Page 57 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

hThe Han Dynasty, 206 b.c. to 220 a.d.

The colour of the glaze shows considerable variations, being

sometimes brownish yellow, sometimes deep brown, and occasion-

Aally mottled like that of our mediaeval pottery. passage in

the T'ao shuo ^ seems to imply the existence of a black glaze as

well, but it is a solitary literary reference, and it is not perfectly

clear whether a black earthenware or a black glaze is meant. It

was thought at one time that the fine white ware with pale straw-

coloured or greenish glaze, of which much of the T'ang mortuary

pottery is made, was in use as early as the Han period, but I am

now convinced that this is a later development, and cannot be
included in the ware of the Han dynasty.

Among the technical peculiarities of Han pottery, the marks

— —usually three in number of small, oblong rectangular kiln sup-

ports will often be noticed under the base or on the mouth of the
wares. These so-called " spur-marks " were made by the supports

or rests on which the Avare was placed when in the kiln. In many

cases, too, large drops of glaze have formed on the mouth of the

piece, proving that the vessel was fired in an inverted position,

which directed the down flow of the glaze as it melted towards the

mouth. This is by no means universal. Indeed, the glaze drops
on other pieces are found on the base even when the " spur-marks "

appear on the mouth. The explanation of these apparently con-

tradictory phenomena is that to economise space one piece was

sometimes placed on top of another in the kiln.

The ornamentation of Han pottery was accomplished in several

ways : by pressing the ware in moulds with incuse designs, which

produced a low relief on the surface of the pottery ; by the use
of stamps or dies ^ ; and more especially by applying strips of orna-

ment which had been separately formed in moulds. All these

ornaments Avere covered by the glaze when glaze was used. Laufer

has made an exhaustive study of Han decoration in his book, and

it will be sufficient here to give a few typical examples.

On Plate 2, Fig. 1 is a green-glazed vase of typical Han form

v/ith two handles representing rings attached to tiger masks which

are borrowed, like the general form of the piece, from a contemporary

bronze. This vase, formerly in the Dana Collection and now in the

^ See Bushell, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, p. 96. " In the tomb of the Empress

WuTao, consort of Ti (140-85 b.c.) there was found one lac-black earthenware dish."

2 One of these, in the form of a small roller, by which a continuous pattern could

be impressed, is figured by Laufer, op. cit. Plate xxxvi.