Three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty

Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125) was a dynasty established by Khitan people in ancient China and coexisted with the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (五代十國，902-979) and the Song Dynasty (宋，960-1279). In 907, Yelü Abaoji (耶律阿保機，872-926) founded the state and proclaimed himself emperor, naming the country Khitan. In 916, he established the era name, and in 947, the country name was changed to Liao. Its establishment was more than 50 years earlier than the Northern Song, and at its peak, its territory was very large, creating a brilliant Liao culture.

After the establishment of the Liao Dynasty, the conditions for firing ceramics were available. The ceramic handicraft industry gradually developed. The Liao three-colored pottery have strong characteristics of the nomadic Khitan tribe, both the color variation and the style of the pottery in the history of the Khitan national ceramics occupy an important position. We draw on documentary and archaeological materials to explore, Three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty was made in the Liao Dynasty’s local community, low-temperature glazed earthenware in white, yellow, and green glaze colors, also glazed earthenware with yellow and green glazes, this led to the formation of white, yellow and green glazes. Kilns have been set up in the Five Capitals. To the best of our knowledge, the main kiln sites of the Liao Dynasty where the three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty was fired in the local area are the Lin Dong Nan Shan Kiln (林東南山窯), Inner Mongolia Chi Feng cylinder and tile Kiln (內蒙古赤峰缸瓦窯) in the Central Capital region, Beijing Long Quan Wu kilns (北京龍泉務窯) in Southern Capital, The meaning of the word Liao Yang in the context of the kilns (遼陽冮官屯窯) in the Eastern Capital. This paper focuses on the examples of three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty fired at the Lin Dong Nan Shan kiln and the Inner Mongolia Chi Feng Cylinder and Tile kiln.

Lin Dong Nan Shan kiln, The kiln site is located on a hillside about 1 kilometer south of the Han cheng, Lin Huang fu, Upper Capital, Ba Lin Left banner, Chi Feng, Inner Mongolia, smaller kiln plant, Now reclaimed as farmland. Specialized low-temperature glazed wares were found on the surface. The main products are monochrome glazed earthenware either white, green or yellow, and tri-colored wares, There are also two-colored wares with white or yellow glaze and a little green glaze, It is actually three-color glazed pottery. Low-temperature soft tires, tire texture flashing red. Artifact fragments are still being found from the surface. Most of the  pottery types are bowls, plates, dishes and boxes, the decorative techniques include engraving, printing, and scratching to decorate the floral and grass patterns. The twining peony flowers have a strong Khitan national style.

Inner Mongolia Chi Feng Cylinder and Tile kiln, The kiln site is located 12 kilometers west of Hou Tou Gou township, Song Shan district, Chi Feng city, Inner Mongolia, mainly in the village of Cylinder and Tile kiln, it is so far known that the Liao Dynasty is a large-scale kiln site. It was fired for a long period of time, continuing into the Jin Dynasty in the late Liao period. More types of porcelain, product quality is also good, there are coarse white porcelain, iron embroidery porcelain, black glaze porcelain, cylinder tire tea glaze porcelain and three color glaze pottery. The three color glaze pottery is available in the form of dishes, saucers, inkstones, boxes, pots, bowls, and ocarinas. The decorative techniques mainly include molding, carving, scratching, semi-relief carving and other techniques. Decorative patterns mainly include flower and grass patterns, animal patterns and so on. Most of the artifacts are Khitan style.

The artifacts unearthed indicate that, Lin Dong Nan Shan kiln and the Chi Feng Cylinder and Tile kiln, burned three-colored potteries, excellent quality, great scale and quantity, can be said to be the peak of the three-colored pottery of of the Liao Dynasty The most important features are shape, texture, glaze, ornamentation, decoration and style. At this point, the three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty reached the peak of its glory.

Mandarin duck-shaped three-color pot: Liao Dynasty, caliber 8.3 cm, base diameter 9 cm, height 20 cm. Unearthed from Wang Jia Dian Liao Tomb, Songshan District in 1977, collected by Chi Feng Museum. The body of the pot is shaped like a mandarin duck floating on the surface of the water, Yellow, green and white glaze, The colors are vibrant and the footrim is unglazed. The mandarin ducks have flat heads, eyes gazing forward, and pot-streaming mouths. The mandarin ducks have a five-petal flower-shaped spout on their backs, the lower part of the spout is joined to the tail by a curved water-wave patterned handle, and the spout is a jug flow. This mandarin duck pot skillfully uses the three-color glaze to portray the beautiful feathers of the mandarin ducks on the feathers，combining the image of beauty with the goods used in life, Artistic styling is splendid and magnificent, give people the artistic enjoyment of beauty.

