Ivory Carving

Ivory

11th century elephant tusk, Italy, musée du Louvre.

carved ivory in Sa'dabad Palace, Iran

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes^{[citation needed]}, piano keys and billiard balls. Elephant ivory has been the most important source, but ivory from many species including the hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth, sperm whale, and narwhal has been used. The word ultimately derives from the Ancient Egyptian âb, âbu "elephant", through the Latin ebor- or ebur.

The use and trade of elephant ivory has become controversial because it has contributed to seriously declining populations in many countries. In 1975 the Asian elephant was placed on Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which prevents international trade between member countries. The African elephant was placed on Appendix One in January 1990. Since then some southern African countries have had their populations of elephants "downlisted" to Appendix Two allowing sale of some stockpiles.

Ivory has availed itself to many ornamental and practical uses. Prior to the introduction of plastics, it was used for billiard balls, piano keys, Scottish bagpipes, buttons and a wide range of ornamental items. Synthetic substitutes for ivory have been developed. Plastics have been viewed by piano purists as an inferior ivory substitute on piano keys, although other recently developed materials more closely resemble the feel of real ivory.

The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is the same regardless of the species of origin. The trade in certain teeth and tusks other than elephant is well established and widespread, therefore "ivory" can correctly be used to describe any mammalian teeth or tusks of commercial interest which is large enough to be carved or scrimshawed (Crocodile teeth are also used).

Uses

Ancient Greek ivory pyxis with griffins attacking stags. Late 15th century BCE, Ancient Agora Museum in Athens

Main article: ivory carving

Both the Greek and Roman civilizations practiced ivory carving to make large quantities of high value works of art, precious religious objects, and decorative boxes for costly objects. Ivory was often used to form the white of the eyes of statues.

The Syrian and North African flacid elephant populations were reduced to extinction, probably due to the demand for ivory in the Classical world.

The Chinese have long valued ivory for both art and utilitarian objects. Early reference to the Chinese export of ivory is recorded after the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian ventured to the west to form alliances to enable for the eventual free movement of Chinese goods to the west; as early as the first century BC, ivory was moved along the Northern Silk Road for consumption by western nations.Southeast Asian kingdoms included tusks of the Indian elephant in their annual tribute caravans to China. Chinese craftsmen carved ivory to make everything from images of deities to the pipe-stems and end-pieces of opium pipes.

The Bull Leaper, an ivory figurine from the palace of Knossos, Crete, 15th century BCE

The Buddhist cultures of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos and Cambodia traditionally harvested ivory from their domesticated elephants. Ivory was prized for containers due to its ability to keep an airtight seal. Ivory was also commonly carved into elaborate seals utilized by officials to "sign" documents and decrees by stamping them with their unique official seal.

In Southeast Asian countries where Muslim Malay peoples live, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, ivory was the material of choice for making the handles of magical kris daggers. In the Philippines, ivory was also used to craft the faces and hands of Catholic icons and images of saints.

Tooth and tusk ivory can be carved into a vast variety of shapes and objects. A small example of modern carved ivory objects are small statuary such as okimono, netsukes, jewelry, flatware handles, furniture inlays, and piano keys. Additionally, warthog tusks, and teeth from sperm whales, orcas and hippos can also be scrimshawed or superficially carved, thus retaining their morphologically recognizable shapes.

Ivory usage in the last thirty years has moved towards mass production of souvenirs and jewellery. In Japan the increase in wealth sparked consumption of solid ivory hankos - name seals - which before this time had been made of wood. These hankos can be carved out in a matter of seconds using machinery and were partly responsible for massive African elephant decline in the 1980s when the African elephant population went from 1.3 million to around 600,000 in ten years.

Consumption before plastics

Men with ivory tusks, Dar es Salaam, c. 1900.

Before plastics were invented, ivory was important for cutlery handles, musical instruments, billiard balls, and many other items. It is estimated that consumption in Great Britain alone in 1831 amounted to the deaths of nearly 4,000 elephants. Ivory can be taken from dead animals — Russians dug up tusks from extinct mammoths — however most ivory came from elephants who were killed for their tusks. For example in 1930 to acquire 40 tons of ivory required the killing of approximately 700 elephants. Other animals which are now endangered were also preyed upon, for example, hippos, which have very hard white ivory prized for making artificial teeth. One item in particular that devastated the elephant herds in Kenya in the first half of the 20th century was the demand for Elephant tusk ivory for piano keys.

Availability

Ivory has always been a highly valuable material for carving.

