tri-color glazed pottery is commonly considered a synonym of tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty, which has become familiar for the public through a varied collection of its imitations, including horses, camels, pottery figures, jars, bottles, pots and plates, with tang referring to its times and tri-color glazed pottery referring collectively to the works during a specific stage of historical development (the tang dynasty) of the art of tri-color glaze pottery, and its connotation and denotation are unable to fully summarize the features of this art in all historical stages or reflect the style of modern tri-color glaze pottery art. therefore, how to properly name the art of tri-color glaze pottery? the common practice for naming cultural heritages and traditional crafts is the principle of place of first discovery. tri-color glazed ware was first discovered in luoyang while such arts and crafts were first imitated in large quantities in the same luoyang, on which basis luoyang tri-color glazed pottwry would be an appropriate name. this theory has been widely acknowledged since first proposed during the discussion seminar on arts and crafts varieties of henan province of national arts & crafts promotion work meeting in march 2008, and was officially accredited by chinese association of arts & crafts and national arts & crafts survey office in chinese craft report—national arts & crafts industry report, signifying that luoyang tri-color glaze officially became an independent category in chinese arts and crafts. talking about luoyang tri-color glazed pottery, first coming in mind would be tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty featuring horse, camels and female figures. as a matter of fact, however, tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty was but a period and an important phase in the development of tri-color glazed pottery, and tri-color here actually refers to multi-color. tri-color glazed pottery is a revolutionary innovation in the history of chinese pottery, while tri-color glazed pottery art preserved from each dynasty is a gem of our culture as it fully represents the potentials and advantages of chinese pottery culture and is the brilliant crystallization of experience, technique, artistic impressions and cultural essence of chinese pottery culture accumulated through development over time and sublimations in the special environment of culture and times. hence tri-colored glazed pottery of each period has its distinctive artistic features. modern luoyang tri-color glazed pottery includes antiqued tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty and tri-color glazed painting, and the former further includes luoyang tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty and tri-color glazed pottery with new techniques luoyang tri-color glazed pottery is otherwise known as tri-color glazed pottery imitation, which emerged in the beginning of last century, inheriting the precious art traditions which had been lost for a thousand years. with years of exploration and research by craftsmen, the techniques are identical with those in the tang dynasty before an antiquated style is added artificially to imitate the effect. gao shuiwang, a representative of luoyang tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty and a national representative of the intangible cultural heritage of tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty is an outstanding artist in the field of luoyang tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty. a comparison between techniques of tri-color glazed pottery with new techniques and luoyang tri-color glazed pottery imitation characteristics of clay: luoyang tri-color glazed pottery requires processing, crushing, selection, pounding, washing, settlement, kneading, sinking, gluing of finished goods. the clay features higher plasticity and is unlikely to crack after drying. tri-color glazed pottery with new techniques is similar with luoyang tri-color glazed pottery, with the former showing higher whiteness and water absorption after firing. shaping techniques: shaping techniques of luoyang tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty include molding, sculpting and wheeling. molding refers to hand-pressing, i.e. using hands to press the clay into the mold, which is normally used for making small items with simple shape and structure. the mold can be categorized into single mold and combined mold. sculpting is mainly used to make larger and more complicated objects. wheeling is the pottery-making technique with wheels and is commonly referred to as hand—pulling body. pottery made with this technique features clear and neat shapes. a large and sophisticated tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty requires multiple shaping methods. in making tri-color glazed pottery with new techniques, on the other hand, plaster mold is usually used to fill in the clay mixture, which is automatically absorbed to the inner surface. excessive mixture is removed after some time, and other procedures are basically the same as tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty. shaping and plain firing: after shaping, luoyang tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty is dried and placed in the kiln, where it is fired at a temperature of approximately 1100°c. kilns used to be fueled by wood in ancient times while imitations in modern times mainly use coal-fired kilns. firing of new tri-color glaze pottery, on the other hand, uses coal or electricity, with increased firing temperature. the white base after plain firing is known as plain base. glazing: the performance of low-temperature lead glaze fully plays out its potentials in the sophisticated and glamorous luoyang tri-color glazed pottery of the tang dynasty. by adding lead into the glaze, the glaze temperature is reduced while the gloss is enhanced. color couplers mainly include iron, copper, magnesium and cobalt, which enable the formation of magnificent colors and hues with the convergence of colored glaze. the tri-color glazed pottery of new techniques is identical with that in the tang dynasty. tri-color glazed painting a two-dimensional ceramic artwork with modern technology and unique glazing and firing techniques on the basis of traditional craft, tri-color glazed painting is a representative achievement of the development of luoyang tri-color glazed pottery until today. colors of tri-color glazed pottery art has developed from the traditional colors into color schemes of bright red, turquoise blue, lemon yellow, etc., featuring stable color rendering, including hundreds of rich colors to represent various themes and artistic expressions. this new type of painting that resembles both traditional chinese painting and oil painting provides ceramic artists with more freedom to create artworks with individual styles, which can be either concise and exquisite or magnificent with dominating grandeur; besides, the flow of glaze color enables the creation of unduplicated artworks of kiln transformation. arts and crafts today will be cultural relics of tomorrow, and modern tri-color glazed pottery also possesses high value for artistic appreciation and for collection. tri-color glaze ceramic plate painting is a refined ceramic artwork by applying glaze on plain-fired ceramic body before firing for a second time. its technical procedures include design, base material selection, drafting, line sketching, glazing, firing, etc. through years of development, base materials have become increasingly diversified with standard brick bases from 5*125px to 60*2250px; while round or other irregular-shape plain bases are usually customized. large tri-colored grotto large grottoes are either painted directly with colors or produced with various craft materials. making grottoes for interior or exterior decoration with tri-colored glaze technique is known as large tri-colored grotto. having first emerged in the 1980s, some best known examples of large tri-colored grottoes include pursuing knowledge and educating people on both sides of the main gate of luoyang normal university and luoyang in luoyang railway station. the infinite extensibility of the tableau, the permanence of the glaze color that remains unchanged through thousands of years, the diversity of glaze colors, the myriad of transformations in the kiln as well as the excellent combination with other craft materials of grotto—gem, wood, porcelain, glass, etc., have made tri-colored glaze an ideal craft material for making large interior and exterior grottoes. in 1998, the longest buddhist tri-color glazed grotto origins of dhamma-dhatu was completed. 108m in length, the grotto portrayed 640 buddhist figures and over 50 varieties of animals and plants with impressive grandeur and magnificence. excellent grottoes enhance the fullness and the beauty of architecture. a tri-color glazed grotto titled a fine day in a magnificent edifice in zhoushan archipelago features rich colors and harmonious atmosphere, gleaming under the sun with the blue ocean and the grandeur of the edifice, as if the glamorous fine day portrayed on the grotto has become part of the reality. in 2010, the thematic tri-color glazed grotto of henan pavilion, shanghai expo titled center of the country, source of the city opened up the possibilities to integrate multiple techniques in large-scale grotto. portraying the most representative traditional arts and crafts of henan—luoyang tri-color glazed pottery, jun porcelain, ru porcelain, bronzeware and nanyang jade carving, the entire grotto is innovative in both pattern and form. |