Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

What are Chinese pottery and porcelain?
Pottery and porcelain refer to all products that are made of a mixture of clay, feldspar and quartz, through shaping, drying and bring. Chinese pottery andporcelain go back to distant antiquity and have played an important role incultural development of Chinese society. China is among the first countries in the world to use pottery, and China has been recognized as the "home ofporcelain," the word "china" being synonymous with porcelain.Throughout the ages, China's porcelain has been admired and valued by the world for its usefulness and beauty.

What are the features of the earliestpottery vessels in China?
The earliest pottery vessels so far foundin China are those unearthed at the sites in Xinzheng, Wu'an and Yuyao counties. The vessels found at the Hemudu site have large quantities of organic matter such as grass, powdered leaves and seed hulls from a grass family mixed with the clay. Firing turned the organic matter to charcoal, which made the pottery black. These vessels were entirely hand-made and fired at a fairly low temperature. The walls of the vessel body were rather thick, and their appearance was simple and irregular. Jars were often uneven in thickness, and the color was not properly curved. Some were even distorted in appearance,which indicates that the art at that time was very primitive.

What are features of painted pottery inprimitive society?
Primitive cultures produced painted potteryutensils, especially during the periods of the Yangshao Culture, Daxi Culture and the Qujialing Culture. Potters also produced painted cauldrons, tripods andovens for cooking, as well as rings, beads and other small objects for use andornaments. These designs were well arranged and graceful. Most were painted ona red pottery background. Primitive dwellers on the Central Plains used parallel lines, circles, checks, waves and herring patterns in accordance with the shape of the vessels. Pottery unearthed in Huaxian County, Shanxi Province,has a pattern of standing swans and flying wild birds vessels found in Banp Village have patterns of wild deer and long-tailed aquatic birds with fish in their beaks. One pottery basin was painted with the smiling face of a man whowore a fish-shaped headdress.
During the period of the Longshan Culture,the pottery manufacture changed from clan ownership to family ownership. Pottery vessels achieved regularity of shape. The paste was even, and some vessels' walls were as thin as eggshell. This kind of pottery is known as "eggshell black pottery (蛋壳陶 )." The black color was due to a relatively high charcoal content. Utensils and vessels made of black pottery include bowls, basins,plates and others, such as the gui, a three-legged cooking vessel with a handle, and jia, wine goblets, which were new products that did not exist in the Yangshao Period.

What is the difference between porcelainand pottery?
Chinese pottery and porcelain go back to distant antiquity and have played an important role in cultural development of Chinese society. Porcelain differs from pottery in the following respects
a. Common clay can be used to form the basic material of pottery. Porcelain requires specific materials including purewhite gaoling clay, feldspar and quartz.
b. A pottery base body is usually fired into a fixed shape at a fairly low temperature between 800 ℃ and 1, 100 ℃ (degrees centigrade). Porcelain has a coating of vitreous glaze that is fired at a temperature of at least 1, 200 ℃ until tough crystals appear. Common clay made for a pottery basebody cannot become porcelain, but instead will be melted into glassiness whenfred at a temperature of 1, 200 ℃ and above.
c. A pottery base body is opaque, and evenits wall is as thin as an egg shell. A porcelain base body appears semitransparent regardless of wall-thickness.
d. A pottery base body is not fired completely due to the low temperature of the heat during the bring process.This process results in a porous material that produces an unclear ringingsound when struck. A porcelain base body is non-porous for it is firedcompletely due to the high temperature of the heat during the bring process.Accordingly, porcelain produces a clear ringing sound like the sound of struckmetal.
e. There are two types of pottery, onebeing glazed and the other unglazed. In the Han Dynasty diverse types of glazed pottery were manufactured in large quantities. There are two types of porcelainglaze. One type of glaze is used to coat a porcelain base body. Both thecoating and the body are together bred at a high temperature. The other type iscalled a low-temperature glaze, which is used to coat an unglazed porcelainbase body after the body has completed its high temperature heating. Thenewly-coated body is fired again at a low temperature.
f. Mankind shares the invention of pottery, and China is among the first countries in the world to use pottery. Porcelainis often called china because it was first made in China.

When was Chinese porcelain invented?
Academic circles still debate when this occurred. Some scholars think that porcelain originated in the Wei and Jin dynasties, others look to the date of the origin within the Eastern Han Dynastyor the Three Kingdoms Period. The most recent viewpoint, based on new data and chemical findings from 1972, claims thatporcelain goes back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
China's earliest porcelain was proto-celadon which dates back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Its paste is called "china clay." Vessels excavated from a Western Zhou tomb inTunxi (屯溪), Anhui Province, for example, have a paste that contains a substance similar to the fine clay still used today in Jingdezhen Kilns (景德镇). The only difference between the remote and present pastes is that the older is not so carefully washed and refined.