The Chronology of the Han Ceramics - Essay Example

11 February 2008 Models of Art From historical perspective, the two Han regimes were long lived, and theysuccessfully institutionalized and elaborated much of what Qin initiated. The Former (or Western) Han dynasty ruled from Liu Bang's victory over his rivals in 202 BCE until usurpation by a high court official, Wang Mang, in 9 CE (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens 33). By most accounts, this dynasty was a time of general prosperity, of growing central power, and of military expansion in several directions: northeast, southwest, and northwest. The Later (or Eastern) Han that followed the demise of Wang Mang was a "restoration" in name only Although the Liu family was again ascendant, in fact the former imperial line was replaced by a distantly related branch. This period from 25 to 220 CE differed from its earlier namesake (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens 34). As regards the chronology of the Han ceramics, the dates furnished by two pieces are of primary importance, the one, 133 B.C., found by Bushell on a vase of the Dana collection; and the other, 52 B.C., on a jug (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens 40). There is another vase bearing the year-period Shn chek, i.e., 61-57 B.C.; but the reading of this inscription is still obscure. On the basis of these data, archeologists presume that this pottery originated in the second and first centuries before our era, although it may well be that some pieces belong to the first century A.D., which may be considered as the terminus ad quem. From internal evidence it is possible to fix the date of the type of the hill-censer in the first part of the first century B.C (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens 42). The widest spectrum of surviving types is found in craft goods of daily use such as ceramics and textiles. Ceramics can be classified according to many different features. Technical criteria, including firing temperature and body types; style features, including glaze, decor, and favored shapes; geography or kiln sites; and the issues of taste, use, and markets discussed here are all important. Ceramic wares range from middle-class types to refined luxury wares commissioned by the imperial household and limited to that environment (Spirit of Han 12). Vessels occupied a special position during the Han dynasty as the main tool of cooking and baking. A typical bowl-shaped vessel of Han pottery with oblique handle terminating in an animal's head, much resembling the cooking-vessel found on the stove (Cooper 38). To obtain a clear understanding of this type, archeologists discuss two related bronze types of the same period. By the term chiao tou, two kinds of copper or bronze vessels are understood: (1) a vessel provided with three feet and a handle, and serving to cook food in; (2) a cookingpan, used in camps by soldiers for preparing their food in by day, and for striking the watch by night. The latter vessel is also called tiao tou. To avoid confusion, critics restricted the term chiao tou to the tripod cooking-vessel, and tiao tou to the cooking-pan without feet (Cooper 36). The example selected for analysis is the chiao tou made of bronze (See Appendix, Picture 1). The total height up to the head of the animal is 24.3 cm; up to the rim of the vessel, 16 cm; the height of the feet being 11.2 cm. The diameter of the mouth is 19.8 cm; the depth of the vessel, 7.8 cm. The copper material is covered with black, reddish, and green spots. According to the verbal explanation of a Chinese archologist at Hsi an, the animal forming the handle is "the scaly dragon" and the vessel was used like a ladle, for scooping water, the long neck of the chiao serving as handle (Cooper 37). The animal's neck and feet are curved in a different manner. The neck is joined to the vessel by means of two small parallel pieces, but the whole is made in one cast. The mouth of the monster is wide open. The feet are rounded out, and the lower ends are evidently worked into hoofs. Around the body of the vessel are four parallel raised lines, the so-called "girdle- ornament." Through the centre of the bottom a short nail has been driven, with two big flat heads visible on either side. It is important to note that archeologists distinguish nine cuts of this type, all ascribed to the Han time. There are four with dragon-heads (lung shou), i.e., the handles are of that shape, one with the head of a wild duck; one for the head of which a ju-i has been substituted, one called hsizen tsu, from the three feet representing bears; and two plain ones (Cooper 38). Another example of the Han vassal is a tiao tou obtained at Hsi an fu (Spirit of Han 43). It is of very thin dark-red copper, as is peculiar to the work of the Han time, and without ornamentation, wherefore critics assume that it was the genuine article of the soldier's everyday life. Its total length is 34.4 cm. The diameter of the bowl is 19.2 cm; its depth, 8 cm. The handle, which is cast from the same piece as the bowl, is 14.7 cm long, flattened on one side, and rounded off on the other, its cut almost resembling the letter D. The end of the metal handle has a socket 4.4 cm in length into which to fit another wooden handle. The handle and inner side of the bowl are very smooth; while the outer side is rough and coarse, probably due to long exposure to the fire in cooking (Spirit of Han 44). There are also tiao tou coming, down from the Han period, with ornaments engraved on the inner side of the bottom. Such pieces are extremely scarce nowadays. On the bottom of this bronze are engraved eight fishes and two coins intertwined; and it was said to have been the first and only one which ever came to light in that place (see Appendix, Picture 2). Han-period ritual texts describe elaborate nine course meals prepared for important ritual offerings. This actual function is reasonably well supported by discoveries of charred bones (even fossilized meat) within the bowls of Shang and Zhou ding (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens 34). The loop handles of ding allowed the cooks to set them on and off the fire, but clearly these vessels were not handled as much as the smaller jue. The repertoire of types, and varieties within types, was finely tuned to meet the real needs of those officiating at the rites. It is a clich of modern social science that ritual reproduces culture and legitimates social and political structures. Bronze production flourished in the Han periods, but increasingly was