Emperor Chenghua of Ming Dynasty and his blue and white inkstone

He has been by my side for many years. Suddenly, one day in my dream, he told me that he was Emperor Chenghua of the Ming Dynasty, and his name was Zhu Jianshen.

? What he said gave me a fright.

After a while, I remembered what the rabbit said to me, so I looked up Zhu Jianshen's information on the Internet. I didn't know, I was shocked! Zhu Jianshen, Ming Xianzong, was born in Ming Taizu for twelve years (1447). This is a serious Year of the Rabbit, and Zhu Jianshen is a real rabbit.

Unconsciously, I began to be curious about him, and I wanted to verify whether what the rabbit said was true.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. How do you go about doing it?

I began to check the rabbit pattern and found that the rabbit pattern on Ming dynasty porcelain was the earliest. Moreover, in the early Ming Dynasty, rabbit patterns were forbidden to be used among the people, and anyone who dared to misuse them would be extinct. I consulted museums and related private collections all over the world and found that this rabbit is the earliest rabbit-patterned porcelain in Ming Dynasty. Of course, the information I consulted was only aimed at the rabbit pattern in Ming Dynasty, and it also appeared from Shang Dynasty to Yuan Dynasty. But those have little to do with the Ming dynasty and should be irrelevant.

The use of rabbit patterns mentioned above, then, let's see if he has the characteristics of that period.

Let's look at his materials first. Without any equipment, it is clear that two different green materials are used in blue-and-white painting, one is domestic green material, and the other is imported green material "Ma Su Liqing". The characteristics of the times are very obvious, and there is nothing to say.

Next, let's look at patterns and patterns.

Hemerocallis and rabbits form a theme pattern. In traditional Chinese patterns, day lilies represent mother's flowers, grass suitable for men, and rabbits naturally represent someone. In other words, it is a mother-child picture, and the theme pattern should be: "Suitable for men and sons of heaven". This decorative pattern is the only one seen in traditional decorative patterns in China. In other words, it is made for the son of heaven, and it is almost impossible to have the same pattern. There were also some rabbit patterns in the late Ming dynasty, which expressed other meanings and could not be compared with this pattern "suitable for men and emperors"

Now let's look at his decorative patterns. The periphery of the inkstone cover is decorated with "half-money pattern" with particularly obvious characteristics of the times, and the inkstone platform is decorated with a week of grass pattern.

After reading the patterns and paintings, let's look at his modeling.

This inkstone is round up and down, with the middle in the shape of "the sky is round and the place is round", which is inseparable from the royal belief in Taoism.

Basically, I have read the whole artifact, and another symbol that is particularly worth seeing is the symbol of "Mother and child are safe and safe" painted in the middle of the inkstone. The structure of this symbol is very simple. It looks like a "mountain peak". People can't help but think of Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of Wu Tangmen. It is said that Ming Xianzong was keen on Taoism, preferred alchemists and was good at painting statues. He once painted a portrait of Zhang Sanfeng, with a vivid expression and detachment. Ming Yingzong gave Zhang Sanfeng a "revealing reality"; Ming Xianzong's special issue is "Hiding a low profile and pursuing a true fairy"; Ming Shizong named him "a wonderful and true gentleman". Is this symbol given by Zhang Daochang? I don't know.

I am more and more curious about him, and I want to find his blueprint. What is the blueprint for this pattern of "suitable for men and sons of heaven"?

Soon I found a poem by Zhu Quan, the king of Ningxian, which not only mentioned the day lilies, but also mentioned the other person and the son of heaven. Please enjoy the poems of Zhuquan Palace below:

Qing Xuan is everywhere,

The front of Xingqing Palace is double in color.

May I ask the royal family what this is?

The Emperor of Peace wants to be alone.

Ning Zhu Quan's relationship with this, is it uncle's relationship? Anyway, it's about the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. It is not difficult to see that when Zhu Quan wrote this poem, Zhu Jianshen was still in his mother's belly and was not born. The last sentence of the poem makes it clear that "a peaceful emperor should be suitable for men" and he expects a "man". Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory prepared a "birthday present" for the soon-to-be-born son of heaven. You can see at a glance that the theme painting of this inkstone is based on this palace poem.

Xingqing Palace? Ordinary people can easily confuse it with Xingqing Palace in Xi 'an in Tang Dynasty, but it is not. There was also a Xingqing Palace in Nanjing Palace Museum in Ming Dynasty. This need not be asked by historians. As long as you look up the "Nanjing Ming Palace" on the Internet, you can easily find such a description: "There is Xingqing Palace on Miyagi West Road".

Under the influence of this inkstone, Emperor Chenghua created four squares at the bottom of the round porcelain, the so-called "round place".

The rabbit also told me a little-known story. He said that one year after he became emperor, Wan Zhener gave birth to a son for him, which happened to be the Year of the Rooster 1466. He ordered Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory to make a lot of bean-colored chicken cylinder cups with "suitable for all ages" patterns, and of course, the cups were painted with "golden dolls" and day lilies. At present, most people confuse day lily with orchid, saying it is bluegrass, but it is not.

On the one hand, the blue and white rabbit inkstone reveals the unfathomable Chinese culture. Sixty years later, another emperor was born in the Year of Rabbit in Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzong, Emperor Jiajing of Ming Shizong and grandson of Zhu Jianshen of Ming Xianzong. He was born in the second year of Zheng De in Ming Dynasty 1507 Ding Mao. Rabbit-patterned porcelain slowly began to increase again in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, which is said to be because of missing Grandpa Zhu Jianshen, the emperor of Chenghua. At that time, many Chenghua-style rabbit-patterned porcelains were also produced. Among them, the blue-and-white rabbit-patterned porcelain plate in Beijing Palace Museum is the most exquisite.

I wonder, if this rabbit doesn't meet me, will he meet someone else to listen to his story? I'll check it as carefully as I can. If so, I don't know when. What historians and porcelain experts have to do is to let me, a "layman", do it, perhaps by providence.