What are the characteristics of Ming Dynasty zodiac jade? What are the characteristics of jade in th

Ming Dynasty jade has the following characteristics. 1: The grain nail pattern of the Ming Dynasty is mostly beaten with a pipe drill, and the grain nail is larger in horizontal and vertical rows, and there are obvious traces of the set around it.

2: The ears of the animal shape are mostly concave with a cone drill, and the straight tube is rare. The whirlwind is fine and uneven.

3: The yin line is wide and deep, the edges are sharp, the groove marks are obvious, and the phenomenon of crossing the line and dispersing abounds.

4: The bottom is not clear, uneven, commonly known as [hemp bottom].

On the whole, the decorative lines of the Ming Dynasty were mainly wide and deep Yin lines, with a V-shaped cross-section, parabola-like, and peaks from the beginning to the end.

The jade materials of Ming Dynasty jade mainly used Hetian jade, which has a delicate and warm texture. Song Yingxing's "Heavenly Creations" recorded the grand occasion of transporting jade materials at that time: "All jade is wrapped around the head by the other, or the river boat, or the camel, through the waves into Jiayu, and to Ganzhou and Suzhou, to the mutual market to prosper, the car into China, unloading Yanjing." The jade work distinguishes the pure, the price is high, and then the cut".

The Ming Dynasty also obtained a large number of rare gems through the sea, expanding the scope of materials used in the production of gems and jade.

The ornamentation and decoration techniques of jade in the Ming Dynasty include rich animal patterns such as dragons, pythons, phoenixes, lions, tigers, deer, sheep, horses, rabbits, monkeys, cranes, geese, bullfights, flying fish, etc.; Plant motifs chrysanthemum, peony, lotus, sunflower, orchid, pomegranate flower, Ganoderma lucidum, camellia, etc.; It is prevalent to use patterns as shading or edging to decorate 10,000 characters, happy characters, longevity characters, flowing clouds, clouds, waves, etc. There are two kinds of the most characteristic characteristics of the times: one is deeply influenced by the art of literati painting, and unprecedented poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing art has appeared on jade; The second is that the homophonic theme of Fu Rui auspicious is very popular, and there are metaphorical auspicious ornaments abound on jade.

For example, a monkey on horseback means "immediately sealed marquis", and the halberd chime pattern means "auspicious".

In terms of the type of jade, there are mainly jade ritual vessels, decorative jade, stationery supplies and daily utensils. The main jade ritual vessels are jade bi and jade gui; Decorative jade has jade belt plates, belt hooks, buckles, hostas, chicken hearts, flower pieces, square jade plates, etc.; Stationery supplies include jade pens, pen holders, jade inkstones, washing, etc.; Daily utensils include jade boxes, jade cups, jade pots, and gold and jade holding pots.

The jade used in the court of the Ming Dynasty was mostly combined with gold, silver and gemstone inlay technology. This kind of utensils and gold and jade jewelry are integrated, and some are inlaid with rubies and sapphires on jade ornaments; with gold and jade-inlaid strip plates; There are gold ornaments inlaid with rubies and sapphires; All of them are graceful and luxurious, with jewels, highlighting the royal and aristocratic style of the Ming Dynasty.

The development of jade craft in the Ming Dynasty went through three periods: early, middle and late

Early Ming and early Ming jade unearthed and handed down have excellent works, the style inherits the Yuan Dynasty, and the workmanship is rigorous and exquisite. Judging from the jade artifacts unearthed over the years, such as crowns, jade belts, jade pendants, jade gui, jade inkstones, jade pen holders, jade cups, etc., the jade materials used in jade in this period have a strong luster, and the grinding work is vigorous, the grinding work is fine, and the details are not heavy, which obviously preserves the legacy of jade in the Yuan Dynasty.

Strictly speaking, the jade of the early Ming Dynasty did not have its own style, and many of the exquisite jade artifacts excavated, such as the jade belt plates mentioned above, should be classified as Yuan dynasty jade, or they were originally jade artifacts left over from the Yuan dynasty.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the jade of the middle of the Ming Dynasty tended to be simple, inheriting the prosperity of literati culture in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, and jade with literati colors appeared, such as green jade pine shade and scepter bucket cups.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the processing and distribution of jade were mostly concentrated in the southeast region such as Nanjing, Shanghai, Jiangxi and other places. Shanghai Lu Shen tomb unearthed white jade iron canopy plum, white jade butterfly, jade chicken heart pendant, white jade with hook, hollow longevity jade, jade ring, jade crown, hosta, etc., jade pieces are small and exquisite, representing the landlord, rich businessmen and other people with jade varieties and workmanship.

During this period, jade began to show the characteristics of Ming Dynasty society, and the production and processing of jade can truly represent the characteristics of Ming Dynasty society.

In the late Ming and early Ming dynasties, the society in the southeast was stable, the urban economy was prosperous, and the people were wealthy, so the production of jade increased. The representative jade artifacts of this period include jade belt hooks, jade bowls, jade bowls, jade pots, jade jue, jade gui, jade pendants, jade belts, etc., which include the jade used by the deceased during his lifetime and the jade used for burial after death. Among them, jade pots, jade jue, etc. use chiseled gold or jewelry inlay technology, which is even more gorgeous and colorful.

At that time, ancient jade had become an antique (or antique) and was a special commodity. In order to obtain high profits, merchants made a large number of fake antiques with cheap jade materials such as inferior jade and mixed colored jade, and the number of jade objects surged, and the art became obviously rough, and there were fewer Seiko, which were mostly combined with gold, silver and gemstone inlay technology. Due to the economic prosperity of the city in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the handicraft industry was developed, and the overseas industry was frequent, and the entire arts and crafts were dominated by commodity production and export sales, so there was a bad tendency to pursue quantity and ignore art.