Main article: Ivory trade

Owing to the rapid decline in the populations of the animals that produce it, the importation and sale of ivory in many countries is banned or severely restricted. In the ten years preceding a decision^[when?] by CITES to ban international trade in African elephant ivory the population of African elephants declined from 1.3 million to around 6000. It was found by investigators from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) that CITES sales of stockpiles from Singapore and Burundi (270 tonnes and 89.5 tonnes respectively) had created a system which increased the value of ivory on the international market, rewarded international smugglers and gave them the ability to control the trade and continue smuggling new ivory.

Since the ivory ban some southern African countries have claimed their elephant populations are stable or increasing and argued that ivory sales would support their conservation efforts. Other African countries oppose this position stating that renewed ivory trading puts their own elephant populations under greater threat from poachers reacting to demand. CITES allowed the sale of 49 tonnes of ivory from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana in 1997 to Japan.

In 2007 eBay, under pressure from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, banned all international sales of elephant-ivory products. The decision came after several mass slaughters of African elephants, most notably the 2006 Zakouma elephant slaughter in Chad. The IFAW found that up to 90% of the elephant-ivory transactions on Ebay violated their own wildlife policies and could potentially be illegal. In October 2008, eBay expanded the ban, disallowing any sales of ivory on eBay.

A more recent sale in 2008 of 108 tonnes from the three countries and South Africa took place to Japan and China.The inclusion of China as an "approved" importing country created enormous controversy despite being supported by CITES, the World Wide Fund for Nature and Traffic. They argued that China had controls in place and the sale might depress prices. However, price of ivory in China has sky-rocketed. Some believe this may be due to deliberate price fixing by those who bought the stockpile echoing the warnings from the Japan Wildlife Conservation Society on price-fixing after sales to Japan in 1997, and monopoly given to traders who bought stockpiles from Burundi and Singapore in the 1980s.

Despite arguments prevailing on the ivory trade for the last thirty years through CITES, there is one fact that virtually all informed parties now agree - poaching of African elephants for ivory is now seriously on the increase.

The debate surrounding ivory trade has often been depicted as Africa vs the West. However, in reality the southern Africans have always been in a minority within the African elephant range states. To reiterate this point 19 African countries signed the "Accra declaration" in 2006 calling for a total ivory trade ban and 20 range states attended a meeting in Kenya calling for a 20 year moratorium in 2007.

Ivory cover of the Codex Aureus of Lorsch, c. 810, Carolingian dynasty, Victoria and Albert Museum

In Asia, wild elephant populations are a fraction of what they were in historic times, and poaching of elephants is continued. Elephants are now close to extinction in China, Viet Nam, Laos PDR, Cambodia and Indonesia. Instances of theft of even domestic elephants for their ivory have been recorded in Myanmar.

Alternative sources

Section through the ivory tooth of a mammoth

Trade in the ivory from the tusks of dead mammoths has occurred for 300 years and continues to be legal. Mammoth ivory is used today to make handcrafted knives and similar implements. Mammoth ivory is rare and costly, because mammoths have been extinct for millennia and scientists loathe to sell museum-worthy specimens in pieces, but this trade does not threaten any living species.

Some estimates suggest that 10 million mammoths are still buried in Siberia.

A species of hard nut is gaining popularity as a replacement for ivory, although its size limits its usability. It is sometimes called vegetable ivory, or tagua, and is the seed endosperm of the ivory nut palm commonly found in coastal rainforests of Ecuador, Peru and Colombia .

Some Ivory carving from indonesian North sumatera ( Batak )

medecine box ( sahang ) north sumatera

Long : 46 cm
wight : 2kg
material : ivory
moderen repro
hand carving
motive primitive

Famille rose ceramics

Famille rose

Delftware plate, faience, Famille Rose, 1760-1780

Famille rose (known in Chinese as Fencai (粉彩) or Ruancai (軟彩, simplified 软彩), meaning 'soft colours', and later as Yangcai (洋彩), meaning 'foreign colours') was introduced during the reign of Kangxi (1654–1722), possibly around 1720. It used mainly pink or purple and remained popular throughout the 18th and the 19th centuries.

Famille rose enamel ware allows a greater range of colour and tone than was previously possible, enabling the depiction of more complex images, including flowers, figures and insects.

It is made by drawing a sketch on the shaped clay, which is then covered with 'glassy white' (bo li bai), an opaque white enamel (lead arsenate), and painted in detail with the mixture of pigment and oil, before firing.

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  Qing period Chinese export porcelain with European figure, Famille Rose, first half of 18th century

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  Jingdezhen soft paste porcelain flower holder, "Famille Rose", 1736-1796, Qianlong period

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  Saint-Cloud soft paste porcelain flower holder, "Famille Rose", 1730-1740

Blue and white wares

Blue and white wares

Kangxi period (1662 to 1722) blue and white porcelain tea caddy

Main article: Blue and white porcelain

Following in the tradition of earlier qingbai porcelains, blue and white wares are glazed using a transparent porcelain glaze. The blue decoration is painted onto the body of the porcelain before glazing, using very finely ground cobalt oxide mixed with water. After the decoration has been applied the pieces are glazed and fired.

