Most painted pottery in China was made some
3000 to 5000 years ago in the Yellow River Valley in Southwest Qinghai, Gansu
and Shaanxi provinces and northern Henan Province. The classic one is Human
Face and Fish Body Design Colored Pottery Basin, which was made in the
Neolithic age (5000 to 10000 years ago) and unearthed in the 1950s in Banpo
Village in Xi'an of Shaanxi Province.
The basin, 16.5 cm in height with a
diameter of 38.5 cm, is made of fine-mud red ceramics and has a design of a human face holding fish at the corners of
mouth. It is uniformly red in
color and decorated with black pigment. At that time,
the Banpo people had their potteries simply decorated,
the most striking are the designs of fish that can be seen everywhere. The fish
was finished in symbolic pattern. It is concluded that fish should be the totem
of ancient Banpo people.
Primitive Chinese artists dipped their
painting brushes into black, white and red colors to make drawings on red
pottery utensils such as basins, jars and plates. The designs on painted pottery
come in two types: abstract patterns and realistically drawn figures of animals,
insects and humans.
There are a dozen patterns on Chinese
painted pottery. The most common types are rippling, rotary, circular, saw-tooth
and net-mesh designs. The lines are smooth and neat, symmetrical and balanced,
and adhere to certain rules. In the painted pottery unearthed in Majiayao in
Gansu Province, there are many rippling and rotary designs drawn with smooth and
balanced strokes to engender a quiet and gentle mood. These designs shed
precious light on life in primitive Chinese society, with men fishing and
hunting, and women doing housework and collecting vegetables and fruits. It was
a society free from class exploitation and slavery, and its painted designs,
too, had a peaceful and harmonious beauty.
In the Banshan and Machang painted pottery,
which were a little later than the Majiayao, the designs changed. More sawtooth,
circling and frog-shaped strokes appeared, which look wild, bold and enigmatic.
Chinese primitive society was breaking up during that period and social reforms
were being carried out. The resultant turbulence and unrest were reflected in
art designs. It is not simply a fanciful notion to read such meaning into the
painted pottery designs as all paintings and drawing designs in later, and
better-documented Chinese dynasties reflect the social moods and trends of their
respective eras.
The realistic pottery designs look more
attractive. The animal designs drawn on painted pottery unearthed in Banpo
Village in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, have simple but descriptive patterns, such
as swimming fish, running deer and barking dogs. These designs demonstrate that
ancient Chinese artists were good at depicting the movement of animals. On a
painted pottery basin unearthed in Datong County, Qinghai Province, there is the
design of five dancing people standing in a line, hand in hand. This design can
be seen both as an ancient picture and ornamentation.
The primitive artists of Banpo Village began
using pictorial designs for decorative purposes and express abstract thoughts.
For example, they divided the design of a fish into head, body and fins,
alternating straight lines with curves, triangles and circles. This innovation
was a significant step in the development of Chinese painting. On a painted
pottery basin from Banpo Village, for instance, we see the design of a human
face with a fish's body. According to archeologists, these patterns may have
been used for decorating the utensils; but they may also have been used for
sacrificial rites in the spring season to pray for a good harvest. If that were
true, the Banpo pottery designs might be the earliest religious artwork in art
history.