Subsequently, there was also a trend of commercialization of jade craft, jade tires are heavy, rigid shapes, sloppy workmanship, and cumbersome decorations, and there are a large number of jade pots and jade cups that have been handed down to this day. In terms of patterns, in line with the social atmosphere of the late Ming Dynasty, the homophonic theme of Fu Rui auspiciousness is very popular, this kind of "picture must be intentional, meaning must be auspicious" pattern, first of all, to pray for blessings, and then to take into account the beauty. This is the result of the prosperity of the city's commodity economy and the commercialization of jade production, as well as the new changes in China's jade culture.

The jade style of the Ming Dynasty is diverse, the characteristics of jade in the early Ming Dynasty, the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and the late Ming Dynasty are different, the early carving process is concise and vigorous, and the middle period tends to be exquisitely complicated. In the middle and late periods, the layered carving technique appeared, which appeared exquisite and clear, and achieved a more realistic artistic effect.

The biggest feature of jade in the early Ming Dynasty is that the Song and Yuan dynasties have a strong heritage. In the early Ming Dynasty, the jade workmanship was rigorous, the shape was beautiful, and the artistic style continued the characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, the overall style of ornamentation tended to be concise and bold, with dragons and phoenixes and flowers and birds as the main theme, flowers were good at depicting the large flowers of the whole plant, and the theme of landscape characters depicted historical stories.

The outstanding feature of jade in the middle of the Ming Dynasty is that it has a strong humanistic color. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the characteristics of jade began to get rid of the influence of the Song and Yuan dynasties and showed their own social characteristics. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was a prosperous era and a prosperous culture, so the jade was rich in humanistic color, and the shape was small and exquisite, which was suitable for wearing and using in the citizen stage.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, jade was delicate and delicate, and the floral motifs mostly used broken branches and entwined branches to form patterns, which had the characteristics of freshness and liveliness.

An important feature of jade in the late Ming Dynasty was the strong color of the Shang Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, jade production gradually improved, not only the output increased, and the variety, the subject matter is more abundant, Suzhou has become the national jade processing center, and jade has gradually been commercialized, frequent transactions, participation in overseas **, so there is a phenomenon of emphasizing quantity but not quality. In the late Ming Dynasty, jade with auspicious themes was especially popular, paying attention to "meaning must be auspicious".

The style of the late Ming Dynasty tended to be elaborate and slightly trivial.

Some characteristics of Ming Dynasty jade:

First, the shape is rough and vigorous, and the carving is strong and powerful. For the jade carving of the Ming Dynasty, antique connoisseurs have the oral language of "thick, large, and bright", generally speaking, the carcass of the jade carving in the Ming Dynasty is thicker, especially the pots, cups and other utensils, the walls of the vessels are thicker, and the figures and animals pay attention to the appearance and do not pursue the details. From the point of view of carving, the jade carvings of the Ming Dynasty are generally strong and powerful, neat and eye-catching, the lines and corners are distinct, the grinding is poor, and there are also a number of utensils The surface is very bright, called "glass light", but the corners or details are rougher.

Second, the carving technology is developed. Since the early Ming Dynasty, the jade belt of the late Ming Dynasty jade cups, interstitial screens, inserts, and belt ornaments all show the developed jade carving technology of the Ming Dynasty, which has made great progress compared with the Han and Tang dynasties, the Song and Yuan dynasties, mainly in two aspects: one is on the plane sheet carved utensils, there is a regular carving two-way continuous or four-square continuous pattern, and can carve out different double-layer patterns up and down, connoisseurs call this pattern "embossed under the flower".

The second is the carving of the three-dimensional body, not only pay attention to the surface, but also pay attention to the modeling treatment inside the block, the jade carving furnace top of the Ming Dynasty is often made of carved steamed buns or cylindrical shapes, many furnace tops are not only carved on the surface of the pattern, and the inside of the column is also carved out of the scenery related to the surface pattern, and the jade furnace top of the Qing Dynasty even if the carving method is adopted, it only pays attention to the surface pattern.

Third, antique works are becoming more and more mature. Gao Lian, a Ming scholar, said in "Zunsheng Eight Notes": "Recently, Wu Zhong imitated the Han and Song Dynasty Dynasty and the hook and loop, and made of pale yellow dyed onion jade or jade with light ink color, pseudo-chaotic ancient system, and each high value."

This account describes the antique situation of jade carving in the Ming Dynasty. Antique jade has been very popular in the Song Dynasty, but there is a certain gap between the antique jade in the Song Dynasty and the ancient jade, some have their own, but the shape and ornament have changed greatly, and some are purely imaginary. There are two situations of antique jade carving in the Ming Dynasty, one is the antique Yi ware, which is very close to the artifacts before the Han Dynasty, but not old, and the other is the fake ancient jade, which is antique as Gao Lian said

As the style is made, the pseudo-chaotic ancient system. ”

Fourth, the tendency of secularization. It is mainly manifested in variety, modeling, ornamentation and other aspects. In terms of variety, there is a decrease in ritual utensils and an increase in utensils related to daily life.

There are only many works of people and animals with the theme of daily life, and the shape of the utensils is closer to porcelain. In terms of ornamentation, there are many flowers and birds, animals, auspicious patterns, and literati paintings, and antique bronze ornaments have retreated to a secondary position.