Transcript Unit 3: Asia

Chapter 3: Asia
China
Japan
Korea
What
are the primary
accomplishments of
Asian ceramics?
IDEAS
• Kiln Design
• Glaze technology
• Aesthetics
What are the unique ideas the
Chinese have about kiln design?
• Heat rises, build on hill.
• Single chamber takes a lot of fuel, make
smaller chambers.
• Pots need to be fired hotter to be stronger.
• Invent “pot foot” so pots can be stacked
on top of each other.
• Invent saggar so wood ash doesn’t mar
pottery and can be stacked on top of each
other.
China has an abundance of stoneware and porcelain.
These types of clay have to be fired hotter to get stronger.
They experimented with every style of kiln.
They developed the anagama, also known as a
serpent kiln. It has a single chamber and it “snakes”
up the hill.
Subsequent kiln developments
• Ash made a mess of highly decorated pots
so they started making saggars.
• Anagamas require a lot of wood to fire so
they experimented with kiln design and
came up with multi-chambered kilns that
the Japanese call naborigama.
Anagama or naborigama?
Kiln features that we still have.
• Down draft vs updraft
• Flue – opening to chimney or opening at
top
• Damper – Gate that controls opening of
flue
• Saggars, shelves, furniture, posts,
• peep holes
• Reduction vs Oxidation firing tied to glazes
Glaze Technology
Ash glaze was the first real glaze. Ash is
deposited on the pots because they are
wood fired.
Lead glazes were common in the Han
(green) and Tang Dynasty (3 color/sankai)
Feldspathic glazes were greatest
contribution. These are glazes made by
grinding rock and suspending in water.
China has made notable contributions
through out its long history
• Song dynasty = Golden Age of Ceramics
• Forms were simple and elegant, surface
decoration was minimal. Glazes were superb.
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Ash
Tenmoku
Chun
Celadon
Crackle
Color – overglaze, yellow
• Porcelain clay at highest peak
• Ming Dynasty – export ware, blue & white
& bright, diverse color, overglaze, enamels
Panshan China 2500BC
Porcelain
Jar
Korean
1800