Tang sancai

Tang sancai
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Name	Tang sancai
Caption	Pottery figure with three-color glaze
Material	Earthenware with lead glaze
Period	Tang dynasty
Culture	Tang Chinese
Discovered	Various archaeological sites

Tang sancai is a type of three-color glazed earthenware produced in China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). It is widely represented in funerary assemblages associated with elite burials in Chang'an, Luoyang, Xi'an and along the Silk Road, and it features in studies by archaeologists from institutions such as the Shaanxi History Museum, the Beijing Palace Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum. Scholars including Luoyang, Victor Mair, James Watt (curator), Susan Whitfield and teams from Peking University and Tsinghua University have analyzed its composition, kiln sites and iconography.

Introduction

Tang sancai ware consists of low-fired earthenware covered with lead-based glazes in three dominant hues—amber, green and cream—often combined to create polychrome effects used on figurines, ewers and tomb guardians. The wares are famously associated with funerary culture in Tang dynasty elite contexts in cities such as Chang'an, Luoyang and provincial centers like Hebei and Shaanxi, and they appear in catalogues of collections at the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Palace Museum (Taipei), and the Shanghai Museum. Research into sancai intersects with studies of trade along the Silk Road, contacts with the Abbassid Caliphate, exchanges with the Umayyad Caliphate, and influences seen in Central Asia and Korea.

History and Development

Production of sancai emerged during the early Tang dynasty and reached a peak in the 8th century, coinciding with political stability after the Reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang and the cosmopolitan culture of Empress Wu Zetian's era. Its rise parallels developments in ceramic technology traced to kiln complexes at Tang Changsha, Bianjing, and provincial sites near Luoyang and Sancai kiln sites that served aristocratic patrons, Buddhist monasteries such as Dunhuang and Longmen Grottoes, and export markets along the Silk Road. Decline in sancai production followed political disruptions like the An Lushan Rebellion and later shifts in patronage during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and the emergence of high-fired porcelains in the Song dynasty.

Materials and Techniques

Sancai objects are formed from coarse earthenware clay and fired at relatively low temperatures in dragon kilns similar to those at Longquan and Yaozhou, using lead-alkaline glazes colored with metal oxides such as copper for green and iron for amber. Production techniques involved core-forming, wheel-throwing and moulding, with overglaze application and multiple firings reminiscent of practices at contemporaneous kilns in Fujian, Jiangxi and Henan. Technical analyses by teams at Oxford University, Peking University, the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, and the British Museum using methods from X-ray fluorescence, neutron activation analysis, and scanning electron microscopy have clarified flux compositions and revealed influences from Sasanian and Sogdian glazing traditions encountered through contacts with Samarkand and Bukhara.

Styles and Motifs

Sancai repertoire includes tomb figures such as horses, camels, officials, musicians, and guardian figures reflecting cosmopolitan tastes of the Tang imperial court, with motifs borrowed from Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Zoroastrianism transmitted via Silk Road merchants and intermediaries like the Sogdians. Iconography often mirrors courtly fashions recorded in Old Book of Tang, depictions in mural art at Dunhuang Mogao Caves, and scenes comparable to those in Persian micrography and Central Asian textiles imported through Chang'an markets. The stylistic range includes realistic modeling of Tang horses, stylized renderings influenced by Sogdian musicians, and hybrid creatures echoing motifs from Yue ware and earlier Han dynasty prototypes.

Archaeological Finds and Distribution

Key kiln sites and tomb finds have been excavated in Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and Gansu, with major collections held by the Shaanxi History Museum, the Henan Museum, the National Museum of China, and institutions such as the Louvre and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sancai artifacts appear in Tang-period tombs of elite officials, military figures, and merchants in Chang'an and along caravan routes through Turfan and Kashgar, reflecting demand in both domestic and export markets that connected Tang China with Central Asia, the Middle East, and East Asia including Korea and Japan. Excavations at sites associated with the An Lushan Rebellion era and tomb complexes catalogued by the Institute of Archaeology (CASS) have provided stratified contexts for dating and provenance studies.

Cultural Significance and Influence

Sancai contributed to funerary practice and status display in Tang elite society and shaped later ceramic traditions; its polychrome glazing influenced Yuan, Ming and Qing innovations and inspired later revivalist movements in Republic of China and 20th-century collectors like C. T. Loo and Arthur M. Sackler. Its motifs and export forms informed material culture in Central Asia, Persia, Korea (Three Kingdoms period), and Japan (Nara period), and sancai objects remain central to exhibitions and scholarship at museums including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Palace Museum (Taiwan). Contemporary conservation studies at the Getty Conservation Institute, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and university laboratories continue to refine understanding of kiln technology, trade networks, and the role of sancai within the visual culture of the Tang dynasty.

Category:Chinese pottery