Chinese Ceramics Part 1
Pottery
by
Lihua Zhao
Ceramics – Pottery vs. Porcelain
Ceramics refers to making vessels, ornaments and other items from clay or china clay which is mixed with various materials, molded, shaped or spun on a wheel and then fired and sometimes painted or glazed.
Chinese ceramics can be divided into two parts: pottery and porcelain. Pottery involves using clay which is worked and fired. Porcelain is made using china clay which is also fired.
The difference between regular clay and china clay is that ordinary clay contains more than 3% iron in the mixture, is very viscous and rough, easy to mould and usually turns a familiar reddish dark brown when it is fired.
China clay, from which porcelain is made, on the other hand, consists of kaolin or china stone and contains less than 3% iron, is very soft and goes white and translucent when fired at high temperature.
There are other differences between the two materials. Clay is fired at between 700° and 1000° C. China clay is fired at temperatures above 1200°. Pottery tends to be more absorbent than china, which is why most fine tableware is usually china (porcelain) rather than pottery. Ordinary clay absorbs as much as 8% water, while porcelain tends to absorb 0-0.5%. Pottery is often left unglazed or is glazed at low temperatures using lead oxide. Porcelain takes a high temperature glaze, usually a lime alkaline glaze.
Also under the general heading of pottery is stoneware. It is a kind of pottery made from clay which is fired at higher temperatures and becomes very hard, like porcelain, so it is also known as hard pottery.
Origins of Ceramics in China
According to current archaeological wisdom, good gray pottery appeared in China in the late Paleolithic period, over 11,700 years ago; Dawenkou eggshell black pottery is over 6,000 years old; Shang Dynasty white pottery goes back more than 4,000 years; Western Zhou Dynasty stoneware is more than 3,000 years old; then came Qin Dynasty terracotta warriors and horses at over 2000 years; the glazed pottery of the Han Dynasty dates to over 2,140 years ago; the color pottery of Tang Dynasty goes back more than 1,400 years; and pottery of the Song dynasty is over 1,000 years old.
Porcelain also has deep roots. In 1955 and 1965 in Zhengzhou, two fairly complete pieces of Shang Dynasty porcelain were unearthed, dating back to somewhere between the 15th and the 9th century B.C. These colored glazed pieces were of kaolin and are considered to mark the origins of Chinese porcelain. As porcelain production rapidly developed, the pottery industry tended to decline, with pottery becoming the "ugly sister" destined gradually to disappear in history. But some special varieties of pottery still have a unique charm: for example, the three color pottery of Song, from the Liao Dynasty; the purple sand teapot and colored glaze as well as the Guangdong Shiwan ceramics of Ming and Qing Dynasty. They were unique and have appreciated greatly in value.
Because China has such a long history of ceramics and there is so much to the subject, Part 1 of this series on Chinese ceramics concerns itself with pottery and Part 2 will deal with porcelain or china.
Pottery in China
Generally pottery is moulded from clay spun on a wheel. The finished pieces are fired at temperatures ranging from 900C-1050C. If the temperature is too high, the pottery will be burned or deformed. The loose texture of pottery makes it quite porous and highly absorbent. Usually pottery surfaces are unglazed, and even if a glaze is applied, it is at a low temperature.
Archeologists tend to assign the age of pottery by its color. Red pottery (it has the same red color of red bricks) is most common in primitive societies. The red color comes from firing in kilns with a supply of oxygen which combines with the iron in the clay.
Grey pottery is either grey or black in color. More modern kilns were able to control temperature and also reduce the oxygen in the kiln which, combining with the iron in the clay, resulted in the grey or black color of the clay. Grey pottery is the most common and it is generally rougher than the other colors.
White pottery appeared in the late Neolithic period, the color caused mainly by reduced iron oxide content of the clay and the absence of other pigments.
Colored pottery is made by first painting the finished piece and then firing it. It then turns reddish brown, black, white and other colors.
Painted pottery, on the other hand, is fired first and then painted. The color tends to fade much more quickly.
Black pottery is made in the kiln. The process includes dense black smoke which is absorbed by the porous clay and turns it black. There is a special kind of black pottery known as "eggshell pottery" where the wall is as thin as an eggshell. It is very valuable and rare.
Glazed pottery has a layer of lime glaze, the main components of which are silica, alumina, calcium oxide and sodium oxide which is vitrified when melted.
Modern Chinese Pottery – Fine Art
For the longest time, pottery in China was regarded as a craft and its makers were considered artisans, not artists in the fine arts sense. The pottery was beautiful and it was useful. But it was not considered art and Chinese potters were not able to integrate into the modern art trends.
Then in the latter part of the 20th century, the so-called modern art pottery emerged on the scene and the work began to be considered as a fine art and its practitioners graduated into being artists in the full sense of the word, participating in art exhibitions alongside sculpture and installations.
The Association of Chinese Artists Ceramic Arts Committee came into existence in the year 2000 which marked a major change in the traditional trends.
Yixing Pottery
Yixing, a city in Jiangsu province, has a history of pottery making extending back more than 5,000 years. In this time it has accumulated a significant tradition in the craft. Known as the "pottery capital of China," Yixing has over 7,500 different kinds of ceramics, for example, purple sand fine pottery which is famous all over the world. The purple sand pottery of Yixing is unique and has won the reputation of being number one in the world for tea sets. Without the need for the addition of any pigments or chemical coloring, Yixing purple sand is suitable for molding and firing, is practical and functional and makes beautiful pottery.