It is believed that underglaze blue and white porcelain was first made in the Tang Dynasty. Only three complete pieces of Tang blue and white porcelain are known to exist (in Singapore from Indonesian Belitung shipwreck ), but shards dating to the 8th or 9th century have been unearthed at Yangzhou in the Jiangsu province. It has been suggested that the shards originated from a kiln in the province of Henan. In 1957, excavations at the site of a pagoda in the province Zhejiang uncovered a Northern Song bowl decorated with underglaze blue and further fragments have since been discovered at the same site. In 1970, a small fragment of a blue and white bowl, again dated to the 11th century, was also excavated in the province of Zhejiang.

In 1975, shards decorated with underglaze blue were excavated at a kiln site in Jiangxi and, in the same year, an underglaze blue and white urn was excavated from a tomb dated to 1319, in the province of Jiangsu. It is of interest to note that a Yuan funerary urn decorated with underglaze blue and underglaze red and dated 1338 is still in the Chinese taste, even though by this time the large-scale production of blue and white porcelain in the Yuan, Mongol taste had started its influence at Jingdezhen.

Starting early in the 14th century, blue and white porcelain rapidly became the main product of Jingdezhen, reaching the height of its technical excellence during the later years of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor and continuing in present times to be an important product of the city.

The tea caddy illustrated shows many of the characteristics of blue and white porcelain produced during the Kangxi period. The translucent body showing through the clear glaze is of great whiteness and the cobalt decoration, applied in many layers, has a fine blue hue. The decoration, a sage in a landscape of lakes and mountains with blazed rocks is typical of the period. The piece would have been fired in a saggar (a lidded ceramic box intended to protect the piece from kiln debris, smoke and cinders during firing) in a reducing atmosphere in a wood-burning egg-shaped kiln, at a temperature approaching 1350 °C.

Distinctive blue-and-white porcelain was exported to Japan where it is known as Tenkei blue-and-white ware or ko sometsukei. This ware is thought to have been especially ordered by tea masters for Japanese ceremony.

Tang Dynasties Porcelain

Tang Dynasties Porcelain

The Tang period firmly established the following dominant porcelain production trend: Greenwares in the South and White wares in the North of China (南青北白). Yue (越） and Xing （邢） wares represented the best green and white ware respectively. However, it must be noted that some greenwares were also produced in Northern China kilns. So far no kiln that produced white wares during the Tang period was found in Southern China.

During the Tang Dynasty, porcelains with painted design to enhance their aesthetic beauty were further developed by the Chinese potters. Iron, copper oxides and to a lesser extent cobalt were the pigments used to decorate high-fired wares. The most important contributors were the Changsha potters who used copper/iron oxide to paint green/brown motif. They were also among the earliest to use copper oxide to create high fired copper red decoration. Before Tang, copper oxide was used only for lead glaze green low-fired pottery wares

Interest in painted porcelains appeared to dwindle during the 5 Dynasties. Porcelains with iron-brown decoration for royal use were produced in Yue kilns during the 5 Dynasty but the volume of production was small. Underglaze iron-oxide painted black/brown motif on porcelains finally became a main-stream product for the common folks during the Song Dynasty

Experimental underglaze painting using cobalt on porcelains were initiated by the Gongyi (巩义) [previously called gongxian (巩县)] potters of Henan province. Blue and white wares were produced for the middle east market and interest was short-lived. Production only resumed during the Yuan Dynasty and interestingly, the main market was again the Middle East.

Another important new product was black glaze wares with opacified bluish/white splashes. Th most important kilns producing such wares were Lushan Duandian (鲁山段店）and Jiaxian Huangdao （郏县黄道） in Henan. Some ceramics experts were of the view that it inspired the later purplish/red splashes on Jun wares.

Porcelain wares were important export items during the Tang Dynasty. Xing, Yue and Changsha wares achieved international fame. They were exported via the overland silk road and maritime trade route to West Asia/Middle East and maritime trade route to Southeast Asia. Besides silk, porcelain was the most important trade item through which the foreigners came to know about China.

Yue greenware

Zhejiang was the most important greenware production province since the Shang Dynasty. The transition from proto porcelain to actual porcelain took place there during the late Eastern Han period. By the early 9th century, Yue wares showed marked improvement in quality. By the late Tang period, Yue wares was a major brand with an international reputation. The production centre was at Zhejiang Cixi Shanglin Lake (慈溪上林湖).

