China is richly endowed with the raw materials needed for making
ceramics. Chinese discovered and mastered the techniques of porcelain
first. Ceramic products are not only an important cultural heritage of
human civilization; they are still very much a part of everyone's lives,
and in a very lively and colorful way. A beautifully crafted and
tastefully formed ceramic piece not only is a fruit of the technology
and craft of its times, it also records the bits of history and life.
Sometimes, it can even carry paintings, poetry, calligraphy, sculpture
all on its tiny body; or serve as a medium of information for society.
About Author
Fang
Lili holds a PhD from the Department of Art History at the Central
Academy of Art and Design. She completed her post-doctoral research at
the Anthropology Research Institute of Peking University under the
tutelage of Mr. Fei Xiaotong. She is currently director of the Art
Anthropology Center at China Art Research Institute and vice president,
research fellow and doctoral advisor of the Chinese Culture Research
Institute at China Art Research Institute. She is also a member of the
National Intangible Cultural Heritage Preservation Experts Committee and
president of China Art Anthropology Society. In addition to art
anthropology research and education, she is also dedicated to the
preservation of cultural heritage. In recent years, she has completed a
significant number of field investigations and written various books.A
Among
primitive Chinese potteries, aside from colored potteries, the black
earthenware had also attained considerable refinement in technique and
artistically. Black pottery first appeared around 2,000 BC, and was
based on the colored pottery. It was during the transitional period from
primitive society to slave society in China that black pottery was
created. Be it religious or ancestral rituals, everything at that time
was developing towards a more standardized and systematic direction. The
members of society had a clearer differentiation of social status, and
political and economic interests also needed to be systematically
distributed among them.
PrefaceThe introduction of
pottery ware signified man's subjugation of water, fire and earth. It
was only possible when a certain level of technology has been attained
and there was the power to transform the natural material environment.
The process from emergence to application of pottery marked important
milestones in the course of the refinement of living for humankind;
incessantly expanding man's capacity to create applications using
technology and wisdom. Ultimately, artistic objects with both
functionality and aesthetic value were created.
