Artistic types of decorative patterns of painted pottery

The common decorative patterns of painted pottery in Machang are broken lines and palindromes, and the humanoid pattern (or frog pattern) is the most distinctive. Some people think that this is the "personified god" of sowing. This model has different manifestations in different periods, generally from complex to simple. The sawtooth pattern gradually disappeared. Spiral patterns develop into simple large circular patterns, among which reticulate patterns are the most distinctive, often drawing dozens or hundreds of lines. Smooth and regular lines reflect the skillful description technology at that time. Painted pottery in Machang is popular with pottery clothes, that is, a layer of mud is coated on the surface of pottery. The reliefs and kneading on the utensils are also very developed. The style of painted pottery in Machang is simple and rigid. Its decoration is not as exquisite as the intermediate one, but it looks rough, solemn, bold and pays attention to great effect. Painted pottery craft in the upper reaches of the Yellow River has developed Qijia culture through the development of Majiayao, Banshan and Racecourse, but it is late and basically consistent with Xia Dynasty. There are not many painted pottery here, and the most decorative patterns are diamond patterns and plaid patterns. The shape of the pot is a typical binaural pot and a saddle-mouth pottery pot.

Since then, Xindian culture has risen, and painted pottery techniques have flourished again, which is equivalent to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. New-style painted pottery craft often draws double hook patterns on the double-ear pot, and often in the middle of the double hook patterns, it is decorated with figures, puppies or the sun, and the neck of the pot is decorated with palindromes, with almost the same decoration techniques. In the past, when explaining the origin of China's ancient cultural development, the academic circles held the view that a center (namely the Yellow River Basin) expanded outward for a long time. With the emergence of archaeological excavations in recent years, this view was questioned and began to shake. In particular, in 1995, archaeologists discovered a painted pottery basin with double lifting patterns and a painted pottery basin with dance patterns at the Zongri site in tuanjie village, Bagou Township, Tongde County, Qinghai Province, which was different from that unearthed in Datong County in 1973. The former is discovered for the first time in China, while the latter has vivid composition, refined lines, novel and dynamic costumes, and has extremely high aesthetic value. From 3300 BC to 2050 BC, it can be considered as basically the same period as Yangshao culture in the Central Plains.

In Yangshao culture stage, painted pottery art gradually prospered, therefore, ancient and exquisite patterns were born. One of the earliest and most commonly used patterns is the fish pattern. In middle school history textbooks and TV feature films about the history of Chinese civilization, we can often appreciate the painted pottery pots painted with fish patterns at the site of Xi 'an Banpo: on the inner wall or outside the abdomen of the red pottery pot, the fish with different shapes outlined by black lines are lifelike. The most amazing thing is that the mysterious face pattern and fish pattern are skillfully combined, which makes people have infinite reverie.

Some scholars believe that this reflects the worship of fish by Yangshao ancestors, and fish is their totem; Another scholar thinks that fish breeds faster, and the fish pattern entrusts the hope of ancestors' reproduction; Some scholars believe that the face of the fish in the pattern is the image of a prehistoric wizard. In any case, the fish pattern of Yangshao culture not only has convincing artistic charm, but also contains profound research value. Painted pottery basin with fish pattern is the representative pottery of Yangshao culture, and it is also one of the symbols and symbols of China's splendid prehistoric culture.

Fish pattern is the most common painted pottery pattern in the early Yangshao culture, which lasted for thousands of years until the middle of Yangshao. In the painted pottery culture after the middle period of Yangshao, fish patterns only appear sporadically or occasionally, and are no longer used as theme patterns. Painted on the middle and upper abdomen of the outer wall of basin-shaped vessels, they are used for bottom bowls, bottle-shaped vessels and lids respectively. The fish pattern on the pot-shaped vessel is regular and orderly, and quite fixed. Generally draw two fish around the vessel, head and tail connected, head right and tail left. Sometimes a small fish or other patterns are filled in the gap between two fish patterns, which not only makes up for the defects in the drawing process, but also makes the overall pattern more symmetrical and vivid. Although there are few fish lines on other utensils, such as the bottle-shaped utensils in Wangjiawa and the lids with high silk heads, they are all very attractive. A large number of painted pottery with fish patterns have been found in Yangshao cultural site in Weihe River basin, among which Qin 'an Dadiwan is the most abundant. There are more than 30 complete and recoverable fish-pattern pots in this site, and there are more than 1000 fish-pattern fragments. Not only that, these fish-shaped data constitute a complete developmental sequence from early to late. According to the strata where they are located and the relationship between overlying pressure and overlying pressure, the development and change law of fish patterns is generally mastered, and it can even become a yardstick for dating by stages in archaeological research.