The glaze of Tang Yue ware has a jade like quality. The shape of vessels are elegant with clear influence of gold/silver wares of the period. Use of decoration was minimal and usually consisted of carved/incised floral motif.

A good glimpse of the type and quality of Yue wares of this period could be found in the Belitung shipwreck. The Belitung shipwreck is dated to A.D. 826 based on a Changsha bowl with a date of 2nd year of Baoli. The form of the vessels are elegant and potting rather thin, with some showing clear influence of gold/silver wares. Decoration using the curved/incised method was used by then. The glaze has a smooth and fine texture and colour is a pleasant pale grey greenish hue.

It was also around the mid or slightly later 9th century that the term Mise was used to describe the top quality Yue wares. Lu Guimeng (陆龟蒙) (died A.D. 881) in his poem "秘色越瓷" Mise Yueqi (secret colour Yue ware) mentioned that Yue wares were fired in misty and windy autumn and described the colour of yue ware as "green from trees despoiled from thousand peaks". The Yue vessels found in the basement of the Pagoda at the Famen temple (法门寺) represented the highest achievement of the Tang Yue potters .

Yue wares of 5 Dynasties and Early Northern Song period is characterised by decorations executed using finely incised lines. The motifs were varied including human subject, paired parrots or parrots, dragon, flowers and etc. Best examples could be found in the Cirebon shipwreck. The ship carried a large quantity of more than 300,000 Yue vessels and many are decorated with incised motif. It has a bowl with a "戊辰徐记烧" Wuchen Xuji Shao " mark, ie. A.D. 968. (The Northern Song Dynasty commenced from A.D. 960, but Wuyue state only relinquished its sovereignty in A.D. 978).

During the 5 Dynasties, there were also some Yue wares with iron-brown motif being produced. They were mainly made for the wu-yue royal family.

For more information, please read this: Tang/Song Yue ware .

Other important Tang greenware production sites

Two other important celadon production sites were Shouzhou kiln (寿洲窑) in Anhui Province and Hongzhou kiln (洪洲窑) in Jiangxi Province. Both were mentioned in Lu yu(陆羽) in his Treatise on Tea (茶经). Shouzhou kiln produced a form of distinctive yellowish glaze. The glaze tends to be uneven and the paste is whitish, whitish red or reddish. There is a layer of white slip applied on the body before glazing. Such yellow glaze wares were also produced in Henan, Hebei and Shanxi (山西).

Hongzhou kiln located at Feng cheng (丰城) started celadon production during the 6 dynasties. The paste is dark brownish or brownish and coarse. White slip is applied before glazing. The glaze tends to be yellowish brown or a sauce brown colour in tone. Both stopped production by end of Tang period.

Xing white ware

Xing white ware was produced in Hebei Lin cheng£¨ºÓ±±ÁÙ³ÇÏØ£©and neiqiu county (ÄÚÇðÏØ). Xing wares consisted of the fine and coarse type. The fine one has fine grained paste and snow white smooth glaze. The coarse type has more coarse light grayish or buff paste. A layer of white slip was applied and the glaze tends to be grayish white or with tinge of yellow. The most famous Xing ware was the bi base (玉璧底) (solid base with a hole at the centre) bowl commonly know as the samarra type bowl. (It was a popular export ware and found as far as Egypt). Xing ware had a huge market and widely used by the rich and poor. The most common vessels were bowls, plates, hu vases, pillows, guan jars and cover boxes. The bowls were more thinly potted by late Tang and have floral shape.

For more on Xing ware, please read this.

Tang Xing wares

Tang Gongyi white/blue and white wares

Another famous white ware production site in Northern China was Gongyi 巩义 (previously called gongxian (巩县) in Henan. Gongyi kiln also produced the first underglaze blue and white ware. They were experimental in nature and mainly for the overseas market and production volume was small. The motifs were mainly simplified floral or Islamic geometric form. Some blue and white fragments were excavated from kiln in Gongyi Baihe (巩义白河）. 3 known examples were found in the Belitung shipwreck which carried mainly Changsha wares and small quantity of Yue and Xing/gongxian white wares and those with green splashes.

Blue and white dish found in Belitung wreck

Tang White glaze with green splashes/design wares

Some experimental production of lead white glaze wares with green splashes began during the Northern Dynasties. By the Tang Dynasty, there were quite a number of kilns in Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Shandong which produced such wares. They were found on vessels such as pillows, bowls, saucers, vases with 5 spouts and etc.

