Outstanding Features of Gansu Painted Pottery

The long-established Gansu colored pottery art

The Yellow River is the cradle of the Chinese nation, and it is the mother river in the hearts of the Chinese people.

The Yellow River civilization is one of the great ancient civilizations. The Yellow River Civilization was formed on the basis of the splendid Neolithic culture of the whole Yellow River Basin. In the Neolithic era, the Yellow River Basin was divided into three interconnected and distinctive cultural zones in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the river.

The Neolithic culture distributed in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Gansu and Qinghai is characterized by the beautiful colored pottery.

Among the famous great rivers, the Yellow River is crowned with color. The star-like gushing springs of the Starry Sea converged into streams and gathered into a big river. And in ancient times people will be the Yellow River is only called the river, agitation of the Yellow River through the Tibetan Plateau heavy canyon, straight down the Loess Plateau west end of the Lanzhou Basin, and along the Loess Plateau west edge of the north, to the northeast folded to Inner Mongolia, and then turn south flow, turbulence, through the Loess Plateau, sand and sediment, the river is yellow and raging, the river is therefore known as the Yellow River. The color of the Yellow River is the Loess Plateau.

In the southern foothills of the Loess Plateau in the pre-mountainous area, the formation of an east-west up to seven hundred kilometers of the river alluvial area, the soil is fertile, suitable for farming, and has become one of the most developed agricultural areas in China in ancient times.

The Wei River is the longest tributary of the Yellow River, located in the southwestern foot of the Loess Plateau, crossing the eastern Gansu and Guanzhong Plain. The Wei River is often flooded by mountain torrents, creating fertile alluvial soil on the south bank of the Wei River, which provides not only fertile soil for farming but also pure and fine quality clay. On this yellow soil full of vitality and spirit, the earliest colored pottery in China was produced.

In 1979, during excavations at the Neolithic site of Dadiwan in Tai'an County, Gansu Province, cultural remains containing colored pottery were discovered that were older than the Yangshao half-slope type, known as the Dadiwan culture. The colored pottery of Didiwan culture was made by layering clay pieces, and the pottery was red pottery with fine sand. The fire is not high, the texture is fluffy, and the production of pottery is relatively primitive. Color pottery pattern is very simple, in the round-bottomed bowl or three-legged bowl outside the mouth painted a circle of red broadband pattern, but also in the mouth painted a circle of red narrow band pattern. This simple red broadband pattern, as if Fuxi's a painting to open the sky, cut through the darkness of obscurity and chaos.

Some of the colored pottery bowl of the Dadiwan culture, painted with a red monogram, "‖", "×", "○", "●", "●", "●", "●", "●", "●", "●", "●", "●", "●", "●" and "●". ", "≈", "∈", "┆┊", "╮╮", "亻", etc. Some of the symbols may be related to numbers, while others belong to referential symbols. The symbols of the referential system that appeared on the colored pottery of the Dadiwan culture continued to develop on the colored pottery of the succeeding Half-slope type and Majiayao culture, which provided precious physical information for the study of the origin and development of ancient Chinese characters.

The carbon dating of the first phase of the Didiwan site is 8,170 to 7,370 years ago (corrected), so the colored pottery of the Didiwan culture is the earliest colored pottery known in China so far. The Hassuna Culture of the Two Rivers Valley, dating back to the early 8,000s, is considered to be the earliest ancient culture in the world to contain colored pottery. The Dadiwan culture is comparable in age to the Hassuna culture, and is one of the earliest ancient cultures in the world to have colored pottery.

Following the Da Diwan culture and the Half-slope type, entered the period of rapid development of colored pottery. Half-slope type is about 6000 years ago, the distribution area is mainly in the eastern Gansu and Guanzhong area, after a long pottery production practice, in the clay processing, pottery molding, development of pigments and painting technology has improved greatly. The pottery of colored pottery is mostly pure fine clay red pottery. The large and medium-sized pottery mainly adopts the clay strip plate construction method. In addition to the maroon color, black color was also used for the colored pigments. The pottery wheel, which had a high speed of rotation, was used in the drawing of the pottery and in the painting of long lines. These, for the half slope type of painters to paint the rich connotation of colored pottery pattern provides the technical conditions.

Gansu area of the half-slope type of painted pottery pattern, mainly fish and fish aquatic animals of various variants of the pattern, this kind of pattern throughout the development of the half-slope type, and shows the evolution of the natural shape from the realistic pattern for the geometric pattern of the series of schematic process. Half-slope type of clan people on the fish family pattern love, should be related to the original juice will be totem worship, half-slope type of colored pottery on the colorful fish pattern is half-slope tribal fish totem map.

