The production and development of ceramics are in fact closely connected with people's life and production practice. About 700,000 years ago, in primitive times, people found that mud can be dried and heated to become hard, and can be made into various shapes to hold water, food and so on, which is the beginning of pottery. The invention of pottery is an important process of human civilization. It opened a new page of human using nature, transforming nature and fighting against nature. It has great historical significance and is a milestone in the development history of human production.
1. Ceramic culture in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties
The pottery pieces and POTS excavated from the Yin Xu site of the Shang Dynasty include many styles, such as gray pottery, black pottery, red pottery, colored pottery, white pottery, and hard pottery with glaze. The patterns, symbols, and characters on these pottery are closely related to the oracle bone inscriptions and Qing ware of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. The high cost of green ware can only be enjoyed by the nobility, and the majority of people can only use pottery for all kinds of living utensils. Therefore, it can be understood that the pottery making technology in the Shang Dynasty was also widely developed. Hard pottery with glaze appeared in this period. The glaze color was green and brown yellow, and the texture was hard and grayish white.
At this time, pottery was no longer limited to the container of objects, and its application scope became wider. It can be roughly divided into daily necessities, buildings, martyrs and sacrificial vessels. The court also attached great importance to pottery making.
2. Ceramic culture in the Qin and Han Dynasties
The buildings of the Qin and Han Dynasties were mostly constructed of wood, which did not last long. Therefore, some of the great buildings, such as the Epang Palace of the Qin Dynasty and Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty, could not be completely preserved. However, tiles and Han bricks can still be found in the remaining ruins to give a glimpse of the scale of ancient architecture.
3. Ceramic culture in Sui and Tang Dynasties
In 589, Yang Jian succeeded Northern Zhou and southern Chen, unified the Central Plains, changed the name of the country to Sui, Sui dynasty is short, but in the porcelain firing has a new breakthrough, not only celadon firing, white porcelain also has a very good development, in addition, decorative techniques also have innovation.
4. Ceramic culture in the Tang Dynasty
By the Tang Dynasty, porcelain production had metamorphosed into a mature state, and stepped into the real porcelain age. Because the difference between pottery and porcelain is white, hard or translucent, and the key is the fire temperature. Although there were porcelain in the Han Dynasty, the temperature was not high, and the texture was only considered as original porcelain. When it developed to the Tang Dynasty, not only the glaze was mature, but also the fire temperature could reach more than 1,000 degrees Celsius. Therefore, we can say that the Tang Dynasty really entered the era of porcelain. The famous kilns in Tang Dynasty are Yue kiln and Xing kiln.
5. Ceramic culture during the Yuan Dynasty
91 years after the Yuan Dynasty entered the Central Plains, the porcelain industry declined slightly compared with the Song Dynasty. However, there were also new developments in this period, such as the rise of blue and white and yoligong, the popularity of a large number of colored porcelain, white porcelain became the mainstream of porcelain, and the glaze white was green, which drove the development of porcelain in the Ming and Qing dynasties and achieved high achievements.
6. Ceramic culture in Ming Dynasty
The development of Chinese ceramics entered a new journey in the Ming Dynasty. Before the Ming Dynasty, celadon was the main porcelain, while after the Ming Dynasty, white porcelain was the main porcelain. In particular, blue, white and colorful became the main products of white porcelain in the Ming Dynasty, and Jingdezhen became the main kiln factory, a large scale, has been continuing the Ming and Qing dynasties, 500, 600 years and undying, describing the grand situation at that time as "white smoke in the day cover the sky, red flame at night". Since the Ming Dynasty, kiln sites tended to be concentrated in Jingdezhen, both official kilns and folk kilns preferred painted porcelain. Before the Song Dynasty, monochromatic glaze was the main glaze, but after the Ming Dynasty, porcelain bodies tended to be thin, thin and white, and styles were noted on the body from then on. The age, the number of the hall, the name of the people, so that the research evidence has a more accurate identification.
7. Ceramic culture in the Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty is the pinnacle of Chinese porcelain. Thousands of years of experience, coupled with Jingdezhen's natural raw materials, Du Tao Guan's management. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the three generations of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, due to political stability and economic prosperity, the emperor attached great importance to the porcelain, and the achievements of porcelain were also very outstanding. The emperor's hobby and advocacy made the porcelain in the early Qing Dynasty with superb technology, fine and magnificent decoration, and extraordinary achievements, which is a brilliant pen in the long history of Chinese ceramics.