Three-color “dragon” handle pot: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the caliber is 3.5 cm, the base diameter is 7.8 cm, the height is 18.8 cm. gather together by Songshan District, Chi Feng in 1977. Collected by the Chi Feng Museum. The handle pot has a long neck, a straight, sloping shoulder, a flat handle on the neck and shoulder, a bulbous belly, a short stream, and a false footrim. The abdomen is grounded in green water ripples, with an opposing coiled dragon in the center, the dragon's body plump and head high, with a blooming lotus flower in front of the head, the core of the flower with flames with jewels, next to the lotus leaves and swimming fishes turning over and over. The whole picture has smooth water waves, the dragon and fish is clear, sparse and dense, the layout is rigorous, has a high aesthetic value.

Three-colored flat handle pot with a double phoenix motif: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the caliber is 5.6 cm, the maximum diameter of the belly is 13.1 cm, the diameter of the base is 6.5 cm, and the overall height is 18 cm. Unearthed from a Liao tomb in Chang Sheng township, Ao Han banner in 1983. Collected by Chi Feng Ao Han Banner Museum. The pot is made of red earthenware, with a petal-shaped trumpet mouth, a flat rounded belly, a short straight stream, a broken handle, and a false footrim. The two sides of the pot’s belly are molded with a semi-relief design of two phoenixes, arranged above and below, their heads and tails intersecting. The finely crafted phoenix motifs are complemented by colorful glazes. bring out the best in each other.

Capricorn-shaped three-colored pot: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the foot measures 9 centimeters in diameter and 25 centimeters in height. It was unearthed in 1982 in Yu lin Zi township, Ning Cheng county, collected by the Chi Feng Museum. The overall shape of the Capricorn pot is a dragon head and fish body. Dragon head up, the upper lip rolled, open mouth for the pot flow, the fish body on both sides decorated with wings, the whole body carved with fish scale pattern, the fish tail handle is missing, the bottom of the belly of the fish to support the lotus flower seat. Capricorn is an ancient Indian myth of the water monster, it carries the cultural content and the central Han culture, grassland culture, western Buddhist culture. It is a  three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty boutique, which piece of artwork is very high.

 Three-color dish with flower mouth: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the caliber 14.2 cm, the base diameter is 8 cm, the height is 2.3 cm. Unearthed in Wu Lan Ba village, Hao Er Tu township, Ba Lin Left banner, collected by the Liao Shang Jing Museum. The dish has an eight-curved, fancy mouth, curved belly, and flat bottom. Brown earthenware with white hangings and yellow, green and white glazes. The center of the dish is stamped with a peony branch with lush foliage and two butterflies flying down. Eight symmetrical peony flowers in yellow and white are spaced between the inner walls of the octagonal belly, there are three nail marks on the inner bottom of the dish, the outer belly is yellow glazed and the bottom is unglazed. This three colored dish using the first printing after applying color, yellow, green, white, according to the pattern and apply, strict pattern, color block is relatively independent, colorful, should be imitation of gold and silver product.

Three-colored dish with chrysanthemum pattern: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the aliber is 24 cm, the height is 5 cm. Unearthed in Shuang Sheng village, Long Chang town, Ba Lin Left banner, collected by the Liao Shang Jing Museum. Glazed earthenware with a rounded mouth and shallow belly and a rounded foot. Plate external hanging powder base unglazed, within the three spike marks, it is the use of the same three-forked spike superimposed on the firing process made, the bottom of the dish in the center of the printed rotary chrysanthemum, ringed with peony patterns in two layers. Adopting the “One whole, two broken” approach. The same complete flower will be broken into two identical halves and decorated corner to corner between the gaps of the whole flower, and apply yellow color to the whole flower and green color to half of the flower or leaves. This dish has a very elaborate design with yellow flowers and green leaves on a white ground. This kind of decoration and even the whole color treatment, seems to be patterned and stagnant, however, it is this kind of treatment that reflects the Khitan nation's praise of nature, the celebration of life, and really has infinite artistic charm.