Around 5500 years ago 'to Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi neighboring areas as the center of the Miao Di Gou type, its spread and influence on a wide range of surfaces, to the west to reach central Gansu. Gansu colored pottery of the Miaodigou period has gradually revealed its regional characteristics, and the variant fish pattern has become the main colored pottery pattern. In Qin'an County, Dadiwan, a Miaodigou type of early house foundation, mountain soil, a pair of variant fish pattern painted pottery pots, caliber of 51 centimeters. The shape of the vessel is neat, pottery wall thickness uniform, depicting the fish body lines up to more than feet, painted strong condensed, showing a high level of painting skills. This pair of variant fish pattern painted pottery pots, can be regarded as a representative work of early painted pottery pots.

Qin'an Dadiwan also unearthed a Miaodigou type of early human head-shaped vessel mouth colored pottery vase, is located in the mouth of the round carved human head, draped in neat short hair, the ears have a small perforation, is used to tie hanging decorations. The eyes and mouth are carved into hollow holes, and the top of the bottle is only open with a small mouth, so this human head shaped pottery bottle is not a daily practical vessel, but may be used for primitive religious worship. Human head statue of the five senses, can accurately grasp the relationship between the decent turn, can be called a primitive society sculpture of the fine arts.

More than 5000 years ago, the Yellow River in the middle and lower reaches of the colored pottery began to decline. Located in the upper Wei River in Gansu and the West Hanshui, Bailongjiang River basin of the Shilingxia type, following the rise of the Miaodigou type, and the art of colored ceramics has been further developed.

Shilingxia type of colored pottery patterns, variants of fish patterns have been extinct, replaced by amphibious animal patterns, the most common is the salamander fish pattern and its variants, people more in the form of a separate pattern decorated in the colored pottery vase belly on one side. The salamander fish, commonly known as the dollfish, was also known as the bighead carp in ancient times. This kind of animal with certain characteristics similar to human beings was easily regarded as a god by the clansmen' so the salamander fish pattern was gradually deified. Early salamander fish pattern is more realistic, Gangu County Xiping unearthed the late Miaodigou type of salamander fish pattern colored pottery vase, salamander fish head like a human face, and with a straight line drawn like a beard pattern, only a pair of upper limbs, limb end for four fingers, and salamander fish upper limb end with four fingers is equal. The striped body also has a reticulated pattern, whereas fish patterns on colored pottery often use reticulation to indicate scale armor. Therefore, this personification of the salamander fish pattern has a special meaning, some experts believe that the "dragon body and human head" of the prototype of Fuxi.

The salamander pattern on the colored pottery vase unearthed in Fujiamen, Wushan County, was further deified by increasing the number of limbs to eight, and the body was generalized into a curved moon shape.

The salamander fish pattern on the late colored pottery of the Shilingxia type gradually became abstract. The head and limbs and claws disappeared, and only a pair of curved-moon shaped bodies remained, arranged in a left-right symmetrical manner. Finally, the salamander pattern was condensed into an emblematic pattern.

Shi Lingxia type pottery also has many geometric patterns, enough to form a uniform curved stripes, and enriched the pattern composition style. The initial artistic characteristics of the Shi Lingxia type of colored pottery were fully developed in the Majiayao culture, ushering in a period of prosperity for the art of colored pottery.

South-central Gansu is the center of the Majiayao culture, this area is the Yellow River system and the Yangtze River system of the connection, the late Neolithic Yellow River culture and the Yangtze River culture of the Northwest China region in the late Neolithic culture in the meeting here, beautiful and exquisite Majiayao culture of colored pottery art is the two systems of the late Neolithic cultural confrontation of the sparks.

The Majiayao culture is divided into three types: Majiayao type, Banshan type and Mafang type, which are inherited and developed by each other. The sites of Majiayao type have been dated by a series of carbon dating, which is 5,230 to 4,850 years ago. The main body of the Majiayao type was developed by inheriting the Miaodigou type and the Shilingxia type from the Yellow River Basin, and their colored pottery shapes were mainly food and drink vessels such as pots, bowls, etc. However, the decorative art of the Majiayao type's colored pots, bowls and pots was further developed, with more and more internal colored patterns, and the motifs were changed from simple to complex. In the early Majiayao type, the theme pattern is often decorated in the basin, bowl inside the bottom of the circle. Late colored pottery pots, pots and bowls within the circular bottom and the abdomen of the week pattern linked into a whole, forming a unified but varied pattern.