Tang Changsha wares

Changsha kiln ,also termed Tongguan kiln, was a famous Southern China Tang Dynasty kiln. Changsha wares are usually associated with the painted brown and green vessels covered by a straw colour transparent glaze. There were large variety of motifs, such as calligraphy, flowers, fish, children playing, birds, landscape, abstract looking motif and etc . Many of the motifs showed Buddhist and Islamic influence. This was an important development in the history of underglaze painted motifs on porcelain.

Changsha bowls found in Belitung wreck

Another interesting decorative techniques involved the application of darkish brown glaze, often over the area of molded decorations luted onto ewers. The molded elements included palm like tree, paired birds, lions, human motif, pagoda and etc.

Another important innovation was the use of copper oxide pigment for high fired porcelain. There were some rare examples of vessels with copper red painted or splashed motif.

The glaze on Changsha ware is either of a straw colour or a creamy yellowish white. The glaze usually have fine crazings over the surface. The glaze ranges from a bright transparent tone to a somewhat cloudy finish. A white slip is usually applied to conceal the coarse body before the glaze is applied on the vessel. The glaze has a tendency to peel off especially from the areas of a vessel painted brown.

For more information on Changsha ware, please read: Changsha wares

Changsha type porcelains were also produced in Qionglai kilns£¨ÚöáÁÒ¤£©in Shichuan.

Tang Black Glaze with splashes

Many kilns of the period also produced black, brownish black and teadust wares. An interesting variation was the addition of splashes of a whitish or whitish blue glaze over the ground glaze. The Chinese called it hua you (花 釉)．Many of the Chinese experts believe such wares were the precursor of Song Jun wares. Typical shapes with such glazes included drum, jar and plates. The most famous kilns producing such wares were Lushan Dudian (鲁山段店窑) and Jiaxian Huangdao (郏县黄道窑)． Other kilns which also produced them were Dengfeng Zhudong (登封朱洞窑) and Yuzhou Changzhuang (禹州苌庄窑) and etc.

Yaozhou Celadon and black/Teadust ware

Yaozhou kiln also manufactured black /teadust glaze wares during the Tang Dynasty. There were also some with black glaze motif painted over unglaze body of the vessels.

In Northern China Yaozhou, a striking form of greenware with light bluish/greenish glaze were produced from the 5 Dynasty period. Some were decorated with sharply carved motif in relief .

Liao porcelain wares

Another important production site was in regions ruled by the Liao Dynasty. Famous Liao kilns included Chifeng (³à·åÒ¤£©in Inner Mongolia and Longquanwu kiln £¨ÁúȪÎñÒ¤£©in Beijing. Besides white wares, they also produced black wares and earthenware sancai. Distinctive white wares were those phoenix head ewers and cockscomb flasks. Those vessels were unique to the Khitan nomadic race.¡¡Chifeng kiln was the official kiln of the Liao Dynasty. On some of the wares, incised characters such as "guan" (¹Ù£©¡¡and "xin guan"¡¡£¨Ð¹٣©¡¡were found. The coarser white wares were covered with white slip but the fine ones were without.

5 Dynasties Southern China white wares

The kilns making the earliest white wares in Southern China emerged in Jingdezhen during the 5 Dynasties period. The notable ones are Shengmeiting kiln (ʤ÷ͤҤ£© and shihuwan kiln £¨Ê¯»¢Íä). Both produced greenware and white wares during the 5 dynasty period and switched to Qingbai production during the Northern Song period. Vessels included ewers, dishes, bowl and basins. They were relatively of fine quality.

CHINESE CERAMICS AND PORCELAIN

CHINESE CERAMICS AND PORCELAIN

Tang Camel The craft of making ceramics and clay vessels is one of the oldest human arts. Pottery is made by cooking soft clay at high temperatures until it hardens into an entirely new substance—ceramics. Early pottery vessels were used primarily for storing liquids, grains and other items. Clay pots were used for cooking and storage. Pottery from Japan dated to 10,000 B.C. is the oldest known in the world. Nine thousand year old sites in Turkey with ancient pottery have yielded mostly bowls and cups.

Potters first fired vessels in hearths, and afterwards in kilns. Kilns are special structures made of bricks or stones in which temperatures of at least 1,050°C can be generated. Firing ceramics at high temperatures improves their durability and impermeability and creates greater opportunities for changing the surface color.

The first pottery vessels were fashioned by hand from lumps of clay. The potter’s wheel was invented in Mesopotamia in 4000 B.C. With a potter’s wheel, a lump of clay can be spun around and round, shaped, usually into a vessel, with the hands and a variety of tools.

To make a pottery vessel, a potter must find the right clay, and purify and cure it to make it usable. Raw clays have traditionally been put into large vats to remove foreign matter such as sand and pebbles. When clay is washed these materials settle to the bottom while the clay remains suspended and is poured off. Clay washed in this manner is known as slip.

