and the belly was flat, apparently evolved from the trumpet pot. In the Han Dynasty, round pots were called "bells" and square pots were "pounds." There was also a garlic pot that was very popular in the Han Dynasty.

The Three Kingdoms, the Two Jins, the Northern and Southern Dynasties totaled more than 360 years. The rapid development of Jiangnan Porcelain Industry has seen the jugs in this period include chicken head garlic, sheep head pots, and horse head pots, but the chicken head pots are widely spread. The early chicken pots were mostly small handed, with chicken heads on one side, chicken tails on one side, head and tail symmetry, and chicken heads solid. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the body of the pot became larger, and the chicken head was mounted in front, and the high-necked crown was introduced. After the safety knob, the upper end was connected to the mouth of the pot, and the lower end was connected to the abdomen on the pot. By the middle and late Eastern Jin Dynasty, the upper end of the handle was generally decorated with a dragon head and a bear pattern, which was beautifully shaped. In the Southern Dynasties, the body became slender, the mouth and neck heightened, and the shape was more practical. In addition to the chicken head pot, there is also a flat pot in this period of time, because its belly is oblate, hence the name.

The Sui Dynasty ended the war for hundreds of years and a new unified situation emerged. The jujube's jug is generally divided into two types: streamed and no-flow. The streamers are chicken head pots. The body of the pot is more slender than the southern one. The pot is higher, the pot neck is thinner, and the central part is more decorated with string patterns. Without the flow of the pot for the dish, the pot body is thin, the dish is high and slightly sloppy, the pot neck is long and straight, the belly is oval, mostly strips. Following the Tang Dynasty, a more prosperous feudal dynasty was established. The Tang poet Gao Shi's poem has a sentence: "Is the bed a pot high, can I sleep a little more?" The Tang Dynasty's wine was a pot, which evolved from the chicken pot. According to the records of the Tang Dynasty, the name is a note, also called a pot. The pots used in this period are usually bells, short mouths, hexagons cut into the outside of the mouth, and the abdomen is huge. The curved flat handles are wide. The center of gravity of the pot is on the bottom. The northern kilns are decorated with grain patterns and the glazing is not in the end. The pot is unique and its first underglaze painting. Impression techniques such as die decals and brown spots have made special contributions to porcelain decoration. In the shape of ingenuity, if there is a kind of vivid bird-shaped pot, lifelike, to add a bit of charm to the drinking campaign. In the late Tang period, there were also peace-style jugs, some resembling pan pots, and some like ball-shaped cans, and the shoulders were equipped with a short mouth cut into a polygonal shape. Some of the pots are short-necked bells, flat bottoms, short mouths and handles between the shoulders and abdomen. It is a wine glass used with the jug. From the poems of the Tang Dynasty poets such as "Toasting for the moon", "Will be able to drink three hundred cups," and "Honoring the name of the pilgrim to evade the sages", it can be said that drinking was a cup. The glass of the Tang Dynasty has a straight cup, a small cup with a handle and so on. During the period of the Five Dynasties, the mouth of the pot was longer and slightly curved. The ampulla was generally shaped like a melon. The shank was lengthened, the style of the pot was more delicate, and the capacity was also increased. The use was light and convenient.

During the period of Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, China's wine industry was quite developed. In the famous classic novel Water Margin, author Shi Nai-e described the drinking habits of the Song Dynasty in detail. Many of the characters in the book shape almost everybody's drinking, and hotel advertisements such as "Drunk in the sky, the sky is long," and "The world is very wine, there is a world famous building" and other hotel advertisements are even more exciting. In the Song Dynasty, not only wine advertisements, but also wine bottles were written on the wine bottles, and words related to wine were written on the bottles, such as “wine”, “fine wine”, “clear liquor and wine”, and “drunk country wine”. Some wine bottles on the name of the hotel or hotel, such as Ouyang Xiu's "Ancestral Home" volume one: "Yongzong in the East Palace, Lu Su Jian public for Jude, its home outside the Song Dynasty, commonly known as the bath alley, There is a wine bottle on its side, the name 'Renhe', the name of the wine is in the capital, the public is often easy to serve micro-line, drink in it." Visible Renhe Hall as the hotel name, "Renhe Pavilion" Ming four series bottles, specifically for the hotel Wine bottle. In the daily life of the Song Dynasty, the wine utensils were generally fired at the kiln mouths in the north and south, and the styles of the jug in the Song Dynasty were various. The most common ones were the melon rims, which were varied and aesthetically pleasing. The gourd-type pot is made of a gourd-shaped body, and there is a belt-shaped crank between the two bodies. There is also a special type of Yaozhou kiln, which is a kind of shovel, a small mouth, a bulbous belly, a dragon first, and a half-moon shaped beam jug. The Song people like to drink warm wine, so a warm jug with a bowl and a pot comes into being, bowl of hot water, pots of wine. The ceramic wares of the Liao Dynasty all had the unique style of the Khitan minority, the most common of which was the chicken crown jug. It is a kind of traditional Qidan tradition that uses various kinds of skin containers for firing, also known as the skin pot, which retains its human safari life. There are five types of pots, namely, flat single-hole type, flat double-hole type, flat-body ring beam type, round-body beam type, and short-body beam type. Early and late times of the year are usually distinguished by the extent of the skins preserved by the kettle body. In the Yuan Dynasty, the wine set was still a pot. It was a spring bottle made of jade pots, which was attached to the belly. The stream was longer than the Song Dynasty. The height was generally parallel to the mouth of the pot and the mouth was tilted outwards. S-shaped ornaments are attached between the necks. Handle and flow symmetry, Hukou slightly outside, cover it. In addition to the pot, there are also a large number of large-shaped bottles and wine jars. In order to adapt to the Mongolian custom of nomadic horse riding in the Yuan Dynasty, there was a popular high-altitude cup for drinking at the time, also known as the horse cup. In 1984, there was a blue-and-white high-grade cup in the kiln of the kiln that was excavated in Gao'an County, Jiangxi Province. Inside the heart was written: “Life is a hundred years old and drunk, and it counts three thousand and six hundred.” This proves that the high-heeled cup is a special drinking utensil. .

The Ming and Qing dynasties were the heyday of the development of China's ceramic industry. Guan kiln and folk kiln were all affluent, and colored painting and color glaze were the golden age of ceramic production. This period of ceramic wine, full body decorated with a variety of patterns, in particular, a large number of flowers, waves, lotus petals, wild beasts, etc. occupy the main body of wine. The shape of the device still follows the shape of the pots and bottles of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. However, since the Yuan Dynasty, the distillation and brewing technology has generally developed in China. With the increase in the degree of alcohol, the type of wine utensils gradually shrinks. The common wines of the Ming Dynasty include pear-shaped pots, dragon pots, lotus pots, chicken hearts pots, and pavilions and lids. The Qing Dynasty was more plentiful in shape and more varied in variety, such as a retro-flowing jug, a warm jug, and the like. In terms of materials, in addition to ceramics and bronzes, jade, glass, and purple sand. Many kinds of gold, silver, silver, tin, etc., are also more colorful in decoration.

Looking at the historical evolution of Chinese wine, it is not difficult to see that the wine is a solidification history, and it is the brilliant and brilliance of the spiritual civilization that humanity radiates from the acquisition and enjoyment of the material civilization. The longing and pursuit of life.