As a unique ancient material and process in ancient Chinese traditional crafts, Chinese ancient glass has a history and cultural heritage of more than 2000 years.
The origin of colored glass has never been the same, and there is no way to test it. Only the long-standing story of "Xi Shi's tears" has been passed down to record a period of eternal love.
According to legend, in the late spring and Autumn period, Fan Li made the king's sword for Gou Jian, the newly succeeded king of Yue. It took three years to forge it. When Wang Jian was born, Fan Li found a magical powdery substance in the sword mold. When it was fused with crystal, it was crystal clear but had a metallic sound. Fan Li believes that this material has been refined by fire, and the Yin and softness of crystal are hidden in it. It has both the hegemonic spirit of the king's sword and the soft feeling of water, which is the most attainable by the creation of yin and Yang in heaven and earth. Therefore, this kind of object was called "Kendo" and was presented to the king of Yue together with the forged King's sword.
The king of Yue appreciated Fan Li's contribution to the sword making, accepted the king's sword, but gave back the original "Kendo" and named this magical material "Li" in his name.
At that time, Fan Li had just met Xi Shi and was impressed by her beauty. He thought that common things such as gold, silver, jade and jade could not match Xi Shi. Therefore, he visited skilled craftsmen and made the "Li" named after him into a beautiful jewelry and gave it to Xi Shi as a token of affection.
Unexpectedly, the war broke out again this year. Hearing that Fu Chai, king of Wu, was training his troops day and night, with the intention of attacking the state of Yue to avenge his father, Gou Jian decided to strike first. Fan Li's bitter admonition failed. The state of Yue was finally defeated and nearly subjugated. Xi Shi was forced to go to the state of Wu to make peace. At the time of parting, Xi Shi returned the "Li" to Fan Li. It is said that Xi Shi's tears fell on the "Li" and moved the earth, the sun and the moon. To this day, we can still see Xi Shi's tears flowing in it. Later generations call it "Liu Li". Today's colored glass evolved from this name.
In 1965, a legendary ancient sword, which has lasted for thousands of years but is as sharp as ever, was unearthed in tomb No. 1 of Jiangling, Hubei Province. The grid of the sword is inlaid with two pieces of light blue glass. The bird seal characters on the body of the sword clearly show that "Gou Jian, king of Yue, is a self acting sword". The colored glass decorated on the sword of Gou Jian, king of Yue, is the earliest colored glass product discovered so far. Coincidentally, on the "Fu Chai sword, king of Wu" found in Huixian County, Henan Province, three colorless and transparent colored glasses were inlaid in the frame.
The two overlords of the spring and Autumn period, who had been entangled all their lives, dominated the world with their outstanding achievements. The "sword of the king" is not only a symbol of status and status, but also regarded by them as precious as life. The two legendary kings coincidentally took colored glass as the only decoration on their swords, which added a few mysteries to the legend about the origin of ancient French colored glass.
We can't confirm the origin of ancient Chinese glazed glaze. There are only many human or mythological legends before the legend of Xi Shi's tears. However, compared with the legend of the origin of Western glass, the legend of Fan Li casting a sword and inventing colored glass is more romantic in Chinese culture.
It is said that glass was invented by Phoenicians (Lebanese). 3000 years ago, a group of Phoenician sailors transporting natural soda lit a campfire on a beach in the Mediterranean Sea. They used large blocks of soda to cushion their feet and set up a big pot. After dinner, people found a substance like ice in the embers of the fire. After mixing silica, the main component of sand, with sodium carbonate, the main component of soda, it melted at high temperature and became sodium glass.
Another said that glass originated from ancient Egypt and was discovered by a clever and careful pottery craftsman in the process of firing pottery.
In fact, once we analyze them from an academic perspective, these legends immediately lose their basis for existence.
The melting point of silica is about 1700 degrees, and the melting point of sodium glass formed with sodium as the flux is also about 1450 degrees. Even if modern high-quality coal is used, the maximum temperature in an ordinary furnace is only about 600 degrees, not to mention the bonfire 3000 years ago. In terms of temperature, only the ancient Egyptian pottery theory is slightly possible.
Compared with the legends of the East and the west, although the "sword casting theory" has some Chinese unique myths and romantic colors, it still has higher credibility from the physical and chemical perspectives. We can ignore the authenticity of the details of the legend, but the biggest difference between the origin of Chinese ancient French glass and that of Western glass is worthy of our high attention.
According to the analysis of the chemical composition of the unearthed glass, the main flux of Chinese glass is "lead and barium" (which is very close to natural crystal), while the ancient Western glass is mainly composed of "sodium and calcium" (the same as the glass windows and glasses used today). In the Western glass formula, "barium" almost never appears, and so does the use of "lead". The real lead-containing glass in the West was not widely used until the 18th century, which is more than 2000 years behind the ancient Chinese glass technology.
We know that the temperature required for casting bronze ware is extremely high, and there is no problem with "silicon dioxide", the main component of melting glass. Secondly, the formula of bronze ware needs to add lead (galena) and tin into the copper. Barium is a symbiosis of ancient lead (galena) and cannot be separated, so the coexistence of lead and barium in ancient glass is inevitable. In addition, the sand mold used to cast swords in ancient times contained a large amount of silica, which formed the material of glass. Temperature. When the conditions for flux are met, everything else will naturally follow.
In many Chinese monographs, it is mentioned that colored glass is made by mixing fluent mother and colored glass stone.
According to Qian Weishan's business talk, those who worship Chen's Treasury are the treasures of their ancestors... If the mother of colored glass is money today, it will be as big and as small as children's fist. It's also called a real Temple object. However, it can be made into a Ke Zi shape, with blue, red, yellow and white following the color, but it can not be done by itself.
Tiangong Kaiwu - Pearl and jade: all kinds of glazed stones and Chinese crystals. Occupy the city with fire. They are of the same kind... All the five colors of their stones are. This nature of heaven and earth is hidden in the easy ground. Natural glazed stone is becoming increasingly scarce, especially precious.
The technological record of "taking that crystal and returning it to green" in Yan Shan's miscellaneous records - colored glass also further reflects the continuation of this kind of technology.
Judging from today's unearthed cultural relics, the time when translucent glass appeared in the West was about 200 B.C., nearly 300 years later than the time when ancient Chinese glass appeared, and the time when transparent glass appeared was about 1500 A.D., more than 1000 years later than the glass screen of Wu Lord in the Three Kingdoms period recorded in the literature. The time when artificial crystals (similar to glass components) appeared in the West was about the end of the 19th century, more than 2000 years later than the appearance of ancient Chinese glass.
Strictly speaking, the physical state of ancient Chinese glazed ware with a long history should be defined as a transparent (or translucent) crystal state. From the perspective of unearthed cultural relics, the earliest glazed ware unearthed today is still the ornament on the "Gou Jian sword of king of Yue". In terms of materials, colored glass is an ancient material and process completely different from crystal and glass.
Post time: Jun-03-2019