Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Ceramics from the Three Kingdoms to the Northern and Southern Dynasties

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the ruling group was domineering and corrupt, oppressing and plundering the people was unprecedentedly cruel, leading to intensified social conflicts, and the wars continued until Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty unified China, which lasted for four centuries.The Yellow River Basin, which has always been the political and economic center, was almost completely destroyed.The war forced the people of the Central Plains to migrate. The Han people brought advanced productive forces and production relations to the remote areas, and the ethnic groups in the remote areas entered the Central Plains under the leadership of their powerful leaders and armed forces, and there was a great integration of ethnic groups across the country.The productivity level of the Yangtze River Basin and the vast area south of it has been continuously improved, and has caught up with the Central Plains of the Yellow River Basin.The economic base has been expanded and the materials are abundant.In order to strengthen their force, expand their financial resources and meet the needs of a luxurious life, the various separatist forces gradually loosened their personal control over handicraftsmen and craftsmen, and the personal attachment of handicraftsmen and craftsmen to tycoons and officials was weakened.Artisans have more time and greater freedom to organize production and improve technology.This point is most clearly reflected in the ceramic production during this period, and the celadon production in Zhejiang and Jiangsu has flourished.Porcelain kiln workshops in the Jiangnan area often engrave year names and auspicious words or names of craftsmen since the Han Dynasty on porcelain. There is a small stele on the barn jar of the third year of Yong'an collected by the Palace Museum, and the front is engraved: "In the third year of Yong'an, Wealthy and sheep, Yi Gongqing, many descendants, long life, thousands of meanings (billions) long live without seeing the central government (calamity)." The celadon tiger son unearthed from the Eastern Wu Tomb in Zhaoshigang, Nanjing, is engraved with "Chiwu Fourteen Years Kuaiji County Shangyu master Yuan Yi made the inscription □, and flat bottles with similar inscriptions were also found in Zhenjiang, indicating that the porcelain handicraft industry already has a professional craftsman team.Porcelain produced in Shangyu, Zhejiang appeared in Nanjing, Zhenjiang and other places, and the distance is quite far, indicating that the circulation of porcelain handmade products as a commodity has been relatively active, and may have reached a considerable scale.

From the 2nd century to the 6th century AD, the production of Chinese celadon still developed fastest in Zhejiang and Jiangsu.Products in Yuyao, Shaoxing, Shangyu, Deqing, Jinhua, Wenzhou and other regions in Zhejiang are of high quality.In addition, Anhui in the Huaihe River Basin also has quite good quality celadon products.Celadon with regional characteristics was also found in Jiangxi and Hunan in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Sichuan in the upper reaches, and Fujian and Guangdong in the coastal areas, but the craftsmanship is relatively low and the variety is not rich enough.

The northern region may have been focusing on the development of pottery because it is not as easy to find raw materials for porcelain making as it is in the south. It may also be affected by turmoil and war, and the porcelain handicraft industry has not developed for a long time.In the tombs from the Sixteen Kingdoms period to the time before the capital was moved to Luoyang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, very few celadon wares were unearthed, only spittoons. In 1948, a batch of celadon was unearthed in Fengshi Tomb in Jingxian County, Hebei Province.After testing, it belongs to northern porcelain clay, which was fired in northern porcelain kiln.The shape and decoration of the utensils are magnificent and rough, which is quite different from the smart and delicate style in the south. Celadon kiln sites of the Northern Dynasty have been found in Neiqiu and Lincheng in Hebei Province, Zibo, Qufu and Tai'an in Shandong.

From the perspective of the porcelain of the Three Kingdoms, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties as a whole, the craftsmanship has improved rapidly, and many works are exquisite.Daily utensils can meet the needs of all aspects of society, and the number of utensils for displaying artistic porcelain and meeting the needs of ideology and belief has increased a lot, making people increasingly understand that porcelain has many advantages over other handicrafts.Therefore, many shapes of pottery, gold and silver wares, and bronze wares can also be made from celadon wares, and they are used more and more.This period became a good start for the prosperity of porcelain, and continued to develop after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and there were more and more porcelain utensils than utensils made of other materials.

The southern porcelain with a long history is particularly rich in varieties, including bowls, plates, plates, boxes, masonry (multi-grid plates), washers, basins, bowls, cups, ear cups, cup holders, various water bowls (such as mouth-squeezing water bowls) , frog-shaped water bowl), chicken-head pot, sheep-shaped pot, tiger-head pot, flat pot, bottle, jar, altar, spittoon, incense burner, lamp, inkstone, bucket, tiger and other living utensils and stationery utensils.Ming vessels specially used for burial include barn pots, three-legged or five-legged incense burners with plates, perforated incense burners, stoves with cooking utensils, chicken coops, sheep pens, pig pens, dog houses, pestles, rice paddles, mills, dustpans, and rice Models of sieves, buildings, chariots and horses.Characters, such as warriors holding swords and shields, servants holding objects and cooking, riding on horses playing music, playing the piano, playing the zither, etc. Wait.In addition, there are various animal images.Some works have complex sculptures, such as the above-mentioned barn jars that were popular in the Three Kingdoms and Jin Dynasties, with towers, pavilions, corridors and houses on the edge of the mouth.Figures standing or sitting are piled up on it, and many birds are looking for food on the pavilion.Paste sheep, exotic animals, turtles, snakes, fish and other animals on the most rounded part of the lower abdomen of the tank.In addition, there are gods and beasts with simple and honest expressions, lion-shaped candlesticks, and bear-shaped lamps.

