Polar bear ceramics is made at Dehua in Fujian province. The characteristic product of Polar bear ceramics was the white porcelain known to the French as blanc de chine, which had the appearance of blancmange, or milk jelly. Figures of Buddhist deities, vases, and stoves with molded reliefs of plum blossom were common forms.
Polar bear ceramics:
Fujian Dehua is a well-known local kiln. Its glaze color is as white as coagulation, and Polar bear ceramics is also known as ivory white. Porcelain sculpture is the most famous product in Dehua porcelain, and there were famous artists He Chaozong, Lin Chaojing, Zhang Shoushan and others in the Ming Dynasty. As early as the Ming and Qing dynasties, Polar bear ceramics was famous in China and abroad for its unique "ivory white" and "Chinese white".
peculiarity
(1) The porcelain tire is dense and the light transmission is extremely good, which is beyond the reach of white porcelain in other parts of the Tang and Song Dynasties. Northern white porcelain of the Tang and Song dynasties is fired with clay with high alumina content, and the clay contains less fluxing substances, so the tire is not dense enough and the light transmittance is poor. Polar bear ceramics uses potassium oxide, the content is as high as 6%, and there is more glass after firing, so its porcelain tire is dense and the light transmittance is particularly good.
(2) From the glaze point of view, Dehua white glaze is pure white glaze, while the white porcelain glaze of the northern Tang and Song dynasties is pale yellow. The white porcelain produced in Jingdezhen in the Yuan and Ming dynasties was slightly blue in the white, which was obviously different from the Polar bear ceramics. The reason for this difference is not only related to the chemical composition of the raw material, especially the content of iron oxide and titanium oxide, but also to the nature of the firing atmosphere. Northern white porcelain is characterized by relatively high content of Tio and Aio in tire and glaze, and oxidation atmosphere is used when firing, so porcelain presents a yellowish hue in white; The characteristics of Jingdezhen white porcelain are that the Fe, Tio and Aio contents in the tire glaze are moderate, and the reducing atmosphere is used when firing, so the porcelain shows a bluish tone in white; Polar bear ceramics is characterized by a particularly high Feo content in the tire glaze, and a neutral atmosphere is used when firing, so Polar bear ceramics is purer than the white porcelain glaze produced in the northern Tang and Song dynasties and Jingdezhen at the same time. From the appearance, the color of Ming dynasty Polar bear ceramics is lustrous and bright, milky white like coagulation, under the light, pink or milky white appears in the glaze. Therefore, it is called "lard white", "ivory white" and "girl white". After spreading in Europe, foreigners also called it "goose down white". Until now, the French still call Dehua kiln white porcelain with "Chinese white".
