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What features identify Yue ware as an early celadon?
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Chinese pottery
Painted Pottery funerary urn, Neolithic Banshan phase, c. 3000 bce, from Yangshao, Henan province, China; in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm. Height 13.2 inches (33.5 cm).
Yue ware is identified as an early celadon through several distinct technical and aesthetic features:
- Composition: It is characterized by a hard stoneware body.21
- Glaze Characteristics: The ware features a thin, high-fired glaze that typically ranges in color from olive to brownish green.23
- Technical Process: The distinctive green coloration was achieved by applying a wash of slip containing a high proportion of iron to the stoneware body before glazing. During the firing process, the iron interacted with the glaze to produce its characteristic hue.21
- Stylistic Evolution: Early specimens, particularly those from the Eastern Han period, often imitated the shapes of bronze vessels and featured impressed, bronzelike designs. Over time, particularly by the Six Dynasties period, potters moved away from these bronze-inspired forms to create shapes more characteristic of pottery.24
First produced in the Han dynasty at Yuyao in Zhejiang province, Yue ware is recognized as the earliest form of the celadon family.21