Tang Sancai

A general term for Sancai pottery from the Tang Dynasty (7th to early 10th century) in China. It is broadly divided into High Tang Sancai and Middle and Late Tang Sancai. Sancai is soft pottery made by applying a colored glaze with lead as a solvent to a single piece of pottery and firing it at a low temperature. The original Sancai, which combined brown and green glazes, had precedents in the Han Dynasty, but the distinctive feature of Tang Sancai is the use of pure white clay for the base. Its ancestor was the white-glazed green-glazed pottery of the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577), and it rapidly matured during the Wu Zhou Revolution (690-705) under Empress Wu Zetian of the High Tang Dynasty. During the Tang dynasty, when the custom of lavish funerals was widespread, many Ming vessels were made to be buried as burial objects in the tombs of nobles. The tri-color horse and tri-color camel excavated from the Qihiming Tomb (Xianyang, Shaanxi Province) in 696 are some of the earliest examples of tri-color art from the High Tang period, and yet they stand 92 centimeters tall, displaying a stylized beauty supported by abundant sculptural power and a glaze technique that had already reached a state of perfection. The Sancai of the prosperous Tang Dynasty ranged from a simple method of pouring green glaze (copper color), brown glaze (iron color), and indigo glaze (cobalt color) onto a transparent glaze, to a method of expressing large and small herringbone spots using a wax-removing technique, to a glaze method of applying a generous amount of transparent glaze over a deep green or brown glaze to create a gradation or bleeding dye, or a type of color painting method of stamping a pattern in advance and coloring the Sancai glaze to match the pattern. This opened up a world of gorgeous decorative beauty to ceramics, which had previously only had relatively simple decorative methods, and was an unprecedented event in the history of ceramics.

The Sancai style of the High Tang Dynasty, which symbolized aristocratic culture, came to an end with the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763), and the nature of Sancai pottery changed significantly after that, with elaborate techniques being used mainly for everyday tableware, some of which were even exported overseas. This was the Sancai style of the Middle and Late Tang Dynasties, which was eventually passed down to Song Sancai, Liao Sancai, Yuan Sancai, Ming Sancai, Hohwa, and Kochi ware, but at the same time it also had a major influence on pottery in other countries, with the High Tang Sancai creating the opportunity for Nara Sancai in Japan, Silla Sancai in Silla, and Bohai Sancai in Bohai, while the Late Tang Sancai gave birth to Islamic Sancai in the Islamic world. Also in Japan during the Momoyama period, Chōjirō of Kyoto began firing sansai ware using Koshi ware from the late Ming period as a model, becoming the founder of Raku ware; and in the late Edo period, sansai ware became popular throughout the country, also influenced by the style of Koshi ware.

[Yoshiaki Yabe]

"Ceramics Series 35: Tang Sancai" by Mizuno Seiichi (1977, Heibonsha)" ▽ "Tang Sancai" edited by Shanghai People's Art Publishing House (1983, Minobi)" ▽ "Japanese Art No. 408: Tang Sancai and Nara Sancai" edited by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and others (2000, Shibundo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国唐代（7～10世紀初）の三彩陶の総称。盛唐三彩と中・晩唐三彩とに大別される。三彩とは、一つの器に鉛を媒溶剤とした色釉(いろゆう)を施して低火度で焼成した軟陶であり、褐釉と緑釉をかけ合わせた始源的な三彩はすでに漢代に先例をみるが、素地(きじ)に純白色の粘土を選んだところに唐三彩の特色がある。北斉(ほくせい)時代（550～577）の白釉緑彩陶を祖法として、盛唐の則天武后の武周革命（690～705）の時期に一挙に成熟した。厚葬の風習が盛行した唐代には、貴紳の墓に副葬するための多くの明器(めいき)がつくられているが、696年の契苾明(けいひつめい)墓（陝西(せんせい)省咸陽(かんよう)市）から出土した三彩馬、三彩駱駄(らくだ)などは、盛唐三彩の最初期の資料でありながら92センチメートルの像高をもち、豊かな彫塑力に支えられた様式美を示し、釉法もすでに完熟の域に達している。盛唐の三彩は、透明釉地に緑釉（銅呈色）、褐釉（鉄呈色）、藍(あい)釉（コバルト呈色）を垂らし込む単純なものから、蝋(ろう)抜き技法で大小の鹿(か)の子斑(こはん)を表現したり、緑釉や褐釉を濃く呈色させた上に透明釉をたっぷりかけて暈(ぼか)しや滲(にじ)み染めする釉法、あるいは、あらかじめスタンプで文様を表しておき、文様にあわせて三彩の色釉を賦彩する一種の色絵法も編み出した。これにより、それまで比較的じみな装飾法しかなかった陶磁器に絢爛(けんらん)たる装飾美の世界が開かれ、陶磁史にとっては空前の一大盛事となった。

　貴族文化を象徴する盛唐の三彩は、安史の乱（755～763）によって終止符が打たれ、それ以後の三彩陶は大きく性格を変え、おもに食器を中心とする日常の器皿に精緻(せいち)な技法が駆使され、一部は海外へも輸出されるようになった。これが中・晩唐の三彩であり、やがて宋(そう)三彩、遼(りょう)三彩、元三彩、明(みん)三彩、法花(フアーホワ)、交趾(こうち)焼へと受け継がれるが、同時に外国の製陶にも大きな影響を与え、盛唐の三彩は日本に奈良三彩、新羅(しらぎ)国に新羅三彩、渤海(ぼっかい)国に渤海三彩を生む機縁をつくり、晩唐三彩はイスラム圏にイスラム三彩を誕生させている。日本ではまた桃山時代に京都の長次郎が明後期の交趾焼を手本として三彩を焼いて楽(らく)焼の祖となっており、江戸後期にはやはり交趾焼の作風を受けて全国各地に三彩が流行した。

［矢部良明］

『水野清一著『陶磁大系35　唐三彩』（1977・平凡社）』▽『上海人民美術出版社編『唐三彩』（1983・美乃美）』▽『文化庁他監修『日本の美術No.408　唐三彩と奈良三彩』（2000・至文堂）』

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