Chapter 13 Section 4: The Art Treasure of the Great Tang Dynasty—Tang Sancai

"Tang Sancai" is the general term for lead-glazed pottery in the Tang Dynasty. Lead-glazed pottery was invented in China during the Warring States Period. It flourished from the late Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and began to decline at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.It reappeared in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and a new technique of hanging colors in glaze appeared in the late Northern Dynasties, and was transferred to the handicraft workshops that produced porcelain, that is, white-bodied glazed pottery.The glazed pottery crafts of the Tang Dynasty made a great leap. On the same vessel, basic glaze colors such as yellow, green, white or yellow, green, blue, and ochre were used interlaced at the same time to form a colorful artistic effect. This is what we often call "Tang Sancai" ".It is majestic and gorgeous, showing the peak of my country's feudal society - the typical artistic style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Tang Sancai is a kind of pottery hung with lead glaze. Its body is mostly white clay, that is, the northern crucible is used as the body, and there are also a few red pottery bodies.First go to the kiln for plain firing to about 1000°C to make pottery blanks, then glaze and hang colors, and then go into the kiln and fire to 900°C. Because the firing temperature of the glaze is low, it is not easy to deform. The three-color lead glazes are all fired with oxidizing flames. Tricolor glaze is a kind of transparent glaze made of crucible, quartz, plant ash and lead oxide.This kind of lead material, without coloring agent, is a white glaze. When an appropriate amount of copper oxide is added, it will be fired green. When iron oxide is added, it will appear brown or yellow. If cobalt oxide is added, it will appear blue. This is a three-color glaze. base color.On this basis, the high wisdom and skills of the craftsmen are used to match white, light yellow, ocher yellow, maroon, emerald green, dark green, sky blue, navy blue, eggplant purple and other colors.One-color, two-color, or colorful and colorful, almost achieved the point of "doing whatever you want without breaking the rules".The tire-stirring vessel is made of two different colors of mud, which has the artistic effect of annual rings and marble texture, which is unique among art pottery.

Regarding the use of Tang Sancai, according to many years of archaeological experience, most of Tang Sancai were unearthed from tombs.Some cultural sites of the Tang Dynasty were also unearthed, which shows that most of the works were Ming objects produced to meet the needs of the thick burial style at that time.The celadon and white porcelain for daily use in the Tang Dynasty had already been mass-produced, and the practical value of glazed pottery was not as good as that of porcelain, so glazed pottery was not as good as porcelain in daily life.The lavish burial of the dead has become a trend pursued by the whole society, which reflects the ideological needs of the time.

The types of Tang Sancai include figurines, utensils, construction and production tool models, glazed tiles and tiles, etc.Figurines can be divided into two categories: human beings and animals. Human images include heavenly kings, warriors, military officials, civil servants, ladies, boys, maids, barbarians with horses and camels, musicians and dancers, acrobats, and animals between humans and animals. Among them are tomb-suppressing beasts (魌〔qi鬼〕head); the images of animals include horses, camels, donkeys, cows, sheep, dogs, lions, tigers, pigs, unicorns, etc.; the utensils include bottles, pots, bottles, cans, Bowls, plates, bowls, cups, boxes, etc.; dormitory utensils include spit pots, pillows, etc.;It is no exaggeration to say that the content of Tang Sancai covers almost all aspects of social life at that time.

Most of the works of figures and animals in Tang Sancai are outstanding sculptures with majestic spirit and delicate expressions.Tang followed the Sui Dynasty to unify China. Artistically, the north and the south were cast. In terms of sculpture, the fresh and soft beauty of the south was added to the vigorous and strong foundation of the north.Taking the image of the three-color figurine as an example, since the general body is relatively small, the technique is mainly concise and lively, focusing on capturing the expression, but never ignoring the necessary details.Those female figurines with high buns and wide sleeves, with light makeup and slight smiles, are cheerful and affectionate, appearing to be moving in silence.A female figurine unearthed from the tomb of Xianyu Tinghui, with her hands arched, twists her body slightly, her face is turned to the left, she squints, and her makeup is dazzling, truly reaching the realm of both spirit and form.

