Pottery is a general term for products made of clay or a mixture mainly composed of clay, feldspar, quartz, etc., which are shaped, dried, and fired. Ceramic art refers to the artistic characteristics presented by the firing process and its shape, glaze color and decoration.
Simply put, pottery crafts are the oldest arts and crafts in our country. As far back as the Neolithic Age, there were rough and solid gray pottery, red pottery, white pottery, painted pottery and black pottery. Glazed pottery and hard-glazed pottery, which began to have the properties of porcelain, appeared in the Shang Dynasty; porcelain was created in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty reached a high degree of maturity in production technology and artistic creation. In the Song Dynasty, the porcelain industry flourished and famous kilns emerged. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the technology of ceramics from blank making, decoration, glazing to firing surpassed that of previous generations. Chinese ceramics continue to flourish to this day, including Yixing's purple clay pots, Shiwan's ceramic sculptures, Jieshou's three-color glazed pottery, Zibo's reduced-color pottery, Tongguan's green-glazed pottery, Chongning's carved glazed pottery, Dehua's porcelain sculptures, Jingdezhen's porcelain sculptures The willow leaf vase, Phoenix tail vase, etc. are all famous in the world.
The invention of pottery is an important symbol of the development of human civilization. It is a brand-new thing created by human beings for the first time using natural products according to their own will. People mixed clay with water and made various utensils. After drying, they were roasted with fire to produce qualitative changes and form pottery. It opens a new chapter for mankind to utilize and transform nature, which is of great epoch-making significance. The emergence of pottery marks the beginning of the Neolithic Age. The invention of pottery also greatly improved human living conditions and opened a new era in the history of human development.
There is still a lack of reliable material to explain in detail how pottery was invented. Morgan pointed out in the annotation of his book "Ancient Society": "Gukui was the first person to propose the invention of pottery in the ninth century, that is, people applied clay to flammable containers to prevent fire. Later, they discovered that it was just Clay can achieve this purpose. Therefore, the art of pottery appeared in the world." Siggers further states in his book "The Origin of Family, Private Property and the State": "It may be proved that in many places, perhaps everywhere, the manufacture of pottery was due to the coating of clay on woven or wooden vessels. In doing so it was soon discovered that the shaped clay could be used for this purpose without an inner container." The invention of pottery is not a patent of the ancient ancestors of a certain region or tribe. It is the result of human beings' long-term life practice and can be independently created by any ancient agricultural tribe and group of people.
The emergence of pottery is one of the main features of the Neolithic Age in China. It strengthened the stability of early human settlement and enriched people's daily life.
Pottery making is a specialized technology that generally uses clay, which is shaped and fired in a kiln. The earliest pottery data in China appeared in the early Neolithic Age. The round-bottomed jar discovered in 1962 at the Xianrendong site in Wannian County, Jiangxi Province, was dated to 6875±240 BC according to radioactive carbon. It was made of sand-filled red pottery, with a rough texture and a cord pattern on the surface. The pottery of the Peiligang Culture from 5500 BC to 4900 BC was mostly clay or sand-filled red pottery, with a small amount of gray pottery, mostly made of clay strips. The shapes of the pots include cups, bowls, plates, bowls, pots, and jars. Among them, the three-legged bowl and the double-eared pot are the most representative; their patterns include grate points, arcs, scratches, nail patterns, breast nail patterns, rope patterns, etc. The pottery of the Cishan Culture (5400 BC to 5100 BC), in addition to still using the clay strip-coiling method, also developed the kneading method. The pottery is mainly made of sand, and there are red, gray, brown, gray-brown and other colored pottery. At the same time, new utensil shapes such as beans, bowls, and brackets appeared, and the surfaces of some utensils were decorated with rope patterns, grate patterns, tick patterns, scratches, and scallop patterns. The pottery of the Dadiwan Culture (5200 BC to 4800 BC) found in Dadiwan, Qin'an County, Gansu Province, is mainly red pottery with fine sand. The shapes of the vessels include ring-footed bowls, three-legged bowls, three-legged jars, etc.; compared with the above-mentioned pottery The difference is that among the Dadiwan culture pottery, some of the objects are red on the outside and black on the inside, or red on both sides and black in the middle, which is more unique; their patterns include mesh-like cross-cord patterns, zigzag patterns, etc. A large number of pottery has been unearthed from cultural sites such as the Yangshao Culture, Majiayao Culture, Dawenkou Culture, and Longshan Culture in the middle and late Neolithic Age, as well as sites from the Shang Dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin and Han Dynasties. According to their types, they can be divided into painted pottery, Ink pottery, white pottery, printed pottery, painted pottery, etc.
