Porcelain, along with paper, tea, silk Silk - a legacy of the Yellow Emperor , Powder - a gift to humanity from the great Chinese civilization. However, like everything else, a gift not really voluntary ... In English language china and China marked a word: china. This is best illustrated by the story of the origin of a nice and easy miracle, white gold, luxury, worthy of the gods and the emperor - porcelain.

Its history more than three thousand years. Yet the very beginning of porcelain production on a commercial scale is about to VI-VII centuries, when by improving the technology and selection of raw steel components to obtain products characterized by whiteness and thinness crock. By legend, the ancient Chinese were unable to determine the material manufacturing dishes: jade - expensive and sacrilegious, clay - and the ugly short-lived, tree - unaesthetic. Then, quite by chance found a way to master produce porcelain ... and this way was great and thoroughly stored secret to the rest of the world. One of the components of this large secretion - Raw materials from which produced porcelain. Jiangsu proved a treasure trove of porcelain stone - Rock consisting of quartz and mica. Porcelain paste made from briquetted powder porcelain stone and kaolin (special clay, gives white product). The resulting semi-finished product was kept more than a dozen years for acquisition of plasticity. Thereafter, the queue was oven, high wherein the temperature during the firing changes the physical structure of the mass it It becomes transparent and waterproof. At the beginning of our era Chinese potters built furnace, capable of producing the desired temperature, that is, archaeological evidence. And for a special matt gloss glaze were from several layers of different transparency.

In the first century BC workshops production of porcelain appeared in one of the cities in Jiangxi Province, which later became known as Tszindechzhen - the capital of china, because historically it is this area - the birthplace of porcelain and the place of his permanent development and improvement. It has long been out of Jingdezhen porcelain products They were of high quality. Rumor has it that "they were dazzling as snow, thin as a sheet of paper, durable as metal. "

Because in the long history of China There are many different types of porcelain, there are several dating methods and describe porcelain (and in general, to understand this subtle, but complex issue).

First, the most common way: classification of porcelain on the date of its manufacture. Chinese porcelain applies to epochs, for example, the name "Tang porcelain" means that the product is made during the Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty porcelain - in the era of the Song Dynasty, and so on. Chinese history is quite complicated and confusing, so the classification of porcelain scare any beginner.

The type and form of Chinese porcelain still determined at the place of its manufacture. For example, yuesky porcelain was likely manufactured in Zhejiang province in east China, and Porcelain sure yaozhou district made in Shanxi Province in the northwest of the country. The third method of identification Chinese porcelain: the definition of the distinctive features of its production. The fact that different provinces of China porcelain, respectively, also different. First of all, it is necessary to evaluate the appearance of the product, the quality of material, color, decor, painting, style, methods, techniques ... In general, very, very many factors. Indicative in this case is the glaze, its color use, tone quality and Shading. And it is not so simple: used in the production of porcelain glaze can be a variety of colors: blue, white, red, sky blue, yellow, green, and even black. In addition, there is a social component - porcelain made for people aristocratic origin, characterized by careful study of decorations, ornaments and luxurious look, porcelain for the common people more cheerful and bright colors.

Finally, the china distinguished by place of manufacture and the type of firing. In ancient times in China, porcelain is usually burned in public and private workshops. How to tell them apart, even themselves are not sure Chinese ...

In short, to evaluate Chinese porcelain fit Only specialists life to this call the question ...

Natalia Rudenko

Related Articles

Samurai swords: a cult of honor

Gauguin at auctions worldwide: the millions of Tahiti