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Chinese Ceramics - Introduction - Chinese Art Web |
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 Chinese Ceramics: Introduction | History | Porcelain Wares | Fakes, Reproductions and Authentication
Chinese ceramics is a form of fine art developed since the dynastic periods. China has always been richly endowed with the raw materials needed for making ceramics. The first types were made about 11,000 years ago, during the
Paleolithic era. Chinese Ceramics range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns to the sophisticated porcelain wares made for the imperial court.
Introduction
Terminology
The Chinese term for porcelain (ci) covers a wide range of high-fired ceramics, some of which may not be recognized as porcelain by Western definitions. Porcelain is usually green-fired or once-fired, which means that the body and the glaze are fired together. After the body of a piece is formed and finished it is dried, coated with a glaze, dried again and fired. In the high temperature of the kiln the body and the glaze are fused together to become a unit. Chinese
enameled wares are also produced in this way, except enamels are added after the first high-temperature firing. The pieces are then fired again in a second round via a smaller, lower-temperature kiln.
Categories
In Western tradition, ceramics are often grouped into three main categories, earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The Chinese tradition
recognizes only two primary categories of ceramics, high-fired [ci] and low-fired [tao]. The oldest Chinese dictionaries define porcelain [ci] as "fine, compact pottery" [tao]. In the West the property of translucence is often regarded as a defining feature of porcelain, but this is not the case in China, where any thick or opaque piece that rings with a reasonably clear note on being struck would be regarded as porcelain [ci].
Chinese ceramic wares are also classified as being either northern or southern. Present-day China comprises two separate and geologically different land masses, brought together by the action of continental drift and forming a junction that lies between the Yellow river and the Yangtze river. The contrasting geology of the north and south led to differences in the raw materials available for making ceramics.
Materials
Chinese porcelain is mainly made by the following two materials or a combination of the two. Both rocks derive from the weathering and decomposition of granitic rocks.- China clay / (Gaoling) - composed largely of the clay mineral kaolinite.
- Pottery stone - are micaceous or feldspar rocks. Historically
theory were also known as petunse.
Both are composed of platy minerals consisting of small platelets that ultimately allow the material to hold large amounts of water. This is important as various methods used for forming the body parts depend on the application of compression to align the platelets. One example is throwing on a wheel to increase the plasticity and workability of the clay body.
Chinese Ceramics: Introduction | History | Porcelain Wares | Fakes, Reproductions and Authentication
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