Neolithic Chinese Pottery
Chinese Art History is full of examples of masterfully crafted items that have an inherent harmony and naturalness to them. While the sophisticated paintings, ceramics, metalwork, lacquer ware, woodwork, cabinetry, sculpture, and architecture of the dynastic periods of Chinese history are permeated with this aesthetic sensibility of a one-ness with nature and an organic feel, as if the art grew naturally from its surroundings, this dynamic can also been seen in the roots of that history in the Neolithic cultures of China.
The painted pottery of Stone Age China has essential qualities that seem to be the foundation for much of the aesthetic characteristics of later Chinese art. The so-called Yangshao pottery found in the Henan Provence village of Yangshao and dating back to over 5000 years ago is of a distinct red clay ware which was highly burnished and painted with naturalistic and geometric patterns. These hand built vessels were part of the funerary pottery found in Henan. The vessels have narrow necks that flare outward at the lip. The body of the vessels had broad shoulders that elegantly swell to a wide belly and then taper smoothly to the base. in the examples above, the vessels, as with many of their kind have two eared handles at the side of the wide belly portion of the jars.
The undulating band of color and line sweep around these vessels and may represent plants and leaves. These naturalistic designs are accompanied by harmoniously organized geometric shapes. These lozenge and rectilinear forms match well with the aesthetic tradition in China of bringing nature and humanity into harmony. in practice, this is the taming of nature to conform to the needs of Man and the need for Man to conform to the realities of the natural world.
The utilization of the brush in decorating the vessels during the Neolithic period in China reveals the 5000 year tradition of such use. The hard edged lines create images reminiscent of fishing nets or basket fret work and the small undulating forms may represent fire or waves. One could conjecture that the works reflect the creator’s direct observation of the world of the village. it could also be said that this ancient brushwork, so focused on the quality of line, becomes the basis for the thread of such attention to brushstroke in the next 5000 years or so of Chinese painting and pottery. The quality and vigor of the line as exemplified in the Yangshao pottery can be found throughout Chinese Art History. another quality in these early painted vessels is that of an awareness of space. The upper portion of the vessels are decorated leaving the bottom portions open to create a depth of openness that holds the above brushwork. This spirit of space-consciousness or k’ung chian kun; this playfulness of light and dark spaces, also continues through Chinese Art History. in addition, the concept of Mi and Shu or density and looseness is also apparent in these earliest of Chinese pottery.