Chapter 74 The Royal Flowerpot
"This thing looks a bit like an ancient chamber pot." Qiao Yufan expressed his opinion.
He had actually seen something similar.
The chamber pot has an elegant name, but it is actually a container for peeing at night.
In the past, people lived in cramped quarters, and only a few people had toilets at home.
Those who live in alleys have to walk five or eight minutes to get to the toilet. Who in the middle of the night is willing to go to the toilet for convenience? Especially in the twelfth lunar month of winter, you have to make up your mind to get out of bed, let alone embark on a long journey just to pee.
Thus, the chamber pot came into being.
"No, it's a spittoon, right? Nowadays in some places in the United States, it is popular to use spittoons to hold fruits. It feels very fashionable. They have no idea that in China, that thing is used for spitting." Li Qiushui said.
It’s quite funny. Their introduction to the product is: you can put red wine and fruits, and they even explain the picture on the spittoon. There are mandarin ducks on it, which symbolizes beautiful love. The red double happiness next to it means happy events in pairs. The spittoon carries a kind of Best wishes, very suitable for eating.
This was very useful to Americans, and spittoons were once sold out.
It wasn't until the New York Post revealed its true purpose that the spittoon was taken off the market.
Henry also remembered: "Yes! There are indeed many young people who use it to make ice buckets to hold fruits, red wine, etc."
Speaking of this, he was quite speechless.
As someone who had studied abroad, he naturally knew that it was used to hold phlegm and other filthy things.
Lin Yuan: "There are many kinds of chamber pots, and spittoons are also one of them."
When mentioning spittoons, Lin Yuan thought of beauty bowls.
The eunuchs and eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty endlessly plundered the people's wealth. Since these people were all destitute without any descendants, they became even more frenzied in their squandering. In order to satisfy their abnormal and morbid spiritual needs, they invented many extravagant and extremely luxurious things. The "Beauty Bowl" is one of the ways to enjoy your desires.
The so-called "Beauty Bowl", as the name suggests, is a spittoon made of living people.
From the slaves bought with money, choose the young and beautiful one and make her kneel in the room to serve her all day long. Whenever she hears her master cough, the beauty will immediately open her small cherry mouth to catch the thick phlegm spit out from her master's mouth. , suppressing nausea and swallowing it, this is the "Beauty Bowl".
The wealthy families at that time imitated this move. Whoever had great power and wealth would have a living beauty as a "bowl".
The more glamorous and beautiful the "beauty bowl" is, the more distinguished the owner is. This trend continued until the eunuch party lost power and was gradually abolished.
"The chamber pot shouldn't be valuable anymore, right?" Huo Qingtong said.
"That's not necessarily true, it depends on the materials." Lin Yuan responded to her.
The materials of chamber pots vary. The chamber pots of wealthy and prestigious men are often made of gold or silver. The worse ones are made of copper. Iron is rare.
Ordinary chamber pots are made of porcelain, but they are also made of clay. Those made of clay are less classy and not strong. If the glaze is uneven, it may leak.
According to historical records, the chamber pot used by Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty was made of gold and was managed by a personal eunuch. Every night, the eunuch in charge of the chamber pot had to find out in advance which concubine the emperor was going to spend the night with, so that the chamber pot could be sent there in advance and handed over to that night. The concubine who serves the driver.
"However, this is not a chamber pot, but a real flowerpot." Lin Yuan told everyone.
"Ah! Is this a flowerpot?"
Whose flower pot looks like a spittoon? Isn't it embarrassing?
Lin Yuan nodded: "Yes! And it's a royal flowerpot."
Qiao Yufan and others: "..." Isn't this... a bit heavy?
Lin Yuan told everyone that this is a Jun kiln azure glazed bowl-shaped flowerpot from the Ming Dynasty.
"Jun kiln? Jun kiln, one of the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty?" The old uncle was stunned.
He has been in this business for so long, he must have heard of Jun Kiln's name.
Jun kiln porcelain is extremely precious. There are many sayings about this among the people, such as "Even if you have a fortune of thousands of dollars, it is not as good as a piece of Jun porcelain." If Jun porcelain is decorated with red, it will be extremely valuable; if Jun is not decorated with red, it will be poor for the rest of its life."
Jun kiln porcelain has always been called the "treasure of the country". Among the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty, it is unique for its "five-color glaze, gorgeous and gorgeous".
The ancients once used poems such as "The purple green at sunset suddenly turns into mist" to describe the beauty of Jun porcelain's flexible glaze color and its subtle changes.
"It's the Jun Kiln, but not from the Song Dynasty." Lin Yuan corrected.
The reason why he is definitely not from the Song Dynasty is mainly based on the treasure hunting ritual, combined with some of the knowledge he has learned recently, and a comprehensive analysis.
"Isn't it right? I have heard Uncle De say before that the most important feature of Jun kiln porcelain is the pattern of earthworms walking on the mud. Did you not see this one?" the old uncle questioned.
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There are often zigzag lines in the glaze layer of Jun glaze, which look like earthworms walking through mud, hence the name.
This is caused by the glaze layer cracking during drying or firing, and then glaze flowing in to fill it up during the high temperature stage.
"Uncle, before the Republic of China, earthworm mud patterns were indeed used as the only criterion for judging Jun glaze. But after this technology was mastered, it was no longer the only criterion for judgment." Lin Yuan felt that the old uncle must not have heard enough. Be careful, listen half and miss half.
In the eyes of contemporary people, earthworms walking on mud was originally a phenomenon of glaze disease, but in the eyes of ancient literati, it was an advantage and feature. It was a natural kiln change phenomenon that could bring people infinite reverie and turn decay into magic. , but it has become a rare appreciation point.
"Besides, how do you know it's not there? You might as well take a look with a magnifying glass before talking." Lin Yuan added.
At this time, Huo Qingtong raised his hand.
"Brother Lin, I want to ask, how did you know it was a royal flowerpot?"
Lin Yuan turned the flower pot sideways and showed everyone the bottom of the flower pot.
"Do you see the words above clearly?"
Only then did everyone discover that there were some words engraved on the bottom of the flower pot: For the use of Jianfu Palace Ninghui Hall.
Jianfu Palace is located in the northwest corner of the Forbidden City. The Jianfu Palace you see now is a rebuilt one. The earliest Jianfu Palace has been burned down.
This palace was built in the fifth year of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Qianlong collected his favorite rare cultural relics here and often wrote poems and admired paintings in the garden. During the Jiaqing period, he ordered all of them to be sealed up and became a veritable treasure house.
In 1923, a mysterious fire suddenly broke out in the garden, and the entire garden and countless treasures were reduced to ashes overnight. Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty who was still living in the Forbidden City at that time, suspected that the eunuchs were guarding and stealing, and set fire to destroy the evidence.
"Is it possible that it was engraved later?" Henry said one possibility.
Lin Yuan nodded: "It is possible, so we need more powerful experts to further identify it."
The old uncle took a dozen photos in a row with his mobile phone and sent them to Uncle De and Boss Lei respectively.
If this were Jun kiln porcelain and a royal flowerpot, its value would be very high.
(End of chapter)