As a water vessel bottle, foot Majiayao type of colored pottery one of the main shapes, it is from the Miaodigou type, through the Shilingxia type of pointed-bottomed ceramic bottles developed, in order to facilitate the smooth placing, evolved into a flat-bottomed bottle style. The belly of the bottle became wider due to the need to increase the capacity to hold water. In order to concentrate the flow of water when pouring, the neck became short and straight, and evolved from a bottle to a jug. Early Majiayao-type colored pottery bottles have cylindrical or oval bellies, which are often decorated with horizontal bands of multilayered patterns because of the long shape of the vessel. For the late Majiayao-type bottles and jugs, the abdomen becomes transversely wide, and the upper and lower bellies are clearly turned, so different patterns are arranged according to the three parts of the bottle: the neck, the upper abdomen, and the lower abdomen. The conspicuous epigastrium is arranged with the main motifs, while the lower abdomen is decorated with secondary motifs, and the neck is only decorated with subsidiary motifs. With the changes in the shape of the colored pottery, the layout of the pattern changed accordingly.

The colored pottery of Majiayao type was also influenced by the Neolithic culture of the Yangtze River basin. In Yichang City, Hubei Province, Yangjiawan Daxi culture site, unearthed a skeleton ring seat red ceramic triple cup, which is Gansu Bailongjiang basin Zhouqu, Wudu and other places in the Majiayao type of excavated skeleton ring seat colored pottery triple cup or two cups of the shape is basically the same. The colored pottery of Daxi culture is characterized by the rimmed foot, and there are a few rimmed beans and rimmed jars in the colored pottery of Majiayao type, which have not been found in the Yellow River Basin, and their origin should be traced back to the Daxi culture. The Daxi culture colored pottery has a bifurcated continuous pattern, and the early colored pottery of Majiayao type also has a similar pattern. By the time of Majiayao type period, the spiral pattern became one of the main patterns of colored pottery. Some of them have a large spiral pattern occupying one side of the vessel's belly, like a big turbine rotating constantly. Some of them are decorated on the belly of the water vessel with a pattern of four consecutive swirls, like whirlpools covering the surface of the water. In the upper abdomen of the colored pottery pot, more decorative two-square continuous spiral pattern, circular spiral heart and then fill in the cross-shaped pattern, reticulation pattern and other patterns. In the colored pottery pots, bowls, decorated with different styles of whirligigs, rows of the four whirligigs composed of whirligigs fit in the round ware; some of the bottom of the center for the center of the whirligig and the inner wall of the abdomen of the two sides of continuous whirligigs linked to form a complex structure of the whirligig.

The spiral pattern of Majiayao type colored pottery mostly adopts the method of locating points. Can be extended from the positioning point of the parties around the pattern, so that the most free to occupy the pattern of space, breaking through the dull box and symmetrical pattern format, which is an ethereal and can stimulate the imagination of the pattern positioning method.

The Majiayao type of colored pottery has entered a subtle artistic realm, and the elegance of the colored pottery shape, the exquisite pattern, the variations of the pattern, and the excellence of the technique are unprecedented. As if out of the gorge river water, with flying momentum, full of surging passion.

The Banshan type was found in the Banshan site on the west bank of the Taohe River in Guanghe County, Gansu Province, and thus named. The Banshan type can be divided into three phases: early, middle and late. The early colored pottery of the Banshan type and the late colored pottery of the Majiayao type have an inseparable lineage of development. The colored pottery of the Banshan type unearthed in Lanzhou City is particularly exquisite. Lanzhou is located at the western edge of the Loess Plateau, which is also the deepest place of loess in the world, and the pottery soil is pure and delicate. The Yellow River passes through downtown Lanzhou, and the terraces on both sides of the Yellow River and its tributaries are dotted with Neolithic sites. The colored potteries in the mountain soil of Lanzhou's Huazhaizi and other Hanshan-type sites can be called representative works of the early colored potteries of the Hanshan type. Gourd-shaped net pattern colored pottery pot is a typical artifact of the early Banshan type of colored pottery, along the belly straight through and down the waist of the gourd-shaped net pattern, like a screen side by side.

The colored pottery of the middle of the Mid-levels type, with pots and jars as the main vessel shape, in order to increase the storage capacity, the vessel is flared and full, nearly spherical. The bottom is relatively small, the bottom diameter is generally l 2 centimeters to 14 centimeters, and the diameter of the top of the head is almost the same, so in carrying such pots and jars storage containers, may be placed on the top of the head of the foot.

Decorated in colored ceramic pots and jars on the rounded abdomen pattern, more than the widest part of the abdomen as the dividing line, the main pattern decorated in the upper abdomen, and most of the continuous pattern. From a flat view, looking down on different perspectives to watch, can constitute a perfect picture.

