Page 101 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

Han ceramics vary enormously in quality, from unglazed and CERAMICS FOR USE
roughly modelled earthenware to a high-fired, glazed stoneware AND FOR BURIAL
verging on porcelain. Most of the grave goods were made of
coarse pottery generally covered with a lead glaze which easily ox-
idises, producing that silvery-green iridescence which is so attrac-
tive a feature of this class of Han wares. The technique of lead-
glazing was known in the Mediterranean world before the Han,
and if not discovered independently may have been introduced by
way of central Asia. The finest of these lead-glazed wares are the
jars (hu) for grain or wine. Their shapes are simple and robust, the
imitation of bronze being aided by a very precise finish and the ap-
plication of t'ao-t'ieh masks in relief, while incised lines or geo-
metric motifs around the shoulder enhance the beauty of their
form. Sometimes they are decorated with a frieze, depicting, in
relief under the glaze, a hunt among mountains, in which all man-
ner of creatures real and imaginary chase each other around and
around—as on those extraordinary full-scale models of Mount
108 JiT.hu. Stoneware decorated with
reliefdesigns under a dark-green glaze.
Han Dynasty.

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