Common ways of decorating pottery included printing selected areas, covering the surfaces with a thin slip made of iron-rich red clay, and burnishing (compacting the surface with a hard, tool such as a pebble).

Websites and Resources

Yangshou vessel
3300 B.C. Good Websites and Sources: Pacific Asia Museum pacificasiamuseum.org ; Guide to Chinese Ceramics artsmia.org/art-of-asia ; Tang Horses China Vista ; Jingdezhen chinavista.com ;

Good Websites and Sources on Chinese Art: China --Art History Resources art-and-archaeology.com ; Art History Resources on the Web witcombe.sbc.edu ; Art of China Consortium nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart ;Modern Chinese Literature and Culture (MCLC) Visual Arts/mclc.osu.edu ; Asian Art.com asianart.com ; China Online Museum chinaonlinemuseum.com ; Huntington Archive of Asian Artkaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu ; Qing Art learn.columbia.edu Museums with First Rate Collections of Chinese Art National Palace Museum, Taipei npm.gov.tw ; Beijing Palace Museum dpm.org.cn ; Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum.org ; Sackler Museum in Washington asia.si.edu/collections ; China Page Museum list chinapage.com

Chinese Culture: Cultural China (site with nice photos cultural-china.com ; China Culture.org chinaculture.org ; China Culture Online chinesecultureonline.com ;Chinatown Connection chinatownconnection.com ; Transnational China Culture Project ruf.rice.edu China Research Paper Search china-research-papers.com ; Book: The Culture and Civilization, a massive multi-volume series on Chinese culture (Yale University Press).

Links in this Website: CHINA'S EARLIEST CULTURES Factsanddetails.com/China ; EARLY CHINESE ART Factsanddetails.com/China ; CHINESE ART FROM THE GREAT DYNASTIES Factsanddetails.com/China ; SHANG DYNASTY (2200-1700 B.C.) AND XIA DYNASTY Factsanddetails.com/China ; ZHOU (CHOU) DYNASTY (1100-221 B.C.) Factsanddetails.com/China ; HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) Factsanddetails.com/China ; TANG DYNASTY (A.D. 690-907) Factsanddetails.com/China ; SONG DYNASTY (960-1279) Factsanddetails.com/China ;YUAN (MONGOL) DYNASTY (1215-1368) MING DYNASTY (1368-1644) Factsanddetails.com/China ; QING (MANCHU) DYNASTY (1644-1911) Factsanddetails.com/China ; CHINESE JADE Factsanddetails.com/China ; CHINESE CERAMICS AND PORCELAIN Factsanddetails.com/China ; CHINESE PAINTING Factsanddetails.com/China ;CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY Factsanddetails.com/China ; CHINESE CRAFTS Factsanddetails.com/China ; COLLECTING, LOOTING AND COPYING ART IN CHINA Factsanddetails.com/China

Early Pottery in China

The earliest examples of clay pottery found in China date back to 6000 B.C. These clay vessels—some of them with painted flowers, fish, human faces, vaginas and geometric designs—were created by the "Yangshao Culture," (named after village near the confluence of the Yellow, Fen and Wei rivers where the artifacts were found).

Beginning around 3500 B.C., the Lungshnanoid Culture (named after a village in Shandong province where the artifacts were found) produced white pottery and "eggshell-thin" black pottery. Multi-colored and burnished black pottery appeared in Neolithic times in settlements along the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze River.

Advancement in firing techniques lead to new types of pottery such as high-fired stoneware and glazed stoneware developed during the Shang (1766-1122 B.C.), Zhou (1122-221 B.C.), Qin (221-206 B.C.) and Han (206 B.C.— A.D. 220) dynasties.

Ancient Chinese Ceramics

Cermaic black pottery cup,
Liungshan Culture 2600 2000 B.C. Chinese ceramics is famous for its exquisite forms, shapes, finishes and delicate use of color. Early in China’s history it was raised above utilitarianism to a fine art. Great works of art were patronized by the imperial court and the upper classes and sought after outside of China in Europe and other places.

A fine white pottery was made during the Shang Dynasty. Many vessels were similar in size and shape to bronze vessels made during the same period. Scholars believe the bronze vessels were likely copies of ceramic vessels.

Many great works of pottery and ceramic art came from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.— A.D. 220). Lovely vessels and objects were buried with dead and have been excavated by archeologists and looters. The first use of glazes on Chinese pottery dates back to this period. Beautiful figures, particularly of animals, were created during Six Dynasties period (A.D. 220-587).

