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Neolithic period, which began in China around
10,000 B.C. and concluded with the introduction
of metallurgy about 8,000 years later, was
characterized by the development of settled
communities that relied primarily on farming and
domesticated animals rather than hunting and
gathering. In China, as in other areas of the
world, Neolithic settlements grew up along the
main river systems. Those that dominate the
geography of China are the Yellow (central and
northern China) and the Yangzi (southern and
eastern China).
A distinctly
Chinese artistic tradition can be traced to the
middle of the Neolithic period, about 4000 B.C.
Two groups of artifacts provide the earliest
surviving evidence of this tradition. It is now
thought that these cultures developed their own
traditions for the most part independently,
creating distinctive kinds of architecture and
types of burial customs, but with some
communication and cultural exchange between
them.
The first group
of artifacts is the painted pottery found at
numerous sites along the Yellow River basin,
extending from Gansu Province in northwestern
China (L.1996.55.6)
to Henan Province in central China. The culture
that emerged in the central plain was known as
Yangshao. A related culture that emerged in the
northwest is classified into three categories,
the Banshan, Majiayao, and Machang, each
categorized by the types of pottery produced.
Yangshao painted pottery was formed by stacking
coils of clay into the desired shape and then
smoothing the surfaces with paddles and
scrapers. Pottery containers found in graves, as
opposed to those excavated from the remains of
dwellings, are often painted with red and black
pigments (1992.165.8).
This practice demonstrates the early use of the
brush for linear compositions and the suggestion
of movement, establishing an ancient origin for
this fundamental artistic interest in Chinese
history.
The second
group of Neolithic artifacts consists of pottery
and jade carvings from the eastern seaboard and
the lower reaches of the Yangzi River in the
south, representing the Hemudu (near Hangzhou),
the Dawenkou and later the Longshan (in Shandong
Province), and the Liangzhu (1986.112)
(Hangzhou and Shanghai region). The gray and
black pottery of eastern China is notable for
its distinctive shapes, which differed from
those made in the central regions and included
the tripod, which was to remain a prominent
vessel form in the subsequent Bronze Age. While
some pottery items made in the east were painted
(possibly in response to examples imported from
central China), potters along the coast also
used the techniques of burnishing and incising.
These same craftsmen are credited with
developing the potter's wheel in China.
Of all aspects
of the Neolithic cultures in eastern China, the
use of jade made the most lasting contribution
to Chinese civilization. Polished stone
implements were common to all Neolithic
settlements. Stones to be fashioned into tools
and ornaments were chosen for their harness and
strength to withstand impact and for their
appearance. Nephrite, or true jade, is a tough
and attractive stone. In the eastern provinces
of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, particularly in the
areas near Lake Tai, where the stone occurs
naturally, jade was worked extensively,
especially during the last Neolithic phase, the
Liangzhu, which flourished in the second half of
the third millennium B.C. Liangzhu jade
artifacts are made with astonishing precision
and care, especially as jade is too hard to
"carve" with a knife but must be
abraded with coarse sands in a laborious
process. The extraordinarily fine lines of the
incised decoration and the high gloss of the
polished surfaces were technical feats requiring
the highest level of skill and patience. Few of
the jades in archaeological excavations show
signs of wear. They are generally found in
burials of privileged persons carefully arranged
around the body. Jade axes and other tools
transcended their original function and became
objects of great social and aesthetic
significance.
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