禄意窑山水斗彩斗笠杯 / Luyi Kiln Doucai Bucket Hat Tea Cup

Description

The term “Doucai” refers to the ceramic art technique that combines underglaze blue-and-white with overglaze color. During the Jin Dynasty, the Cizhou kiln system produced ceramics that combined underglaze black with overglaze red, green, and yellow colors. In the Ming Dynasty, starting with the Xuande period, the technique of combining underglaze blue-and-white with overglaze red color appeared. However, the true doucai technique originated in the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. It involves first painting flowers, birds, animals, and figures in blue-and-white materials on the porcelain body, then applying a transparent glaze and firing it at high temperatures. Afterward, colors are added on top of the glaze to complete the entire image, which is the “spliced” or “fought” color effect.