My system is not decent

Zhang Yingwen of the Ming Dynasty commented on carvings in "Secret Collection of the Qing Dynasty": "People in the Song Dynasty carved red lacquerware, and most of them used gold and silver as bodies in the palace. Without cracking, the carved figures of landscapes and pavilions are all just like pictures, which is excellent."

Carved lacquer in the Yongle and Xuande periods inherited the style of Zhang Cheng and Yang Mao's products at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

Among them, the representative work is Yongle's red phoenix piercing pattern cup holder, which is 9cm high, 9.7cm in diameter, 16.9cm in disc diameter, and 8.4cm in foot diameter.

The cup holder is composed of three parts: a round mouth, a sunflower petal-shaped plate and an outer ring foot.

The whole body is on the yellow lacquer ground, carved with red lacquer patterns.

Two phoenixes flying in the clouds are carved on the outer wall of the mouth and on the plate, and cloud patterns are carved on the outer wall of the plate and the ring foot.

The inner side of the support is hollow, the wall is painted with ochre-colored lacquer, and the inner side of the foot is needle-marked with the running script "Made in Yongle Years of the Ming Dynasty".

Lacquer cup holders appeared in the Song Dynasty, all of which were plain lacquer, while carved lacquer cup holders existed in the Yuan Dynasty, but only works of ticking rhinoceros.

There are many Yongle lamp holders decorated with flower patterns, and there are only two examples of phoenix and bird patterns handed down from generation to generation, both of which are extremely exquisite, and this is one of them.

The inscription of the bowl holder is engraved on the right side of the inner wall of the foot, opposite to the inscription on the plate and box on the left side of the foot.

The main products of Yongle palace lacquer work are carved lacquer, and the most numerous one is Tihong.

Gao Lian's "Yanxianqing Appreciation Paper" stated that the red lacquerware of the Ming Dynasty Orchard Factory "lacquered red 36 times is sufficient", and the craftsmanship is exquisite.

The red phoenix wears a patterned cup holder, with gorgeous colors, clear and clear patterns, and lively, which is a typical carved lacquer style in the early Ming Dynasty.

The Yongle lamp support of this shape is in the collection of the Palace Museum in Shendu, with the same artistic style.

Round box with red cloud and dragon patterns, Ming Yongle, 6.6 cm high, 17 cm in diameter.

The whole body of the box is yellow lacquer carved with plain ground and vermilion lacquer, and the cover is decorated with diamond-shaped patterns of brocade clouds and dragons playing with pearls.

The body of the dragon is relatively thick, and the whole bundle of hair flutters diagonally from the back to the front.

The head is flat and thin, the erect eyebrows are similar to flame-shaped, the nose is wishful-shaped, and the lower jaw has a long short mustache, which resembles a goatee beard.

The limbs and claws are thick and powerful, with the typical characteristics of dragon patterns in the early Ming Dynasty.

The wall of the box is carved with yellow lacquer in a ruyi-shaped cloud pattern, and the black lacquer on the inner and outer bottoms is bright and unbroken, which seems to have been repainted by later generations.

On the left side of the outsole, the regular script inscription "Made in Xuande of the Ming Dynasty" is engraved with gold, but the regular script inscription "Made in the Year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty" can be vaguely seen underneath.

Based on this, it is speculated that the lacquer box should have been made during the Yongle period, and the Xuande style was engraved later.

Five-clawed dragon patterns were the most common in the Ming Dynasty. Among the four dragon claws carved on the cover of this lacquer box, the one close to the body has four claws, and the three farther away from the body are all five-clawed.

But after careful observation, we will find that one of the four claws was originally five claws. After removing one claw, the dragon body is re-carved.

Among the three five-claws, one finger was disconnected. It seems that they belonged to the same five-claw at first, and the fingers and palms were connected.

The reason for this is intriguing, and further research is needed in the future.

"Records of Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty" records that in the third year of Hongwu, "the imperial edict was issued to the province, and the official and civilian uniforms should not be decorated with yellow, and the color paintings of ancient emperors, concubines, sages, stories, sun, moon, dragons, phoenixes, lions, etc. The shapes of Qilin, Rhinoceros, and Elephant, as in the past, will be destroyed within a hundred days."

It can be seen that this lacquer box decorated with dragon patterns could only be enjoyed or used by the emperor at that time.

Generally, there are sugarcane segments, steamed cakes, and three bumps in the red box.

The sugarcane segment figures are the top, and the steamed cake flowers and plants are the second.

