The history of Luoyang tricolor

When it comes to Luoyang tricolor, people first think of "Tang tricolor", horses, camels, female figurines and so on. In fact, "Three Colors in Tang Dynasty" is only a period and an important stage in the development of three colors. The so-called tricolor mainly refers to multicolor, which is a pioneering work in the history of China ceramics. The masterpiece of tricolor art is a national treasure. Tricolor art fully demonstrates the potential and advantages of China ceramic culture. The three colors of each era have distinct artistic characteristics of each era. The prototype of "Luoyang Sancai" originated from low-temperature lead glazed pottery in Han Dynasty, which was mainly popular in the Yellow River valley, also known as "northern glazed pottery". Most of them are made of ordinary clay, brick red. The main colorants of Han Sancai are copper and iron, which are sintered in an oxidizing atmosphere. Iron first made the glaze yellow-brown or brownish red (China yellow glaze), and copper later made the glaze green (China blue glaze). Most of them are monochromatic glazes, and some of them are polychromatic glazes. Green, yellow, brown and other glaze colors appear on a pottery in the form of lines or dots, which is the most rare. The firing temperature is 700-800 C. Because of its low temperature, brittle body and high water absorption, it is often used as a funerary object. There are mainly bronzes such as ding, bell and jar, as well as animal images such as chicken, dog and pig, and a large number of models such as warehouses, wells, furnaces, water, mills, workshops and pavilions. "China tricolor" system includes wheel system, molding and hand kneading. Although the production process is rough, it only seeks the outline and does not pay attention to the detail description, but the image is vivid, the lines are smooth, and it is highly summarized and refined.

The invention and development of lead glaze technology in Han Dynasty is of great significance in the history of China ceramics. It breaks the original situation of single color of glazed pottery, is a bold innovation of glazed pottery masters in Han Dynasty, and is the sublimation of artistic taste and style. Han Sancai laid the foundation for the successful firing of Tang Sancai in the future. In the transition period from "Three Colors of Han Dynasty" to "Three Colors of Tang Dynasty", it is common to add yellow, green and brown to the glaze color of "Three Colors of Han Dynasty". Tires also become porcelain clay, that is, the tires are fired at 1 100, then glazed and fired again. The embryo, glaze application, process and duration are almost the same as those of "Three Colors of Tang Dynasty", but the glaze color, glaze thickness, glaze fluidity and painting have not reached the height of "Three Colors of Tang Dynasty". Tri-color in the Southern and Northern Dynasties can be regarded as the bud of "Tri-color in Tang Dynasty", which plays a connecting role.

In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, multicolor glazes appeared in three colors, such as adding green to yellow and white backgrounds or using yellow, green and brown at the same time. This kind of painted pottery laid a good foundation for the colorful, smooth, transparent, crystal clear and luxurious tri-colors in Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the aesthetic concept changed. "Three colors" products are not as graceful and gorgeous as "Three Colors of Tang Dynasty", with elegant glaze, quiet and implicit, and far-reaching artistic conception. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, they paid more attention to the surface decoration technology, and were good at carving, printing, gilding and applique, hollowing out, kneading and embossing, especially carving and filling, which formed a higher artistic effect than the Tang Dynasty. The ceramic matrix is mainly decorated by carving. After the first firing, fill with colored glaze according to the decoration requirements, and then fire for the second time.

Song San's glass is rich in color. On the basis of the three colors in the Tang Dynasty, four main colors of yellow, green, white and brown were added, and there were red, black and sauce colors, and a new emerald glaze was created, which was emerald and bright. Compared with the tri-color paintings in the Tang Dynasty, the tri-color paintings in the Song Dynasty have vivid images, regular colors and no blue glaze. The use function has changed from underground to above ground. In the Song Dynasty, there were mainly daily utensils such as pillows, lamps, dishes, bowls, pots and bottles, as well as small toys such as dogs, horses and pigs. Pillows were the bulk, and there were also donors such as relic boxes and towers. This painting has a strong flavor of folk life.

Song Sancai kept the characteristics of folk kilns in Tang Dynasty, mainly produced in Heluo area. Generally speaking, Liao Sancai was in the same period as Song Sancai. Liao was a regime established by the Khitans in northern China, which created a splendid culture with national characteristics and occupied a very important position in the history of China ceramics.

Tri-color in Liao Dynasty inherited the tradition of Tang Dynasty, and it is a kind of low-temperature glazed pottery that accepted the tradition of tri-color in Tang Dynasty. Its fetal quality is thick and hard, and it is grayish yellow, white or reddish. Although the quality is not as good as Tang Sancai, it also has its own distinctive characteristics of the times. Liao tricolor developed its own characteristics on the basis of inheriting the traditional techniques of Tang tricolor.

