The "Five Famous Kilns" of the Song Dynasty are Ru, Guan, Ge, Jun, and Ding. This order is not random. Originally, according to the order of appearance of the kilns, Ding Kiln should have come first, but in terms of historical importance, Ru Kiln is second to none.
As the saying goes, "scarcity makes things valuable", and Ru porcelain just fits this old saying.
Ru kiln appeared in the late Northern Song Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song. In political history, it was an era of confusion, but in art history, it was the peak of the Chinese Renaissance. Zhao Ji may not have been qualified as an emperor in the court, but he was worthy of the title as an emperor among artists. With his extraordinary talent and vitality, he not only achieved great creative achievements, but also had a unique vision and appreciated countless outstanding artists. If he had not brought down the country, his reputation in later generations would probably not be so bad. The emergence of Ru kiln was a stroke of his cultural undertaking.
Song Huizong was a very devout Taoist. Taoism emphasizes purity and inaction, and everything should be in harmony with nature. We can imagine that Huizong, who had both an artistic temperament and a lot of money to spend, must have managed his life meticulously and with great taste. The porcelain that the Northern Song Dynasty court had been using was originally Ding kiln porcelain, which was white in color. For Taoists, this color was too dazzling, so Zhao Ji made up his mind and re-ordered it, starting the short-lived history of Ru kiln.
Legend has it that the color of Ru kiln came from heaven. Chai Rong, the Emperor of Later Zhou, once fired a kind of porcelain called "Chai kiln", but it was lost in the Northern Song Dynasty. Only the oral instruction made at that time remained: "After the rain, the sky is blue and the clouds are clear, and this color will be in the future."
Song Huizong devoted all his manpower and resources to surpass the previous dynasty and produce a Ru kiln that could rival it. The color and effect of the finished Ru porcelain are exactly the same - the porcelain body of the Ru kiln is not white, but with a light purple, called "incense ash body"; and the glaze color of the porcelain, whether translucent or opaque, shows a very soft and pleasing sky blue color, and often has slight glaze cracks, called "crab claw pattern". This color and effect have been imitated by later generations, but have never been surpassed!
Whether it was the official kiln and Ge kiln of the Southern Song Dynasty, or Yongzheng and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, although they all created their own styles in the end, in terms of imitation technology, they could only achieve the level of copying the appearance but losing the spirit!
Ancient books record that the Ru kiln's colors are so delicate because agate powder is added to the glaze. But according to the latest British test report, although agate powder and the main minerals in the glaze are not mutually exclusive, it does not help to change or improve the color. This news is certainly a big blow to the artists who are determined to reproduce the Ru kiln, but it is a confirmation of the precious value of the existing Ru kiln, because even the only clue that may crack the secret recipe of the Ru kiln is broken, and this cultural heritage becomes even rarer!
Moreover, after the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, the Ru kiln also disappeared. There were only 20 years before and after, and the handed-down products are rare and precious. Now there are only about 70 pieces left. Among them, 23 pieces are in the Taibei Palace Museum, 17 pieces are in the Yanjing Palace Museum, 8 pieces are in the Shanghai Museum, 7 pieces are in the British David Foundation, and the other 10 pieces are scattered in museums and private collections in the United States and Japan. Only about five or six pieces can be exposed. For collectors, this is simply a "dinosaur-level" treasure!
The difficulty of replicating and the rarity of handed-down products have made Ru porcelain the most respected in the history of Chinese porcelain. In the antique world, there is a saying that "even if you have a fortune of millions, it is not as good as a piece of Ru porcelain".
Even broken pieces of Ru porcelain are so precious, let alone whole pieces of Ru porcelain?
This is Ru kiln, this is Ru porcelain!
It is no exaggeration to say that purely in terms of value, if these broken pieces of porcelain can really be restored into a complete piece, its value will definitely not be less than the Longquan Ge Kiln plate I just bought, and may even exceed it!
"These broken porcelain pieces are definitely treasures that cannot be missed!" Yang Jing thought to himself and started moving his hands.
He randomly picked out twenty or so pieces of broken porcelain from the pile, and then mixed them with the Ru porcelain he had just picked out. Then he said to the stall owner, "Boss, I picked out a total of forty-five pieces of broken porcelain. How much are they?"
The boss was also single, so he said directly: "I don't want any money for five slices, just give me eight hundred!"
"Boss, you don't want to count?"
"Don't count them, they are just a few pieces of broken porcelain. Besides, how can I not trust you?" This boss is a bachelor. Perhaps it is because Yang Jing just spent 16,000 yuan from him, so this boss is very confident in Yang Jing. Besides, he is currently serving another customer, so he simply didn't even look at him.
Perhaps the boss was thinking, the other party has already paid 16,000 yuan without hesitation, how can he still try to save a little money of 100 or 80 yuan?
Yang Jing was happy to have some free time, so he asked the boss for some newspapers, tore them open, and began to wrap the broken porcelain pieces one by one. After wrapping them, Yang Jing picked out eight "four-head" hundred-yuan bills and handed them to the boss. After packing the broken porcelain pieces, he stood up and left.
Looking at the watch, he realized that he had spent nearly an hour at this stall without realizing it. Seeing that the Panjiayuan Flea Market was about to open, Yang Jing couldn't help but quicken his pace.
But he hadn't walked far when his attention was drawn to another stall.
This stall is not a street stall, but a tricycle stall. The so-called tricycle stall means that the stall owner does not put the stall on the ground, but uses a hardwood board that is two circles larger than the back of the tricycle, and directly spreads it on the back of the tricycle, and the items to be sold are placed on the board.
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