What is the enamel in porcelain?

Overview of Enamel Porcelain The official name of enamel porcelain should be "porcelain embryo painting enamel". It is a decorative technique introduced from abroad, and later it was called "Gu Yue Xuan" and "Rose Color" abroad. It is a kind of exquisite painted porcelain specially designed for the Qing court, and some products are also used to reward heroes. According to the documents and archives of the Qing Palace Construction Institute, it was a new variety of porcelain created at the instigation of Emperor Kangxi. The enamel craftsmen of the Construction Institute successfully transplanted the technique of painting enamel on copper tires to porcelain tires. Enamel color flourished in Yongzheng and Qianlong, and it is a craft treasure monopolized by the court. The required white porcelain tires are specially made by Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory. After being transported to Beijing, it was painted and burned in the Qing Palace. The required drawings were drafted by Ruyi Pavilion, the manufacturer, decided by the emperor, and painted on porcelain by court painters. Enamel porcelain was created and fired in the late Kangxi period and prevailed in Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. There was still a small amount of firing in the late Qing Dynasty, but the firing place was no longer in the Qing Palace but moved to Jingdezhen. In the early stage, the unglazed part of the carcass was painted with enamel and then painted with flowers. Flowers without birds is a feature. The enamel porcelain of Kangxi Dynasty was painted in blue, yellow, purple, turquoise and other colors. Various flower patterns were painted in various enamel materials, and their colors, painting methods and styles were the same as those of bronze tire painted enamelware at that time. According to legend, near Jiangxi, the porcelain capital of China, there was a family named Hu who burned porcelain for generations. His porcelain products were welcomed by the people because of their exquisiteness, which also alarmed the government. During Qianlong's southern tour, the courtiers presented the porcelain made by Hu to the emperor, which was highly praised by the emperor. The minister wants Hu to enter the palace to make porcelain for the emperor and the palace. Due to various reasons, Hu did not want to enter the palace, so the ministers set up a kiln in the palace to burn exquisite enamel porcelain according to Hu's firing method. In order to show the difference between the court and the people, and to explain the origin of this kind of porcelain, some people took apart the word "Jia Hu" and called this kind of enamel porcelain specially burned for the court "ancient". Legend is very tasty, but the appearance of enamel porcelain is an inevitable product in the history of porcelain development. The front of enamel porcelain is cloisonne, also called "painting enamel". It rose in the Ming Dynasty, and is a kind of craft crystal with blue as the background color, which is made of copper wire and red, yellow, blue, green and white glazes. This method of "painting enamel" was used on porcelain tires during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It absorbs the technique of drawing enamel color on copper tire, and draws various enamel colors on porcelain tire, which is a new kind of glazed porcelain. The appearance of elegance of enamel color is related to "the prosperous time of Kangxi", but the relationship with Yongzheng is more important. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he reformed the society and greatly improved the social status of Jingdezhen porcelain artists. Moreover, Yongzheng loved exquisite porcelain, often evaluated the palace porcelain, personally asked questions, and sent effective officials to manage porcelain production. During the reign of Kangxi and Yongzheng, when making enamel, the best raw materials were first selected from the official kiln in Jingdezhen, burned into plain tires and sent to the court. After being painted by the court painter, it was baked for the second time in the palace low temperature furnace. The color material of enamel color also has the component of "making foreign things serve China". The chemical component "boron" that is not contained in multicolored and pastel enamel includes: the enamel contains "arsenic"; Before Kangxi, the yellow in porcelain was iron oxide, and the yellow in enamel was antimony oxide. The enamel color and golden red color were colored with colloidal gold that Kangxi had never seen before. The above chemical composition analysis shows that enamel is imported from abroad and recorded in the text. The original name of the imperial palace was "painting enamel with porcelain tires", and it was renamed as "porcelain tires with foreign colors" in the eighth year of Qianlong, which showed that enamel was indeed introduced from Europe and further showed the grand occasion of cultural and trade exchanges between China and foreign countries during the Kangxi Empire. Enamel-colored porcelain was only used by the royal family in the palace from its birth to its decline, and it was a royal item for "Shu Ren to get a glimpse of". Characteristics of Enamel Porcelain Enamel Porcelain has no large shape, mostly plates, bowls, cups, bottles, boxes and pots, among which bowls and plates are the most, but each variety has different changes. In addition, there are all kinds of Yixing purple sand pottery painted with enamel, which are rare. Enamel porcelain is very particular about the production of fetal quality. The tire wall is extremely thin, uniform and regular, and closely combined. In this kind of embryo, the glaze color is extremely fine, the glaze color is extremely white, and the glaze surface is shiny without orange peel glaze, loose glaze and brown eye phenomenon. It can be called "flawless white jade". Enamel colored porcelain is characterized by exquisite porcelain, dignified color materials, bright colors and exquisite painters. Making enamel porcelain is extremely labor-intensive, and when it is dry, it will be gone. Most of Kangxi's enamel porcelain is painted with passion fruit and bound peony, which is monotonous with flowers but no birds. Yongzheng is dominated by floral patterns, as well as landscapes and figures. At that time, it was particularly prominent that the pictures were accompanied by corresponding poems. During the Yongzheng period, the calligraphy of these poems was excellent. At the beginning and end of the poems, there were rouge water or red seals from Zhu Wen and Bai Wen, and the printed words often matched the pictures and the contents of the poems, such as "Ran Bin" and "Gentleman" printed as painted bamboo; Draw landscapes with the seal of "high mountain" and "long water"; Plum blossoms are painted with "Spring Chapter" and so on. Enamel-colored porcelain can be said to have inherited all kinds of advantages since the development of China ceramics in history, and it is almost the most exquisite in embryo drawing, molding, painting, materials, glazing, color and firing technology. Many excellent ceramic works appeared in Qianlong period, but enamel color is incomparable to many other varieties in production procedures and materials. Painters are not ordinary kiln workers, but the top professional painters in the palace, so these artifacts can represent the highest artistic level and the highest technological level at that time. The painting of enamel porcelain is its essence. After all, the embryo, color and shape of enamel porcelain can't escape the shadow of other colored porcelain in the same period, but painting has its own unique side. Most of the enamel paintings come from silk sketches on imperial paper. According to records, from Kangxi to Qianlong, there were many famous painters who took paper painting as their profession, among which the most famous were: Wang, Jiang Tingxi, (Italian western painter), Tang Dai, Gao, Yuan Jiang, Jin Tingbiao, Li Shichuo, Yuan Ying, Wang Jingming, Qian Weicheng and so on. The paintings of these famous painters are carefully described by painters on enamel porcelain, with both form and spirit and their own styles. The development of enamel painting has its characteristics of the times. During the reign of Kangxi, most of the enamel paintings were modeled after the color patterns when bronze tires painted enamel. Most of the contents are peony wrapped around branches, Xiang Lian wrapped around branches, okra wrapped around branches, and small flowers. Composition is a symmetrical pattern with big flowers and big leaves, simple content and lack of vitality. At this time, color texture is very useful. The texture is red, yellow, blue, white and other colors, but all colors and paintings are outside the utensils, and the inner wall is white. Uniform color application is the biggest feature of Kangxi enamel. In the early years of Yongzheng, the enamel paintings did not change much, and the composition was still rigid and symmetrical, but the sketches began to increase and had some vitality. The background color was still carmine, yellow, blue and white. By the mid-Yongzheng period, the meticulous painting of "Courtyard Painting" was popular in the whole society and appreciated by Yong Zhengdi. Painters of enamel porcelain catered to the emperor's likes and dislikes and began to "hook, draw, wrinkle and dye" enamel porcelain with "courtyard painting" as the manuscript, which is also unique to enamel porcelain. The painting themes are mostly profound hibiscus mandarin duck, ganoderma lucidum narcissus, golden pheasant peony, plum orchid and bamboo chrysanthemum, bamboo sparrow, Qiu Shu myna and so on. There are also various landscapes and pavilions. Because Yongzheng himself likes ink and colorful landscapes, these paintings are all painted in monochrome or bicolor, which is extremely elegant and beautiful. Butterfly Map is a collection of various colors, and it is said that there are as many as 36 colors. After all, paper and silk paintings are manuscripts. Some of these paintings are painted directly on white porcelain, and some are painted in color, but the patterns are exquisite. At this time, most of the objects are still painted inside, and a few of them are painted outside. At this time, I occasionally saw the painting method of "brocade ash heap"