Asian art antiques - A brief little background
Izvor: KiWi
Chinese Art
Different types of art have already been influenced by great philosophers, teachers, religious figures and even political leaders.
Early forms of art in China were created from purchase here pottery and jade in the Neolithic period, to which bronze was added in the Shang Dynasty. The Shang are most remembered for their bronze casting, noted for its clarity of detail.
Pieces of pottery vessels dating from around the year 9000 BC found at the Xianrendong (Spirit Cave) website, Wannian County, in the province of Jiangxi represent some of the earliest known Chinese ceramics. The products were hand-made by coiling and fired in bonfires. Arrangements include amazed wire marks, and features created by piercing and stamping.
The Xianrendong site was occupied from about 9000 BC to about 4000 BC. During this time period two forms of art were made. The first contained coarse-bodied items possibly intended for everyday use. The second being better, thinner-bodied products probably designed for routine use or special events. There's historical evidence indicating that both kinds of items were produced at the same time at some point.
Some experts believe the initial true porcelain was manufactured in the province of Zhejiang through the Eastern Han period. Chinese experts stress the current presence of a significant amount of porcelain-building minerals (china clay, porcelain stone or a combination of both) being an essential aspect in defining porcelain. Shards recovered from archaeological Eastern Han kiln websites projected heating temperature ranged from 1260 to 1300C, as far back as 1,000 BC. In early imperial China, porcelain was introduced and was processed to the stage that in English the phrase china has become associated with supreme quality porcelain.
During the Tang and Sui periods (581 to 906) an extensive selection of ceramics, low-fired and high-fired, were made. These included the well-known Tang lead-glazed sancai (three-colour) wares, the high-firing, lime-glazed Yue celadon wares and low-fired wares from Changsha. In northern China, high-fired, translucent porcelains were made at kilns in the provinces of Henan and Hebei. One of many first mentions of porcelain by a was created by an Arabian traveler during the Tang Dynasty who saved that:
"They have in China a really fine clay with which they make vases which are as clear as glass; water sometimes appears through them. The vases are constructed of clay"
Tang Sancai funeral products are becoming a very popular for of art. "Sancai" means three-colours. But, the shades of the glazes used to enhance the products of the Tang dynasty weren't limited by three in number. In the West, Tang sancai products were sometimes called egg-and-spinach by dealers for the utilization of natural, yellow and white. amber and off-white / cream though the latter of the 2 colours might be more precisely described.
