Ceramics & Pottery: Chinese

The Shang Period

Chinese period when ceramics were used as molds for bronze casting, made of high-quality clay.

Chou Dynasty/Zhou Dynasty

Chinese dynasty that produced utilitarian pottery—funerary urns, cooking vessels, and libation jars. Made of hard grey clay which had no glaze on its surface and is moulded by hand. Ornamentation consists of hatching and cross-hatching which produces tiny diamond shaped excrescences. Lozenge-shaped pattern may also be found.

Terracotta Army

An imperial legion of more than 6,000 life-sized soldiers, including chariots, archers, and horses buried in military formation.

Han Dynasty

Chinese dynasty that produced earthenware mortuary vessels and glazed wares covered with a brown or green lead glaze. Most popular patterns being dragons, tigers, zhucui (legendary bird guarding the west) and clouds.

Eastern Han

Chinese Han period when blue porcelain reached maturity.

Blue porcelain

Chinese porcelain that had a fine and solid base embellished with an even and shiny color. Designed with the spout shaped as a rooster's head and the handle as a rooster's tail. Covered with exquisite patterns finished with carving, sculpting and molding.

Six Dynasties Period

Chinese Han period when celadon-glazed stoneware appeared in Southern China.

Yüeh

Six Dynasties period green ware. A fine, hard stoneware coated thinly with Clive-brown glaze. More delicate of line and classical in contour, and some had simple incised or molded ornamentation.

Tang Dynasty

Chinese dynasty that marked an important stage in the development of Chinese ceramics. Ceramics were used as tomb figures and furnishings for prominent members of the society. Invention of colored glazes (green, yellow, blue, and golden brown). It has a highly absorbent, buff, earthenware body.

Sancai

Tang ware with three-colored glazed and with a lead-silicate base (brown, green, and blue).

Song Dynasty

The Golden Age of Chinese culture. Porcelain was further refined in this dynasty, the age in which all art flourished, and the greatest era of Chinese pottery. Controlled glazes. Decorations were molded, carved, or painted of dragons, fish, lotuses, and peonies. Pottery of this era emphasized form and employed colored glazes of beauty and variety.

Celadon

Song Dynasty green-glazed stoneware of high quality. Famous type of ancient Chinese stoneware. Characterized by simple but refined shapes, jade-like glaze, solid substance and a distinctive style. Also called Longquan Qinci.

Tzu' Chou

Song Dynasty ware where underglazed black decoration occurs on white or glazed porcelain on the highest quality.

Ju Yao

Song Dynasty buff stoneware body and is covered with a celadon-like bluish-gray glaze with a fine crackle.

Chi-Chou

Song Dynasty's white porcelain with a slightly bluish or greenish glaze.

Kuan

Song dynasty ware where the body is stoneware washed with brown slip and the glaze varies from pale green to lavender blue with a wide-meshed crackle.

Ko Yao

Song dynasty ware that has a dark stoneware body and grayish-white glaze with a well-marked crackle which was induced for a decorative effect.

Ding ware

Most popular Song ware with a transparent green glaze. Decorated with dragons, fish, lotuses, and peonies then covered with a smooth ivory glaze.

Chun

Grayish-white Song Dynasty stoneware covered with a thick glaze that ranged from blue to lavender and suffused with a crimson purple.

Chien Yao

Dark Song ware with a very dark brown almost black glaze. Later adopted from Japan for Temmoku.

Yuan Dynasty

Chinese dynasty where the size of vessels increased, and potters experimented with bright enamel overglaze colors. White porcelain vases with blue underglaze painting were produced.

Shufu

White Yuan ware

Underglaze

New porcelain-making art which appeared during the Yuan dynasty.

Ming Dynasty

Chinese dynasty where blue and white ware of the Yuan Dynasty became a major export item. Staple product was fine white porcelain made which made "China" a household term. Under its clear glaze, the porcelain body was painted with designs of great vigor and freedom of line in cobalt oxide. Painting on pottery and porcelain became richly colorful, and decorative brush painting directly on the baked clay reached its zenith in China.

Tou-tsai ware

A glassy Ming porcelain with overglaze enamel printing. Decorations incorporated flowers, foliage, and figure subjects against backgrounds or arabesques, Arabic inscriptions and scrollwork.

Wu Cai

Five-color Ming ware (blue, green, yellow, eggplant purple, iron red). Also called Wan Li.

Blanc de Chine

These had soft, creamy white glaze on a white porcelain body, was delicate in scale and modeling. Vessels are relief molded with dragons at the neck and charming animals and figures.

Famille rose

Delicate opaque pink derived from colloidal gold. Allowed miniature precision in drawing.

Qing Dynasty

Chinese dynasty where a vast number of porcelain vessels were produced.

Famille verte

Polychrome enamel style of green, yellow, and aubergine purple.

Famille noir

Black ground enamel style.

Famille jaune

Yellow ground enamel style.

Peach bloom

Glaze of pinkish red mottled with russet stops and tinged with green. Has a pure white body and is seen mostly on small items for a scholar's desk.

Tea-dust

A greenish opaque glaze.

Claire de lune

A cobalt glaze of palest blue.