aimed at secular uses. The great contrast, however, is in the decline of the large sets of ritual vessels that dominated earlier periods (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens 43). The wealthiest of Han patrons, such as the Prince of Zhongshan buried at Mancheng (Hebei) or the King of Nanyue buried in Canton or Guangzhou, had bronze bells, bronze and iron weapons, and many kitchen vessels of bronze, but only the King of Nanyue, ruler of a vassal state, had the sets of bronze tripods and wine containers akin to those of a late Zhou lord. In the Former Han period, sets of ritual vessels found in tombs typically consist of ding tripods, he covered boxes, and fang or zhong wine vessels, but these are normally made of ceramic and presumably therefore were burial goods. Bronze vessels for use in the kitchen and larder, and for elegant service in the palace, on the other hand, are ubiquitous in Han burials and perpetuate many of the techniques of decoration. Inlaid metal and stone, glass paste, relief decoration, and undecorated types are all in evidence. One important new technique of decoration is flash gilding. In this process, intense heat bonded gold powder to the surface of a vessel using mercury (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens 34). The mercury made the procedure a dangerous, even deadly, one. Only a few Han objects are actually made from cast or hammered gold. Both the court bureaus supporting the emperor and regional workshops manufactured bronze goods. In addition, inscriptions on vessels and references to wealthy merchants in historical sources sketch the workings of private workshops that sold their goods on the market. A number of the kitchen vessels from the Mancheng tombs were actually purchased in Luoyang from private vendors. Even some production for the imperial court, as indicated by the phrase chenyu found in the lengthy inscription quoted above, found its way onto the market. Lacquerware cups from local officials' graves in such outposts as Lelang and Gansu bear this phrase. Rather than imagine these as imperial gifts bestowed on the officials, it is more probable that official workshops on occasion sold off some of their excess product (Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens44). Extraordinary objects transcend their practical functions. A large rhinoceros-shaped vessel found in an earthenware crock near the tomb of Emperor Wu (the Maoling) is a tour de force. The vessel serves well enough as a pouring device when standing on the animal's four legs, holding liquid, presumably wine, in its ample belly The server would dispense its contents through a small, cigar-like spout in the proper left jaw. A hinged lid on the back was made to look like a saddle (Cooper 45). Cast as one piece, the rhinoceros also bears traces of gold-inlay cloud patterns on its skin. With its stocky legs, the animal rests confidently in an alert attitude, head cocked, neck folds rippling. The haunches and torso suggest real weight and powerful muscles under the skin. "One can imagine the exclamations when a servant appeared holding the rhinoceros with an evening's wine course" (Cooper 46). Most of the lacquer vessels have a black ground with red designs. The round wine vessel, zhong, is typical, one of a pair, each about 60 cm in height (Cooper 47). The core is wood turned on a rotary cutting tool. The interior is covered by cinnabar red, while the exterior has a black ground. Painted red bands demarcate ring foot, body, and neck. Scroll or cloudlike motifs decorate each register in turn. The domical lid, also solid wood, is similarly painted. It has three painted yellow knobs, imitating the gilt fittings found on bronz vessel . "The prevailing color of the pottery of the Han dynasty was a bright-green monochrome tint, produced by the addition of copper oxide to a siliceous flux. From the evidence of this recent find, it seems that we may venture to add a pale vermilion to the brief list of self-colored glazes of this early period" (Bushell 67). The modern wine-.cups of pottery are extremely tiny; and the smallness of the above bronze cup, which is a counterpart of the pottery types of the Han time, corroborates my view that the latter were probably used as wine-cups (Cooper 66) (see Appendix, Picture 3). During the Han dynasty, ceramics played a special role in life of people reflecting their sacred values and their life style. Critics admit that the Han period was extremely rich in fine ceramic shapes, and that many forms made in porcelain at later times were already in existence then. The study of the development of porcelain forms therefore takes its startingpoint from the Han pottery. Actual evidence for the use of the potter's wheel in that age, for all the vessels appear to be turned on the wheel. In the art of glazing, the workmen of those days were very proficient, the most frequent color being green, which occurs in a great variety of shades, then brown, yellow, white, and bluish gray. The process of craquel was also in use during the Han times, and the crackled glazes even prevail (Cooper 55). As to means of heating and cooking, models of kitchen stoves have already been discussed. Some vassals served the purpose of warming only, and one very likely also that of cooking. These, however, are no artificial models of larger stoves, but represent the real objects in actual use. he growth of powerful local families with extensive lands and large numbers of dependent laborers reached a peak in the Later Han (Cooper 54). Their manors or estates are depicted frequently both in tomb paintings and in ceramic models. An estate was both a manor house for its lord and a defensible outpost if bandits or "barbarians" threatened. Many estates had "guests" or private armies who were supported by the lord to provide security. The subjects illustrated cover many aspects of Han life: seasonal activities of rural society, chariot processions of officials and wealthy land owners, feasting and entertainments suitable for a grand household, the architectural environment, mythological figures, and didactic narratives. Works Cited 1. Bushell, S. W. Relics from Chinese Tombs. Man, Vol. 1, 1901, pp. 67-68 2. Cooper, Ten Thousand Years of Pottery. 3. Pirazzoli-T'Serstevens, M. The Han Dynasty. Rizzoli Intl Pubns, 1982. 4. Spirit of Han. Southern Asia Ceramic Society. Art Media Resources Ltd, 1991. Appendix Picture 1. Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty Picture 2. Han Bronze Cooking-Pans Picture 3. Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty Read More