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Attributed Date: Han Dynasty (206BC -AD220) Archaeological Analysis: Significance:
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After the short-lived reign of the First
Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, which was a period of political disorder
and warfare, Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty in 202 B.C..
The whole Han Dynasty lasted for about four hundred years, which was
interrupted only in A.D.8 when Wang Mang seized the throne.
However, a descendant of the Han rulers restored the Han Dynasty in
A.D.23 and it lasted until A.D. 220. In order to differentiate
the two periods of the Han Dynasty, generally we call the earlier
period the Former Han Dynasty or the Western Han, and the latter is
the Later Han or the Eastern Han after the break of Wang
Mang.
Han Dynasty was one of the most glorious eras
in Chinese history. It was a period of a unified China with a
strong and powerful military, and well developed diplomacy and
culture. It extended its empire east as far as Korea, and west
well into Central Asia. The trading reached the west as far as
the Roman Empire via Central Asia overland routes, and down to South
China overseas via the sea lanes.
In terms of ceramic development, besides
admiring and copying of Shang Dynasty bronze wares, a refreshing new
repertoire of naturalistic motifs evolued in the Han
Dynasty.
There are several types of glazes of Han
wares; the early celadon glazed wares, which were not very fine in
quality but were the parents of a tradition of the most important
celadon glazed wares of China. It is believed that the term
ìceladonî came from the west: a seventeenth-century
French play, LíAstree, in which a character named Celadon was
costumed in grayish green. It was followed by the brown and
black -glazed stone wares, burnished pottery, lacquered pottery, Han
white wares and the beginning of lead glazed wares. Before the Han
Dynasty, the glazes could only be applied on stonewares using high
temperatures in excess of 1200 ºc, and these were expensive
operations. Until the early Western Han Dynasty, the lead
glazes, which were predominately composed of silica, were
supplemented with lead oxide to lower the melting temperature at
about 700ºC. The low-firing lead glazed wares were most
suitable for symbolic tomb wares. The lead glaze, which is poisonous,
is believed to be used in buring objects rather than real daily food
wares. Much mortuary pottery (mingqi) has been found in tombs
specially made for the dead to use in the afterlife. The
quantitiy and types of burial objects are so great that they have
become important elements in the study of Chinese
ceramics. There are two major Han ceramic funerary wares: the
first type includes the miniaturized earthenware replicas for daily
use, and the reduced scale of models of people, animals and
architectures for the comfort of the dead. The other type is
consists of the life-sized earthenware vessels and utensils for
ritual offerings of food. The large ritual utensils still cling to
the ornamentation of bronze wares. The Mingqi were found
glazed or unglazed. Some of the unglazed mingqi were left
undecorated or were painted with unfired coloured pigments. The
glazed mingqi were mostly lead glazed earthenware. The colour
can be brown, which derived from iron oxide; and dark green from
copper oxide.
Significance:
This Green Lead Glaze Pottery Well-head is a typical example of Han low-firing green lead glazed mingqi. It is a miniaturized household ware, a well-head, specially made for the dead to use in his afterlife. The green colour results from its iron content; and the brown patches come from the copper oxide.
