White Pottery
白陶
White pottery is a kind of pottery whose outside and inside are all white.The greenware is mostly made by hand. It uses porcelain clay or kao-linite, which contains less iron than figuline, and is fired at a temperature of about 1000 0C.In the late Shang Dynasty, the emergence and application of white pottery with carved patterns marked the new achievement in the history of Chinese po竹ery.The hardness, fire resistance and water-absorbing capacity saw much improve-ment, so we consider the white pottery the indication of the leap from pottery to china.
“白陶”是一种指器胎的表里都呈白色的陶器，器胚多以手工捏成，使用含铁量比陶土低的瓷土或高岭土，烧制温度在1000℃左右。商代晚期刻纹白陶的创制和使用，是中国制陶工艺发展史上的新成就。白陶的硬度、耐火度和吸水率都较以往的陶器有了大幅度提高，所以我们说白陶是陶器向瓷器的飞跃。
A white pottery vase with ge-ometrical patterns of the Shang Dynasty was excavated from the Yin Ruinsin Anyang of Henan Province, and it is the representa-tive of white potfery with carved patterns in the Shang Dynasty. It is 20 centimeters tall in total with a caliber of 18. 5 centimeters,and was made by imitating the pattern of bronze ware. The body of the vase is spherical, the mouth becomes narrow, and the pitch at the shoulder part is large.The bottom is round with a ring foot.The whole work looks rounded and stately. The body of the vase is covered with pcrtterns.The main patterns in relief and the detailed shadings form a florid design. The con-cave and protuberant, the distant and dense patterns were naturally combined to create a clear gradation. Now the vase is in the Palace Museum.
出土于中国中部河南省安阳殷墟的商代晚期几何纹白陶瓿，是商代刻纹白陶的代表作品。它通高20厘米，口径18.5厘米，模仿青铜器的式样制作而成。瓿体为球形，口部内敛，肩部斜度较大，底部为圆形，下有圈足，整体造型给人以端庄饱满的感觉。瓿体上布满纹饰，以凸雕的主纹和细密线刻的地纹组成绚丽的图案。颈部装饰有夔纹，腹部为曲折纹组成的兽面纹图案。纹饰构图谨严，主题突出，凹凸疏密结合自然，产生出强烈的层次感。此瓿现藏于北京故宫博物院。
Due to the hardness, lustration, and fine craftsmanship, white potteries be-came the objects used exclusively by slaveholders. In the later period of the Shang Dynasty, white potteries tended to be more and more fussy and refined, so the top-notch white potteries were mostly from this period. After the Western Zhou Dy-nasty, white pottery was in decline due to the emergence of hard pottery with prin-ted pcrttems and primitive china.
白陶器因其质地坚硬，洁净美观，做工考究而成为奴隶主贵族的专有物品。商代后期的白陶制作过程更趋精细繁琐，所以白陶器的精品多集中于这一时期。西周以后，由于印纹硬陶和原始瓷器的兴起，白陶器逐渐消失。