Craft:Chinese traditional handicraft with thousands of years history

Origin:Luoyang

Tang San Cai, also called Tricolor Glazed Pottery and a gem of ancient Chinese art, is a kind of handmade glazed ware of exquisite craftsmanship created in the Northern and Southern Dynasty (386-589) about 1,400 years ago. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the production of Tang San Cai reached its peak, which is part of the reason the pottery got the name of Tang San Cai.

Luoyang, named the eastern capital in ancient times, in Henan Province was the home of Tang San Cai, and most of unearthed Tang San Cai was found in Luoyang.

Tang San Cai is a polychrome handicraft with yellow, green, and white as its major tones. It is fired with lead glaze and presents a harmonious complex of varied colors, deep and light. The process is complicated: first, bake the ready mode in kilns until the temperature reaches 1,100oC, then take it out and apply glaze on it; bake it again in kilns at a temperature of about 900¡ãC.

Tang San Cai items that have been unearthed include horses, humans, and even pillows, and camels, of which the pottery camel is one of the best. Its head rises high, as if telling stories about merchant caravans along the Silk Road in the remote past and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Being the gem of ancient Chinese art, Tang San Cai absorbed the advantages of Chinese painting, sculpture and stone carving. It features fleshy figures, regular and exquisite technics, compact carving traces, and smooth lines, indicating the high-level of the craft reached in the Tang Dynasty. Tang San Cai is primaryly divided into pottery tomb-figures and daily commodities.

After the founding of new China, specialized institutions have been set up to study the technics of making Tang San Cai, which has boosted the development of the craft.

 Listen in the gallery

Rich Artistic Connotation & Historical Background:

This is a piece of Chinese classical pottery called "Tang Tri-coloured Pagoda Jar".

It adopts the decorative style of the Tang Dynasty and has a rich historical and cultural connotation.

Tang Tri-coloured pottery is one of the representatives of ancient Chinese ceramic art, famous for its unique colors and shapes in the world.

The design inspiration of this pottery comes from the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty.

Its shape is like a tall pagoda with a round lid on top.

The whole pottery is colorful and rich in red, yellow, green and other colors, giving people a sense of magnificence and vitality.

This pottery is not only an artwork but also a symbol of ancient Chinese culture.

It shows the aesthetic concept and artistic level of the Tang people, as well as reflects the development and progress of the society at that time.

By appreciating this pottery, we can better understand the culture and history of ancient China, and feel the profound connotation and unique charm contained in it.