Tang Horses

Tang horses are among the most famous works of Chinese art. Made from ceramic, some are glazed in blue, green amber and have elaborate saddle blankets and tasseled bridles. Other are made of unglazed ceramic and thereby look more modern like a Rodin statute. The horses are often in frantic positions: with their heads raises and nostrils flared, or twisting around to get at something on their backs. Many had a grooved channel running the length of the arched neck, where a real horsehair mane was placed, and had a hole in their rear for a horsehair tail. Most are only around 15 inches tall.

Chinese art specialist J.J. Lally told the New York Times, "Tang horses are the most widely popular image of Chinese art because they are immediately accessible to everyone. You don't have to read the Tang dynasty was a moment in Chinese art when there was a strong move toward realism and strong decorative impulse. Horses imported from the Near East were precious. In Tang China, the horse was the emblem of wealth and power. They are meant to embody rank and speed."

The Chinese used horses as far back as the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1100 B.C.) but these were mainly strong, draft animals. Later they began importing horses from Central Asia and Middle East. By the Tang dynasty horses were favorite subjects of not only artists but also poets and composers. The inspiration for the many of Tang horses were Tall horses, the heavenly horses from Central Asia introduced to China in the first century B.C.

Varieties of Tang Horses

Some of the most treasured Tang horses were glazed in cobalt blue. Gallery owner Khalil Rizk told the New York Times, "Only 5 percent of Tang horses have blue glaze. Cobalt was put on during the last firing. Cobalt was a treasured commodity imported from the Middle East; it was more valuable than gold. Its use means the horse was for someone of the highest rank.”

Describing a relatively ordinary Tang horse that sold for $266,500 at a Christie's auction, Wendy Moonan wrote in the New York Times, "Unglazed, it had its head lowered toward its left foreleg, which was slightly raised.”

One extraordinary glazed Tang pieces depicts a kneeling man with a horse's head. The expression on the horse's head is sensitive. Tang artist also made some extraordinarily beautiful ceramic animals, including a glazed earthenware camel carrying a troupe of musicians.

The highest price ever paid for ceramics and/or a Chinese work of art was $6.1 million for a Tang dynasty horse sold by the British Rail Pension Fund to a Japanese dealer at Sotheby's in London in December 1989. Collectors like Tang horses because they can be dated with some certainty using thermoluminescnece testing.

Porcelain in China

Porcelain is a type of pottery made from kaolin, a fine whitish clay composed of quartz and feldspar, that becomes hard, glossy and nearly transparent when it is fired in a kiln. The word "porcelain" reportedly is derived from the Italian word porcella, meaning little pig, or possibly from a similar word meaning female pig genitals. The name was given first to a smooth, white, cowrie shell, and then to the smooth, white finish on porcelain pottery. The term “porcelain” was used in Marco Polo’s writings. Porcelain pieces can be dated by their inscribed reign marks.

True porcelain is made of fine kaolin clay and feldspar, also known as petuntse or Chinese stone. It is white, thin and transparent or translucent. Before it is shaped the kaolin is mixed, filtered and vacuum pressed into slabs for aging.

Blue and white porcelain has traditionally been made from kaolin clay mined near Jingdezhen, a town in southern China, and mixed with a particular kind of cobalt imported from Persia. Other kinds of porcelain include underglaze red, underglaze blue, copper red (used for imperial ceremonies), "sweet-white," peacock blue and celadon green.

History of Porcelain in China

Tang celadon The Chinese made the earliest known porcelain around A.D. 700 and held a global monopoly on its production for over a thousand years. Chinese porcelain didn't reach Europe until the 14th century and the art of making porcelain wasn’t developed in Japan until the 16th century and in in Europe until the 17th century.

Porcelain evolved step-by-step from 5,000-year-old painted pottery through a process of refining materials and manufacturing. A greenish glaze applied to stoneware was developed in the early Han (206 B.C. to A.D. 220) dynasty. A glaze that resembled the sort used on porcelain was made in the early Sui dynasty.

Celadons evolved during the Six Dynasties period (A.D. 220-589). It is green porcelain made with a slip and glaze, sometimes with incised and inlaid decorations. It is associated with both China and Korea.

Proto-porcelain evolved during the Tang dynasty. It was made by mixing clay with quartz and the mineral feldspar to make a hard, smooth-surfaced vessel. Feldspar was mixed with small amounts of iron to produce an olive-green glaze.

In China, porcelain was produced to be enjoyed on three levels: aesthetic, technical and symbolic. The ways the painted subject on porcelain interact often portrayed a meaning beyond the symbols. A five-claws dragon superimposed on tangerines and pomegranates, for example, links the royal family with fertility (pomegranates) and prosperity (tangerines).

Song Dynasty Porcelain

Some of the most beautiful porcelain ever produced was made during the Song dynasty (960-1279), when world-famous monochrome porcelains, including celedon, were produced. Celadon is green porcelain made with a slip and glaze, sometimes with incised and inlaid decorations. It is associated with both China and Korea.

