Craft:Chinese traditional handicraft with thousands of years history

Origin:Luoyang

Tang San Cai, also called Tricolor Glazed Pottery and a gem of ancient Chinese art, is a kind of handmade glazed ware of exquisite craftsmanship created in the Northern and Southern Dynasty (386-589) about 1,400 years ago. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the production of Tang San Cai reached its peak, which is part of the reason the pottery got the name of Tang San Cai.

Luoyang, named the eastern capital in ancient times, in Henan Province was the home of Tang San Cai, and most of unearthed Tang San Cai was found in Luoyang.

Tang San Cai is a polychrome handicraft with yellow, green, and white as its major tones. It is fired with lead glaze and presents a harmonious complex of varied colors, deep and light. The process is complicated: first, bake the ready mode in kilns until the temperature reaches 1,100oC, then take it out and apply glaze on it; bake it again in kilns at a temperature of about 900隆茫C.

Tang San Cai items that have been unearthed include horses, humans, and even pillows, and camels, of which the pottery camel is one of the best. Its head rises high, as if telling stories about merchant caravans along the Silk Road in the remote past and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Being the gem of ancient Chinese art, Tang San Cai absorbed the advantages of Chinese painting, sculpture and stone carving. It features fleshy figures, regular and exquisite technics, compact carving traces, and smooth lines, indicating the high-level of the craft reached in the Tang Dynasty. Tang San Cai is primaryly divided into pottery tomb-figures and daily commodities.

After the founding of new China, specialized institutions have been set up to study the technics of making Tang San Cai, which has boosted the development of the craft.

Artistic & Historical Background:   Listen to it

This artwork is a set of Tang Dynasty tri-coloured glazed pottery figurines, named "Eight Tang Palace Musicians", which depict the image of musicians in the Tang Dynasty palace.

These figurines have rich spiritual and cultural connotations and historical significance, reflecting the artistic style and aesthetic concepts of Tang Dynasty society.

Tang Tri-coloured Glazed Pottery is a unique form of ceramic art that originated in the Tang Dynasty and became popular during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

It is known for its bright colours, exquisite craftsmanship, and vivid images.

Tang Tri-coloured Glazed Pottery figurines usually depict social life, religious beliefs, and folk legends of the time, with high artistic and historical value.

In this artwork, we can see eight musicians dressed in luxurious clothing, holding musical instruments, and with different expressions, showing the elegant demeanour of Tang Dynasty palace musicians.

These musicians may have been part of the palace band, responsible for playing various musical works to entertain the emperor and nobles.

Their images are so lifelike that it seems they could start playing beautiful music at any moment.

This set of Tang Tri-coloured Glazed Pottery figurines not only has high artistic value but also reflects the prosperity and cultural heritage of Tang Dynasty society.

They provide us with a window to understand the social customs and artistic achievements of the Tang Dynasty, allowing us to feel the glory and elegance of that era.

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