▌Liao sancai peony pattern begonia dish
The Liao Dynasty was a regime established in the history of the continent with the Khitan ethnic group as the main body, stretching across the north of the continent, with a vast territory and a vast territory, east to the sea, west to Jinshan, to quicksand, and north to the Qiqu River. The Liao Dynasty was founded in the same era as the five dynasties of the Central Plains, and finally the Jin Dynasty, the time span paralleled the Northern Song Dynasty. In order to meet the needs of rule, the liao's political structure implemented a dual-track management system of "one country, two systems", setting up southern officials and northern officials, and treating the Khitan with the system of the own ethnic group and treating the Han people with the Han system.
Culturally, khitan characters and Khitan small characters were created with reference to Chinese characters, which were used in parallel with Chinese characters. Economically, we should implement an open economic policy, attach importance to handicrafts, and encourage the development of handicrafts. Liao culture is an inclusive multicultural symbiosis, and Tang culture, Uighur culture, Bohai culture, and foreign culture are all actively absorbed and applied.
These measures have set a cultural tone for Khitan culture that is both multicultural and relatively independent. This historical fact is fully reflected in the remains of the Khitan (Liao).
▌ The distribution of Liao Sancai
As a traditional handicraft category, the ceramic industry has developed greatly in the Liao Dynasty. The Liao Dynasty porcelain-making tradition originated from the Central Plains Kiln Factory in the Tang Dynasty, and the porcelain-making techniques mainly imitated the Xing kiln, Ding kiln and Cizhou kiln in Hebei. Through inheritance, absorption, mixing and sublimation, ceramics with Khitan national temperament were created. According to archaeological findings, there are many kiln sites in Liao, mainly concentrated near Liaowujing.
The production of ceramics at each kiln site is both common and relatively independent. The ceramic kiln sites of the Liao Dynasty mainly include the Zhongjing Cylinder Tile Kiln, the Nanjing Longquan Wu Kiln, the Xijing Jiezhuang Kiln, the Shangjing LinDong Kiln, and the Tokyo Jianguantun Kiln Site. There are two main types of ceramics fired at the above kiln sites, one is the Han (Central Plains) tradition, and the other is the Khitan tradition. Han traditional ceramics are mainly used in daily life of various types of plates, bowls, bottles, pots, cans, etc., Khitan traditional ceramics see a variety of chicken crown pots, long-necked bottles, phoenix bottles, wear bottles, and Liao Sancai (low temperature tri-color glaze). Liao Sancai is the most representative of the Liao Dynasty ceramic culture and achievements of the landmark.
▌Liao Sancai peony pattern bowl
The term "sancai", first seen in the literature of the late Qing Dynasty, refers specifically to a kind of low-temperature glazed painted porcelain fired by the Kangxi Dynasty without red color. During the Republic of China period, a large number of Northern Wei and Sui and Tang tombs were discovered in the area of Luoyang, Henan, among which a colorful glazed pottery was excavated from the Tang Dynasty tombs, and the concept of Su Sancai was invoked, called "Tang Sancai". In the early years of the Republic of China, the Japanese did a lot of so-called "archaeological investigation and excavation work" in the western region of Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. It has successively excavated the kiln sites in Liaoyang Guantun, Chifeng Cylinder Tile Kiln, and Liaoshang Jinglinhuangfu Ancient City. With the liao dynasty ruins similar to the Tang Sancai type of artifacts, scholars called such colorful artifacts "Liao Sancai", and to this day, Liao Sancai has become a conventional name for the multi-color glazed pottery produced in the Liao Dynasty.
Liao Sancai artifacts were excavated from the tombs of nobles at all levels in the middle and late Liao Dynasty. It is generally excavated in the traditional settlements of the Khitan people, such as the western Liaoning region and the Zhongjing region. Judging from the investigation and excavation of the kiln sites of the Liao Dynasty, the kiln sites of the Liao Dynasty firing sancai mainly include the Baiyin Gela Sancai kiln, the Nanshan small water bath kiln, and the Chifeng cylinder tile kiln, and the number of excavations accounts for a small proportion of the Liao Dynasty ceramics. Among them, the Chifeng cylinder tile kiln has the largest number of sancai utensils, is also the most typical, and the best quality.
