In the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, an emperor of
the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), “red” was regarded as a noble color, because
the emperor’s surname “Zhu” means “red” in Chinese. He even issued an imperial
edict throughout the country to confirm the symbolic position of “red.” It
is probable that the presence of underglaze red was connected with the emperor’s
preference. His descendants continued the tradition of regarding red as a
symbol of imperial favor.
The old Chinese saying “Great vessels take time to complete” originated
in the procedure of producing red underglaze, first developed in the late
Yuan Dynasty, more than 630 years ago. The new type of red and blue underglaze
showed up in the Yongzheng and Qianlong reign periods (1723-1796) of the Qing
Dynasty. The process of making blue and red underglaze is even more difficult
than making blue and white underglaze, so there was little fine red underglaze
porcelain fired successfully. Each piece of red underglaze porcelain extant
is an extremely rare treasure.
The underglazes in red and blue and white are called “twins” by collectors.
The process of making them is almost the same. The difference is that the
“blue and white” uses cobalt, while the red underglaze is first painted using
copper red, and then covered by transparent glaze, and finally fired at a
high temperature. The conditions for making red underglaze were rigorous,
and so the success rate was very low. Moreover, the color was often not pure
-- most of the pieces made in the late Yuan Dynasty appear pale brown. It
was not until the Yongle reign period (1403-1425) of the Ming Dynasty that
the bright underglaze “ruby-red” porcelain was fired successfully, albeit
in very small amounts. In the Chenghua reign period (1465-1488), the simpler
process of “overglazing” took the place of “underglazing,” and the red underglaze
disappeared until the early Qing Dynasty. In contrast with the red underglaze
of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, that in the early Qing Dynasty contained a
kind of purple color. Meanwhile, improvements in technique enabled the production
of porcelain in various shades of red. The technique reached a high level
in the early Qing Dynasty, when much weight was attached to the development
of red underglaze. So more pieces made in the early Qing Dynasty have been
handed down than those of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. However, in all three
dynasties red underglaze porcelain has three decoration patterns in common:
1. Various patterns were drawn on the base with lines. Due to the
difficulty of firing copper red at high temperatures, often a red ``halo”
emerged. Even during the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reign periods of the
Qing Dynasty, when the technique was relatively mature, this phenomenon still
occurred. However, line drawing was still a major decoration method for red
underglaze.
2. Intaglio: Leaving space for the patterns on the base, or cutting
the outline of the patterns in that space, and then using copper red to cover
the rest of the area. After firing, the patterns showed up with the original
quality of the base glaze. This method was adopted in the middle of the Yuan
Dynasty.
3. Painting: Copper red was used to paint integrated patterns. This
method was used from the Yuan Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
The historical background to red underglaze shows that in the Yuan
Dynasty craftsmen invented red underglaze specially for the emperors, and
the Ming emperors also favored red. Emperor Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang), the founder
of the Ming Dynasty was a fervent believer in Yin - Yang, and the Five Elements
(metal, wood, water, fire and earth). He loved the color red, as his surname
“Zhu” means red, and he considered himself to be dominated by the fire element.
When he took the throne in the third year of the Hongwu reign period, he announced
that red would be the symbol of nobility, and issued an imperial edict throughout
the country to this effect.
