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Pottery and Porcelain |
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Porcelain clay can be crafted into vessels of almost any shape. Thus, ceramic art is closely related to the lives of ordinary people and represents a major cultural achievement in human history. Although a small island, Taiwan has a rich pottery and porcelain culture gradually developed over several thousand years.
The development of Taiwanese pottery and porcelain can be traced back six or seven thousand years. Evidence is found in the several pottery pieces from the Neolithic Age unearthed at the ruins of Tapenkeng. Pottery was also amongst the most important artifacts and relics unearthed at numerous other historical sites later. The National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung and the Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology in Bali, Taipei County, both have abundant prehistoric pottery and porcelain products in their collections. Almost all of Taiwan’s early indigenous peoples made pottery, and many of those pieces still exist today. Even now, members of the Tao tribe living on Orchid Island off the coast of Taitung continue to make traditional pottery in the same manner as their ancestors. The Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines located opposite the National Palace Museum in Taipei City’s Waishuangsi, National Taiwan University’s Department of Anthropology, and Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology all have rich collections of aboriginal pottery.
The Han people emigrating from China to Taiwan brought with them traditional mainland pottery-making techniques. When the Dutch ruled Taiwan, they hired Chinese craftsmen to bake bricks and tiles for the construction of castles and churches in Taiwan. Some of the earliest records of Han people making pottery in Taiwan are in Tainan during the Ming dynasty, when Koxinga’s consulting officer, Chen Yong-hua, taught local residents how to fire tiles. The recent excavation of early pottery pieces in Tainan’s Gueiren Township have confirmed the city as being the first place in Taiwan where the Han people made pottery.
During the Jiacing period of the Ching dynasty, Nantou started to produce glazed pottery while Yingge began developing its own pottery industry. By the Daoguang period of the Ching dynasty, Taiwan’s pottery industry had already become fairly well estab-lished. Pottery-making traditions practiced in Taiwan during the Ching dynasty included methods adopted from Fujhou, Cyuanjhou, and Jhangjhou, such as molding bricks and tiles in wooden molds that were subsequently fired in bun-shaped kilns, or using a potter’s wheel and traditional pot-throwing techniques to shape objects fired in tunnel kilns. Aside from the traditional bricks and tiles used to construct Taiwan’s red-tiled houses, the primary pottery products made during this period were water vats, urns, jars, and other daily necessities. These pottery-making methods continued to be used throughout Taiwan until after the war. Today, numerous ruins of bun-shaped kilns and tunnel kilns can still be seen in Miaoli, Nantou, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and even Taitung. Furthermore, old houses scattered throughout Taiwan’s countryside still have pottery vats under their eaves and pottery urns sitting in their corners, serving as a testament to the development of Taiwan’s pottery and porcelain culture.
Koji pottery is an artistic type of pottery found exclusively in Taiwan. Used primarily as a decoration in temple architecture, koji pottery is either an attachment found on the upper-most panel of a wall or a supporting stand connecting a wall to the eaves. Common themes depicted in koji pottery include landscapes, flowers and plants, antiques, fairy tales, and history. Elegant and resplendent in color, koji pottery perfectly symbolizes the art of pottery during Taiwan’s early period. Tainan County’s Jhensing Temple in Jiali Township and Cihji Temple in Syuejia Township both have excellent samples of koji pottery by the great koji pottery master Yeh Wang, and many other temples around Taiwan also have works made by famous koji pottery masters.