▌The origin and cultural elements of Liao Sancai
There are two main views on the origin of Liao Sancai, one is that Liao Sancai is derived from Tang Sancai in craftsmanship, which is a kind of inheritance of Tang culture. Another view is that it is an inevitable product of the era of the development of Liao Dynasty ceramics, and it is an inevitable stage in the history of the development of Liao porcelain.
Tang Sancai belongs to low-temperature lead-glazed pottery, which appeared in the early Tang Dynasty and flourished during the Wuzhou and Xuanzong periods. There are two major types of utensils: burial vessels and utility vessels. Porcelain sculptures are common, including various human figurines, animal figurines, and mythological figurines. Followed by cans, plates, three-legged plates, double dragon first bottles and so on. Decorative techniques are mainly manifested as dripping splashes, and the regular painting is only a minority. The colors are mainly yellow, green and white, with a small amount of blue, purple, ochre and black. The kiln sites mainly include Henan Gongyi Huangye Kiln, Shaanxi Tongchuan Huangbao Kiln, Hebei Neiqiu Xiguan Kiln and Shaanxi Xi'an Xijiao Airport Kiln. Tang Sancai is a large span from the Liao Sancai era, in principle, there should be no relationship between the inheritance of skills, but considering the following factors, the Liao Sancai process should be directly or indirectly derived from Tang Sancai.
▌ Liao Sancai flower mouth plate
In the Central Plains, there are Three-color kilns in Henan Gongyi kilns and Hebei Neiqiu kilns. This area was invaded by the Liao in the Five Dynasties and early Northern Song Dynasty. There are many records of this in the History of Liao, such as "In the eighth year of the same association (945), the troops were divided into three prefectures, punishment, huan, and magnetism, and the killing and plundering were exhausted." "In the fourth year of Tianlu (950), he attacked Anping, Neiqiu, and Shulu." The plundering of handicraft craftsmen was a major purpose of the conquest, reflected in the ceramics mainly in the Shangjinglin East Kiln, Nanjing Longquan Wu Kiln, etc., such craftsmen may be able to master the Sancai firing technology. The Liao people liked tea, and tea drinking mostly used monochrome glazed porcelain, and there was no market demand for sancai utensils at that time. In addition, the tire quality of the sancai utensils produced in Liaoning is loose, the mechanical strength is poor, and it cannot meet the needs of daily life, and the sancai glaze color contains certain toxins. From the early to the middle of the Liao Dynasty, why there was no Liao Sancai was not directly related to the technical level, but was determined by social needs. Tang Sancai and Liao Sancai are strikingly similar in terms of firing background, both of which are explicitly ordered by the government to prohibit the use of precious metal utensils to accompany burials, in order to reconcile the contradictions between the two, sancai utensils as alternative products should be born from time to time.
The four edicts of the Liao Shengzong Dynasty "prohibited the killing of horses in funerals and the play of tibetan armor and gold and silver utensils"; the Xingzong Dynasty clarified the utensils used for the burial of each level, stipulating that the prime minister, the festival and other silver utensils could be buried with them, and the nobles of other ranks could not bury the gold and silver utensils with them, and in order to meet the needs of the so-called "underworld", they turned to other alternatives. Due to the short production period of ceramic products and the easy quantity to meet, it has become the object of primary consideration. Coupled with the tradition of Tang Sancai as a Ming vessel, Sancai ware naturally became the first choice for burial vessels in the middle of the Liao Dynasty.
Sancai ware was still popular in the Song Dynasty and was a continuation of the Tang Sancai craft. The decoration method mainly uses carving to add color, after the plain burned tire, according to the needs of the decoration to fill the color glaze after the second firing. Song Sancai glaze color is relatively rich, commonly used yellow, green, white, brown four main colors, as well as red, black, sauce color. The picture is vivid, the color is regular, and the use of blue glaze is not seen. The most types of utensils are pillows, as well as boxes, lamps, etc. The picture has a strong atmosphere of folk life. Song Sancai has been excavated in ancient kiln sites in Yu County, Lushan, Neixiang and Yiyang in Henan. There are many excavations of Song Sancai artifacts in Liaojing, indicating that Song Sancai products have been circulated to Liaojing, and the learning of Sancai craftsmen in Liaoguo has also become an inevitable, which is the inevitable result of Economic and Cultural Exchanges between Song and Liao.