Painted pottery is colorful pottery, which uses hematite powder and manganese oxide as pigments, and uses tools similar to brushes to draw various patterns on the surface of the pottery. After being fired in the kiln at 900 to 1050°C, On the orange-red background, there are patterns in black, red, white and other colors. Since the discovery of Neolithic cultural sites in Yangshao Village, Mianchi County, Henan in 1912, they have been unearthed in Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hubei and other provinces. They belong to different cultural type.
Early painted pottery
Yangshao Culture Banpo type painted pottery was first discovered in Banpo Village, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province in 1953, hence its name. Mainly distributed in eastern Gansu and Guanzhong areas of Shaanxi. Typical pottery vessels include rolled-lip basins, round-bottomed basins, bowls, pots with small mouths, thin necks and large bellies, and vases with straight mouths, bulging bellies and pointed bottoms. The shapes are relatively simple. According to radiocarbon dating, the age is 4800 to 4300 BC. Its main decorative patterns include: ① Animal patterns, with fish, frogs, deer and birds as decorative objects, especially human-faced fish patterns, fish patterns, and fish-bird combined patterns, which are vivid, exciting, varied, and have distinctive characteristics of the times (see Cai Cai Painted pottery basin with human face and fish pattern (Yangshao Culture Banpo type) unearthed in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). ②Geometric patterns are mostly evolved from abstract animal patterns, plant patterns, and woven patterns, including wide-band patterns, triangle patterns, zigzag patterns, diagonal lines, etc. ③Weaving patterns include line patterns, basket patterns, rope patterns, etc. In addition, the wide black pattern on the rim of the painted pottery bowl is decorated with various symbols, which may represent various special meanings or certain signs. Yangshao Culture Banpo type painted pottery vase with gourd-shaped human face pattern (unearthed in Lintong, Shaanxi Province) Yangshao Culture Miaodigou type painted pottery, discovered in 1953 in Miaodigou, Shaanxi County, Henan Province. Its distribution areas include Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other provinces. The main shapes of the utensils are basins, bowls, and bottles. In addition, urns, jars, etc. have also appeared. The shapes are mostly flat bottoms, large mouths, curved walls, and small. The shapes are mostly inverted triangles, giving people a tall, full, light and stable appearance. Feel. According to radiocarbon dating, it was around 3900 BC. Its patterns include: ① plant patterns, mostly convolvulus patterns and leaf-like patterns; ② animal patterns, less common, with images of frogs, birds, etc.; ③ woven patterns, including line patterns, basket patterns, and rope patterns; ④ geometric patterns, mainly A ribbon pattern composed of dots, hooks, arcs, triangles and curves.
Majiayao culture type painted pottery was discovered in Majiayao Village, Lintao County, Gansu Province in 1924, and its scope can reach Qinghai, Ningxia, Sichuan and other provinces. The main shapes of utensils are basins, bowls, pots, and pots, and the pointed-bottomed utensils have basically disappeared. Its age, according to radioactive carbon dating, is 3300 BC to 2900 BC. Its patterns include: ① Figure patterns, such as the dance-patterned pottery basin unearthed in Shangsunjiazhai, Datong County, Qinghai in 1973, which depicts 15 people dancing hand in hand in three groups (see the colored pottery pot with dancing pattern (Majiayao Culture Majiayao type) unearthed in Datong, Qinghai); ② animal patterns, including tadpole patterns and frog-shaped patterns; the most characteristic of the times are the swirl patterns and wavy patterns. The patterns rotate and undulate, giving people a strong sense of movement (see color Figure spiral pattern painted pottery basin (Majiayao culture Majiayao type) unearthed in Yongjing, Gansu).
