The MacLean Collection Early to Medieval Chinese Pottery

The MacLean Collection Early to Medieval Chinese Pottery Synopsis

A selection of Chinese pottery from the MacLean Collection of Asian art, dating from the Neolithic period (ca. 10, 000-2000 BCE) to the Tang dynasty (618-906), providing insights into the material culture, belief systems, and social development of early to medieval China. Nowhere in the world has such a rich, distinguished, and continuous tradition of pottery production developed as in China. From the Neolithic period (ca. 10, 000-2000 BCE) to the Tang dynasty (618-906), the art of Chinese pottery making has developed as much in response to functional and aesthetic considerations as to technological improvement. The forty-eight objects selected from the MacLean Collection Asian Art Museum represent some of the most important stages of this unparallel tradition when the forms, the artistic styles, and the techniques of pottery making emerged, improved, and sophisticated. They also provide insights into the material culture, belief systems, and social development of early and medieval China.