Since the appearance of wucai (five-color) porcelain in the Ming Dynasty, the Kangxi Dynasty elevated the production of wucai porcelain to a new stage. Apart from inheriting the wucai styles on white and blue-and-white porcelain from the Ming Dynasty, Kangxi wucai porcelain also introduced new varieties such as douqing (bean-green) glaze wucai, mi-huang (honey-yellow) ground wucai, hong-di (red-ground) wucai, lan-di (blue-ground) wucai, hei-di (black-ground) wucai, xuehua-di (snowflake-ground) wucai, and ge (elder) glaze wucai. With its brilliant colors, exquisite craftsmanship, diverse varieties, and vivid painting styles, Kangxi wucai porcelain competed with the famous blue-and-white porcelain of the time. The materials used in Kangxi wucai porcelain mainly include red, yellow, green, purple, blue, black, etc. The characteristics are: the red color is lustrous and bright, with varying shades and thicknesses of application, different from the heavy and dense ruby red of the Ming Dynasty; the yellow color varies from light to dark amber; most of the purple color is grape purple, with a few being deeper aubergine purple; the green color has various tones, including ink green, melon green, large green, water green, etc., without the yellowish hue seen in Ming Dynasty green colors; the black color is glossy black, heavy and deep, mostly used for outlining contours and shading specific parts of the design; the blue color varies in saturation, with deep tones being vivid and bright, making the wucai design more eye-catching, commonly used for painting mountains and rocks.
In summary, Kangxi wucai porcelain features refined and lively paintings, sweeping away the rough painting style that focused only on colors without emphasizing form during the Jiajing and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty. In terms of painting application, most of the Kangxi wucai porcelain is more uniform than that of the Ming Dynasty. Early wucai paintings mostly used burnt ink to outline contours with strong and vigorous strokes, while later ones used oil ink pigments with rounded and soft brushstrokes. Most facial features of figures are outlined without coloring. Furthermore, objects with additional ink, blue, or gold colors are generally considered to be more valuable products.
Due to the preciousness of Kangxi wucai porcelain, it has been imitated since the Qing Dynasty until the Republic of China period and even until today. To distinguish between genuine and imitation Kangxi wucai porcelain, we can compare and identify them from the following aspects:
- Body: The body of Kangxi wucai porcelain, like other Kangxi porcelain varieties, is hard, dense, and highly vitrified, with a pure white color like jade. The shapes of the objects are dignified and steady, with proper proportions in size and weight. In contrast, the bodies of later imitations lack hardness, appearing slightly loose, with either too light or too heavy weights.
- Glaze: The glaze of Kangxi wucai porcelain is pure and smooth, tightly combined with the body, and naturally soft in luster. In contrast, the glaze of later imitations is cloudy and unclear, appearing to have a floating luster, with less tight integration between the body and glaze.
- Color Materials: The color materials used in early Qing Dynasty wucai porcelain generally included old pigments left over from the Ming Dynasty, so some colors still retain the characteristics of Ming Dynasty pigments, with a hardness feeling and a colorful halo when viewed from the side, commonly known as “clam light”. Even in wucai porcelain on white ground, there is a rainbow-like halo around the colored decorations, which is naturally formed due to the passage of time. In contrast, the colors of later imitations lack this natural halo.
- Patterns: The patterns on Kangxi wucai porcelain have variations in depth and shade, with a sense of three-dimensionality in both light and shade, and the brushstrokes are naturally smooth and powerful. In contrast, the patterns on later imitations lack clear layers, and the brushstrokes appear weak and stiff, often with rigid lines and lifeless images due to deliberate imitation.
- Craftsmanship: The feet of Kangxi wucai porcelain objects often feature a two-layered pedestal with straight angles. In contrast, the lines at the angles of later imitations are smooth without a sense of rigidity.
It should be emphasized that many imitations from the Jiaqing to the Republic of China periods are of excellent quality, which requires collectors to carefully discern and differentiate.