Yixing powder sand clay comes in many colors, such as yellow, red, gray, blue, white and other colors, but because the purple is of a special purity, and particularly representative of Yixing pottery, it has come to be known collectively as purple sand.
Another well known type of pottery from Yixing is celadon ware which is known the world over for its cyan glaze. Jun-Tao, also called Jun glazed ware, is a traditional ceramic technology of Yixing dating back to the Ming Dynasty. It features a thick glaze layer with azure, sky blue and other colors. Not only is the color of the glaze beautiful but the artisans also carve flowers on the surface of the pottery as decoration, producing medium to large sized garden furnishings such as ceramic tables and chairs, dragon tanks, tanks, vases, basins, etc. both blue and copper. The beauty of Jun-Tao is in its colors, of which the blue glaze is the most valuable. The color of the glaze is gorgeous and the material is tough and resilient.
Another product of Yixing, Cai-Tao, also called multi-colored pottery or painted pottery, uses red iron ore and manganese oxide for the pigment. The potters paint various designs on the surface of the pottery, fire it at 900°–1050°C, and paint black, red, white and other colors on an orange-red base.
Jing-Tao, also from Yixing, called white dinner ware, is high quality pottery with very fine pores and a surface covered with a transparent, vitreous glaze which gives it a white or ivory look.
Official Recognition
Since the 1960s, the Chinese government, in order to support and promote the pottery craft and industry, not only offered evaluation and accreditation of artists and craftspeople but also established an honorary title of Master of Fine Arts and Crafts.
In 1993 this title was bestowed on famous Yixing potters such as Jiang Rong, Wang Yinxian and Xu Xiutang; Xu Hantang and Tan Quanhai gained the title in 1997; Gu Jingzhou in 1998; and Li Changhong and Zhou Guizhen in 2003. It is the highest honor which can be gained by a modern Chinese potter.
One of the most famous and successful contemporary Chinese potters is Gu Jingzhou, born in Yixing in 1915. His astounding work, including many purple pots, can be seen here: www.12129.com/1news/tv.asp?id=366.
Jiang Rong, also called Lin Feng, was born in Yixing to a family of potters in 1919. Her name's origin has a beautiful story because of her date of birth, the 10th of October in the Chinese calendar. That time of year is when the hibiscus blooms, so her parents called her Rong which is Chinese for hibiscus.
The whole family worked mainly with the purple sand pots. When Jiang Rong was 11 years old, she began to learn the craft from her parents. After ten years of hard work, with her artistic talent developing gradually all the time, she became a famous, young purple sand craftsman in her own right. Now Jiang Rong has been creating purple sand pottery for over 70 years. Each year from 1936 to 1998 she created new works. Beginning in 1958 she took up teaching students, including such famous names as Wang Yanxian, Gao Lijun and Bao Yuetu and others. She began with seven students, and in the second half of the same year she accepted Fan Yongliang, Pan Genxiang and others for a total of 50 students. There is a Chinese proverb, "The famous teacher leaves behind the outstanding disciple." So all of her students have accomplished outstanding results with pottery. Jiang has many representative works such as a chufa pot, acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1991; a mango pot became part of the permanent collection of the Hong Kong Tea Cultural Relics Museum in 1991. Jiang Rong is a member of Chinese Arts and Crafts Institute, and her titles include Chinese Master of Fine Arts and Crafts and Professional Advisor of Yixing Purple Sand Culture Art Research.
Pottery Center
Dingshuzhen, near Yixin at the southernmost tip of Jiangsu Province covers an area of 205 square kilometers and has a population of 220,000. The town is famous at home and abroad for its ceramics production and has a long tradition in the craft. With honorary titles of "Chinese Ceramic Art Township,"' "China Folk Art Township," and "Jiangsu Province Township of Historical Interest," Dingshuzhen is China's and possibly the world's largest ceramic production center.
Jiang Ganda, Yixing City's Deputy Secretary for Dingshuzhen, announced the recognition of the Yixing Ceramic Industrial Park by the National Development and Reform Commission as the Economic and Technological Development Zone for the Province of Jiangsu. Dingshuzhen was to be regarded as the base for China's ceramic industry where the country's Senior Masters should gather, concentrating the production of the country's 13 ceramic producing regions in one location which would attract buyers and tourists, both domestic and foreign, to buy ceramic products from famous masters. This is China's Pottery Capital. The planning includes a total area of 667,000 square meters and a total investment of over 10 billion Yuan (about US$1.3 billion). It marks a new phase in the progress and expansion of Yixing's ceramics industry and opens doors to new development and to enabling artists, technicians and the ceramics industry staff to prosper.
Chinese Pottery Today and Tomorrow
With the aesthetic diversity of people today, pottery has become a particular favorite, especially contemporary pottery based on the traditional forms and infused with modern creative direction and expression.
Pottery pieces are widely used indoors and in public areas, integrated with the environment to enhance the spaces and satisfy the aesthetic requirements of today's society.
In the last 20 years, middle-aged and young Chinese potters, through research of the modern architectural environment and of pottery from all over the world, found that there was a considerable gap between the pottery in China and the pottery in the rest of the world. This led to a deeper understanding of the spirit of Chinese traditional pottery and opened the door to further exploring and strengthening the national characteristics while also introducing the modern, decorative, environmental work.
In the future, pottery will continue to be an important industry to China's economy and China is set up to become the world's foremost pottery production center. The country has extensive resources in terms of talented artists and raw materials and also a tradition of thousands of years of developing the technology and art of pottery. The combination of this tradition and modern methods and ideas spell enormous potential for the future of pottery in China.
— by Lihua Zhao
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March 27, 2008
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