In the 14th year of the Republic of China (1925), Zhao Songting rebuilt the Dragon Kiln with self-raised funds, named it Fuxing Kiln, set up a factory and set up a workshop, fired a series of Gong Hu, supplied tea shops, and sold them to Britain, France and other countries and regions in Shanghai concession, becoming a famous industrialist in Yixing. Zhao is diligent in learning both skills.
When Zhao Songting 16 years old, his father died, and the painter's wish was not realized. In order to reduce the burden on the family, Zhao Songting went to Shaofu, a famous purple sand artist in Yuan Village, to learn the skills of making purple sand pots. By the fifth year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1879), the market situation of purple sand had improved, and Zhao Songting's imitation drums and bamboo drums were dignified, elegant, round and clean, which were deeply loved by people. In the seventh year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (188 1), imitation of ancient wares prevailed, and Zhao Songting made his famous work "Bamboo Drum with Tibetan Corner" one by one. Later, I worshipped Wu Yueting as a teacher and learned his seal cutting skills. Wu Yueting saw that Zhao Songting was smart and studious, and he also knew that he had studied calligraphy and painting since he was a child. He was very willing to teach him, but he refused to be his apprentice. As a result, Zhao Songting and Wu Yueting became friends who have forgotten the past year. With the deepening of communication, the two became friends who never turned against each other. Wu Yueting taught him how to use the knife and how to show his skills. Also taught him "single knife", "double knife", "clear engraving" and "empty engraving". Zhao Songting learned carving skills from his father's paintings and calligraphy at an early age. Because he often writes landscapes, draws pictures and sketches in front of his house, he got the stage name "Dongxi", and the inscriptions on the pot all used the stage name "Dongxi". In the 19th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1893), Zhao Songting, whose reputation was growing day by day, was hired by Wu Dacheng, a great Suzhou collector, and went to Five Blessingg to imitate ancient artifacts. In Five Blessingg, Zhao Songting visited's collection of Zhong Ding antiques and various ancient ceramics, imitated them first, and then created his own purple teapot. Because the seal of Wu Dacheng's collection should be printed on the bottom of the pot, he took the name of "Zhiquan" one by one and put it on the lid of the pot on the grounds that Hu Shaojia, where he studied, was a tributary of the orthodox Ming pot. During this period, the teapot made in Zhao Songting was simple and elegant in style, simple and lively, and carved with flowers and painted on it, leaving many traditional classics.
Pinggai Pinggu is now in Nanjing Museum. The height is 8. 1 cm, the diameter is 7.4 cm, and there is a square seal script at the bottom. "Zhai" is covered with "Zhiquan", and the pot body is engraved with "Xiangjiang River water, Dongting Spring, scattered fire, and newly blown sand and dust. It is already mid-winter, and Dongxi is antique. The pot is simple and elegant in shape, round and jade-like, simple and elegant, fine in workmanship, and integrates daily use and play, which can be described as a good purple sand teapot.
Zhu Ni's imitation drums are now in the Museum of Cultural Relics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 9.5 cm in height and 8.7 cm in diameter. It is made of vermicelli and has a square seal script at the bottom. "Zhai" is stamped with "Supporting Spring", and the pot body is engraved with "Deep in it, handsome in color, a tea mountain and a piano virtue. Things are books, carved in Wu Jia. " This pot is a vermicelli cauldron, which is drum-shaped and exquisitely made. As the old saying goes, "Zhu Ni is the hardest to shape", so it is not easy to make this cauldron with Zhu Ni. This pot was once used in Bishan Pot Hall in Zhang Hong, and its inscriptions and paintings are skillful in knife work, and its pen is reasonable, which shows its profound skill. In addition, Mr. Luo Guixiang's collection in Hong Kong has a hair dryer "folding round pot", and the body of the pot is also engraved with "things" and the bottom is "?" Zhai "is printed.
In Wu Dacheng's residence, Zhao Songting's fine purple sand tile pillow can be said to fill the blank of purple sand category. At this time, the purple sand pillow is 1 1 cm high and 14.8 cm wide, with a round top and a flat bottom, with round holes on both sides, and "Made in Qiandongnan Prefecture" engraved above the air holes on the pillow side. Write a poem while portraying it. On the side of the poem, there are two five-character poems with 80 words each. On the one hand, a picture depicting "Fu meditates on the lotus stone" and a picture depicting "Fu meditates several times in his hand". Zhao Songting created a teapot in Wu Daxiao's residence, which made him more knowledgeable. Zhao Songting took advantage of Wu Dacheng's opportunity to do antique business with Shanghai businessmen, and often negotiated with them, which gave him the idea of managing purple sand.
At the end of the 20th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1984), he insisted on Wu's re-employment request and returned to Shangyuan Village, Yixing, where he began to prepare to operate purple sand pottery. While making his own pot, he found a good pot maker. At the same time, he began to customize other people's teapots and rented their own kilns to burn. Zhao Songting was busy day and night, and in a few years, he successfully completed the ordering and ordering of batches of teapots from merchants in Shanghai, which made his business have a smooth start and laid a certain foundation.
