Painted Pottery

Painted pottery refers to the polished orange-red pottery blank, depicted with natural mineral pigments, ochre and manganese oxide as color elements, and then fired in a kiln. On the orange-red carcass presents a beautiful pattern of ochre red, black, white, and various colors, forming a pottery with a high degree of unity between the pattern and the shape of the utensil, and achieving the decorative and beautifying effect.

Painted pottery is exquisitely made, mainly clay pottery, with a delicate texture, so it is not only a practical vessel, but also has high artistic value. Since the color is painted before firing, after roasting with the pottery, the color and the pottery tire are closely combined and are not easy to fall off. The form of painting can be generally divided into two categories: patterns and pictures.

First, the primary technical condition for the production of faience is the understanding of natural mineral pigments. As a faience pigment, it must not decompose when fired in a high-temperature kiln, such as hematite with a higher content has high temperature resistance. It is also necessary to grasp the color development law of minerals, what kind of pigment will turn red or black after firing, so that it can be used freely to produce the ideal color. The pigment can only be used after processing and dilution, and the thickness of the powder and the concentration of dilution with water have a process of continuous familiarity and mastery of performance;

Second, the surface of the ceramic blank must reach a certain finish, and the pigment can penetrate into the ceramic tire. This requires careful screening and washing of clay, and repeated polishing of the table after the billet is formed. Most of the painted pottery in archaeological discoveries is clay pottery, and even the sand pottery such as the Xindian culture has a relatively delicate surface. The main body of Dadiwan cultural pottery is fine sand pottery, but the surface of the ware is coated with a smooth argillaceous layer;

Third, the higher the temperature of the pottery, the stronger the adhesion of the pigment and the stronger the ornamentation. When faience firing develops to a certain stage, human beings gradually change the structure of the pottery kiln and increase the sealing strength of the kiln chamber to achieve the guarantee of the firing process for the production of faience pottery.