By Soo Eng Hiong
Chinese ceramics as a decorative art form has been around for more than 2,000 years. Chinese pottery/ceramics were used since the Neolithic Age (5,000 BC), mainly as some form of everyday crockery. However, during the zenith of the Tang Dynasty (AD 589-618 ) with its most cosmopolitan city with a rich diversity of nationalities, ceramics penetrated all aspects of craftsmanship. Artisans soon assimilated the use of ceramics for many decorative and symbolic art forms.
The most famous characteristic Ceramic Art from the various Chinese dynasties are as follows:
1. Tang Dynasty – The Three Colour Wares or Sancai (三彩)
2. Song Dynasty – The Monochrome Wares of the Song
3. Yuan / Ming Dynasty – The Blue and White Decorative Wares
4. Qing Dynasty – Multi-coloured Wares
5. Modern Day – Very good reproduction of all the above.
To age well every day, one requires a good balance of physical exercises and continuously using our brains to learn something challenging. For me, studying Chinese Ceramics Art has been a very inspiring preoccupation, and my collection of Chinese ceramics has been a rewarding one. I have immersed myself in this field for more than 30 years, and I can honestly say there is still much to be learned. Today, collecting good quality items (authentic antiques) can be a very expensive hobby. However, the learning and understanding of the art is within everybody’s means.
With the technology, modern day potters can reproduce the famous ceramics of the past era with very good results. Hence, the authentication of antiques can be challenging. Furthermore, Chinese potters have a history of copying wares of past periods as a reverence, respect and appreciation of the ancient artisans, and not to mention to also fool unsuspecting victims.
The knowledge of the intricacies and evolution of Chinese ceramics of the past enhances the art’s complexity. The material used, the weight, the type of glazes used, and the history of the advancement in the art, e.g. colours and construction methods, are key for the authentication of ceramic pieces.
For example, the famous Tang Dynasty Sancai (唐三彩) are not high-fired; they are basically stoneware with lead based glaze.
The different monochrome wares of the Song dynasty were produced in different parts of China, thus producing unique characteristic appearances.
The Yuan and early Ming Blue & White wares were made using cobalt imported from the Middle East. In the later Ming dynasty, locally mined cobalt was used, resulting in wares with a greyish blue tone. Both the cobalt-blue wares have unique properties.
From the beginning of Qing Dynasty in the 17th century, advancement in the use of colour enamels for pottery resulted in multi-colour over glazed wares, which are still popular today. Under glazed copper red wares, lost since the 14th Century, appeared in the 17th Century.
Shapes, texture, size, decorative motifs and forms have also evolved over time, like fashion. Hence, one has to know and correlate a piece of ceramic to the respective period.
To learn more about this art, one should read up books and have exposure to more exhibitions. However, nothing is better than the opportunity to learn by visiting pre-auction exhibitions held by reputed auction houses. There you can handle the items and pick the brains of specialists to learn the subtle differences between an authentic item and a modern copy.
Author Soo Eng Hiong is a retired Engineer