In the 31st year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1905), Zhao Songting personally taught his son, Zhao Liantai, who was over 6 years old. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1906), Zhao Songting ordered a batch of export pots exported to Nanyang in Shanghai. After returning to Yuan Dynasty, he hired a group of purple sand artists to make their own imitation pots, among which Shao Buyun (also known as Yunfu), Chu Ming, Pan and others were all famous craftsmen. Since 1906, Zhao Songting has produced and exported "Du Niu Tong" to Thailand, which has been well received by Thai people. In the early years of the Republic of China, Zhao Songting successively studied various glaze colors and various purple clay colors, and applied decals, hanging glazes and adding colors, which achieved success one after another.
13 years, warlords scuffled, potters evacuated, purple sand fell into a trough, and the kiln was at a standstill. /kloc-In the second half of 0/4, Zhao Songting invested all its own funds (and raised other funds) to rebuild the Dragon Kiln, named it Fuxing Kiln, and fired a series of tribute pots. After two years' efforts, Zhao Songting not only gained a firm foothold, but also supplied products to teahouses, and developed its business to all concessions in Shanghai, leading the way. Zhao Songting's "Gongju" series pots and "Gongju" series pots were customized in Shanghai Concession, and they were re-exported, which was in short supply. Zhao Songting personally supervised the production, and skillfully used people's antique psychology, either carving or inscription, or printing or money, and asked the guest master of the workshop and his son Zhao Liantai to copy all kinds of Zhu mud sketches and red mud sketches. In the handed down products. A large number of horizontal pots, such as Gongju, Shunzhi Gongju, Yongzheng Gongju, Ganlong Gongju, Antique, Gong Hu and Longfeng Seal, are all made and supervised by Zhao Songting. Although Zhao Songting is very happy, there are also pro-products mixed in. At that time, many famous artists from Shushan and Shangyuan participated in the imitation of Gong Hu series. Zhao Liantai, Pan, Shao Buyun, Shen, etc. They are all good at making "tribute pots". The surface of Zhao Songting's horizontal "Gong Hu" pot is either left untreated, or the mouth edge is covered by a whole piece, and the pot foot is covered.
His elaborately carved purple sand pottery, which combines the spirit of "poetry, calligraphy and painting" with the spirit of scholarly writing, strives for perfection in modeling and artistic taste, and is therefore quite popular among literati in aesthetic spirit connotation. Being good at painting and calligraphy is the main reason why his pot-making technology has been sublimated. Whether it is the connotation of cultural taste or the exquisiteness of carving level, Songting pottery carving technology handed down from generation to generation shows poetic artistic charm. It can be seen that Mr. Song Ting's ability to master pottery carving is as easy as writing on rice paper with a brush. His pot art is of great artistic value. He has a deep relationship with Wu Dazhi, a famous contemporary collector and connoisseur. They often get together to discuss pot art and have cooperated with many fine purple sands. The exquisite pots they make together are often the artistic treasures that pot collectors dream of.
Because Mr. Song Ting is not old-fashioned in pot-making technology, and he has the pioneering spirit of bringing forth the old and bringing forth the new, his pot-making technology plays a connecting role and has a great influence on later pot-makers.
Nowadays, antique markets and collectors have rarely seen Zhao's pots, and even if they do, they are mostly imitations.
Fortunately for the author, there is a teapot carved by Mr. Zhao Songting, which is very precious and rare. This pot is made of fine vermicelli. The diameter is 23.5cm and the height is13cm. The pot body is natural and steady, with generous and solemn shape, tight cover and smooth feel. The "flow, body and handle" are smooth and regular, and the production process is rigorous and meticulous, showing everyone's demeanor. As Ao Xuanbao said: "Gentle as a gentleman, bold as a husband, romantic as a poet, beautiful as a beauty, graceful as a hermit, chic as a teenager, short as a dwarf, simple as a benevolent, elegant as a fairy, and sincere as a noble son." ("Ming Hu Tu Lu") I have been playing for a long time and I can't bear to put it down.
I appreciate Song Ting's art of making pots, not only because it is rare and precious, but more importantly, I admire his profound cultural connotation of "poetry and painting calligraphy" and superb pottery charm. After watching the play, although I didn't taste fragrant tea, I could vaguely smell the fragrance of a century-old pot, which made me fascinated and reluctant to return.
Mr. Song Ting's homemade teapot was engraved with "Youlan Bamboo Stone" and "Pan" of Zhou, which left a deep impression. On the opposite side, there is a beautiful sentence of "jade sounds at will, poetry is broad-minded", which has quite a wild and uninhibited charm of Li Bai. In calligraphy, the extension of materia medica and Cao Zhang's brushwork have the styles of Suo Jing and Song Ke. "Years old is in the month of Gengwu Qiu Meng." It should be 1870. At the bottom of the pot, there is a six-character seal of "Yixing Songting is self-made".