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Green-glazed pottery () was a type of colored pottery developed in
/ref> In some cases the lead glazes make the objects slightly poisonous. For these reasons, the objects are only known as
A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Chinese pottery {{China-stub
Green-glazed pottery () was a type of colored pottery developed in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
during the Eastern Han
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
period (25–220 CE). The body of green-glazed pottery ceramics was made of clay, coated with a layer of glaze, and fired at a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius. Green-glazed pottery is a type of lead-glazed earthenware
Lead-glazed earthenware is one of the traditional types of earthenware with a ceramic glaze, which coats the ceramic biscuit body and renders it impervious to liquids, as terracotta itself is not. Plain lead glaze is shiny and transparent after ...
(): lead oxide was the principal flux
Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ph ...
in the glaze, often mixed with quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
in the proportion of 3:1. The polychrome effect was obtained by using as coloring agent copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
(which turns green).Shanghai Museum
The Shanghai Museum is a museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District, Shanghai, Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. Rebuilt at its current location in 1996, it is considered one of China's first world-c ...
permanent exhibit.
Due to the low firing temperature, the bodies are earthenware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...
, and the glaze often only applied to parts of the objects, which are fragile and have high water absorption.''The Ceramics of China: the Yangshao culture, the Song dynasty By Gen Yang, Xiqiu Zhang, Wengu Shao, p.57/ref> In some cases the lead glazes make the objects slightly poisonous. For these reasons, the objects are only known as
grave good
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.
They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...
s from burials, and examples used in everyday life have not been found. In surviving examples the glaze has often corroded, and turned a "greyish-silver". They are liable to flake off.Vainker, 43-44
Green-glazed pottery was to be followed by ''Sancai
''Sancai'' ()Vainker, 75 is a versatile type of decoration on Chinese pottery using glazes or slip, predominantly in the three colours of brown (or amber), green, and a creamy off-white. It is particularly associated with the Tang Dynasty (618â ...
'' polychrome glazes, generally including the same green, from the 7th century during the Tang period
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
. Examples of green-glazed pottery have also been found in Parthian ceramics.
Notes
References
*Vainker, S.J., ''Chinese Pottery and Porcelain'', 1991, British Museum Press, 9780714114705External links
A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Chinese pottery {{China-stub