外國人眼中的“中國白”| 1935年一位西方學(xué)者的瓷都見聞（七）

（翻譯：德化窯遺產(chǎn)文化研究院 孫延燕）

編者按：瓷器的工業(yè)化最早從中國開始，因此，對于早期的西方人來說，瓷器就是他們向往的詩和遠(yuǎn)方。

然而，當(dāng)時真正來過中國的西方人并不多。1935年5月，西方學(xué)者薩頓（Willard James Sutton）到德化瓷廠參觀，英國作家唐納利撰寫的《中國白—福建德化瓷》（《Blanc de Chine -Porcelain of Tehua in Fukien》）一書記錄了他當(dāng)時的見聞。

千年不斷的窯火成就了德化這樣一座特殊的城市，古老的匣缽及陶瓷碎片靜靜地述說時代的更迭。瓷都的時間似乎過得很快，發(fā)展日新月異；瓷都的時間似乎又過得很慢，古老的燒窯和陶瓷制作方式如今在此仍依稀可見，韻味雋永。

There is, of course, no reason why a single-chamber kiln would not be abandoned, and another built in the vicinity, just as multi-chamber ones were, and more frequently as this would tend to become cluttered up faster. The point is of importance since the existence of Sung blanc de Chine dies hard in some quarters, and if a kiln were to be found containing fragments of ‘ying-ching’ type ware together with standard blanc de Chine，the dating of one or the other of these wares would be seriously open to question.

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當(dāng)然，沒有理由不拋棄單室窯，在附近建造另一個新窯，只因為多室窯更容易被堆積。這一點很重要，因為宋代白瓷在一些地方的存在生命力旺盛，如果在一個窯里同時發(fā)現(xiàn)含有“影青”瓷和標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的白瓷碎片，這些瓷器中的一件或另一件的年代就會受到嚴(yán)重質(zhì)疑。然而這種情況并沒有發(fā)生，宋伯胤聲稱本書所涉及的德化白瓷只能追溯到明代，而民國四十五年調(diào)查的作者只提供了一件真正明以前的白瓷。這種類型在第44頁有討論。因此，根據(jù)迄今公布的證據(jù)，德化全盛時期的窯很可能是單室窯，而不是今天的多室窯。

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The kilns in 1938 were turning out principally cheap domestic ware, teacups,teapots,spoons,and the traditional figures with Kuan-yin predominating. The older types of ware, Sutton tells us, were being reproduced in varying degrees of quality. He gives us no examples, but generally it can be said that the reproductions of the antique at the kilns, both of figures and domestic ware, are not exact, and can be distinguished from their prototypes for this reason. During World War II the kilns fell on hard times, according to a missionary in those parts, the Rev.I.K.M.Latto,1 being reduced to producing busts of military leaders; then the export trade stopped and the high cost of living reduced the demand for ornamental figures. No example of the busts referred to seems to have reached the West. Sung Pai-yin tells us, however, that in 1942 an estimated 800,000 tons of kaolin were mined from some 24 locations in the vicinity of Tehua.

1938年的窯主要生產(chǎn)廉價的家用器皿、茶杯、茶壺、湯匙，以及以觀音為主的傳統(tǒng)瓷雕。薩頓告訴我們，老式的器皿在不同程度上被復(fù)制。他沒有給我們舉例，但一般而言，古董的復(fù)制品，無論是人物雕塑還是家用用品，都是不準(zhǔn)確的，因此可以與其原作區(qū)分。二戰(zhàn)期間，據(jù)當(dāng)?shù)氐囊幻麄鹘淌縍ev.I.K.M.Latto說，德化窯陷入了困境，被降低為制作軍事領(lǐng)袖半身像; 出口貿(mào)易停止，高昂的生活成本減少了對裝飾性雕像的需求。西方世界似乎還沒有出現(xiàn)過這樣的瓷器。然而，宋伯胤告訴我們，1942年，在德化附近的24個地區(qū)，估計開采了80萬噸高嶺土。

The last visitor from the West who has recorded what he found was Desmond Neill, shortly after World War II when he was a Chinese cadet in the Singapore Civil Service. By then the glory had departed indeed. He writes"a few kilns were still in use but the quality of the output had lost its former creaminess and lustre. This was because the type of clay which imparted that special creamy colour, had long been exhausted....Gone was the old decorative taste and intuitive skill of the early porcelain craftsmen and artists. No longer were cups and bowls being fashioned with every gradation of colour and shape, with a real imaginative touch...a carp gaping away at a clump of reeds, a toad crawling up a bamboo, or a water lily blossoming in its full yearning beauty. This deterioration of quality of everyday utility articles was attributable to the mass-production demands of modern life with its preference for quantity to quality; a tendency equally discernible elsewhere."

最后一位來自西方的訪客是德斯蒙德·尼爾(Desmond Neill) ，二戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后不久，他還是新加坡公務(wù)員系統(tǒng)的一名中國學(xué)員。

‘那時，德化窯的榮耀確實已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)去。’他寫道，有幾個窯爐仍在使用，但產(chǎn)品已經(jīng)失去了以前的奶油性和光澤性。這是因為賦予這種特殊奶油色彩的粘土早已耗盡了……早期瓷器工匠和藝術(shù)家的古老裝飾品味和靈感表現(xiàn)已經(jīng)消失了。杯子和碗不再能分出不同顏色和形狀，失去了真正富有想象力的質(zhì)感……鯉魚張開嘴巴望著一叢蘆葦，蟾蜍爬上竹子，睡蓮綻放出充滿向往的美麗。日常用品質(zhì)量下降，原因是現(xiàn)代生活的大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)需求，重數(shù)量輕質(zhì)量; 這種趨勢在其他地方也同樣明顯。