The influence of Neo-Confucianism on porcelain of Song Dynasty

宋田

Summary：In Song Dynasty，Neo-Confucianism thought prevails.Chinese ceramic craftsmen integrate the concept of Neo-Confucianism into their artistic creation，combine the spirit of the times and artistic works perfectly，and create a large number of Song Dynasty porcelain with unique humanistic connotation，which makes the Song Dynasty become a peak in the history of Chinese porcelain.

Key words：Neo-Confucianism，Tao and utensils，Song Dynasty porcelain

The Song Dynasty was hailed by Western scholars as “the great period of Chinese painting and ceramics.” Chinese porcelain developed into perfection in the Song Dynasty，so the Song Dynasty was called the “porcelain” era.Whether that art form，its appearance，development and prosperity are closely related to the spirit of the times.The porcelain of Song Dynasty was simple and elegant，implicit and beautiful，influenced by Neo-Confucianism，“the metaphysical means the Tao，the metaphysical means the utensils “，and gave the abstract concept of “Tao” to such concrete things as “utensils”.The combination of Tao and utensils embodies the unique artistic realm of Song porcelain in ancient China.

When the craftsmen of Song Dynasty were making porcelain，they often made the volume of utensil in a reasonable and moderate way，both in size and proportion，in rhythm and balance，implicit and elegant，meaningful and dignified，showing the inner beauty of static state.This unobtrusive style reflects the beauty of reason on the degree of grasp.This type of utensils conforms to the aesthetic psychology of the Song people and is full of the connotation of the times.In the Song Dynasty，the central and minority regimes co-existed，and the Song Dynasty government had numerous battles with the surrounding small countries，but almost every battle must be defeated，and then cut the ground to compensate for the peace，completely losing the heroic spirit of the former Tang Dynasty，added introspection and self-control to their own heart.Under such circumstances，Neo-Confucianism，which combines the spirit of Buddhism，Confucianism and Taoism，becomes the mainstream ideology that dominates the status of society.“The universe is my heart，my heart is the universe”，Neo-Confucianism makes people suppress their desire to the outside world，emphasizes governance，governs the heart，“the heart is reason”，guides the individual to explore the inner world，so the emotion that Song people place in the utensils is extremely pure.What Song people pursue is not the grand and heavy appearance of objects，nor the heroic spirit inspired by hot feelings，nor the surging ups and downs of artistic emotions，but the meticulous care of the wonderful feelings on the spiritual level，a careful observation of the world and history，and an understanding of life.It is often subtle.The emperor of the Song Dynasty paid more attention to the artistic characteristics of Song porcelain because of the gentle and elegant literati，which was the more attention to the artistic charm and elegance of the “ utensils”.

Since Neo-Confucianism placed personal moral cultivation in the same position as the governance of the world，it regarded the “character and matter to know” as the highest realm of moral cultivation，and regarded “the investigation of nature，the ethics of people，the preaching of holy words，and the accident” as the basic moral requirements.These human principles，such as keeping the festival and other Neo-Confucianism ideas are reflected in porcelain.The Song Dynasty advocated moderate aesthetic feelings，so Song porcelain also derived an aesthetic design principle of increasing one point while decreasing one point and short.This combination of utensils is easy to play，control and touch，the external war will be defeated，defeat and sum，internal is the "existence of nature，to destroy the desire to suppress and deceive"，Song porcelain instruments to fully meet the psychological needs of the Song Dynasty，the quality of the Song Dynasty is fully satisfied with the psychological needs of the Song people.For harmony with physical desires，Neo-Confucianism attaches importance to morality，moral cultivation can not be separated from people's lust and emotional support.Physical and psychological satisfaction will be in the heart of the joy，since the utensils is from the heart，in its birthplace，utensils has been moral，emotional and emotional fusion，emotional desire is settled，moral support.Due to the moderate，it is possible for spectators to look around and touch，showing the strong control desire of Song people.Song porcelain can "control，play，touch" in the sense of Neo-Confucianism，moral and physiological repulsive nature has disappeared completely，the two together，harmony and common，become the pursuit of their own vitality.On the other hand，As a result of strong enemy pressure，the territory gradually narrowed，the external force of oppression，resulting in great psychological pressure，showing the small size of the instrument self-inferiority psychology.If the size and space of the instrument is too large，Song people will find it difficult to control.To peep into the changes of the world in the form of utensils is to be closed，introverted and inner-governing，in order to seek the epitome of the Song culture of inner tranquillity.

Reference documentation

[1]Guo Qiang，on the aesthetic characteristics of the ceramics in the Song Dynasty，the Arts and Design of the Journal of Nanyi

[2]Mei Yun，on the influence of literati consciousness on Ceramic Art in Song Dynasty，Chinese Ceramics

[3]Wang Chong-Yun，Ancient porcelain，Jingdezhen Ceramics College