In the large exhibition hall of more than 200 square meters on the second floor of Yangzhou Museum, there is only one cultural relic, which is also covered by a square glass and separated by guardrails, so that visitors can only enjoy it from afar. The severity of this security measure shows that it is extraordinary. It is the "treasure of the town hall" of Yangzhou Museum, the Yuan Dynasty Ji blue glazed white dragon pattern plum vase.
Exhibition hall on the second floor of Yangzhou Museum.
2024 is the Year of the Dragon, and the "Dragon" is the totem of the Chinese nation and represents the power of nature. In this Yuan Dynasty Ji blue glazed white dragon pattern plum vase, a soaring white dragon is chasing a flame orb, lined with four flame-shaped moires like floating coral branches. The dragon is mighty, flying in the air, quite a commanding momentum. In 2013, this treasure was also included in the "Third Batch of Catalogue of Cultural Relics Prohibited from Going Abroad (Territory) Exhibition".
Take a closer look at this plum vase, the overall height is 435 cm, caliber 55 cm, base diameter 14 cm, maximum ventral diameter 253 cm, small mouth, short neck, full shoulders. Gradually converge below the shoulders, and slightly outward near the bottom, the shape is very beautiful. The bottle body is covered with blue glaze, the enamel is thick and shiny, and the color is intense. Cloud dragon, treasure bead green and white glaze. Blue and white are contrasting and contrasting. The shape of the dragon, with its slender and curved body, has the characteristics of a typical Yuan Dynasty dragon pattern: a small head, a thin neck, an open mouth, a tongue sticking out, a long beard floating backwards, a slender body, well-developed limbs, four legs and three claws, and strong and powerful.
Yuan Dynasty Ji blue glazed white dragon pattern plum vase (Yangzhou Museum collection).
Regarding the plum bottle, the monograph on the history of ceramics in China, "Drinking Liuzhai Says Porcelain", describes it as follows: "The plum bottle mouth is thin and the neck is short, the shoulders are extremely broad, the shin is slightly narrow, and the fold is slightly rich when folded in the foot, and the small caliber is only commensurate with the thin bones of the plum, so it is called the plum bottle." This kind of utensils named after the small mouth and only the plum branches began to appear in the Song Dynasty, and it was a kind of wine storage vessel at the beginning, and then with the development of society and the improvement of aesthetic taste, it finally became a favorite thing for people to appreciate.
Why is it so precious?Ji blue glaze was created in Jingdezhen in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Yuan Dynasty, Jingdezhen only fired porcelain for royalty and nobles. At that time, the green material used in Ji blue glaze - Su Ma Liqing firing was imported, which was extremely expensiveThe temperature requirements are extremely high during firing, and the kiln is about 1300 degrees Celsius and the billet tire is successfully fired at one time. If the temperature is too high, the glaze will flow, and if the temperature is too low, the color will be gray and dark, and the yield will be very low. After batches of porcelain were successfully fired, the more perfect quality would be shipped directly to the capital, and those with the slightest flaw would be smashed on the spot, so the production of this kind of blue glazed porcelain was relatively small at that time. Coupled with the particularity of the exquisite white dragon pattern, it is only allowed to be collected in the palace, which is even rarer.
According to statistics, there are only three such blue glazed white dragon plum vases in the world, which are collected in the Summer Palace in Beijing, the Musée Guimet in Paris, and the Yangzhou Museum. The plum vase in the Summer Palace and the Guimet Museum is slightly smaller in size than this one, and both have flaws - the plum vase in the Summer Palace in Beijing has obvious cracks in the bottle;The plum vase at the Musée Guimet has obvious flaws in the faucet part of the faucet that was fired at the time of firing. Only this plum vase from the Yangzhou Museum is not only very well preserved, without flaws or damage, but also the largest of the three.
Blue glazed white dragon plum vase (collection of the Summer Palace, Beijing).
And why is this plum vase so well preserved?Its life history is also quite legendary, the original owner is Mr. Zhu Liheng, an old worker of Yangzhou Light Industry Machinery Factory, this plum bottle is the heirloom of his family, and it has been the sixth generation in his hands. It is said that his ancestors were officials in the imperial court, so they were able to obtain this exquisite treasure, and it was passed down from his ancestors to him, because he knew that it was precious and loved it very much.
