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.

What is the historical background of Tang Sancai?

According to historical records, during the reign of Emperor Taizong, over 100 officials above the fifth rank in Chang'an were non-Han people, accounting for nearly half of the total officialdom in the capital. Many Hu merchant caravans traveled along the Silk Road to and from Chang'an. They included Africans, who, during the Tang dynasty, were known as the Kunlun people. Tang-Dynasty literature contains detailed descriptions of the Hu and Kunlun people, further testified by vivid tri-color pottery figures from the period. A group of male

pottery figures unearthed in the 1950s around Shaanxi's Xi'an (known as Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty) and Xianyang clearly portray the physical features of African people. They are the earliest statues of Africans so far found in China. Much larger quantities and varieties have been discovered of Tri-color figurines of Hu people. They are depicted as standing, sitting, leading camels, riding on horseback, playing plucked musical instruments or dancing. They have deep-set eyes, high-bridged nose and full beards and are clad either in Tang attire or that of an outside culture.

How is Tang Sancai made?

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 mould 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°C.

Tang SanCai 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.

of Chinese painting, sculpture and stone carving. It features fleshy figures, regular and exquisite techniques, compact carving traces, and smooth lines, indicating the high-level of the craft reached in the Tang Dynasty. Tang San Cai is mainly divided into pottery tomb-figures and daily commodities.

Most of the tri-color human figures are female. They range in size from a dozen centimeters to over one meter tall, and wear gorgeous, fashionable costumes whilst emanating grace and refinement. Their full figure and round face are in conformity with the criteria of beauty in the Tang Dynasty. Human figures also include depictions of Hu people (a general term for people of non-Han origin), which make them a unique feature of the Tang Dynasty.

Why a lot of Tang Sancai use horses and camels as objects?

Of the animal figures, horses and camels account for the greatest number. The Tang Empire was won on horseback, so the Tang people had a special affection for horses. No artisans of any other dynasty were so skillful in their vivid representations of horses. Such works are consequently admired and avidly collected by people all over the world.
The camel was also an important means of transportation on the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty, over 1,300 years ago. Many camel figurines of the Tang are described in a walking position, or with their heads held high, as if whinnying.

What does the “Three-color” mean?

Tang Sancai (or three colored ware) is a polychrome lead glazed decorated pottery. "Three-color" doesn't mean only three colors, but rather multicolored. Tang artists in China were experimenting greatly with the mixing of various shades of glaze. They seemed to share a fascination for the resulting color from these mixtures. This Three-color glaze technique grew out of the monochrome lead glazes used during the earlier Dynasties.

If there is a technical explanation of the term it might be that the colors actually

are based on specifically three different oxides i.e. iron giving yellow to brown hues, copper giving green or occasionally brown colors and the rare cobalt for blue. The colors can occur as monochromes or together.

The Chinese used these vessels predominantly for three distinct purposes. They were used as funerary pieces buried in the tombs of perhaps a wealthy merchant, they were used in sacrificial worship and, finally, they were used in every day life.

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 techniques, compact carving traces, and smooth lines, indicating the high-level of the craft reached in the Tang Dynasty. Tang San Cai is mainly divided into pottery tomb-figures and daily commodities.

the craft. At present, Luoyang Tang San Cai is exporting to more than 50 countries and regions in the world.