Jieshou Painted Pottery refers to the pottery produced in Jieshou City of Anhui province, East China. It was first found in the civil kiln sites of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Originating in the Sui (581-618) and Tang dynasties, the ancient painted pottery in Jieshou prevailed in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). It inherited the style of Tang Tri-colored Pottery and adopted the exquisite techniques and various styles from other artistic forms, such as Chinese paper-cut and New Year Woodcut.
The main products are utensils for daily use, such as bottles, jars and jugs, decorated with three-color carvings. The thick and primitive shape, vivid carving and unique tri-color (namely, reddish brown, beige and white) style are the characteristics of Jieshou painted pottery. The frequent subjects include characters from folk stories, theatrical tales, landscapes, flowers, birds, fish and grass.
In the process of making the pottery, the first stage is shaping, and then comes glazing and polishing. In biscuit firing, the temperature is controlled at around 700-800 ℃, but in glaze-baking the temperature reaches as high as 1,000-1,050 ℃. After baking for two days, the pottery takes on three colors (namely, reddish brown, beige and white), which reflect each other and form patterns.
Jieshou painted pottery, with simple, straightforward and massive themes and colors, displays an aesthetic tendency of folk art which centers on natural and harmonious visual effects. Its primitive and ancient style is well received in art markets both at home and abroad. Its products have been marketed to a dozen countries such as Japan, Poland and Hungary. The Victoria and Albert Museum of the United Kingdom holds some tri-colored pottery products from Jieshou.
Editor: MetalAllen
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