In 1945, Mr. Zhu's mother was offered 18 stone rice in exchange for the plum vase, which was a large sum of money during the war years, but Mr. Zhu's mother refused. During the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Zhu's mother was worried about the damage to the plum bottle, so she blackened the bottle with black ink, disguised it as broken pottery, wrapped it in cotton cloth and hid it under the bed.
By 1976, Tangshan had a devastating 7Level 8**, Yangzhou and Tangshan are in the same **zone, so it also happened ** in the next few months**. Mr. Zhu was worried that the heirloom would be damaged, so he went to the Yangzhou cultural relics store and planned to sell it. At that time, the cultural relics were also purchased and sold by state-owned cultural relics stores.
Entering the store, the clerk of the store looked at this plum bottle and thought that it was something from the Qing Dynasty, there was no official money, it belonged to the folk kiln, and the price was 16 yuan. And Mr. Zhu thinks that this ancestral plum vase is very precious, but because it has been circulated for too long, he does not know about other aspects, and only said that this ** is too low, so the clerk added 2 yuan, and finally sold it for 18 yuan. After that, the Yangzhou Cultural Relics Store casually stored this "Qing Dynasty folk kiln" porcelain in an inconspicuous corner of the store and did not pay attention to it.
In this way, this "Qing Dynasty folk kiln" porcelain has been put on hold, until one day, Mr. Shen, a man who understands cultural relics in the Shanghai Foreign Trade Company, came to Yangzhou on a business trip, and happened to see this plum vase in the corner, and raised objections to the age of the plum vase marked by the cultural relics store, which attracted the attention of the Yangzhou cultural relics store. Mr. Shen immediately bought this plum bottle, went home and carefully cleaned and repaired it, and the true appearance of the plum bottle was rediscovered.
In 1978, Mr. Shen took this plum vase to Beijing to participate in the "Report Exhibition of Cultural Relics Collected by Various Provinces, Municipalities and Autonomous Regions", which immediately caused a sensation - the connoisseurs present thought that it was Yuan Dynasty porcelain, and museums in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places expressed their desire to collect this vase when they heard the news. After realizing the preciousness of the plum vase, the Yangzhou Museum, with the support of the local **, took the lead and quickly purchased it for 3,000 yuan. Later, Mr. Feng Xianming of the Palace Museum in Beijing and Mr. Wang Zhimin of the Nanjing Museum were invited to identify the plum bottle, and they unanimously identified the bottle as a fine blue glazed porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty from Jingdezhen kiln in Jiangxi Province.
As for its value, there was later a Hong Kong collector, Mr. Xu Zhantang, who had opened 3400 million yuan, hope to collect this bottle;A Japanese collector was also willing to pay $300 millionA Parisian collector even offered a sky-high price of 4 billion yuan, but it didn't work out. How can the Yangzhou Museum be transferred, it will only be collected forever.
In October 2000, when France** Chirac visited China, the first stop was Shanghai, but out of strong interest in this Yuan Dynasty dragon plum vase, he insisted on visiting Yangzhou first. Why would France be so interested in this dragon plum vase?First of all, this artwork is well-known all over the world;Secondly, from King Henry IV of France to Louis XVI, from aristocrats to wealthy merchants, they were all keen on collecting Chinese art. And the Musée Guimet in Paris, France, also has a similar dragon plum vase.
Today, this heirloom plum vase is located in the exhibition hall**, under the yellow soft light, the dragon is mighty, majestic, fierce, flying in the sky for thousands of miles, and the mighty momentum is about to come out. It is truly a miracle that it has been in the folk for 600 years to be able to be viewed.
The soaring dragon and the bright blue glaze show the highest level of porcelain firing in the Yuan Dynasty, and also outline the short-lived glory of the Great Yuan Empire. The Year of the Dragon has arrived, the dragon is in full swing, and the dragon pattern is from the ancient totem to the auspicious Rui Fu, high-spirited and enthusiastic, full of mysterious power, and also brings a good omen to the new year!