The development sequence of Liao Dynasty ceramics has undergone the process of low-temperature monochrome glazed ceramics (yellow, green, white) two series of Liao three colors. The law of development of things is a gradual process, and mutations are only the products of a very specific environment, not the norm. Especially in the traditional handicraft industry, its production technology and production concepts are accumulated, explored and constantly updated in long-term practice. The liao dynasty's two series of colors were first seen in a green glaze yellow color bottle excavated from the tomb of Ye Lu Yu, and since then there have been excavations, mostly white glaze green color, there are also yellow and green colors, it can be seen that Liaojing craftsmen can master the use of two colors very well. With the prohibition of thick burials in the middle and late Liao Dynasty, the production of Liao Sancai became a matter of course.
▌Liao Sancai peony pattern flower mouth plate
Liao Sancai mainly contains the following cultural factors:
Tang cultural factors. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, a large number of Han people in the Central Plains moved into the Western Liaoning and Song desert areas, which accelerated the process of Sinicization in the region, and all Khitan affairs were modeled after the Tang Dynasty, including the official system and the style of utensils. At the same time, the mixed settlement and integration of the Khitan and Han ethnic groups have also injected new driving factors into the economy and culture of this region. Advanced production tools and production technologies in the Central Plains poured into the Khitan territory on a large scale, so that the Khitan quickly absorbed advanced production elements on the basis of the original ceramic production, and the ceramic industry developed rapidly. All kinds of ceramics in the Liao Dynasty bear a strong Tang cultural imprint, which indirectly forms the Khitan national style and characteristics. In the cultural and economic trade exchanges with the Central Plains, Liao Dynasty white porcelain is to inherit the tradition of white porcelain in the Central Plains of the Tang Dynasty and indiscriminately coveted, the common ornaments of Tang Dynasty ceramics are also not badly expressed in Liao-produced ceramics, and some of the vessel types are also born from Tang and Five Generations of Gold and Silver Ware, and are mostly seen in the curved mouth and flower mouth shapes, revealing that they are influenced by Tang Dynasty gold and silver ware.
Buddhist cultural factors. The Khitan nobles were a firm believer in Buddhism, and Buddhist statues and buddhist temples were scattered throughout the Liao. In order to adapt to the social environment and the needs of rule, the early rulers of the Liao Dynasty vigorously advocated the reverence for Buddhism. From the beginning of the Shengzong Dynasty to the end of the Liao Dynasty, it was the most prosperous period of Buddhism in the Liao Dynasty. Liao Sancai appeared late in the middle of the Liao Dynasty, and its development trajectory coincided with the heyday of Buddhism.
Buddhist cultural symbols are commonly found in sancai vessels. There is a type of imprinted lotus petal pattern, which is a pattern that appears more frequently in Liao Sancai. Buddhism uses the lotus flower as a metaphor for Buddha-nature coming out of the mud and not staining it. Since the introduction of Buddhism to China, this theme has been popular in various fields, widely accepted and adopted, and these themes are often combined with some traditional Chinese ornaments, which can be seen that to some extent Buddhism has been integrated into Liao culture as a cultural tradition in The Liao. This kind of theme is more common in tombs in the late Liao Dynasty, such as the lotus algae well painted in the middle of the tomb chamber of Zhang Wenzao in Xuanhua, Hebei, and the lotus flower is painted on the outside of the dome of the dome of the tomb of Zhang Shiqing in Xuanhua, Hebei, and the heavy petal lotus is painted in the center of the top of the front chamber with red, ochre and light blue. There are some decorative themes with stronger Buddhist colors, such as lion patterns, Capricorn patterns, flame beads, and these themes are used together with many traditional themes such as secular life, which shows that Buddhism has entered the homes of ordinary people and penetrated into all aspects of society.
▌ Liao Dynasty mural tomb roof
Khitan ethnic cultural factors. As a nomadic people, the Khitan people live by water and grass, and have a unique attachment complex to the environment in which they live, and are fond of blue sky, white clouds, green grass and clear water, which are concentrated in the three colored utensils, that is, yellow, green and white as the mainstream, which fully embodies the free and unrestrained national character of the Khitan nation. The love of nature has risen to the worship of nature's gifts, chrysanthemums, sunflowers, peonies, butterflies, water waves and other common natural ornaments have been widely used in Liao Sancai, and the begonia plate is a typical example.
Liao Sancai type mainly has a variety of plates, bowls and inlaid utensils, with plates and bowls as the bulk. There are two ways to apply color, one is to color the spot color, and the other is to emboss (impression) fill color. Apply a layer of white makeup. Color is mainly yellow, green, white three shades. The combination of the three colors seems to be disorderly, but there is a meticulous design concept, as the trim of white, yellow, green pay attention to the natural transition, do not interfere with each other, the three colors have a strict primary and secondary distinction.
