Tri-coloured cultural pottery objects of the Tang Dynasty

Chinese porcelain originated far back to ancient times. Archaeological studies have proven that China began her primitive porcelain manufacturing in the Shang Dynasty 3,000 years ago. In the Tang Dynasty, China-ware was exported to foreign countries as major handicraft products. It is well known that China was famed as a " nation of china-ware".

The Tang tri-coloured glazed pottery was characterised with a brilliant lustre made of earth and glazed in yellow, green and reddish brown. Its working orders contained material selection, embryo-making, embryo-burning, glaze-spreading, glaze-burning and mould-making. It had a wide range of subjects, including household utensils, figures, animals and buildings. Recently these potteries have been uncovered from the Tang Tombs, where nobles were buried around Xi'an in the Qian and Zhao tombs. Among those, the accompanying tombs of the Qian tomb were numerically superior.

The Tang tri-coloured glazed potteries prevailed in the period of Wu Zetian, but vanished from the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuan Zong. They were pearls in Chinese potteries and plastic arts.

The painted pottery figures and other relics excavated from the accompanying tombs of the Qian Tomb were of exquisite workmanship and have proved to be art treasures. However, the craft prevailed only for a rather short period and in limited areas. Therefore, the small number of tri-coloured pottery is priceless.