The colored pottery pattern of the Mid-levels type pursues the artistic style of complexity and delicacy. Often with black sawtooth band and red band pattern combined with the composite pattern constitute a variety of patterns. Banshan type of colored pottery pattern, geometric pattern accounted for most of the pattern, this is because the Banshan type before some figurative pattern, after a long period of development, has evolved into an abstract geometric pattern. Among them, spinning patterns are the most numerous, and they account for almost half of the colored pottery patterns in the middle of the Banshan type. In the colored pottery pots, jars on both sides of the lower abdomen, each with a pair of left and right symmetrical circle as the center of the circle, the center of the circle by the curve connected to the two sides of the continuous spinning pattern, along the spinning pattern of the upper and lower juxtaposed with a number of groups of spinning line, enhance the sense of spinning, with the momentum of the ripples and grandeur.

Late Han Shan type colored pottery pots, jars on the spinning pattern, spinning center gradually increased, spinning center is also decorated with mesh, cross dots, circle point wheel-shaped pattern and other decorations. Some of the spinning line connected to the center of the spinning becomes a pattern band. People of the Mid-levels type tribes, living next to the moving river, the rushing river solidified into the colorful pottery of the spinning pattern, the spinning pattern is a high degree of generalization of the imagery of the great river running.

From the four circles of the late Banshan type, the four circles of the Mafang type developed into the four circles of the Mafang type, only disconnecting the spinning line connecting the four circles, which shows that the Mafang type is the continuation and development of the Banshan type. The four big circle pattern has become a representative pattern on the colorful pottery pots of Mafang type, and the pattern inside the circle is most common with the net line pattern and the grid pattern, and the patterns filled in the circle are colorful and diverse, which make up the great confluence of circular patterns.

In the circle pattern of colored pottery pots of Mafang type, a small number of limb joints or limb claw pattern appeared, and these foot gods and men pattern is interpreted by the dissolution of the pattern. The color pottery on the gods and men pattern began in the Banshan type, ending in the late Mafang type, through the Banshan and Mafang type of the whole, and the development of five or six hundred years. The godman pattern was once called frog pattern, which was named according to the form of a certain stage in the development process of the godman pattern. The budding period of the deity pattern is in the early and middle stage of the Hanshan type, and the deity pattern in this period is mostly full-body, close to the real image of human beings, but no specific features are drawn, and the circle is used to show the expression. The maturity of the deity pattern is in the late Banshan type, the style of the deity pattern becomes complicated, and the combination of the deity pattern appears. There also appeared a variant style of the deity pattern, which only showed the upper part of the deity and omitted the lower limbs.

In the early and middle period of the Mafang type, the deity pattern is in the period of variation, the deity pattern in a variety of variant forms, and become the main color pottery pattern of the Mafang type, some will be omitted from the head: some even the body is also omitted, only the remaining decomposed limb claw fingerprints; some simplified into two limb claw pattern; some become a vortex-shaped limb claw pattern.

By the late Horse Factory type, the god-man pattern entered a period of decline. Continuous limb claw pattern increased, and finally simplified into a triangular fold line pattern, only in the joints of the claw finger remains. Some of them became cross-shaped or swastika-shaped patterns with claw fingers at all four ends. These variants of the limb and claw pattern has become an emblematic pattern.

With the development of a variety of economies, the horse factory type of colored ceramics ware style increased, there are many newly created and chic ware shape. Correspondingly, some new pattern styles have appeared. For example, the shape of some of the colored pottery of the Mafang type became straight, and the pattern pattern is also mainly straight. Such as tube-shaped pottery cup of the abdominal wall is straight, often dozens to more than a hundred vertical and horizontal lines on the belly of the rod back to form a net pattern, painted tightly and neatly, meticulous.

More than 4000 years ago, the upper reaches of the Yellow River began to tame horses earlier. At the same time, the northern steppe culture rapidly south Rhea, the agricultural economy based on the type of horse factory by the impact of the nomadic economy, and soon declined, the production of colored pottery along with the production also became simple and sloppy, Gansu colored pottery is also from the heyday of the gradual transition into decline.

Around 4000 years ago, the Qijia culture was mainly distributed throughout Gansu, northeastern Qinghai and southern Ningxia, located in the northern grassland culture and the upper reaches of the Yellow River in the agricultural culture of the interface, so the connotation of the Qijia culture is very rich and complex. The pottery production process of the Qijia culture was influenced by the Longshan culture in the east, featuring delicate pottery and exquisite shapes, and little colored pottery, but mainly plain pottery.