▌Liao Sancai instrument type and process
The begonia plate is a typical artifact of Liao Sancai, and the image is mostly found in the mural preparation of the Tomb Chamber of the Liao Dynasty. The shape of the begonia plate is derived from the gold and silverware of the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, a high-seat silver plate with a curved mouth, rectangular, engraved, and spliced molding was common, and the Liao Dynasty also had this gold and silver ware shape, and the begonia plate shape was similar to this. Mouth-made eight-curved begonia petals, red pottery tires, yellow or white as the base tone, the other two colors match, symbolizing yellow flowers, green grass, blue sky and white clouds. The mouth edge is generally embossed with a week of curly grass or vine leaf pattern, insole printing, mostly seen on the folded branches of peony flying on the saucer pattern, single or three chrysanthemum (sunflower) pattern, supplemented by flowing clouds, flowing water pattern, a vibrant grassland scene, the pattern is plump, fat, the layout is open, rigorous and neat, the embossed lines are rough, showing the khitan people's deep nomadic complex.
▌ Liao three-colored pattern begonia plate
The disc is divided into three types, including a round disc, a square disc, and a flower mouth plate. The decoration of the disc is the inner bottom of the embossing ornament, the inner wall is painted, the outer wall is glazed with transparent glaze; the square disc and the flower mouth plate are derived from wood or metal shapes, the bottom center is embossed with four chrysanthemum patterns, yellow flowers and green leaves, very beautiful, the four walls are vertically divided layout, decorated with arabesque patterns or small chrysanthemums, and the color texture is strong.
▌ Liao sancai group pattern plate
▌Liao sancai peony pattern square plate
▌Liao sancai peony pattern plate
▌Liao sancai peony pattern octagonal plate
The bowl is a common daily utensil in the Liao Dynasty, the shape is relatively regular, and the molding method generally has two kinds of blanks and impressions. The glaze colors are white glaze, black glaze, green glaze, sauce glaze, and three-color glaze. The three-color glazed bowl has two shapes, one is a deep-belly bowl and the other is a straight-walled folded belly bowl, both of which are molded. Sancai glazed bowls are generally decorated with concentric circles, from the inner wall outer edge to the inner insole layered decoration, shicai has molded color and pouring color (painted) two kinds, the Kangxi period saw the plain sancai "tiger skin three colors" and similar.
In addition to the plates, bowls and plates seen in daily life, Liao Sancai also has some special shapes, called inlays. Most of the vessel types are derived from gold and silverware of the Tang and Five Dynasties. For example, the three-color glaze printing group dragon and phoenix pattern holding pot, the whole is divided into two parts, the upper part is the holding pot, and the lower part is a warm bowl, because of the process limitations, it is a split utensil. There are also warm bowls (warm plates), chicken crown pots, porcelain sculptures, stationery utensils, etc. The production process of such utensils is more complicated and difficult to form.
▌ Liao Sancai Tata model
▌ Liao Sancai dragon stream with handle pot
▌ Liao Sancai reclining cat
▌ Liao Dynasty green glazed melon ridge holding pot
Following the Liao Sancai, a colorful glaze appeared in the Jinyuan period, called "Jinyuan Sancai". The type of utensils is mostly seen in small plates, plates, and some porcelain pillows. The decoration method is often seen in single lines to add color, the pattern pays attention to the center-like layout, it is more regular and rigid, and the lines are simple and unrestrained. The colors are mostly yellow, green, red, and ochre, and the use of white tones is rare, and the proportion of red and green is more. The theme of ornamentation is mostly a single flower and a leaf, a thing and a scene, and the common ones are folded chrysanthemums, lotus flowers, peonies, sleeping rabbit patterns, reed geese and so on. In terms of ornamentation and decorative techniques, it has strong characteristics of the times, similar to the styles of Longquan kiln, Cizhou kiln and Yaozhou kiln in the same period.
As an important member of the big family of Chinese ceramics, Liao Sancai fuses the unrestrained Khitan gene and traditional Chinese culture in one furnace, adding a strong ink and color to Chinese ceramics, and plays a role in carrying forward the development of Jinyuan Sancai and even Ming and Qing Su Sancai.
*Source: Mid-Levels Antiques
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