From humble undecorated food and religious pottery created in the Mesolithic {pre Neolithic} times right through the fussy over decorated wares of the Republic period, all have come into being by way of potters, artists and kiln operators seeking to innovate. Innovation inspired by demand and shaped by cultural contexts.
Neolithic Early Wares
In the earliest times, pre 4800 BC., the hand of the potter worked to satisfy the demands of his community; farmers needing to store foodstuffs for survival, mixing bowls for the kitchen and for religious rituals. According to most historians it was during the Neolithic (5000-3000 BC) period that the Yang-shao Culture who lived in the Yellow River basin where the first documented decorated pots were produced there. Frequently the Lung-Shan Culture. In time of course the technology of potting and decorating became wide spread throughout China as is evidenced by archeology.
Its important to keep in mind like everything in China these changes took place over thousands of years literally, consequently no clear line really marks one form or type as distinct from the previous. So the term change is not from year to year, but century-to-century, truly slow evolutions.
By the 3rd millennium red earthenware's were being made and decorated with pleasingly executed incised and stamped patterns as well as painted patterns. These designs varied from region to region the way so much art does all over the world. Despite competent preparation of the clay these early pieces retained high iron content levels causing it to oxidize, and turn a reddish color while being fired.
Gradually the development of many new forms and styles evolved, for lack of a better term certain types became "trendy" or "popular". Eventually certain examples became totally ubiquitous from wide loop handled bowls and jars to ewers and stem cups. In the 3rd millennium {3,000 BC} the first high speed potter's wheel came into use. From this came more refined turnings, more control in the thinness and satisfying proportions became much more prevalent and consistent. Consequently, pots became lighter and constant in shape. This constancy helps greatly in identifying the region from which pieces come.
From Earthenware to Porcelains and then Glazes!
The motivations driving these potter's through these creative evolutions are many, varied and very often if not always combined with one another. Outside influences coupled with natural human curiosity and the occasional genius have proven to be great additional catalysts. From Earthenware to Stoneware to High Fired Porcelain it all happened in overlapping periods under the watchful eye of skilled artisans over several thousand years.
In time glazes were developed, forms became much more complicated, under glaze enamels evolved and in time high fired vitreous porcelains emerged. Glazes initially were developed to make pots and jars impermeable to liquids while simultaneously opening the door to a new wider variety of decorations. In time colors were added before glazing the piece and high-fired enamels were developed broadening the palette enormously for the ceramicist.
Each period had its evolutions, some much more dramatic than others depending often on the level of support given artist by the local leaders, regional Governors and the Imperial House itself. Not all artists of course were potters, whether they were sculptors, painters, poets, silver and metal smiths and calligraphers they were all guided by the times and environment. During periods of extreme turmoil the arts suffered and little progress was made.
Every aspect of ceramic art has it's own history. One category in particular, which has enjoyed massive interest from collectors, is under glaze blue and white. Blue and white porcelain has been coveted by Emperors, Kings, wealthy Hong Merchants, Buddhists, Popes, Dutch Captains and everyone it seems in between.
Mongol China, Trade, Persian Traders and of Course: Let them have Cobalt!
Blue and white had its beginnings in the most logical of progressions. By the 6th or 7th C. Chinese potters had been making white bodied pottery, by the Tang dynasty these white wares had become more refined and fired with purer materials with clear smooth glazes. During the Song periods porcelain and ceramic art had gone through several great technical changes which set the stage for making even better white wares. From a potting standpoint the stage was set. So, where did cobalt blue compounds come from? Look to the West…by the Yuan (1279 - 1368) period members of Islam had established trading posts in China and Persian merchants brought among many things were dye stuffs and minerals used for coloring paint to trade in China, including cobalt oxide used in making cobalt blue. Another great evolution from the Song to the Yuan (1279 - 1368) was the introduction of and increased use of Feldspar glazes replacing Lime glazes. Feldspar allowed a much tighter closer fit to the kaolin and petunse when the piece was fired, allowing for a much more controllable environment for under glaze decoration.
During this period under the Mongols, several million Muslims moved to China and became a very active merchant class throughout the country. The Persians had by this time been using cobalt to decorate low fired pots for centuries. Interestingly the Muslim traders were not able to get the Chinese to divulge how they made porcelain. It would be hundreds of years more before Europe would be able to make high-fired porcelain. It was however this trade which began the flow of blue and white to the Middle East and the Muslim world.
At its peak, the Mongolian/Yuan (1279 - 1368) Empire stretched from China and Annam/Vietnam to Europe, making it geographically the largest Empire in history. It was during this era that making and encouraging trade became much easier as movement of goods and wealth could be facilitated. After all, the Yuan Empire bordered a huge part of the known world and most of that world was terrified of the Mongols due to their history. In the later years of the Empire, that power collapsed.