The center of the Qijia culture in the Taohe River basin in central Gansu, the Qijia culture pottery in this region has its own distinctive characteristics. Among them, the discovery of the Qijia culture of QiJiPing unearthed colored pottery is representative. The most characteristic of the colored pottery is the double shoulder ear round bottom sand jar, and often painted on the red overlapping triangular pattern, may be copied from the straw basket texture pattern. Double wide ear high collar pottery pot is also a characteristic of the Qijia culture of colored pottery, decorated with red triangular compound line or outline line pattern.

The Qijia culture had factories of various styles of small and medium-sized copper, including many bronze, which means that the copper production process will replace the status of pottery production process, the copper mountain now become an important factor in the decline of colored pottery.

Some ancient cultures containing colored pottery in the copper and stone period have been discovered one after another in Gansu, such as the Caiyuan culture distributed along the Qin Great Wall and the Kayo culture along the Yellow River from Jishishan to Yuzhong, which have their own characteristics of colored pottery, but the colored pottery decorations are relatively simple.

The Siba culture, which was distributed in the middle and two sections of the Hexi Corridor, was an early bronze culture containing colored pottery. Yumen Huoyaogou, Minle East Ash Hill, etc., four dam culture site carbon dating for 3890 years to 3580 years ago (corrected by the tree wheel). The colored pottery of the Siba culture is small in shape, with jars and pots with four lugs for easy carrying. And there are only a variety of styles of single-ear vessels, most of which are drinking vessels. Painted pottery decoration in the dog, deer and other animal patterns. There are animal shapes and painted patterns combined with colored pottery, such as sheep's head shaped handle square cup, eagle-shaped pot, three standing dogs cover square tripod. Siba culture colored pottery of these features, showing mountain strong animal husbandry life.

The full-body human-shaped pottery is a unique style of the Siba culture, from the face of the humorous expression, bulging abdomen, the front of the leather boots and other fine details of the vivid delineation, showing the Siba people naive and playful harmony.

In Gansu contains colored pottery in the remains of the bronze culture, Xindian culture is the continuation of a longer period of time, and is divided into Shanjiatou, Torch family Sichuan, Zhangjiazui and other types. Its age is equivalent to about the Western Zhou period. Huangshui area is the center of the Xindian culture area, in the pre-Qin, this is one of the main activities of the Qiang tribe.

The colored pottery of Xindian culture is mainly sandwiched pottery. The colored pottery pattern is characterized by simplicity and sparseness. In the colored pottery pattern, the double hook curved pattern composed of broadband pattern is the most common. This emblematic pattern, may be enough to a pair of canine pattern composite variant pattern. The dog pattern also appears in the form of a separate pattern, visible dog pattern in Xindian culture colored pottery pattern occupies an important position. Xindian culture colored pottery animal patterns and long neck short tail waterfowl, lizards climbing on the edge, large horns and thin waist of the deer. The nude pattern of the dog head and body is particularly peculiar, reflecting the worship of the dog god. Shining sun and moon pattern, but also Xindian culture is characterized by a distinctive pattern of colored pottery. Xindian culture, these characteristic patterns of colored pottery, exudes the atmosphere of grassland life.

Shajing culture is the latest ancient culture in Gansu containing colored pottery. Shajing culture a series of carbon dating for 3095 to 2630 years ago (corrected by the tree wheel), equivalent to the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. The main forms of colored pottery of the Shajing Culture include sand-filled round-bottomed pots and single-ear cylindrical jars, which were used for cooking and holding emulsions during nomadic life. The pattern of colored pottery was painted in red, featuring long, thin, inverted triangles side by side, as well as geometric patterns such as mat patterns, triangular mesh patterns, and diamond patterns, all of which were woven patterns, imitating the style of grass weaving ware. Shajing culture full of nomadic style of colored pottery, Gansu colored pottery painted a termination.

Gansu, located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, is one of the birthplaces of agriculture in the north, and colored pottery emerged from the development of agricultural settlement. Gansu is also a very late decline of colored pottery in the region, here is one of the earliest northern nomads south, colored pottery and degradation due to nomadic mobile life. Gansu colored pottery has a long history of continuous development, the time span of up to five thousand years, through the generation, rise, prosperity, decline of the development stage, constituting a complete history of the development of colored pottery.

Gansu colored pottery is the splendid flower of the Yellow River far occupied culture. It is famous for its many types, rich shapes, splendid patterns and exquisite designs, and has become a dazzling treasure in the treasury of ancient painted pottery art, and the most important component in the prelude of Chinese traditional art.