Yue Li Hong (Red under glaze) was first fired during the Yuan Dynasty. As early as the Tang Dynasty in Changsha kiln, there were occasional products with under-glaze copper red color. Since its inception, Yue Li Hong has been one of the popular types of porcelain. Like blue and white porcelain, Yue Li Hong is also under-glaze painted porcelain. The difference between Yue Li Hong and blue and white porcelain is that Yue Li Hong uses copper oxide as a coloring agent. Patterns are painted on the already formed porcelain body, then a layer of transparent glaze is applied. After firing at around 1200°C in a reducing atmosphere, it is fired once. After firing, it shows white background with red flowers or red background with white flowers decoration. Because it is under-glaze painted and has red-colored patterns, it is called “Yue Li Hong.”
During the Yuan Dynasty, Jingdezhen successfully fired Yue Li Hong porcelain. High-quality Yue Li Hong works should have pure and gorgeous colors, but due to the instability of copper red coloring at high temperatures, the difficulty of firing is high, and successful works are few. From the extant works we can see, although there were many Yue Li Hong products during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, successful works were rare. It was not until the Xuande period that the firing technology of Yue Li Hong porcelain was well mastered, with pure and bright colors. After the mid-Ming period, the production of Yue Li Hong porcelain declined for a while, and it began to recover during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. The quality of Yue Li Hong porcelain during the Yongzheng period reached its peak, with the most exquisite craftsmanship and the highest success rate, especially the use of blue and white and Yue Li Hong in the same porcelain, which was extremely exquisite. The production technology of Yue Li Hong porcelain never reached the highest level of the Yongzheng period after the Qianlong period.
The Yuan Dynasty was in the early stages of Yue Li Hong production. The characteristics of Yue Li Hong during this period were: the body was grayish-white, hard, and heavy; it was one of the subjects of decorative motifs. The decorative painting of Yue Li Hong in the Yuan Dynasty was bold, skillful, and vivid, with many lifelike and lively scenes. However, due to the immature mastery of copper red coloring technology in the Yuan Dynasty, the copper red color of Yue Li Hong in the Yuan Dynasty was often not good. In many parts of the painting, the copper red would evaporate severely, resulting in uneven and pale red or grayish-red areas. Some copper red would flow and diffuse noticeably during the high-temperature melting process, causing the decoration to be blurry. Compared to blue and white porcelain, the shapes of Yue Li Hong in the Yuan Dynasty were not as rich, mainly jars, with visible turning marks and joint marks; those with carved feet had skipping knife marks, with unglazed interiors and visible “fire red”; the glaze was mainly Qingbai glaze, with a soft and warm glaze surface; decorative techniques included white background with red flowers, red background with white flowers, as well as the combination of painting and carving, and hollowing techniques. White background with red flowers directly painted the patterns with pigments; red background with white flowers dyed the areas outside the patterns, similar to the techniques in Chinese ink wash paintings like the Yu Hu Chun Vase, Mei Vase, tall foot cup, plate, and special forms like granaries and four spirit tower-shaped lidded jars, etc. There are relatively few extant works of Yue Li Hong from the Yuan Dynasty, with the Yu Hu Chun Vase being one of the more common types. Currently, there is still a lack of comprehensive techniques for Yuan Yue Li Hong porcelain. The decorative motifs of Yue Li Hong in the Yuan Dynasty were not as rich as blue and white porcelain, mainly featuring cloud dragons, phoenixes, reed geese, jade rabbits, and flowers and birds, with lotus flowers, chrysanthemums, peonies, and lingzhi mushrooms being common in floral patterns. It is worth mentioning that jade rabbit patterns were a typical motif favored by Yuan Dynasty ceramic artisans. It is believed that with the continuous deepening of archaeological excavations, there will be new breakthroughs in the study of Yuan Yue Li Hong.