The Majiayao Culture mid-mountain type painted pottery was discovered in 1924 in the mid-level area of ??Hezheng County, Gansu (now Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture), and is distributed in Gansu and northeastern Qinghai. The shapes of the vessels include short-necked, wide-shouldered and bulging-belly pots, single-handled pots, bowls with narrow mouths, small open-bottomed bowls, etc. According to radioactive carbon dating, the age is between 2650 and 2350 BC. The decorations include zigzag patterns, net patterns, and fish, shell, human, frog and other shapes. The zigzag spiral patterns, wavy patterns, and zigzag patterns are the most typical ones. In addition, the cover buttons of some utensils are shaped like human heads, which is more vivid.
Majiayao Culture Machang type painted pottery was discovered in the Machangyuan of Minhe County, Qinghai in the autumn of 1924. Mainly distributed in Qinghai, Gansu and other provinces. The shape of the vessel basically follows the mid-level shape, which is taller and more beautiful than the mid-level one. Single-ear cylindrical cups appeared, and the shapes of the ears and buttons were varied. Its age, according to radioactive carbon dating, is 2350 BC to 2050 BC. The patterns include concentric circles, rhombuses, human-shaped frog patterns, parallel lines, loops, hooks, etc.
In addition, painted pottery has also been unearthed from the Dawenkou Culture, Daxi Culture, Qujialing Culture, Qijia Culture and other sites. However, there is a certain gap between its quantity, scale and artistic level and the above-mentioned cultural types.
Black pottery
In the last stage of firing, water is slowly added from the top of the kiln to extinguish the charcoal and produce thick smoke. The smoke is intentionally blackened to form black pottery. .
It is another peak in China's Neolithic pottery industry after painted pottery. In 1928, black pottery was first discovered in Chengziya, Longshan Town, Zhangqiu County, Shandong Province (formerly part of Licheng County). Its cultural remains are called "Longshan Culture" in the archaeological community. According to radioactive carbon dating, its age is between 2500 BC and 2000 BC. Year. This typical Longshan Culture, also known as Shandong Longshan Culture, is a late Neolithic culture that developed after the Dawenkou Culture. Its distribution area is mainly in Shandong and northern Jiangsu. As an important feature of Shandong Longshan culture, black pottery is another glorious creation comparable to painted pottery in China's Neolithic pottery technology.
The black pottery of Shandong Longshan Culture has a richer variety of shapes than painted pottery, and it has become more regular. Mainly include pots, basins, pots, beans, cups, tripods, etc. Its shape is also different from that of painted pottery. It is more based on practical life. The design is novel and ingenious, practical, and more aesthetically pleasing (see the colorful picture of a black pottery cup with a thin handle and high feet and hollow holes (Longshan Culture) unearthed in Rizhao, Shandong). For example, Li was developed on the basis of the tripod. It changed the solid three legs of the tripod into hollow three legs, and the soles of the feet were hollow. When boiling water and food, it expanded the contact area with fire and shortened the cooking time; while the Li's The shape is also particularly stable and well-proportioned due to the three plump bag feet, and the stability reveals a flexible charm. And the □ that evolved from Ge not only has a strange shape, but also gives people a sense of beauty. In terms of shape, it may have been inspired by birds. It looks like a bird with a long beak. It also has three plump bag feet that stand stably. However, its body structure is different from that of a leopard. It has a long beak on one side. The flow stretches upward and outward, appearing very lively and dexterous. It echoes the □ of the curve and forms a new balance, making it easy to hold and extract, as well as pouring the contents in the container. It is also rich in formal beauty and becomes a An outstanding representative of black pottery craftsmanship, it reflects the developed level of Longshan culture in Shandong and the superb design ability of the pottery craftsmen. The design and production of other utensils such as cups, beans, Gui, etc. are also quite ingenious. The various accessories of the utensils are also richer and more diverse than those of painted pottery, such as the addition of lids, the use of one lid for two purposes, and the use of animals as lids.