Northern celadon is mainly thick and thick living utensils, such as bowls, plates, bowls, jars and so on.The most representative celadon is the lotus statue unearthed from the Fengshi Tombs in Jingxian County, Hebei Province, which is collected in the Palace Museum and the Chinese History Museum.Up to 55.8 cm, the mouth and neck are trumpet-shaped, there are two small lines under the mouth, round belly, the bottom is trumpet-shaped feet, the neck is decorated with string patterns and appliqués, six compound lines are installed on the shoulders, and the shoulders and upper abdomen are stacked There are three layers of covered lotus petals side by side, two layers of upward-shaped lotus petals stacked on the lower abdomen, and double layers of lotus petals carved on the feet.In addition, the neck is also decorated with Tuanlong and Feitian, which are covered with glassy glaze, greenish-yellow.The shape is peculiar and majestic, with the artistic effect of gold and silver hammers.

The achievements of Six Dynasties celadon in decorative art are also outstanding.It is manifested in the success of overglaze and underglaze firing.Brown stippling appears on porcelains such as Ou (ou Europe) kiln and Deqing kiln, which are closely combined with green glaze.Some are in the shape of dots or patches on the edge of the mouth of the utensils or the neck of bottle works, and some form simple patterns.Tested by silicate scientific and technological workers, it is proved that this is a high-temperature overglaze color.The method is to put dark brown (made of soil minerals with high iron content) color material on the glaze layer, put it into the kiln and fire it together with the porcelain at high temperature.Because the high-temperature medium glaze layer and color materials must flow and penetrate, so the color spots penetrate into the fetal bone.A six-dynasty celadon pot in the Nanjing Museum's collection is covered with mythical stories under the glaze.This is the high-temperature underglaze color, and it is also the earliest underglaze color in my country, several centuries earlier than the Tang Dynasty.

The most epoch-making significance in the northern porcelain system is the firing of white porcelain.In Anyang, Henan Province, a batch of white porcelain was found in the tomb of Fan Cui, a nobleman in the Northern Qi Dynasty, including bowls, cups, and three-line jars.The relics of the Northern Dynasties discovered at the Xing Kiln site in Neiqiu, Hebei, also contain white porcelain.White porcelain is more in line with people's aesthetic requirements in use. If it is to be painted and decorated, whether it is under-glaze or over-glaze, it is superior to celadon and yellow-glazed porcelain.So far, white porcelain or painted porcelain based on white porcelain is the most widely used variety. The invention of white porcelain marks that my country's porcelain technology has reached a new level, and also proves the strong strength of northern porcelain technology.

The production area of ​​black porcelain continues to expand, and its kiln sites have been found in Deqing, Yuhang, Jinhua, Ningbo, etc., Zhejiang. Most of the black porcelain is relatively rough, the glaze color is not too dark, and it is dark brown. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the rulers of various ethnic minorities in the north adopted relatively loose policies for trade with Persia and the Arab world through land routes, and the land Silk Road was relatively active.Maritime trade was also active during this historical period in the South.China's silk, ceramics and other goods were sold to the above-mentioned areas in the Western Regions by land and sea.A large number of gold, silver, glass, and Persian brocade from countries in the Western Regions were imported into the mainland.These exquisite and novel utensils, such as Hu bottles, flat bottles, and goblets, are found all over our country. The patterns such as Lianzhu, honeysuckle, grapes, stories of Hu people, knights, and dance and music images are also used in Chinese crafts. The workshop absorbs, imitates, or transforms and recreates, and this phenomenon is vividly expressed in ceramic works.The Sui and Tang Dynasties were more colorful.

The production of low-temperature glazed pottery has also achieved gratifying achievements.Low-temperature glazed pottery was very developed in the Eastern Han Dynasty.From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, glazed pottery vessels occasionally appeared in some noble tombs until the Sixteen Kingdoms period.During the Northern Wei Dynasty, it gradually recovered, and mainly produced Ming wares to meet the needs of rich burials of powerful and nobles.Glazed pottery figurines developed on an unprecedented scale.Such as tomb terracotta figurines, civil officials, generals, knights, etc. There are also many images reflecting the powerful armed forces in the north, such as warrior figurines riding armored horses, hooded figurines wearing Hu suits, and animal images such as horses and camels.The tomb of Sima Jinlong, a great bureaucrat, was discovered in Datong in the eighth year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 484). More than 300 pottery figurines were unearthed from one tomb.

During the Northern Qi Dynasty, glazed pottery technology made a big leap, from ordinary red clay to making tires with northern porcelain clay—crucible soil.The production of glazed pottery works was moved from the pottery workshop to the porcelain workshop, which improved the production level and developed the technology.A batch of exquisite glazed pottery vessels were unearthed from the tomb of Lou Rui in the first year of Wuping (AD 570), the tomb of Fan Cui in the sixth year of Wuping (AD 575), and the tomb of Li Yun in the seventh year of Wuping (AD 576), with many decorations from the Western Regions , There is also a new technology of hanging colors in glaze.