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China Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) red clay with lead glaze Respectively 15cm and 28cm |
Detail: tripod Lead-glazed vessels were first developed during the Western Han dynasty (206BC-9AD). Commonly known as Han lu (literally "Han green"), this is the first "true" glaze in China, and could actually come in a range of hues ranging from olive to emerald green due to the presence of copper in the glaze formula. The clay body is pink in color, and relatively course in texture, as it was not deemed necessary to wash the clay of sand since lead-glaze pieces were generally used for accompaniment in burial. Glaze tends to be thinner and therefore less lustrous on Western Han pieces. By the Eastern Han period (25-220AD), lead-glaze ware could be found in tombs all over China from Inner Mongolia in the north to Sichuan in the southwest. A vast repertoire included vessels such as ewers, flasks and lidded tripods based on bronze precedents, models of vessels in common use such as ear-cups, bowls, ladles, censers, and trays, and representations of things from everyday life: tables, lamps, candlesticks, ovens, grinding mills, pestle-and-mortars, ponds filled with fish, pigsties, grain silos, courtyards, houses, towers, and domestic animals (pigs, dogs, horses, ducks, chickens, goats, etc.). In low-lying tombs subject to recurrent flooding, lead in the glaze dissolves, and deposits onto the surface of the vessel when the waters dry up. Repetition of this process over the millennia produces a hard, transparent integument possessed of an attractive, silvery iridescence, which is much sought after by collectors. In addition, deposition of minerals can lead to a yellowish encrustation which forms part of the patina. Detail: model of grain silos |
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