Posts Tagged ‘tang sancai’

Antique Early Chinese Ceramics

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Early Chinese Ceramics
By the Shang period (c.1600-c.1050) when stonewares were first produced in China, there was an advanced ceramic technology, with the separate high-fired and low-fired traditions of Chinese ceramics already apparent. The high-fired Yue stonewares produced from the 3rd century AD were the precursors of the great celadons of the Song period and represent a high level of technical and artistic achievement.
EARLY WARES
The earliest known Chinese ceramics are low-fired eathenwares dating from the Neolithic period. Distinct traditions emerged in the Central (c.5000-c.2500 BC) and Western (c.3300-c.1800 BC) Yangshao cultures and the Dawenkou culture (c.5800-c.1500 BC) in the north-east. The distinctive bulbous red Yangshao earthen wares were coil constructed and were sometimes decorated with impressed cord-like patterns or painted with bold black or purple geometric designs, often of spirals and loops enclosing checkered patterns. Dawenkou wares are thin, wheel-thrown pots made of red, grey, or black earthenware, which was burnished.
During the Shang period thick, white, unglazed pots were made of kaolin (china clay), while other fine clays were used to make stonewares, which were then glazed. A, ceramics technology developed, wares became
increasingly sophisticated; the potter’s wheel became more common, and new types of body - such as high-fired stoneware-were introduced. Forms at this time tended to be based On such bronze ritual forms as the ding and the hit. In the Han period a huge variety of wares was made, including models of houses, farms, ponds, and human figures in lead-glazed earthenware, which were all produced as funerary goods to accompany the deceased into the afterlife.
sophisticated desk ornaments, such as water droppers and brush rests in the shapes of frogs, lions, and other animals, as well as burial urns with applied models of buildings, animals, people, or Buddhist deities. Yue
wares also include more functional items, including straight-sided basins. From the second half of the 4th century ewers with characteristic “chicken-head” spouts were produced, and within about 100 years more elegant versions with taller proportions were being made. In general, later Yue wares are more graceful than earlier ones, the glaze becoming progressive less olivey and more jade-like and translucent owing to the use of finer raw materials.
TANG WARES
Some fine white-bodied wares, which led to the production Of true porcelain, were made during the Tang period, and included both glazed and unglazed wares. The glaze on Tang wares is particularly distinctive as it has a bright, glassy appearance. In the low-fired range the most characteristic wares of the period are the sancai (”three colour”) wares, namely earthenware vessels and models made as tomb goods, decorated
with runny lead-fluxed glazes coloured green, chestnut,
amber, cream, and, later, blue. Vessels are typically squat
and rounded, and include jars, vases, and bowls. Decoration was Moulded or painted with spotted designs based on contemporary textile patterns. Figures include tomb guardians (whose faces were often left unglazed and painted with coloured pigments after firing), camels, and horses. Because these wares have been buried for such long periods they are usually relatively undamaged; nevertheless, they can be very reasonably priced.
Principal Chinese dynasties
Shang (c.1600-c.1050 BC) Song (960-1279)
Zhou (c.1050-256 BC) Yuan (1279-1368)
Han (206 BC-AD 220) Ming (1368-1644)
Tang (618-907) Qing 1644-1911
Neolithic wares
• BODY red, grey, or black earthenwareFORMS
• funeral jars, cooking utensils, and ewers
• DECORATION cord-like patterns; bold painted designs
YUE WARES
Grey-bodied stonewares covered with a green-grey glaze were made in the Yue district in northern Zhejiang Province from the 3rd or 4th century AD until the 10th or 11th century, when they Isere superseded by the famous Longquan celadons. Yuc wares are exceptionally fine and were presented as tribute at the Tang court as well as being exported to South-East Asia and the Near East. Early Yue wares include
Yue wares
• BODY stoneware
• FORMS desk ornaments (water droppers, brush rests, etc); “chicken-head” ewers; bowls and jars
• GLAZE green-grey with an olive tinge in early wares
• DI CORATION incised decoration and applied figures
and modelling on desk ornaments and burial urns
Tang sancai wares
• BODY earthenware
• GLAZE lead-fluxed green, amber, brown, cream, blue
• DECORATION Pots re-create woven textile patterns; horses have superbly modelled tack