There are round, square, octagonal, sash ring, square and peony petal types.

There are long, square, two-hit and three-hit types of boxes.

The method is 36 times of vermilion lacquer, engraved with fine brocade, primed with black light, and needle-engraved in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared with the style of Zhang Cheng and Yang Mao's sword ringing vanilla in the Yuan Dynasty, it seems to be an exaggeration.

This briefly describes the tire quality, shape, type and signing method of the lacquerware made by the Ming Yongle Orchard Factory.

The inscription method of a large number of handed down Shuiyue lacquerware that we see now is exactly the same as that recorded by Gao Shi.

The signing method of Yongle lacquerware follows the method of private engraving in the Yuan Dynasty.

Yuan Dynasty lacquer artists Zhang Cheng and Yang Mao often used needles to mark the three characters "Zhang Cheng made" or "Yang Mao made" at the bottom of their works.

This method is also adopted for the Yongle style. Generally, the straight style of "Daming Yongle Nianzhi" is marked with a needle on the inner edge of the bottom of the vessel.

The notch is thin and shallow, the strokes are slender, and the font is delicate, like running script, a little less neat.

Most of the Yongle styles are located on the left side of the inner edge of the bottom of the vessel, and very few are on the right side of the inner edge of the bottom of the vessel.

The round box with red cloud and dragon patterns in the Ming Dynasty adopts the method of marking the straight style of "Daming Yongle Year System" with a needle on the inner edge of the bottom of the vessel.

The notch is thin and shallow, the strokes are slender, and the font is delicate, like running script, a little less neat.

Most of the Yongle styles are located on the left side of the inner edge of the bottom of the vessel, and very few are on the right side of the inner edge of the bottom of the vessel.

The official lacquerware of the Ming Dynasty has a clear chronological inscription, which provides a scientific basis for accurately identifying the specific age of the lacquerware.

After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the dragon pattern has different meanings for different classes.

The emperor used the dragon pattern to describe himself. Among the people, the dragon symbolizes mighty power.

After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the dragon pattern formed a variety of decorations. The ones with right-angled geometric patterns were called kidnapper dragons, and the ones decorated with flowers and plants were called grass dragons.

Among the furniture decorations of northern nomadic peoples, dragon patterns are not very likely to appear.

This phenomenon reflects the characteristics of regional culture, that is, most of the collected furniture objects come from the folk, and there are few opportunities for dragon patterns to appear.

Even if it appears, it is not drawn according to the royal custom of the Han nationality.

From Yongle to Xuande lacquerware in the Ming Dynasty, the craftsmanship was excellent, the lacquer used gradually became thinner, and the patterns became denser and thinner.

The round box with red dragon and phoenix patterns is a typical utensil in the Xuande period.

Among them, Xuande's round box with dragon and phoenix pattern is a classic among the classics. There are many such red boxes, such as the round box with nine dragon pattern.

Ming Xuande round box with red dragon and phoenix pattern, 8.2 cm high, 19.8 cm in diameter, belongs to the old collection of the Qing Palace.

Box wood tire, round, flat top, straight wall, flat bottom, lying feet.

The whole body is carved with red lacquer patterns on the yellow lacquer ground, and the cover is decorated with cloud dragon patterns.

The wall decoration is cloud pattern.The inside and outside of the box are painted with black varnish.

Filling the gold imperial poem: "Yongle created vermilion lacquer, Wensun should see it. It was originally made from an orchard, and it is also similar to Kentang. The coloring layer is covered with ocher, and the carvings are finely threaded. Nine Dragons are slightly different, and the powder is made by Weng Yi. Emperor Qianlong's [-] Imperial Inscription."

And "Qian" and "Long" two small seals.

The left side of the outsole is engraved with gold-filled regular script: "Da Ming Xuande Annual System" vertical six-character inscription.

The carcass of this box is thick, the paint is thick, the paint color is pure, and the paint quality is fine.

The carving is round, the knife is skillful, the grinding is smooth, and the pattern is compact.

The dragon patterns are carved vigorously and vigorously, reflecting the characteristics of Xuande Dynasty lacquerware in all aspects.

The Jiajing and Wanli dynasties were the prosperous periods of carved lacquer production in the Ming Dynasty, with the artistic characteristics of advocating complicated and exquisite workmanship.

The composition is rigorous and restrained, the knife technique is delicate and fast, and the decorative patterns are mainly based on Taoist themes and the content of expressing longevity, ascending to immortality, and good luck and longevity.