Once Chinese potters and artists embraced the use of cobalt blue they were able to create complex and spectacular decorations on porcelains. Many of these decorated pieces were massive examples of porcelain in a very short period of time the demand out side of China skyrocketed for these fabulous cobalt decorated pieces. The Emirs of Turkey and Shahs of Persia collected and coveted it, along the way they created some of the finest and largest collections extant in the world today. This fascination and collecting impulse lasted from the Yuan throughout the Ming and well into the Qing dynasty in the Middle-east.
Today the Topkapi Palace Museum in Turkey has one of the most important collections in the world of Chinese porcelains. During the late 15th C. Turkish potters even made Iznik wares to emulate the Yuan (1279 - 1368) pieces. In time these Turkish creations developed their own flavor and became much more a middle eastern product than the early examples which were stoneware copies of their antecedents porcelains.
Early on in some circles, cobalt blue decorated porcelain was initially thought to have magical properties, including being able to detect poisons. By the end of the Mongol period ships laden with porcelains were flooding the known world. As a consequence of the high esteem for them, very large collections have survived around the Mediterranean. It is interesting to note, for the most part very little moved overland in caravans on animals due to the weight and had to be carried by ship.
During this era {13th to 14th C} China established broad trade relations with Persia (Iran) as well in addition to Turkey resulting in a massive influx of maritime and overland trade. Bearing witness to the numbers of Chinese ceramics entering the middle east from China, the Shah Abbas deposited at the Ardebil Shrine what would be later recognized as the largest collection of Yuan and Ming blue and white wares in the world. Of the original collection comprising 1,162 pieces 805 are still there today. 75 percent of them are blue and white, the rest are Celadons and white wares.
Once under glaze cobalt blue decoration was introduced, the brushwork on porcelains of the Yuan period attained an astonishingly high level of quality very quickly. As a new medium the potters of the Yuan took to it with gusto. The decorations were bold and drawn with stunning confidence and inspiration more skillfully with a new spontaneity not see before on any piece of Asian ceramics.
The repertoire of Yuan period porcelain designs was incredibly vast as were the shapes of the pieces they produced. These designs included scrolling vines, flowers, animated ducks, Foo lions, wave borders, dragons, phoenixes', lappets, immortals, script, fish scaled deer, grapes and almost any possible combination and more than can be listed here. The forms and shapes of the pieces varied from foliate-rimmed basins and massive platters to Meiping vases, slap constructed double gourd vases, ewers, rounded bowls and every possible shape of jar and vase.
Sometimes these were done on huge basins and plates with foliate rims to deep rounded side bowls, Meiping vases, flasks and many other creative shapes.
Suddenly Pieces Got Huge..WHY The Great Shift?
In the eras prior to the Yuan Period in the Northern and Southern Song for example ceramics were relatively small. Qingbai, Hairs-fur bowls and so forth. Following a period of transition when the Mongols under Qubili Khan the son of Ghengis Khan took over China creating the largest geographical country in history ruling as was mentioned before from Korea and Annam to Austria.. This incredible shift in size begs the question: What prompted the making of these massive wares? What was the impedes for the kiln operators to suddenly make the huge pieces associated often with the Yuan period?
The answer is a fascinating one. At a time when the technical skills developed to make under-glaze blue porcelain and the Mongol leader (Quibili) Kublai Khan was simultaneously unifying China forming the Yuan Dynasty, China's kilns introduced here to fore never before seen varieties, forms, patterns and sizes.
According to available records and believe it or not some cookbooks we now know that the dietary pleasures of China's new rulers was the stimulus. The Mongols enjoyed a massive selection of foods from across their empire. The Mongols were perhaps the first truly international diners. They frequently had grand feasts with big bowls of stews, whole roasted lamb, sweetmeats and a variety of Western Asia foods including many from the Syrian diet to the west. Consequently the fashion and demand was for great big feasting bowls, pitchers, jars, platters and so forth.
As these pieces huge elegant intricate pieces were made and entered the market the Islamic world naturally took notice and became enamored of these exotic objects. After all the Persian traders introduced cobalt blue to the Chinese to begin with and until then only rather crude quartz glazed decorated blue stoneware bowls were made in the Middle east. These very large heavy fantastically decorated true high-fired porcelains were instantly a hit throughout the empire especially in the Islamic world. Soon the decorative palette was almost endless incorporating all manner of designs and patterns including animals, Buddhist symbols, clouds, Ruyi heads and flowers. Though under glaze blue was in it's infancy the skillful and sure method of its making seemed as though they had been doing it for centuries.
The methods of physically making these very big pieces at such high temperatures were no small feat either. The potters learned for example the biggest pieces were fired upside down and the bases were carved from the purposely thickly made bottoms. The brushwork was done with a flair and confidence.
This early influxes of pieces to the Middle East as we know now are still there. Interestingly, these big pieces still turn up from time to time in the market stalls Bazaars of Syria and Iran (Old Persia)
Following this relatively short dynasty China was taken back under the control of the Chinese by a young future Hongwu Emperor (1328 - 1398) known to the world as The Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644).