Pottery, an art form that combines traditional Chinese culture with modern art, has been loved by many parents and children in recent years.
Image source: hippopx
In life, the word "ceramics" is often hung up on our lips, so many people think that ceramics are the name of an artifact, but did you know that "pottery" and "porcelain" are not one thing.
"Ceramics" brothers
In layman's terms, "pottery" is a vessel made of clay (such as the famous terracotta warriors), and "porcelain" is a vessel made of porcelain clay. "Ceramics" is a general term for "porcelain", "blazing ware" and "pottery". The birth time of "pottery" and "porcelain" is also different, except for the transitional stage of "original porcelain", the real pottery production has been 20,000 years ago, and the production of porcelain is only more than 3,000 years ago.
As long as clay of two different properties, clay and porcelain clay, are used as raw materials, utensils made by process such as ingredients, molding, drying and roasting can be called "ceramics".
The most accurate definition of "ceramics" is that they are naturally carved or synthetic powdered compounds, molded and fired at high temperatures.
There is also no shortage of records of "pottery" in history. The history books say: "Shen Farming Xiang Tao"; the "Historical Record" says: "The Yellow Emperor ordered Ning to be sealed as Tao Zheng". It is enough to see that as early as ancient times, the mainland already had "pottery".
According to the excavated cultural relics, as early as the Neolithic Age between 3500 and 1500, China has produced "faience pottery". The earliest historical records of "porcelain" are only found in the Han Dynasty Xu Shen's "Explanation of Words", and the literal meaning explained in the book shows that "porcelain" belongs to the next stage of "pottery".
It is no exaggeration to say that if the technique of making pottery had not been invented at that time, or if the relevant production methods had not been continuously improved after discovery, "porcelain" could not have existed as a vessel alone.
When "porcelain" appeared, "pottery" was still widely produced, and "porcelain" did not replace "pottery", but developed independently.
The difference between pottery and porcelain
First of all, the firing temperature of pottery and porcelain is different. However, the firing method uses the same kind of "vegetarian burning". Vegetarian firing refers to the way in which the surface of the work is not glazed and is directly fired.
The plain firing temperature of pottery is usually between 900 ° C and 1000 ° C, while the porcelain is between 1100 ° C and 1350 ° C. It can be seen that on the basis of making pottery, adding fire and heating, pottery becomes porcelain.
Secondly, the raw material structure of pottery and porcelain is also different. Pottery is usually made of clay or green clay in nature (the raw material for refined pottery is in addition to clay), in addition to adding an appropriate amount of feldspar and quartz. The raw materials of porcelain are mainly porcelain clay, clay, porcelain stone, feldspar, quartz and so on.
Some porcelain requires the selection of specific kaolin clay as raw materials. Because if ordinary clay is used as raw material, when the temperature of the vegetarian firing is as high as 1200 ° C, these porcelain will be melted into glass, not porcelain.
And the process of selecting raw materials also needs to be extremely delicate, whether it is washing, crushing (coarse crushing and fine crushing), stirring water or adding quantitative iron, each link needs to be very rigorous.
Finally, the glazing of pottery and porcelain is also different. The so-called "glaze" is attached to the vessel to indicate that the layer of smooth and shiny shell, the glaze of porcelain is mainly quartz and the like, which is a high-temperature glaze, and the surface is smooth after firing.
Pottery usually does not apply glaze, if the glaze is only applied low temperature glaze, so the surface of the pottery is not as smooth as porcelain, although slightly rough, but good breathability.
How to distinguish between "pottery" and "porcelain" in life
The shape of the pottery generally appears to be somewhat rustic and rough from the outside, and because the temperature is not too high when firing, the embryo body has not been completely sintered, so the essence of the pottery is rough, with the finger gently tapping its surface, you will find that the sound is relatively "blunt", and the metal scratches the surface is prone to scratches, even if the surface is thin, the inside will not be transparent.
Porcelain is more common in life, including porcelain bowls for eating, porcelain cups for drinking water, tiles in the bathroom, etc. The shape of porcelain is more delicate and elegant, the sound is crisp when tapping, and it is difficult to scratch with metal. Porcelain can be illuminated with a flashlight to transmit light and has translucent properties.
In the more than one hundred years since the end of the Qing Dynasty to the present, the ceramic industry has continued to rise from the trough to the rise, from traditional handicrafts to modern science and technology. As one of the most representative things in China, ceramics have gradually entered the world stage.
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