Begonia-shaped three-colored dish: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the length is 26.7 cm, the width is 15.5 cm, the height is 2.2 cm. Unearthed in Chi Feng city, collected by the Chi Feng City Museum. The dish is in the form of an eight-curved begonia flower, with a wide flat rim, shallow belly, and flat bottom. The mouth of the dish is narrower, the side is printed with entwined branches, and the inside of the dish is printed with peony flowers, surrounded by blue waves and flowing water patterns. The bottom of the dish is inscribed in regular script, “On the third day of the seventh month of the second year of the reign of Da Tong on sale”, “Da Tong” is the reign name of Emperor Taizong of Liao Dynasty. It indicates the date of appearance of The three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty. This Begonia dish is very obviously influenced by the gold and silver type in terms of shape, craftsmanship, features and color configuration, cohesive multiculturalism in one. This is not a traditional Chinese dish, but rather a Western gold and silverware imported into China via the Silk Road, borrow and assimilat Persian gold and silver styles. It has a white base color, symbolizing the original color of silver, while the prominent rim and pattern are golden yellow, creating an innovative theme of golden flowers on a silver ground. The overall outline of the Begonia dish, showing that the Khitan nation is good at borrowing and absorbing different cultures of open consciousness, can be said to be wonderfully conceived, as if made in heaven.

Three-color saliva spittoon: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the caliber is 20.9 cm, the base is diameter 6.8 cm, the height is 13.6 cm. Unearthed in 1988 in Er Ba village, Yang Chang township, Ba lin Right banner, collected by the Ba lin Right Banner Museum. The spatula is dish-mouthed, with a slightly flared mouth, a bulging belly, and a rounded foot. The inside of the spittoon is covered with a white glaze on the ground, painted in yellow and green glazes with an uplifted lotus pattern and a butterfly pattern, and the blank area of the mouth rim is painted with a dotted patch of white in yellow and green glazes. The exterior is unglazed and powdered with white make-up. Liao tomb murals are often seen in the tomb master of the maid, holding a large dish mouth, bulging belly of the vessel, Liao tomb burials are also found, yellow glaze and white glaze spatula, three colored spittoon is not common. It is dedicated to the tomb owner spit sanitary ware, can be seen more than a thousand years ago the Khitan people already have good hygiene habits, provides physical examples, from the spit pellet can be seen in its style.

Round three-colored ink stone with embossed peony pattern: Liao Dynasty (遼，916-1125), the diameter is 23 cm, the height is 8 cm. Unearthed in Si Fang city, Ba Lin Left banner in 1943, collected by the Inner Mongolia museum. The round inkstone is made from the inkstone and brush wash buttons, and is molded with stamps. Inkstone in the inner print water wave lotus pattern, wash the inner wall for the yellow glaze, the outer wall is not glazed. There is a line of ink writing in Khitan, which is indecipherable due to the age. Turning the inkstone over is a brush wash with a wide flat rim, curved belly, and a rounded foot. The ink stone is petal-shaped, with a trapezoidal ink stone along the edge. The edge of the wash is out of the prongs, for licking the pen to wash the pen. This inkstone is decorated with three-dimensional floral motifs distributed on the vertical wall of the inkstone, with one week of twining peony motifs in relief, which are symmetrically distributed by several groups of peony flowers, with white backing, green branches, and yellow flowers, harmonizing and matching the three-color glaze, which concentrates the essence of the wisdom of the Khitan people, and deepens the artistic connotation of the inkstone.

The above nine Lin Dong Nan Shan kiln, Chi Feng Cylinder and Tile kiln fired three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty, from the shape, glaze, decoration, texture, ornamentation, style can be seen at the time of the social scene. From the type of vessel to see more imitation of gold and silver patterns, and lotus pattern reflects the Liao late Buddhist faith and veneration, so it can also be said that the characteristics of the Liao Dynasty’s Khitan cultural aggregation with multiple elements, both their own national characteristics and the type of culture in the Central Plains, but also capricorn pattern of cultural exchanges in the West.

The above nine Lin Dong Nan shan kiln, Chi Feng Cylinder and Tile kiln fired three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty, was mainly excavated near the kiln site and in Liao tombs, which makes it possible that the products of the Shang Jing Nan Shan kilns were mainly supplied to the Upper Capital of Liao Dynasty area, and those of the Chi Feng Cylinder and Tile kilns were mainly supplied to the Central Capital of Liao Dynasty area and neighboring areas.

This paper on the Inner Mongolia Chifeng Lin Dong Nan Shan kiln and Chi Feng Cylinder and Tile kiln fired three-colored pottery of the Liao Dynasty, in the shape of glaze decoration and other aspects of the selection of nine examples of typical potteries to introduce and analyze, from which people on the Lin Dongnan mountain kiln and Chifeng Cylinder and Tile kiln fired Liao three-colored potteries of understanding and awareness.