Warrior figurines, the epitome of the armed forces of the Tang Dynasty, are mostly handsome young warriors.Some are standing, some are riding horses, drawing bows and shooting arrows, they are strong and well-defined.In order to satisfy the wishes of the family members of the deceased to use these "samurai" to protect the undead from evil spirits, the craftsmen made some of them look angry, swords drawn, and "devils".These "devils" are also muscular, grinning, struggling to resist. The tomb-suppressing beast has a human head and an animal body in the early Tang Dynasty, and an animal face and animal body in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.The image of the head and the body are often carnivorous beasts.The limbs and hooves are the cloven hooves of herbivores who are good at running, and the wings on the shoulders are the wings of raptor eagles.In short, all the powerful forces are concentrated on it, and the extremely exaggerated lines are sculpted into a ferocious face, with flames shining on the back, as if jumping up at any time, to suppress the monsters who dare to invade the undead of the tomb owner.

The terracotta figurines are directly drawn from the upper official circles of the Tang Dynasty.In the Tang Dynasty, there were some capable ministers like Wei Zheng who were upright, honest, hard-working, shrewd and capable.They were far-sighted and contributed to the stability and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.There are also villains like Lai Junchen. They are vicious, cunning, and cruel, which muddied the upper class of the Tang Dynasty and made the upper class of officials gradually corrupt.The craftsmen created these images, some of which are quiet and dignified, with deep thoughts and extraordinary style.Although some of them are fashioned with elevating crowns and belts, they have a dignified appearance, but their eyebrows are slanted, their triangular eyes are turned up, and their faces are full of flesh, which makes people know that they are bad guys.

Hu figurines, with deep eyes and high nose, come in many varieties. Some of them wear pointed hats, open-collared jackets, or hold vases in their hands, or carry burdens on their backs.They run businesses, can bear hardships and stand hard work, have a deep understanding of the world, and have made great contributions to the economic prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and the communication between the East and the West.Among the terracotta warriors, some shawl deacons bare their breasts and are engaged in food and beverage operations, some are playing Hu music from the Western Regions, some are dancing gracefully, and some are leading bright camels and horses, marching across thousands of miles of sandy land.Generally, these characters are physically strong and have simple and honest personalities.Craftsmen artistically shaped them in this way, recreating the scene of friendly relations and frequent exchanges between people of all ethnic groups in China and people from the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty.

Compared with the pottery figurines of the Han Dynasty and the glazed pottery figures of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the characters of Tang Sancai have two obvious characteristics: (1) The techniques from the Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties are relatively rough, while Tang Sancai is relatively delicate.The former image does not have the curvaceous beauty of lines, while the latter is tactful and changeable. (2) The former has no personality changes and has a dull face, while the latter has personality traits such as status, age, and race, which are more obvious.

Among the many animal images, the vigorous horse and the steady and honest camel are the most outstanding.They are clear in structure, accurate in proportion, and rich in artistic generalization.Artists of the Tang Dynasty expressed many images of horses in stone carvings, pottery sculptures and paintings, and the standards for literati and poets to comment on these works were also extremely strict.Most of the horses in Tang Sancai are smooth in shape, even in flesh and blood, full of spirit and energy.Artists mainly focus on expressing the spirit, using the inner strength to express the outer form.The white three-flowered horse unearthed from Xianyu Tinghui's tomb and now treasured in the Chinese History Museum, and the big black horse unearthed from the Tang tomb in Luoyang are representative works in this regard.Although these excellent works are different in size from Longmen stone carvings and Dunhuang colored sculptures, their artistic achievements have their own strengths, and they also add luster to the art garden of the Tang Dynasty.In addition, glazed tiles were also produced in the Tang Dynasty, and glazed tiles were used in buildings to make Chinese buildings majestic, magnificent, and full of national spirit.

Glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty, the unique characteristics of its colored glaze, people use words such as gorgeous, colorful, and vivid to describe it is very appropriate.There is lead metal in the glaze, which is very fluid, and with various colors, when fired in the kiln, the glaze layer flows, and each color presents a level from thick to light, and various colors infiltrate and penetrate each other.Craftsmen cleverly combined glazing techniques and decoration techniques, deliberately making it intricate, artificial and natural, forming a fusion of gorgeous effects.