Famous Pottery Works

Pottery Works From The Four Ancient Civilizations

Ancient Mesopotamian Pottery - Ubaid Period

The Ubaid Period is a prehistoric period in Mesopotamia. Archeologists found villages from the strata, including artifacts like pottery. Most of their pottery is used as containers, such as goblets, bottles, bowls, and oval large plates, instead of decorations. The paintings are mostly in black, green and brow mt20n, with pictures of animals, plants, and geometric patterns.

Ancient Egyptian Pottery

In the ancient Egypt civilization, potteries are widely used for household wares including preparation, storage, transport, etc. It is also often found as grave goods. Specialists in Egyptian pottery have broken down the pottery works into two main types: one using Nile clay while the other using marl clay. These two types of clay have different ceramics properties, yet the making process is similar, starting from selecting the type of clay, collecting, preparation of clay, shaping, molding, surface polishing, drying, and at last, firing. Some would have decorations as well, like the left picture above, it has a painting of a galloping horse. These features and decorations on the pottery can show which period the pottery was made.

Ancient Indus Valley Pottery

During the ancient Indus Valley civilization, pottery is widely used as well. They come in different shapes, styles, and designs, while most of them wheel-made wares. The picture on the left shows several different pottery works. Most of them serves as household purposes like containers or dishes. These are all made out of red clay and have some animal drawings or geometric patterns as decorations. The pottery on the right picture has a large hole at the bottom and several small holes on the side. It is in all probability, used as straining beverages.

Ancient Chinese Pottery - Tang Dynasty

Tang Sancai is a popular glazed pottery during the Tang Dynasty. The three main colors of glaze painted on the pottery include yellow, green, and brown. First, white clay is used as the basis, and it is bisque-fired in the kiln at 1000°C-1100°C. After cooling, various glazes are painted on the pottery and burned in the kiln again. Tang Sancai pottery is usually colored with glaze containing copper (green glaze), iron (ochre yellow), manganese (purple), cobalt (blue), antimony (light yellow), etc. Add lead and aluminum as flux. The glaze colors are mutually infiltrated, and due to the age, some of the colors have changed and new colors are produced, which has a high level of decorative art. However, due to its poor practicability, Tang Sancai is mainly used for burials. The left picture is called the Tang Sancai Horse, while the one on the left is the Glazed Town Tomb Beast. It is believed that 'the beast' will protect the buried person from outside dangers.

Modern Eastern Pottery Works

Qiu Huantang - Northwest Rain

This is a pottery piece from Qiu Huantang, who is the enlightener of Modern Ceramics in Taiwan. Above is one of his famous pottery work, Northwest Rain, from his glutinous rice series. Qiu incorporated abstract or half abstract aspects in his work. In this pottery work, he included ideas such as the famous Hakka rice and stained glass from Hsinchu, using the rice sticks as a platform, and replace the condiments with imaginative items, while expressing the feelings in the heart.

Lin Songben - Bamboo Teapot, Hidden Bamboo Root Teapot

Above is a pottery work from Lin Songben, who is a pottery artist from Yingge, Taiwan. All of his work, including the 'Bamboo Teapot', is made from Taiwan soil. Taiwan soil is is rich in iron ore, which is suitable for pottery making. Lin does not add any modifiers, instead, he follows the characteristics of soil and handmade every single pot. To keep the essence of pottery, he insisted that none of his potteries should be glazed. Bamboo, in Chinese culture, represents a term, '節節高升', which is to bless people to have better results in their career, school performance, or life in general. This is also the blessing that Lin Songben wants to express in his pottery work, Bamboo Teapot. Below is another pottery work from Lin Songben, called Hidden Bamboo Root Teapot. The bamboo sitting on top of the roots that's growing under the soil, represents peace, self-cultivation, and a vigorous atmosphere.

Li Yongming - Hunt, Identity

Li Yongming's pottery works are completely different from the previous ones. His potteries are not used as tea pots, bowls, or any containers, instead, these potteries display the indigenous culture in Taiwan. At first, Li Yongming focused on the Dawus, which is one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Taiwan. Through pottery, he wants to express the wisdom of the Dawu and the difficulties they face as the minority in Taiwan. And also to preserve their culture and traditions. Later on in 2011, he started doing research and pottery works about another indigenous group in Taiwan, the SurTecs. The left picture is named 'Hunt', and the right one is named 'Identity.' These two pottery works display a detailed culture of the SurTecs, including their clothing and their life style. Li Yongming works on preserving the characteristics and culture of the minority in Taiwan, which are the indigenous people, and pay them his highest respect through pottery.

Shoji Hamada

The flat pot above is made by a Japanese potter, Shoji Hamada. The reason it's called 'flat' is because it has a shape of a gong and it is shaped by patting the pottery clay with both hands before it hardens. One side of the pot has the picture of bamboo, the other has the pattern of millet, which presents a lively image.

Chu Kexin - Harbinger-of-Spring Teapot

The Harbinger-of-Spring teapot in the picture above is the pottery work of the ceramic master. Chu Kexin. It is a kind of purple granulated teapot, which master Chu Kexin is famous for. Chu Kexin transformed the traditional purple granulated teapot with modern ideas, incorporating embossed decorations, including plum, bamboo, cypress, pine, etc. The old stems and new branches stretched out slowly. The meticulous carvings and delicate design of the teapot clearly depicts the definition of beauty.