Author: M. Tatsu
#陶器篇-57 #
Dear friends, thank you for your support and follow the "Museum of the World" from Egypt, India, Greece, Mexico, Iran, China to the European series of Russia and the Asian series of Turkey. Now, the World Museum - Pottery chapter is underway, and the speed is watching... (Photo: Iranian faience bowl, one of the treasures of the town hall of the National Museum of Iran)
(Eggshell black pottery high-handled cup, Yongsan culture)
Today, we want to talk about this pottery treasure is China's most famous ancient pottery in the world, it is praised by the world archaeological community as "the most exquisite masterpiece of the earth civilization 4,000 years ago", it represents the highest level of ancient Chinese pottery technology, it is the peak of the history of Chinese pottery that has never been ancient and has never come... It is:
The treasure of Shandong Museum - eggshell black pottery high handle cup.
(The pictures in this article are taken by M. Chen and Color Shadow, all rights reserved)
(Eggshell black pottery high-handled cup, partial)
Artifact resume
Black pottery high-handled cup, 26.5 cm high, caliber 9.45 cm, foot diameter 4.7 cm, weight 93 grams, about 4500-4000 years ago; excavated in 1973 in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, Donghaiyu site; because this cultural type was first discovered in Chengziya, Longshan Town, Zhangqiu County, Shandong Province, it was named "Longshan Culture Type" by archaeology, and the eggshell black pottery high-handled cup belongs to the Longshan cultural relics.
Black pottery that is "black as lacquer, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, hard as porcelain" is a typical feature of Longshan culture, but it is unique to Shandong Longshan culture and is the symbol and symbol of Longshan culture. Among all the excavated Longshan black pottery, this eggshell black pottery high-handled cup is the most exquisite and precious piece, and is a national first-class cultural relic (national treasure).
(Attached: Archaeology "XX culture" naming three elements: 1. Obvious characteristics: a group of type products with clear characteristics, such as Yangshao culture pottery, Sanxingdui bronze ware, etc.; It has a certain distribution range: there are more than one site of the same type, such as liangzhu culture and Longshan culture, which have excavated cultural relics with the same characteristics in a large range; 3. Have a fairly full understanding of the content of this culture, such as Hemudu culture, Dawenkou culture, etc. ）
As mentioned in the previous article, whether a cultural relic is a heavy weapon needs to consider its historical value, artistic value and scientific value, with historical value as the first, artistic value and scientific value in turn.
Let's first look at the scientific value of this eggshell black pottery high-handled cup.
Most of the pottery made by human beings at the beginning of the Neolithic Age is a rough pot made of "mud sheet sticking method" or "mud strip plate construction method", which is simple and practical but not fine. Later, he invented the "wheel forming method", which not only improved the work efficiency, but also improved the beauty and fineness of the utensils. After that, the pottery produced by the wheel forming method stagnated after reaching a certain degree of fineness, the reason being that the quality of the ceramic billet and the speed and precision of the pottery wheel reached a bottleneck.
The ancestors of the Yongsan region were the first to break through this technical bottleneck - making it possible to pull out 0.1-0.2 mm thick ceramic billets with high rotation and extreme precision.
At the same time, the Yongsan people also found an effective way to deal with clay. They take the fine mud deposited in the river and lake for many years, and repeatedly wash it to be pure and free of impurities, so that the pottery has a certain toughness, so as to ensure that the pottery will not be deformed or broken in the process of thinning.
Black pottery craftsmanship
In addition to the sophisticated technology to ensure the eggshell black pottery high handle cup "thin as paper, hard as porcelain" caretaker quality, its "black as lacquer, bright as a mirror" is also one of its unique skills.
We know that the color of pottery stems from the color reaction of the ingredients contained in the ceramic blank in the firing atmosphere of the kiln. Longshan black pottery needs to accurately grasp the firing temperature and strictly control the kiln atmosphere during the firing process:
1. Firing ultra-thin pottery, once the fire is not mastered well, the utensils will explode or deform. Therefore, it is said that the potters of Longshan were able to accurately control the firing of ultra-thin utensils at that time.
2. In the late stage of firing, it is necessary to create a kiln atmosphere with poor ventilation in the kiln, so that the firewood will produce a large amount of black smoke during the firing process. These tiny carbon particles are continuously adsorbed by the void of the ceramic tire that is close to the vacuum, and gradually spread deep into the interior of the ceramic tire until the adsorption stops, thus forming a dense carcass and black pottery inside and out.
The longshan people's mastery of the production technology of black pottery is simply amazing. It should be noted that so far, the use of various modern technologies such as machinery and craftsmanship by later generations has not been able to produce pottery comparable to the color, feel and appearance of Longshan black pottery in the Neolithic period. To some extent, the scientific and artistic value contained in the eggshell black pottery high handle cup still makes future generations look up to the mountains.
Finally, let's look at its historical value.
Why do Longshan people make black pottery?
The ancients were still black, because black represented solemnity, solemnity, solemnity, and mystery, implying the remoteness and mystery of the universe and the world. Longshan culture is famous for black pottery, indicating that the Longshan people at that time also admired black as the color, so they invented black pottery independently under unprecedented conditions.
Archaeological research has shown that Longshan eggshell black pottery is not a practical instrument, and its top-heavy shape and expensive process technology cost make it impossible to be an appliance used by ordinary families. Judging from the fact that the black pottery of eggshells in archaeological sites is found in large tombs and is not mixed with other ming vessels in a single place, experts speculate that it should belong to the sacrificial ritual vessel, which is a testimony to the prehistoric ritual civilization.
Longshan eggshell black pottery, black as lacquer, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, hard as porcelain, although it has always been imitated, but has never been surpassed, the heavens only gave his favor to the Longshan people of that era. Fortunately, we will still have the honor to see it in the museum today.
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