Antique Screens

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Screens
The earliest known screens were made in China, but they are recorded in Europe from at least the Middle Ages and regularly mentioned in 15th-century inventories. It wa
until the coming of electricity that their role in the household changed dramatically, from temperature regulator to decorative art form.
TYPES OF SCREEN
Screens developed from sheer need; until recently, draughts and the excesses of heat from open fires were a way of life in every region where the chills of winter were felt. A number of pieces of furniture were developed to combat these problems — the wing armchair enclosed the sitter and helped him or her to keep warm, and settles, Often curved and with solid backs,
draughts and contained the heat.
However, the most versatile piece of
furniture was the folding screen. It could
be large with hinged leaves, sometimes up
to 12 in number and occasionally even
more. It was practical because, however
large, it could easily be folded and stored
away. Alternatively, a small screen with
an adjustable panel could protect a localized area from the heat of the fire. The screen’s place was at the heart of the household, so its quality openly reflected the status of the owner. Screens were therefore made of a variety of materials, from wood to leather and the most
expensive and decorative cloths. They could also be made of wicker: one featured in the painting The Virgin Child before a Firescreen (c.1440; National Gallery, London) by a follower of the Flemish artist Robert Campin. It shows the Virgin sitting on a low settle, with her head framed halo-like against a circular wicker screen placed before a fireplace.
LACQUERED AND JAPANNED SCREENS
The voyages of discovery opened up the trade routes with the East, and the East India companies were set up to foster this business. By the mid-17th century trade in Oriental curiosities with China and japan established a taste for the East, which spread and had an enduring impact on furniture ornament and design.
China and Japan had long enjoyed a tradition of sophisticated workmanship. In the West there was a fascination with their blue-and-white porcelain, but furniture was also imported into Europe. The screen Was an important feature of the Oriental interior.
There the room settings were highly formalized, and in Japan, particularly, solid pieces of furniture were few. Screens were used as room dividers, gave privacy when required, and protected against draughts. They were also designed to be easily movable and, therefore, were ideal for export. The flow to Europe rapidly increased, as Oriental screens translated well to the European interior. More importantly, they gave broad displays of sought-after Oriental lacquer and ornamentation. Chinese lacquer screens were known as “Coromandel” or “bantamwork” screens in the West. However, the demand for lacquer soon outstripped supply; Oriental screens are mentioned in the inventories of every great house between 1700 and 1750. True Oriental lacquer could not be produced in Europe because its main ingredient was the sap of the Rhus vernicifera tree,
China and later introduced to Japan and to C South-East Asia, but not grown in Europe. Once the sap had been dried, it could be applied in coats, forming a crust so hard that it could be carved in relief. Colour, traditionally black, red, and aubergine, could also be added to the sap. In Europe an imitation based on shellac (made from insect secretions) was developed, known as japanning.
The drawing-room was not the only part of the house heated by open fires and so requiring screens. In the dining-room, people often made strenuous efforts to avoid being the ones who sat at table with their backs to the fire. To relieve scorching backs and protect the sitter, a screen of woven cane was introduced, which Could be hooked to the back of a chair and extend from the head to the seat. Such small, easily movable screens were also used as splashbacks on washstands to protect the walls.
The increasing introduction of enclosed fires,
and particularly of electricity and central heating, has made the screen almost redundant. Some fine-quality examples are works of art in their own right and survive as a result, but vast numbers have been put away and damaged through neglect. Some, for example scrapwork and leather screens, are rarely in complete and undamaged condition. A screen that is in its original state and not in need of repair is a real find.

• CONDITION leather and scrapwork screens are vulnerable – check that they arc complete, as repair is costly; if the panels on a screen display an incomplete picture, the value will be lowered; scrapwork screens in good condition are generally collectable
• ALTECATIONS some polescreens have been converted into tripod tables or music stands; check for strange proportions of the top to the stand; check that polescreen insets are contemporary to the frame
• COLLECTING fire- and polescreens are the least commercial – other types are more popular, and value is based on scarcity of material, rarity of maker, and quality; when wallpaper and paints replaced 17th-century wall panels of embossed Icatherwork, sections of the leather were often made into screens; on 19th screens, surrounds of giltwood are more desirable than gilt gesso, and less likely to be damaged

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Friday, May 1st, 2009