About 8000 years ago, the ancestors of Weihe River Basin fired the first batch of painted pottery in northern China. Since then, painted pottery has generally appeared in Neolithic cultures in the Yellow River, Liaohe River, Yangtze River and other basins, and the painted pottery in Gansu area in the upper reaches of the Yellow River is the most vigorous, forming a unique painted pottery culture.
Within one year from February 25th, 65438, you can walk into the National Museum of China "The First Light of National Colors ―― Gansu Painted Pottery Art Exhibition" to experience more than 5,500 years of painted pottery history in Gansu and appreciate the outstanding charm of painted pottery in the history of ancient world art.
Monochrome one-shaped decoration Liuhe
There are 195 pieces (sets) of wonderful prehistoric painted pottery in the exhibition hall, which together constitute a fascinating painted pottery world.
Gansu is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Pentium of the Yellow River, fertile loess plateau, thousands of miles of Hexi Corridor, gave birth to a broad Neolithic and Bronze Age culture. As the main component of these early cultures, painted pottery has become a unique cultural tradition. Thousands of years later, with the rise and prosperity of bronze culture, it gradually disappeared under the loess and was rediscovered in the 1920s.
Turquoise serrated big ear jar. Guangming Daily reporter Li Yunshe/Guangming picture
Looking around the exhibition hall, it is not difficult to find that in the world of painted pottery, red, black and white are the same color, but the patterns are changing. Painted pottery has a history of more than 5,500 years. From the initial simple touch to the later dazzling patterns, from straight lines to curves, from vortex patterns, grid patterns and sawtooth patterns to gourd grid patterns, four circles and circles, the first glorious chapter in China's art history has been opened.
You must be familiar with the noodle fish pattern basin, which is a masterpiece of painted pottery in Yangshao culture period from 7000 to 5000 years ago. Painted pottery of Yangshao culture is painted on carefully polished argillaceous red pottery, and black is widely used, such as wide band pattern, straight triangle pattern, dot pattern, vertical arc pattern, fish pattern and petal pattern. The reporter noticed that there was a bottle with a small mouth and a sharp bottom in the showcase, which was small but wonderful. As a typical object of Yangshao culture, this pointed-bottom bottle is painted with vortex patterns. According to the commentary board, the decorative pattern of this pointed-bottom bottle is more complicated and gorgeous than that of the contemporary painted pottery, indicating that it is not a commodity, but has special functions. Experts said that this pointed-bottomed bottle belongs to the late Yangshao period, and the appearance of vortex patterns had a great influence on the later Majiayao culture.
The exhibits in the exhibition confirmed the expert's words. 5000-4000 years ago, Majiayao culture rose and reached its peak. Painted pottery in this period is known as the "king of painted pottery" because of its bright color, complex pattern and meticulous line circulation. Four-series pot with swirl pattern, small mouth and big belly, is a pottery urn for storing things, and there are four hooks on the outside of the pot mouth for sealing. Most of its appearance is black, with swirls and water ripples of different sizes. This circular line and wonderful composition make it a masterpiece of Majiayao culture.
Throughout the exhibition, there is a "prominent" exhibit-a big ear jar inlaid with turquoise. As an object in the decline stage of painted pottery, its uniqueness lies in its unique shape: turquoise pieces and shell pieces of different sizes are attached to its ears and pot belly, which are symmetrical and neat, and look like wearing a "short skirt" from a distance.
Two songs of natural life
Prehistoric ancestors' awe and love for nature is unparalleled. They painted flowers, birds, fish and insects, the sun, animals and people on painted pottery.
The exhibition shows the morphological characteristics of flower petals, leaves, fruits, gourds and other plant patterns with "lush foliage", the morphological and evolutionary characteristics of bird patterns with "popular bird riding", the morphological and transformation characteristics of aquatic organisms such as fish patterns and frog patterns with "aquatic clan", and the domesticated animals such as pigs, dogs and sheep related to animal husbandry and hunting with "domesticated and wild". Some of these images are purely artistic decoration, while others contain worship connotation. The decorative patterns of the sun, plants, animals and people show the natural ecology of the place where people live.
