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Fine Art Pottery: Ornamental Pottery
The majority of civilized countries have produced their own varieties of ornamental pottery, and each type has shown a gradual evolution in quality and design as new materials and processes of manufacture have been discovered or new influences contributed to the imagination of the craftsmen. Pottery making, both as a practical and fine art pottery art, dates from the earliest periods of civilization. Egypt, Babylon, Crete, Greece, Rome, ancient China, and Europe during the Middle Ages produced vast quantities of extraordinarily beautiful examples, but as practically all pottery made previous to the Renaissance is extremely rare and unavailable, this chapter will include only the important varieties produced since 1500.
Chinese pottery and porcelain. The history of pottery and porcelain making in China is as old and wondro as the history of China itself. From 1100 B.C. through the 18th century, this art showed a slow but consistent development, reflecting the spiritual and religious changes of China and her rulers. Since the 18th century, though fine art pottery porcelain is still being made, the art has deteriorated, through a lack of originality, into a rather mechanical imitation of past excellence.
It should be emphasized, however, that adequate carbon dating has not yet been done and these dates thus have yet to be verified.
One interesting discovery at Ganj Dareh Tepe was a burned village at the second level containing pottery that may have been originally only sun-dried and then fired when the village burned. Smith points out that this accidental firing of the pottery raises some question about how long the prepottery Neolithic existed in the Near East. Perhaps sun-dried pottery was made at a similar level at other sites; however, because it was not accidentally fired it has disintegrated, which would also have been the case with the sun-dried pottery at Ganj Dareh Tepe. |
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