AY Honors/Ceramics/Answer Key

1. Tell briefly the history of early ceramics.

It is believed that the earliest pottery wares were hand-built and fired in bonfires. Firing times were short but the peak-temperatures achieved in the fire could be high, perhaps in the region of 900 degrees Celsius, and were reached very quickly. Early bonfire-fired wares were made with rounded bottoms, to avoid sharp angles that might be susceptible to cracking. The earliest intentionally constructed kilns were pit-kilns or trench-kilns; holes dug in the ground and covered with fuel. Holes in the ground provided insulation and resulted in better control over firing.

The earliest pottery ware found to date was excavated from a cave in southern China.

The invention of the potter's wheel in Mesopotamia revolutionized pottery production. Potters were able to work quickly and produce pottery to meet the expanding needs of the world's first cities.

Ceramics began in China 6,000 years ago during the New Stone Age whose advent was marked by the invention pottery. The earliest earthenware was moulded by hand and the potter's wheel was something that came much later. In the beginning, clay was fired at a temperature of about 500-600 degrees celsius. Painted pottery began to be known during the period of Yangshao and Longshan Cultures.

The large legion of terra-cotta soldiers and horses of the Qin Dynasty (221 - 207 B.C.) which were discovered in the province of Shaanxi in 1974, are eloquent proof of the high skills in kiln-firing and sculpture attained at that early age. The art of pottery reached another peak of development in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 A.D.), as evidenced by the renowned "tri-coloured glaze."

Wucheng Village of Qingjiang County, Jiangxi Province vessles of blue-glazed ware have been unearthed. Upon examination, they proved to have been made of kaolin and fired at high temperatures of 1,200C. Their surface is coated with a glaze, whose chemical composition is very close to that of their bodies. Certain procelains of the Song (960 - 1279) and Ming (1368 - 1644) dynasties were already celadon, though at its early stages.

Chinese ceramics became known to the world at large from the Tang Dynasty so much so that the word "china" became the name of procelain. Chinese procelain, together with Chinese tea and silk flowed through the Silk Road and other land and sea routes to foreign countries.

The quality of pottery has varied historically, depending on the reputation the potter made for himself in his community.