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Neolithic Egg Shell
Black Pottery Vase, Longshan Culture (2600
BC
- 2000 BC) A
typical example of the egg shell black pottery made by the Longshan
culture. Designs varied widely but all had
this characteristic slender stem and multi section design, and many
examples have a closed bulb middle section with a number of holes or
slits. The ability to make such pottery is attributed to an oxygen
reduced atmosphere during firing, which causes the pottery to become
black. The piece has not been cleaned.
Longshan culture (ca. 2600–ca. 2000 B.C.)The term "Longshan culture" is a general reference to several regional culture centers. In the lower Yellow River basin in northeastern China, the Dawenkou culture was succeeded by Shandong Longshan (ca. 2400–ca. 2000 B.C.). The Middle Yellow River region saw Yangshao culture gradually being replaced by the regional cultures of Shaanxi Longshan (ca. 2300–ca. 2000 B.C.), Henan Longshan (ca. 2600–ca. 2000 B.C.), and Taosi Longshan (ca. 2500–ca. 1900 B.C.). A strong connection to Longshan pottery is also apparent in Liangzhu culture (ca. 3300–ca. 2200 B.C.) in the lower Yangzi River basin in southeast China in the production of unpainted pottery, gui tripod ewers, pierced-stem bowl vessels, and thinly–potted black and gray wares using a reduced–oxygen firing process. In the Shandong
peninsula up until the fifth millennium B.C., ceramic techniques and
decoration were similar to other areas. While nearby white wares
continued to be produced, a unique potting tradition developed in
Shandong by the early fourth millennium B.C. Feather–light wares
emphasizing the beauty of the vessel shape were created with extremely
thin bodies, and by the third millennium B.C., painted ceramic
decoration had all but disappeared. Fast-speed potters' wheels appear
to have been first used by Shandong potters. They allowed vessels of
eggshell thinness to be produced that may be some the finest
earthenware pottery ever made. The overall impression of lightness was
sometimes further enhanced with pierced openwork designs. Unattainable
with the use of an oxidation firing process, the thinness of the
earthenware body was strengthened through the use of a reduced–oxygen
firing and carbonization process that produced a completely black
surface that was sometimes burnished. Delicate thin blackware stemcups,
jars, and vases were found at Shandong Longshan sites but did not seem
to have been produced by the Longshan cultures located in the Middle
Yellow River region. (from Princeton
University
Asian Art)
References
Example: http://jjlallychineseart.com/images/sized/images/uploads/C3_w-440x573.jpg Example: http://www.fengchunma.com/images/e01.jpg Example: http://www.ibiblio.org/chinesehistory/contents/02cul/c03s04.html More info from: www.britannica.comA map of early Neolithic cultures in China.
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