The fishing lines in Dadiwan are all fish's side views, except pectoral fins. The pectoral fins were originally on both sides of the body, and only one pectoral fin could be observed from the side, but the ancestors of Dadiwan changed to a pair of pectoral fins that were symmetrical up and down; No matter how the fish pattern changes, the painting of the tail fin will not bend. According to the drawing method of fin, the fish represented belongs to freshwater fish. Obviously, the ancestors of Yangshao, located inland, can only describe the images of the fish they are familiar with every day. According to the different characteristics of container modeling and decoration, we divide the fish pattern in Dadiwan into five development stages.

The first stage: fish pattern with strong realistic style. At this time, all the pottery pots have a small mouth at the bottom. Because the mouth edges overlap and are thickened with mud, it can be called a folded lip basin. The fish's patterns are lifelike, especially the oval eyes and the eyes located in the upper part of the orbit, which make the fish lifelike. The fins are incomplete, and there are no dorsal fins and ventral fins. But the mouth, eyes, cheeks, body and tail are all available, and the image of the fish is clear at a glance.

The second stage: the shape of organs is still overlapping labial basins. The fish head part began to become longer, patterned and complicated, which made the details of the fish head puzzling. Most of the fish heads are filled with almost triangular lines composed of straight edges and curved edges, and the fish body becomes more perfect. Most fishing lines have various pectoral fins, ventral fins, dorsal fins and caudal fins. There is no consensus in academic circles on the reasons for this change and the specific meaning of various fish head lines. But what is certain is that abstract painting has been introduced into fish patterns since then.

The third stage: the fish pattern is still only used in the folded lip basin, but the basin diameter gradually increases and the abdomen becomes shallow. The most remarkable change and feature of this stage is that the fish head part becomes extremely simple and abstract, consisting of only two opposite arcs, which are flat and long. The drawing method of turtle fin is changed from oblique triangular pattern to straight triangular pattern, and the drawing method is more regular.

The fourth stage: the shape of the fish pattern changes from a folded lip basin to a rolled basin. This kind of basin still has a bottom, but the mouth of the basin is rolled out, so it is called a rolled basin. They were one of the pottery used in daily life at that time and were often found in houses and caves. At this point, the fish pattern as a whole is simplified to a very stable pattern. Chest, abdomen and gluteal fins are connected into a whole, facing the slender dorsal fin from top to bottom, and a dividing line appears in front of the caudal fin. The upper and lower parts of the fish are completely symmetrical, and the lines become smooth and soft. In the building site numbered F 1, two large fish-pattern pots with a diameter of more than 50 cm were found, which have been sent to overseas exhibitions as exquisite painted pottery for many times;

The fifth stage: still used on the rolling basin. At this time, the mouth of the basin changed from a small mouth to a straight mouth, and the curling edge became more and more severe. This stage spanned the middle period of Yangshao culture. Although no complete artifacts have been found in this section of Dadiwan, the shape and decoration of the restored artifacts can be inferred from the remains of Dadiwan. Referring to the similar vessels in Heshui, Gansu Province and Wangjiazui site in Qishan, Shaanxi Province in the same period, our speculation and restoration conform to the development law of vessel shape and decoration. The fish pattern is more simplified, the head is represented by dots, and the fish body is simplified into four arcs, omitting the upper and lower fins, leaving only the exaggerated tail fin.

Since the middle period of Yangshao, fish lines have gradually disappeared. However, some scholars believe that the patterns formed by points in Majiayao culture are bird patterns or fish patterns. Compared with Yangshao fish patterns, these patterns are too abstract and have strong uncertainty. In fact, the polka-dot arc bird pattern of Majiayao culture is more like tadpoles swimming in the water.

