Faience pottery is a long-standing "national essence" in China, which integrates various creative ideas, styles and languages of artists to create artistic treasures with different styles and colorful colors, which is a rare cultural treasure in China. When it comes to national essence, this article is committed to solving the following 3 problems:
1. What kind of pottery is Majiayao cultural faience pottery?
2. Majiayao culture faience pottery has a lot of ornaments, what kind of ornament is the divine and human pattern?
3. What is the connotation of the divine human pattern?
1. Majiayao culture and Majiayao faience pottery
The Majiayao culture is a late Neolithic culture in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is named after the site of Majiayao, which dates from about 5,000-4,000 years ago.
The faience pottery of Majiayao culture was mainly based on pure black painted patterns in the early stages; in the middle period, pure black colors and black and red two colors were used to draw patterns; in the late period, black and red colors were mostly used to draw patterns.
Excavation site of the Majiayao site
Culture is the epitome of history, a mirror of the times. Majiayao culture has strong historical value and cultural value. Its high degree of development reflects the many cultural achievements achieved by the Chinese ancestors in ancient times, and the faience pottery of Majiayao culture created the earliest form of Chinese painting.
In the painting of Majiayao cultural faience pottery, the brush is used as a painting tool, the line is used as the means of shaping, and the black (same as ink) is the main tone, which lays the historical foundation for the development of Chinese painting and the basic form characterized by line drawing. The faience pottery pictures of Majiayao culture are magically rich prehistoric "Chinese paintings".
Majiayao cultural faience pottery
The development of faience pottery is a significant feature of Majiayao culture, and among all the faience cultures found in China, the proportion of majiayao culture faience is the highest. Since the end of the 1950s, with the accumulation of a large number of newly excavated materials, the research of Majiayao cultural faience pottery has attracted more and more attention from the academic community, and has gradually become a hot spot in prehistoric cultural research.
Second, Majiayao culture faience ornamentation: god and man pattern
The divine pattern first appeared on the faience pottery of the Majiayao culture and lasted for a long time. First seen in the middle and late Majiayao types, it is the most characteristic ornament in the Mid-Levels and Machang type faience pottery.
The earliest name of the divine human pattern was the Swedish scholar Balmgren, but later some experts and scholars also called it a frog pattern, mainly according to the limbs of the god and man pattern on the horse factory type of faience like a frog limb. The number of Shenren patterns in the machang type faience decorative patterns is relatively large, but before the machang type, the Majiayao type and the Mid-Levels type have divine human patterns, and most of them use figurative techniques to express, which is easier to see the prototype of the shenren pattern.
Divine man pattern faience pot
The early depictions of gods and figures are more specific, ranging from those that represent the human form as a whole to those that only show the face. The facial depiction is thinner, close to the human image. At this time, the patterns of gods and people were mostly decorated in pots and bowls, such as the human face pattern faience pots unearthed in Gansu and the dancing faience pots unearthed in Qinghai.
Dancing pattern faience pots
During the Mid-Levels period, the pattern of the gods and men was more abstract, the head was painted in a circle, and the body and limbs were represented by red and black stripes and folded stripes, and most of them were decorated on the upper abdomen of the pot and the pot and the inner wall of the pot and bowl. At this time, although the pattern of the gods and men is relatively abstract, the proportions of the body are coordinated.
In the period of the development of the horse factory, the shenren pattern became more abstract, and some were only expressed in local variations. Complete divine tattoos are rare, mostly in various variants. The divine pattern eventually evolved into a geometric pattern.
Third, the rich connotation of faience ornamentation: god and man pattern
The divine human pattern is similar to the frog pattern, and can also be seen as a personified animal pattern, which is the divine human pattern in which people and animals are integrated.
So, what kind of animal does this personified animal belong to?
For example, from the perspective of physical characteristics, the personified animal is most similar to the lizard, and the trajectory of the development of the ornamentation of the combination of man and lizard can be found.
We can try to explore the factors that produce certain patterns from a psychological point of view. In Yangshao culture faience pottery, there are many fish patterns and amphibian animal patterns. In the Majiayao culture faience ornamentation, there are many reptile patterns. In Gansu faience pottery, there are many fish patterns, amphibian patterns, and reptile patterns.
This change in faience ornamentation is in harmony with the changes in the houses inhabited by prehistoric ancestors. Their houses evolved from crypt buildings to semi-crypt buildings to ground buildings. There is no doubt that the change of human habitat is closely related to the level of productivity development and the local natural environment.
We can say that we can try to make a summary: the Majiayao cultural faience ornament - the pattern of gods and people, its production and evolution and development, and the Majiayao people's productivity level, religious beliefs, and even the living environment and natural environment at that time, have a close relationship.
What do you think about that?
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