What are the origins and legends about the phoenix motif on ceramics?

The original shape of the phoenix originated from the Xuanbird (i.e., swallow), which was the totem of the Dongyi tribe in ancient China, and later developed into an idol of the Shang Dynasty. It is written in "The Book of Songs - Ode to the Shang - Xuan Bird", "The heavenly order Xuan Bird, descended to give birth to Shang, and the house of Yin soil Mang Mang." The story of the first Shang ancestor, Qi, was born from the swallowing of a swallowed egg by an Ancient Ancestral State woman, Jandi. For this reason, the Shang Dynasty people especially worshiped the Xuanbird, and developed the primitive phoenix pattern to decorate the jade, copper and other artifacts at that time. Gradually, people came up with the idea of a phoenix, which is a combination of the essence of all birds. It is said that it was not until the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods that the phoenix developed into the phoenix, separating the male and female bodies. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the phoenix was regarded as a deity capable of guiding the souls of humans to ascend to heaven and regenerate, and the related motifs were applied in large quantities. In the Han Dynasty, the phoenix pattern was basically finalized, as described in the "Extraordinary Biography of Han Shi": "The image of the phoenix is like a dragon's neck and a fish's tail, a snake's neck and a tortoise's body, a swallow's jaw and a chicken's peck." The ladies of the Sui and Tang dynasties were especially fond of phoenix ornaments, and the main significance of the phoenix pattern transitioned from totem to decoration. The Song Book-Fu Rui Zhi describes the phoenix as: "Snake head and swallow jaw, turtle back and turtle belly, crane top and chicken beak, fish tail in front of Hong, green head and wings, heron standing and mandarin ducks thinking." The content is more detailed and vivid than the Han Dynasty. There are also many folklore describes it as "brocade chicken head, mandarin duck body, peng wings, crane legs, parrot beak, peacock tail" and so on, these circumstances indicate that the phoenix pattern modeling with the passage of history has become more specific.