Humanoid jar. Guangming Daily reporter Li Yunshe/Guangming picture
Four pig faces were drawn continuously on the shoulders and abdomen of the thin-necked pot with pig faces. Every pig has a pair of eyes with the next one, vivid and ingenious. Domestic pig is one of the six animals domesticated by our ancestors, and this painted pottery pot may prove the prosperity of primitive agriculture.
Not far from this earthenware pot with "bread" potential, there is a "low-key but connotative" pot-* * * pattern pot. Compared with other pottery with perfect appearance, it is really ugly, with many gaps in the mouth, but please pay attention to the pattern on it: a man and an animal are painted on both sides, and the waist of both men and animals is covered with thick cloth, which reveals the cordial relationship between man and this animal, and the animal shape is very similar to that of a horse. However, during this period, horses have not been introduced into China, and no horse bones have been unearthed at various sites in China. According to experts, this animal related to people is either a dog or a dog.
The spiritual home of the predecessors of the three histories
In ancient times, primitive worship was the main spiritual pillar of people. Among the painted pottery patterns, the giant fish pattern and the divine man pattern can best show these characteristics. The characteristic of their cooperation is to connect natural creatures with people and show the simple brain of soul communication in primitive worship.
The giant fish is the giant salamander. The giant fish in the showcase is a human face, with wide eyes, open mouth and teeth, bent and twisted body, and covered with scaly grid patterns. Claw-shaped patterns are painted on both sides, which are lifelike and vivid, and have the characteristics of combining giant fish, people and snakes. Some scholars believe that it is either the image of a snake with a head.
Spinning bottle with sharp bottom. Guangming Daily reporter Li Yunshe/Guangming picture
The strangest exhibit in the exhibition hall is the "humanoid jar". This humanoid jar completely shapes the jar into a human body. A man's arm is the ear of a jar, and a pair of big feet in boots is the bottom of the jar. The painted pattern shows the characteristics of the figure's clothing: it has a clay background, the clothes are stuffed into pants with a black grid pattern, and the trouser legs below the knee are stuffed into fat boots decorated with dotted lines. People's faces are blackened, their ears are pierced, and their eyes should be inlaid with stone eyes, but they have gone backwards. The audience praised the ingenious ideas of their ancestors. Experts say that the shape and painting of this humanoid jar reveals the clothing characteristics of nomadic tribes in Hexi Corridor.
It also shows the cultural blending on the Hexi Corridor, and there is also a "swallow-shaped head cover". This weeping portrait sculpture is actually the top of a pottery lid. In the form of sculpture and painting, it shows the image of a mourner crying like rain. Sober has long hair, facing the sky, eyebrows and eyes rolled down to both sides, lips closed, tears hanging in the corner of his eyes and a runny nose flowing out of his nostrils, which makes a Sober's mourning accurate and vivid. Experts say that the deceased is mourning for his dead relatives. This small pottery with a weeping image placed a sacrifice in front of the tomb of the deceased. According to historical records, grassland nomads, Huns and Sikaitai people all effectively cut their faces with knives when mourning for the dead, so that blood and tears can flow out all the way to express the custom of mourning. Hexi corridor is close to the grassland, and there is still this custom. Sober's mud is like tears on his face, or assimilated by blood or scars.
Gansu painted pottery has experienced the vicissitudes from prosperity to decline for more than 5500 years, and painted a colorful history of painted pottery. Painted pottery not only reflected the ecological situation of the continuous transformation of social production level at that time, but also expressed the spiritual worship and aesthetic pursuit of ancient art creators. Entering "The First Light of National Colors ―― Gansu Painted Pottery Art Exhibition", we can see the colorful world composed of mud and fire, lines and color blocks, and feel the imagination and creativity of prehistoric ancestors.
Guangming Daily (0 17.00.08, 2020)