The Official Porcelain Of Wanli Period Of Ming Dynasty

In the forty-eight years of Wanli reign,various contradictions became increasingly prominent,and the original government handicraft industry had undergone great changes.In terms of porcelain,the mode of production-the government commissioned private kiln to produce-had a great influence on the offical porcelain of the Ming Dynasty,and the quality of the porcelain seriously declined.Although Xuande and Chenghua porcelain has high reputation among the royal family and the folk,the imitation products showed an obvious gap.Even so,the Wanli period of the official porcelain was still very prosperous.Official porcelains made in Wanli period had the largest production through the ages.According to the royal records,the number of imperial porcelain has been quite large,so the actual number can many times more than this.It had various modeling,the blue-and-white porcelain is still the main type,its modeling and decoration can basically reflect the characteristics of the times and the evolution of the style;the prosperity of polychrome porcelain is a major change of the Wanli porcelain,typical polychrome porcelain of Wanli period is full of decoration,rich in color,and has strong contrast,on the same modeling and ornamentation porcelain,the decoration of polychrome porcelain is denser and more lively than blue-and-white porcelain.Polychrome porcelain on white ground is the most common type,polychrome porcelain on yellow ground is a new development of this period.Plain tri-color glaze porcelain and multi-colored porcelain also has new development,but single colored glaze porcelain has no significant change.Wanli official porcelain had a wide variety,various modeling and varied decoration.Daily implements are still the staple,tableware and containers are with clear function,and big display implements obviously increased than before,garlic-head-shaped vase and bronze-Tsun-shaped vase became one of the most popular types of that time.On the whole,the modeling of daily implements emphasize the applicability,which manifests the refinements of royal life.Other implements reflect Wanli's personal hobbies and lifestyle,for example,stationery such as brush pipes,brush-rest and brush tray are the results of Wanli's obsession with calligraphy;cricket jars are closely related with royal entertainment;as indicated by the porcelain boxes and garden seats,the use of porcelain in the court continued to expand.In addition,since the government disregard the cost,the number of square implements such as chessboards and boxes has increased.The decoration of porcelain shows the taste of the court.On the basis of inheriting the previous generations,the main decorative patterns have developed the characteristics of the times,such as dragon cross flowers of all seasons,lotus pond scenery,algae fish,basin full of flowers and fruits,character story,etc.New or popular decorative patterns such as Vase flowers,basket flowers,palace lantern,characters of fortune words,Sanskrit characters,etc,directly reflect social life,religious beliefs and aesthetic styles of Wanli period.Kaiguang is a common composition of royal porcelain in Wanli period,which can even be used on extremely exquisite glasses.Openwork skill mostly used on special purpose implements,the popularity of which shows the masterly of kilning technology.Generally speaking,the typical Wanli official porcelain has regular modeling and a full and complicate decoration style,blue-and-white porcelains are bright and gorgeous,the glaze color of polychrome porcelains are colorful and had strong contrast.Basically,in the early time of Wanli period,it mainly followed the tradition of previous generation,the characteristics of times gradually formed in late Wanli.