Wonderful crazed or cracked glazed pottery, produced by the shrinking and cracking of the glazes due to rapid cooling, appeared during the Song period. The earliest pieces with this kind of glazing were probably made by accident in the firing process but later was developed into an art form that had a great impact outside of China, influencing the famous tea ceremony ceramics of Japan.

Ching-te Chen in the Chiang-shsi province (present-day Jiangdezhen in Jiangxi Province) became the seat of imperial ceramic making under Emperor Chen Tsung around A.D. 1000. Porcelain from the imperial plant here was regarded as the best and was reserved for imperial use.

Ju ware, a kind of celadon from the Northern Song dynasty that ranges in color from blue to green, is the rarest of all forms of porcelain. Only 65 pieces of it exist and 23 of them are possessed by the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

Yuan Porcelain

In the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) floral motifs and cobalt blue paintings were made under a porcelain glaze. This was considered the last great advancement of Chinese ceramics. The cobalt used to make designs on white porcelain was introduced by Muslim traders in the 15th century.

The blue-and-white and polychrome wares from the Yuan Dynasty were not as delicate as the porcelain produced in the Song dynasty. Multi-colored porcelain with floral designs was produced in the Yuan dynasty and perfected in the Qing dynasty, when new colors and designs were introduced.

The world record price paid for an art work from any Asian culture is $27.8 million, paid in March 2005 for a 14th century Chinese porcelain vessel with blue designs painted on a white background. The vessel contains scenes of historical events in the 6th century B.C. and has unique Persian-influenced shape. Only seven jars of this shape exist in the world. The buyer was Giuseppe Eskenazi., the renowned dealer of Chinese art, acting on behalf of a client. The previous record for porcelain was $5.83 million paid for a14th-century blue-and-white porcelain vessel called the pilgrims vessel in September 2003.

Ming Porcelain

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) ceramics were known for the boldness of their form and decoration and the varieties of design. Craftsmen made both huge and highly decorated vessels and small, delicate, white ones. Many of the wonderful decorations and glazes—peach bloom, moonlight blue, cracked ice, and ox blood glazes; and rice grain, rose pink and black decorations—were inspired by nature.

In 1402, the Ming Emperor Jianwen ordered the establishment of an imperial porcelain factory in Jingdezhen. It's sole function was to produce porcelain for court use in state and religious ceremonies and for tableware and gifts.

Between 1350 and 1750 Jiangdezhen was the production center for nearly all of the world's porcelain. Jiangdezhen was located near abundant supplies of kaolin, the clay used in porcelain making, and fuel needed to fire up kilns. It also had access to China's coast, which was used for transporting finished products to places in China and around the world. So much porcelain was made that Jingdezhen now sits on a foundation of shards from discarded pottery that over is four meters deep in places.

Ming Porcelain Exports

From the beginning production at the Ming porcelain factories in Jingdezhen were oriented towards the export market. The factories produced coffee cups and beer mugs centuries before these drinks became popular in China. They also produced plates with Arabic and Persian motifs and place setting emblazoned with European coats of arms.

The porcelain trade was so lucrative that the porcelain making processes were closely guarded secrets and Jingdezhen was officially off limits to visitors to keep spies from uncovering these secrets. Over three million pieces were exported to Europe between 1604 and 1657 alone. This was around that the same time that the word "china" began being used in England to describe porcelains because the two were so closely associated with each other.

Pere d’Entrecolles, a Jesuit missionary from France, secretly entered Jingdezhen and described porcelain making in the city in letters that made their way to Europe in the early 1700s. He described a city with a million people and 3,000 kilns that were fired up day and night and filled the night sky with an orange glow. He learned the process but confused the clays.

Around he same time that d’Entrecolles was describing porcelain-making in Jingdezhen, Germans working independently in their homeland discovered the secret to making porcelain Large scale porcelain production began in the West in 1710 in Meissen, Germany.

Chinese porcelain dominated the world until European manufacturers such as those in Messen, Germany and Wedgewood, England began producing products of equal quality but at a cheaper price. After that the Chinese porcelain industry collapsed as many industries have done today when underpriced by cheap Chinese imports.

Qing Porcelain

Qing dynasty (1644-1912) porcelain was famous for its polychrome decorations, delicately painted landscapes, and bird and flower and multicolored enamel designs. Many of the subject had symbolic meanings. The work of craftsmen reached a high point during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722)

During a rebellion in 1853, the imperial factory was burned. Rebels sacked the town and killed some potters. The factory was rebuilt in 1864 but never regained its former stature. With the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the long history of Chinese porcelain making drew to a close.