Black pottery was made by hand in the early days and was built with clay strips. The body of the pottery was thicker and the surface was less shiny. By the Longshan Culture period in Shandong, wheel-making had been widely adopted. Coupled with the improvement of pottery kilns and the mastery of kiln sealing technology, the craftsmanship had been greatly improved. As a result, the black pottery produced is mostly perfectly round in shape, with an extremely thin and uniform body, and has the characteristics of being black, thin, and shiny, so it is known as "eggshell pottery". The decoration of black pottery is very simple. Except for the early use of clay strips and pans, which left woven patterns, basket patterns, rope patterns and some patterns carved by hollowing techniques, there is generally no emphasis on decoration, but the shape of the vessel. The rich variety and novel design are clever and winning. During the wheel-making process of Shandong Longshan Culture black pottery, many unexpected concave and convex lines (also called wheel patterns or string lines) were left on the body, which also has a kind of rhythmic beauty.
Other cultural types of black pottery ① Early Longshan Culture black pottery, the shapes of the vessels include tripods, etc., and the production method is mostly clay strip construction. The body of the vessel is gray and thick, and is decorated with basket patterns, rope patterns, scratches and stacked decorations. Mainly distributed in southern Shanxi, western Henan, Shaanxi Guanzhong. ② The black pottery of the late Longshan Culture is represented by the second phase of Hougang Culture in Henan and the second phase of Zhuangzhuang Culture in Shaanxi. At this time, the number of utensils increased, including steamers, pots, pots, cups, etc., while the number of tripods decreased. Typical eggshell pottery appears. The decorations are mainly basket patterns and rope patterns. In addition to the clay strip and pan construction method, there are also molding and wheel making methods. ③The black pottery of the Liangzhu Culture is distributed in northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu. The Liangzhu Culture is a late Neolithic culture with similar characteristics to the Longshan Culture. Its black pottery is also more developed. The shapes of the Liangzhu Culture include beans, plates, statues, tripods, etc. Gui, pots, etc. are mostly made of wheels, with polished surfaces that are black and shiny.
White pottery
Fired with kaolin, the texture is white and delicate. It originated in the Neolithic Age. In the Shang Dynasty, due to the improvement of production technology, the washing of raw materials became more refined and the firing temperature was also just right, thus making the burned utensils more pure and lovely. The shapes of white pottery vessels are mostly daily necessities, including pots, urns, guis, etc. Its patterns mainly draw on the decorative patterns of bronzes, such as animal face patterns, Taotie patterns, Kui patterns, cloud and thunder patterns, zigzag patterns, etc. Its decoration methods include engraving and bas-relief. The decoration of white pottery is often spread all over the body of the utensils, and the composition is rigorous and full of changes. For example, the white pottery pot from the Shang Dynasty restored from fragments collected by the Palace Museum has two pairs of opposite Kui carved in bas-relief on the main body. The bottom layer is decorated with cloud and thunder patterns according to the size of the blank space. The shading and bas-relief are well-proportioned and well-proportioned. Harmony with each other makes the utensils appear solemn and luxurious.
White pottery was a kind of living utensil used by slave-owning nobles at that time, but it gradually disappeared by the Western Zhou Dynasty.
For imprinted pottery, the required pattern is stamped on the finished pottery blank with a stamp at a predetermined position before it is dry, and then fired. According to the firing temperature, it is divided into printed soft pottery and printed hard pottery. The former can be divided into mud and fine sand, mostly in reddish brown, off-white, gray and other colors, and was mostly popular from the late Neolithic Age to before the Shang Dynasty; the latter has a hard texture due to the higher temperature during firing. It is gray in color and was developed on the basis of the former. It appeared after the Shang Dynasty. The shapes of printed pottery are mostly utensils for daily life, including urns, altars, pots, bowls, bowls, cups, plates, beans, gui, zun, and other utensils. Production methods are handmade, molded and wheel-made. The patterns were stamped on the prepared blanks with impressions. Initially, they were only for the purpose of preventing deformation of the objects and reinforcing the pottery. Therefore, early stamped pottery often left traces of cloth, mat and rope patterns. Later, with the improvement of technology and the development of people's aesthetic ability, the patterns gradually became richer and more exquisite. The patterns of printed pottery are all geometric, mainly including water ripples, rice-shaped patterns, back patterns, checkered patterns, braided patterns, and cloud and thunder patterns. Its patterns are mostly coordinated with the shape of the vessel, such as zigzag patterns, cloud and thunder patterns, back patterns and other rough patterns, which are mostly used on urns, altars and larger jars. Small bowls and bowls are often decorated with fine and beautiful patterns such as rice-shaped patterns and checkered patterns. Among them, the patterns in the Shang, Western Zhou, and Spring and Autumn Periods are evenly drawn, rigorously structured, and full of rhythm.