The five development stages of the fish-type basin in Dadiwan established the evolution sequence of fish-type, from which we can master its evolution law. First of all, we should pay attention to the changes in the shape of blood vessels. The pattern of fish was originally painted on the folded lip basin, but later it was discarded and turned into a rolled basin. The farther back you roll along the basin and the more you roll along the mouth, the bigger your body and the shallower your abdomen. When we meet the fragments at the mouth of the fishbowl, although the pattern is incomplete, we can roughly know the time of the fishbowl according to the above laws and the characteristics of the mouth. When collecting and appreciating painted pottery, we should not only pay attention to patterns but ignore shapes. The unification of the two is very important. Yangshao painted pottery has an early age and few things, and the whole set is even more rare. Therefore, some unscrupulous counterfeiters are also imitating Yangshao fish pot in order to cheat money. They often use the plain basin of Majiayao culture as the carrier of fish patterns or fish patterns on faces, which sometimes confuses some museum staff and collectors. Secondly, the general trend of fish shape development and change is continuous simplification. Natural fish patterns gradually condense into fixed patterns through generalization and choice, and freehand brushwork gradually replaces realistic style. The earliest fish patterns are full of individuality, and each work has its own unique expression and creativity, showing the myriad customs of fish in the natural state. Since then, it has been simplified from the head to the fish body and fins, and finally it has become an almost unchangeable fixed pattern. Understanding the evolution of decorative patterns is of great benefit to archaeological research at present and even in the future. In archaeological excavation, when faced with a large number of broken painted pottery pieces, archaeologists can only rely on the local patterns of fish-pattern pieces to judge the more accurate age. The secret lies in mastering the characteristics and changing rules of decorative patterns.

In recent years, with the in-depth development of archaeological investigation and excavation, many new discoveries have been made, and reports on Yangshao fish-patterned pots have emerged one after another. We are surprised to find that the fish pattern is surprisingly consistent in a considerable geographical range: the fish pattern in the westernmost part of Gansu Province is the variation fish pattern in the fourth phase of Ershilipu in the western part of Gansu Province, and the fish pattern in the fourth phase of Dajiaping Site in Wudu, Bailong River Basin, the second phase of Xihan River Basin and the first phase of Shizui Village in Lixian County. Weihe area is the central area, and the sites of fish patterns are relatively concentrated, so I won't list them one by one. The easternmost part of this geographical area can reach the areas of Wugong and Qishan in the Guanzhong Plain, and even similar fish-patterned pots have been found in Zhenglonggang Temple in southern Shaanxi and the foothills of Liangcheng King's Tomb in southern Inner Mongolia. The above-mentioned scope is about 300,000 square kilometers, involving three provinces and regions today. This amazing consistency at least tells us: first, Yangshao culture in Weihe River Basin should belong to the same culture, and Longnan and southern Shaanxi belong to the marginal areas of this cultural circle; Second, in this geographical area, cultural exchanges and communication are very active. Although people's living places are blocked by thousands of waters in Qian Shan, it is by no means an imaginary barrier. Thirdly, fish patterns are not ordinary painted pottery patterns, but appear as symbols of the same culture. The reason for the appearance of this iconic symbol and the inherent meaning it represents should be further explored. Frog patterns are rare in Yangshao culture painted pottery decoration, and occasionally appear in the early, middle and late stages, which is a special and rare decoration. These frog patterns are basically the same in shape and structure, but their expressions and decorative techniques are different, and their styles all show the brand of their respective times. There should be a certain traditional relationship between them.

So far, no early or middle frog pattern has been found in Yangshao culture in Gansu Province. Jiangzhai site in Lintong, Shaanxi Province belongs to the early half slope type, and the inner wall of a pottery basin is painted with black realistic frog patterns. Half-moon head, two dots representing eyes, round body, dotted with patterns, lifelike quadruped modeling, reminiscent of a frog trying to climb out of a pottery basin. Black spots vary in size, are not very regular, and their styles are simple and childish. The frog in Miaodigou site in the middle Yangshao period in Shan County, Henan Province is decorated in the belly of the pottery basin, which is incomplete, but it can still be roughly judged as the image of a frog. The overall style is similar to that of the previous period, but the head is small and there is only one black spot. The body is divided into two parts, and the image is slightly worse than that of the previous period. Some people think this is the image of a turtle.

Small mouth pot in Room 820, Late Yangshao, Dadiwan,No. F820: 15. This device is argillaceous red pottery, with a small mouth, a convex pattern on the neck, a round shoulder and a round abdomen, and a missing lower abdomen. The shoulders and abdomen are decorated with frog-shaped turtle-shaped animal patterns in black. The whole head is painted in a black oval shape, with two small round blanks as eyes and a small triangular blank at the top. The round blanks are decorated with grid patterns, leaving two feet. The other side of the abdomen is decorated with circular patterns similar to frog legs. Homestead belongs to the early stage. Compared with the early and middle period, this frog pattern has both connections and differences.

