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Chinese Pottery |
In ancient times, primitive pottery-making techniques spread throughout China; each region having its own characteristics, and techniques of the different regions influenced each other. The joint efforts of different regions contributed to formation of splendid culture of the Chinese nation in remote antiquity. In the New Stone Age, about 8,000 years ago, a large number of red, gray, white and painted pottery wares were developed, of which painted pottery has drawn the most attention. Painted pottery contains of the Yangshao and Majiayao cultures commonly found in Shaanzi, Gansu and Qinghai provinces include basins, jars, bowls and urns. The patterns on painted pottery include plants and geometric figures, which are beautiful and full of rhythm. The painted depictions of humans, animals and birds are highly artistic, such as running wild deer, flying birds, long-tailed water birds holding fish in their mouths, big fish with their mouths open, etc. All of them are rich in the flavor of life. The black pottery of the Longshan Culture was polished to a fine sheen.  Ad the kiln firing was near completion, the pottery was smoked until it turned black. Some vessels were as thin (less than one millimeter) and smooth as egg shells, and are known as eggshell black pottery.(Fig left)
In the Shang Dynasty(17th-11 th centuries B.C.), there were six handcraft trades. Potters, who made titles as well as vessels, ranked first among all the craftsmen. From the founding of Western Zhou to the Warring States Period (11th century-221 B.C.), pottery items were adapted for architecture, when plate and tube tiles and bricks for balustrades were made. In the Qin Dynasty(221-207 B.C.), when the Epang Palace was constructed high-quality pottery bricks and tiles were used. The vast underground vault filled with life-sized terra-cotta figures discovered in 1974 east of the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty shows an astonishing advance in the art of ceramics. The men wear armor, and carry bows and arrows or swords and lances. The pottery horses are finely modeled, and show the fine physique of beasts, with ears pointed in a high state of alertness. This ordered proud array of men and their mounts calls to mind the magnificence of the battles Qin Shihuang fought to unify China. Fresco bricks of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C - A. D. 220) represent scenes of harvesting rice, picking mulberry leaves, brewing wine, boiling salt, hunting, banquets, acrobatics and horse and carriage processions. All of the pictures are simple and life-like, reflecting social life in those times from many angles. The tricolor glazed pottery of Tang Dynasty (618-907), known as artistic pearls of the Orient, used various kinds of metals as coloring agents, making these pottery wares look magnificent. Most tricolor glazed pottery wares were used as funeral objects. They also display various facets of life in those times. Typical figures are a plump upper-class woman, aristocrats hunting, officials and maids -all testimony to the richness, grandness and prosperity of Tang Dynasty.
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