The artists painted some figurines with colored slips and deco-
rated others, such as the spirited, handsomely adorned neighing
horse in FIG. 7-19,with colorful lead glazes that ran in dramatic
streams down the objects’ sides when fired (see “Chinese Earthen-
wares and Stonewares,” above). The popularity of the horse as a sub-
ject of Chinese art reflects the importance the emperors placed on the
quality of their stables. The breed represented here is powerful in
build. Its beautifully arched neck terminates in a small, elegant head.
Richly harnessed and saddled, the horse testifies to its rider’s nobility.
Song Dynasty
The last century of Tang rule brought many popular uprisings
and the empire’s gradual disintegration. After an interim of internal
strife known as the Five Dynasties period (907–960), General ZhaoKuangyin succeeded in consolidating the country once again. He estab-
lished himself as the first emperor (r. 960–976) of the Song dynasty
(960–1279), which ruled China from a capital in the north at Bianliang
(modern Kaifeng) during the Northern Song period (960–1127). Un-
der the Song emperors, many of the hereditary privileges of the elite
class were curtailed. Political appointments were made on the basis of
scores on civil service examinations, and education came to be a more
important prerequisite for Song officials than high birth.
The three centuries of Song rule, including the Southern Song
period (1127–1279) when the capital was at Lin’an (modern Hang-
zhou) in southern China, were also a time of extraordinary techno-
logical innovation. Under the Song emperors, the Chinese invented
the magnetic compass for sea navigation, printing with movable
clay type, paper money, and gunpowder. Song China was the most196 Chapter 7 CHINA AND KOREA TO 1279C
hina has no rival in the combined length and richness of its ce-
ramic history. Beginning with the makers of the earliest pots
in prehistoric villages, ancient Chinese potters showed a flair for shap-
ing carefully prepared and kneaded clay into diverse, often dramatic
and elegant vessel forms. Until Chinese potters developed true porce-
lains (extremely fine, hard, white ceramics; see “Chinese Porcelain,”
Chapter 27, page 722) in about 1300, they produced only two types of
clay vessels or objects—earthenwares and stonewares. For both
types, potters used clays colored by mineral impurities, especially iron
compounds ranging from yellow to brownish-black.
The clay bodies ofearthenwares (FIG. 7-2), fired at low tempera-
tures in open pits or simple kilns, remain soft and porous, thus al-
lowing liquids to seep through. Chinese artists also used the low-fire
technique to produce terracotta sculptures, even life-size figures of
humans and animals (FIG. 7-6). Over time, Chinese potters developed
kilns capable of firing clay vessels at much higher temperatures—
more than 2,000° Fahrenheit. High temperatures produce stonewares,
named for their stonelike hardness and density.
Potters in China excelled at the various techniques commonly
used to decorate earthenwares and stonewares. Most of these deco-
rative methods depend on changes occurring in the kiln to chemical
compounds found in clay as natural impurities. When fired, many
compounds change color dramatically, depending on the conditions
in the kiln. For example, if little oxygen remains in a hot kiln, iron
oxide (rust) turns either gray or brownish-black, whereas an abun-
dance of oxygen produces a reddish hue.
Chinese potters also decorated vessels simply by painting their
surfaces. In one of the oldest decorative techniques, the potters ap-
plied slip (a mixture of clay and water like a fine, thin mud)—by paint-
ing, pouring, or dipping—to a clay body not yet fully dry. Thenatural varieties of clay produced a broad, if not bright, range of col-
ors, as seen in Neolithic vessels (FIG. 7-2). But Chinese potters often
added compounds such as iron oxide to the slip to change or inten-
sify the colors. After the vessels had partially dried, the potters could
incise lines through the slip down to the clay body to produce de-
signs such as those seen in later Chinese stonewares (FIG. 7-22). Chi-
nese artists also inlaid designs, carving them into plain vessel sur-
faces and then filling them with slip or soft clay of a contrasting
color. These techniques spread throughout East Asia (FIG. 7-29).
To produce a hard, glassy surface after firing, potters coated
plain or decorated vessels with a glaze,a finely ground mixture of
minerals. Clear or highly translucent glazes were often used, but
so too were opaque, richly colored glazes. Sometimes the painters
allowed the thick glazes to run down the side of a vase or a figurine
(FIG. 7-19) to produce dramatic effects.Chinese Earthenwares and Stonewares
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES7-19Neighing horse, Tang dynasty, eighth to ninth century. Glazed
earthenware, 1 8 high. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Tang ceramists achieved renown for their earthenware figurines
decorated with colorful lead glazes that ran in dramatic streams down
the sides when a piece was fired, as in this statuette. 1 in.