The decorative process of imprinted pottery lies in the imprinting process after the object is removed from the blank. The production is relatively simple, and once the mold is made, even people who cannot engrave can engage in imprinting. Therefore, it is simple and easy to implement and suitable for mass production, so it has achieved great development in a certain area and has become a pottery making process with distinctive regional characteristics since the late Neolithic Age in China. It is mainly popular in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces and regions. It was popular in the Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period, and during the Warring States Period with the rise and rapid development of dark pattern pottery and painted pottery. But it declined and gradually disappeared after the Han Dynasty.
Painted pottery is pottery that is painted with red, yellow, white, black and other colorful patterns after it is fired. The colors are easy to fall off. It flourished during the Warring States Period and flourished in the Han Dynasty. The shapes of the vessels are mostly imitation bronze and ceramic vessels, mainly including cups, plates, bowls, pots, boxes, tripods, stoves, beans, pots, cans, etc. There are two production methods: wheel making and molding, with wheel making being the most common. The fetal color is gray and brown. The gray tire is mostly covered with black pottery, and then a layer of white powder, and then painted with black lines, red and other colors. Brown fetuses are often coated with white powder or yellow powder, and are often painted with red, with bright colors and strong contrast. There are also lines drawn with gold and silver. In the Han Dynasty, its colors increased, and colors such as red, gray, brown, green, blue, yellow, and orange were used for painting. The patterns include: ① Geometric patterns, accounting for the largest proportion, including string patterns, diamond patterns, zigzag patterns, triangle patterns, checkered patterns, circle patterns, etc.; ② Cloud patterns; ③ Petal patterns, including plum blossoms, persimmon stems, curly grass patterns, etc. ; ④ Bird and animal patterns, including dragon, phoenix, pavement and other patterns. Most of its patterns are continuous in two directions, and the bright, eye-catching and contrasting colors make the painted pottery more brilliant and rich.
Painted pottery is mainly used as open vessels and used in burials. Therefore, it was especially popular in the Han Dynasty when the trend of extravagant burials was prevalent. It originated in the Central Plains and later expanded to most parts of the country. Most of them were unearthed in Luoyang, Huixian, and Shaanxi counties in Henan Province, Changsha, and Changde in Hunan Province.
After the Shang Dynasty, primitive celadon fired with kaolin appeared. Since porcelain was superior to pottery in terms of quality and service life, it developed rapidly. By the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it had become the main utensil for people's daily use, especially from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties until modern times. Due to the improvement of technology, porcelain has developed by leaps and bounds, becoming a major category in Chinese arts and crafts. Under this situation, pottery has gradually lost its previous scale, and its shape and decoration are far different from painted pottery, black pottery, etc. Only the dark-patterned pottery of the Warring States Period, the glazed pottery of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the pottery buildings and boats used as open vessels, and the tricolor pottery of the Tang Dynasty reflected the artistic characteristics and life style of the era with their respective shapes and patterns. Among them, Tang Sancai is a kind of low-temperature lead-glazed pottery with colored glaze. It is mostly used in yellow, green, brown and other colors, so it is called Sancai. Its varieties include utensils, figures, animal figurines, etc. There are many types of utensils, novel and unique shapes, and ingenious designs. , coupled with the gorgeous colors, Tang Sancai has become a unique work in Chinese pottery craftsmanship and is universally loved by people. Until modern times, imitations of Tang Sancai are still produced.
In addition, tiles, bricks, and pottery figurines from the Warring States, Qin, Han, and Tang Dynasties, as well as modern folk pottery from Yixing, Jiangsu, Shiwan, Guangdong, and Rongchang, Sichuan, also have exquisite patterns, vivid shapes, and fresh and simple styles. It occupies an important position in the history of Chinese crafts.