The inner wall of the fifth-phase pottery pot in Zhao Shi Village, Tianshui is painted with frog patterns. Like Dadiwan, the body is represented by grid lines and the head is painted black and oval. The difference is that the eyes are represented by dots in the blank, and the body is divided into two halves. * * Compared with the middle period of Yangshao, the similarity lies in that the body is divided into semicircles, with two feet forward and two feet backward among the four feet, which looks like an image in swimming. The obvious difference is that the frog pattern is decorated with grid patterns in the later period, and the realism in the middle period has become patterned and standardized in the later period.

Majiayao culture also has a complete frog pattern, which is very similar to the late Yangshao culture, except that the grid pattern is thinner, the head is not painted black, and the eyes are represented by separate black dots in the circle. This shows that many painted pottery factors in Majiayao culture are developed on the basis of absorbing and inheriting the essence of Yangshao painted pottery.

From fish pattern, frog pattern to giant fish pattern, most of the animals described by prehistoric ancestors concentrated on aquatic animals or amphibians. The reason is that they are the docile animals that people contact and observe the most every day, and also reflect the good ecological environment at that time.

Spiral pattern appeared in Majiayao type, and soon developed into a representative pattern in this period, and it was also one of the main patterns in mid-level areas. Generally, the spiral pattern is centered on four rotation centers and has six or more single centers, and all spiral patterns rotate counterclockwise. In the Mid-levels, spiral mode has become the main mode and developed more maturely. The rotation center is connected by a plurality of alternating lines or broad bands of black sawtooth bands and red bands, forming a bidirectional continuous pattern, which further increases the visual rotation effect. If you look down at these spirals, you will feel dizzy, and there is a big whirlpool at the mouth of the vessel. This dynamic spiral pattern drawn with smooth lines, like the waves of the Yellow River, condenses in endless gyrations in various ways.

Majiayao's early spiral pattern is very small, continuous in many directions, without additional ornamentation, simple in structure and decorated with dots.

In the early Mid-Levels, centromeres were very small, with 2-3 spirals connecting them. Intermediate and intermediate expand the rotation center, and decorate the rotation center with patterns such as cross pattern, triangle pattern and dot pattern. By the late Mid-Levels, the spiral pattern has become complex, with four rotation centers as the center, simple lines and larger rotation centers. There are all kinds of delicate and complicated patterns inside, such as diagonal cross pattern, net pattern, dot pattern, leaf pattern, diagonal check pattern, rice pattern and so on. In the later period, the spiral pattern centered on the four circles gradually developed into the four circles of Machang style, and the spiral pattern connecting the four circles disappeared. The only difference between the main spiral pattern of Banshan and Machang is whether there is a spiral connection, which is called the center of the big spiral. We can also see the inheritance relationship between them.

Spiral pattern is generally decorated in the main part (shoulder to abdomen) of large vessels (pots and cans), and some pots and bowls are also decorated with this pattern. There are simple and complex spiral patterns, and some only draw a group of two continuous single-line spiral patterns.

One of the typical decorative patterns in Mid-levels is the composite decorative pattern of gourd pattern and net pattern, which widely exists in Huazhaizi site. Generally, it consists of four or six groups of waist-tied gourd shapes, which are symmetrical to each other. The mouth of the gourd is generally upward and some are downward. Most gourds are painted black and red. First, the outline of the gourd is painted red, with black serrated stripes on the outside and a fine and neat mesh filled inside. Gourds are separated by zigzag patterns or other geometric patterns.

The early gourd-shaped waist is not obvious, and the middle sides are slightly adducted. In the middle stage, the lower part of the gourd shape gradually becomes larger, in the later stage, the waist of the gourd shape is obvious, and the lower part becomes larger.

Mesh is also a common decorative pattern in Majiayao painted pottery, which often appears as the main decorative pattern in Majiayao painted pottery. To the intermediate type, it often forms a composite decoration with other decorations. In Machang period, the utilization rate of reticulate was also high, but the composition was loose.

The main decorative patterns of intermediate painted pottery are composed of rhombic lattices arranged continuously with each other, which are generally painted on the upper abdomen of cans. In the middle layer, the diamond pattern has several forms: single-layer horizontal arrangement, multi-layer arrangement and staggered arrangement. The drawing method is to draw a black diamond frame with sawtooth pattern on the inside of a continuous diamond red frame, which is usually filled with dot pattern, mesh pattern and cross pattern. In the early days, the diamond pattern was large, mostly for the main decoration; In the later period, the rhombic lattice is often filled with net or blackening, but it has gradually become an auxiliary decoration. In Machang period, there were more rhombic plaids, and the style was the continuation of Mid-Levels period, with less red and black, mostly black and monochrome, horizontally arranged in multiple layers, filled with plaids, and some were all painted black.