After the start of Japanese rule on Taiwan, traditional and modern Japanese pottery-making techniques and pottery products began to be imported to the island. Traditional black tiles from Japan were introduced into Taiwanese architecture and used in temples, ordinary residential homes, and dormitories to distinguish them from Taiwan’s traditional red-bricked and red-tiled buildings. To construct government offices and official residences, as well as to further develop Taiwan’s infrastructure, traditional Japanese sloped kilns and Hoffmann Chamber kilns—also known as eight-trigram kilns—were introduced into Taiwan, integrating mechanical processing technology into the manufacturing of red bricks. The adoption of red bricks for buildings in Taiwan revealed the coexistence of East Asian and Western architectures. The pottery factories set up by the Japanese introduced traditional Japanese kilns to Taiwan, such as sloped kilns and modern square kilns with upside-down flames. These kilns incorporated modern mechanical technologies, allowing them to be used to bake delicate vases, drinking vessels, and decorations. Later, the kilns in Miaoli were used to produce daily necessities used by the Japanese, such as grinding bowls, burners, flowerpots, and urns, as well as to manufacture pottery pipes and fire-resistant bricks for industrial purposes. At the same time, the kilns in Beitou were used to produce newly developed products, such as dishes, ceramic tiles, fire-resistant bricks, and electroceramics. In the 50 years that Taiwan was under Japanese rule, its pottery industry successfully integrated the pottery cultures of China, East Asia, and the West, allowing the development of this industry to present many diverse features.
When the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan after the war, the artisans and craftsmen who came with the government brought new knowledge, techniques, and products to Taiwanese pottery. Consequently, porcelain bathroom products, pottery tableware, and electroceramics were developed. Books on techniques were also translated, compiled, and written, providing new ideas to the industry. In addition, a few artists began to enter the field, causing the industry to place greater emphasis on product design and aesthetic appeal. As artists expressed their creativity by painting or engraving pottery flowerpots and vases, this began to influence individual craftsmen and large kiln owners, who one by one joined in on these new developments. Before long, Taiwan was developing new artistic pottery pieces and imitations of famous court antiques from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Ching dynasties. These imitations were particularly successful, with the material quality, shape, and patterns and decorations remarkably true to the originals. In fact, these imitations soon surpassed the works of the ancient artists, raising the art form of pottery to a whole new realm.
Starting in the mid-1960s, many young students who had been studying abroad began to return to Taiwan, bringing back with them the latest information, techniques, and ideas on artistic designs for pottery manufacturing. In the area of management strategies, the market was shifted from just trying to meet domestic demand to becoming more export-oriented, leading to the continuous development of newer products and allowing the industry to become more profitable. In the area of techniques, production standards were constantly being raised, and exquisitely crafted, partially transparent china began to replace traditional forms of pottery. In addition, manufacturers in Hsinchu and Miaoli began to make extremely lifelike and refined Western-style china dolls and other decorative objects, while suppliers in Yingge, Hsinchu, and Miaoli switched from producing small ceramic tiles and mosaic tiles to ever-larger wall tiles and floor tiles. Bathroom products were also further developed, transforming from simple commodes and washbasins to high-class bathroom facilities possessing one-piece, quiet, refined and luxurious commodes. All of these products met and surpassed international standards for quality. The development of Taiwan’s pottery and porcelain industry had reached its maturity, and the 1960s were the golden age of this art form.
During the 1960s, pottery and porcelain served as a channel for expressing creativity; and as artists poured their aesthetic viewpoints and original ideas into their products, the medium became more and more artistic. Pottery makers used potter’s wheels, clay strip coils, hand-built molds, or different qualities of materials to enter the field of pottery art and engage in the creation of installation art. Aside from the work produced in the studio, pottery artists also promoted the art form at large public gatherings or activity areas. Today, the art of pottery and porcelain has already become Taiwan’s most flourishing and developed craft, with pottery artists located around the island and their artwork often on exhibit at the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum and other museums and art centers. In brief, Taiwan’s past experiences of being ruled by different powers, combined with modern day methods of disseminating information and increased exchanges amongst the international community, allowed Taiwanese pottery and porcelain to possess rich and abundant connotations. Not only does it represent the continuation and development of the pottery culture of the Orient, but it is also a gateway into the pottery and porcelain culture of the world and a place where that global culture can be viewed in miniature.
CULTURAL TAIWAN |
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