Yellow, green and brown glazes are mostly used in Liao tricolor, and the square plate, long plate, cockscomb pot and barrel bottle of begonia flower are rich in Qidan national style. Among them, the firing capacity of Chifeng Gangwa Kiln is relatively large, the three-color glazed pottery is soft and reddish, and the glaze color is delicate and bright, which can be comparable to that of the Tang Dynasty. There are two decorative techniques: printing and crosscutting. Generally speaking, plates and discs are printed in Yang Wen, and the cutter is cut horizontally. Different from Tang tri-colors, Liao tri-colors have no blue, the glaze colors are not mixed, and the glaze surface is less flowing.

People call this kind of ceramics "Liao porcelain". It inherits the tradition of "Three Colors in Tang Dynasty", so it is also called "Three Colors in Liao Dynasty". Due to orthodoxy, the colored glazed pottery fired in the northern area under the rule of the Jin Dynasty is also known as Song Sancai (in recent years, according to new archaeological data, there is also the saying of Jin Sancai).

Yuan tricolor, Ming tricolor (glazed tricolor, Fahua tricolor)

Typical is the tri-color in Ming Dynasty, which refers to glazed pottery products. It was used in court buildings in the Northern Wei Dynasty and revived in the Tang and Song Dynasties (the Song Dynasty iron tower in Kaifeng, Henan Province was the masterpiece of glazed architecture at that time). The Yuan Dynasty made great progress and entered its heyday in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Architectural glass in Ming and Qing Dynasties is the most mature period. The production of architectural glass has surpassed any previous dynasty in quantity and quality, and the official buildings have been highly standardized and stereotyped. In the early Ming Dynasty, the glazed pottery used in the palace building was set in a kiln in Jubaoshan, Nanjing, and then a glazed pottery factory was set up in Beijing. The Forbidden City in Beijing is the palace of emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is a masterpiece of ancient architectural art in China, decorated with various glazed components. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, glazed sculptures were widely used as architectural decoration, and their representatives were the glazed nine-dragon wall in Datong, Shanxi Province and the nine-dragon wall in Beihai Park.

The glaze color of building ceramic tire glass is basically the same as that of tricolor glass. Lead is used as a cosolvent, and metal elements such as copper, iron, cobalt and manganese are used as colorants. The difference is that it should be added to glass to increase the thickness of glaze layer.

Fahua tricolor is a new variety developed on the basis of colored glass, which was popular in the southwest of the mountain after the middle of Ming Dynasty. The tire of tile is exactly the same as that of glass, and the glaze formula is the same, but the flux is different: lead is used for glass, and potassium nitrate is used for tile. Jingdezhen also copied porcelain before and after Jiajing. The difference between Jingdezhen and Shanxi is that Jingdezhen uses ceramic tires, while Shanxi uses ceramic tires, so the firing temperature is different.

The difference between Fahua glazed pottery and ordinary glazed pottery is that it adopts the vertical powder process. Fill the fine mud into the cloth bag with a thin tube, squeeze the mud bag according to the adjustment scheme, outline the figures and flowers on the pottery tire, and then glaze it according to the pattern color. The production of "Su Sancai" appeared in the Ming Dynasty and developed rapidly in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It is a new variety introduced by Jingdezhen porcelain makers according to the over-glaze color technology. Su Sancai's tire bones are all made of porcelain clay, which is fired at a high temperature of 1200 degrees. The characteristic of decorative pattern is figuration. In ancient China, weddings, birthdays and other happy events were called meat events, which were red. Funeral and other things are called vegetarian things, usually in white, blue, green, yellow and other colors, also known as vegetarian colors. This is the origin of the name "plain tricolor", and it also shows the limitations of glaze technology at that time, and it is difficult to burn bright red, so it is often said that "tricolor plus red is priceless".

Jiao zhitao

Toe pottery originated in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty. Originated in the south of Wuling, Guangdong, the area around Lingnan was called "Toe Toe" in ancient times. The technique of toenail pottery was introduced into Chiayi, Taiwan Province Province in the18th century, and it is also called "Chiayi Burning" in Taiwan Province Province. It is the representative of the three colors in Qing Dynasty, evolved on the basis of "Three Colors in Tang Dynasty" and "Three Colors in Song Dynasty", and is also a low-temperature multicolor glaze. The production of toenail pottery depends entirely on skilled potters sticking and decorating pieces of mud with their hands and bamboo sticks, and then coloring them with multicolor glaze to make them colorful. After repeated firing, it integrates the beauty of sculpture, color and pottery firing, and also embodies the extremely complex and exquisite craftsmanship of the Qing Dynasty.