Among early Chinese potteries, the white pottery was particularly worthy of notice. It is not only because of the uniquely clean and pure beauty that it possessed; another very important reason is that its raw material was quite different from most clay and sand potteries at that time. Abundant information shows that the white pottery's chemical properties were very close to those of porcelain clay and Kaolin. There was a minute difference in iron content between porcelain clay and Kaolin, 1.59 percent and 1.72 percent respectively, both much lower than other raw clay used for pottery-making. Thus the white pottery, similar to these two kinds of materials, also gained the white color.

White pottery gui of the Longshan culture. Unearthed from Weifang, Shandong Province.

    White pottery surfaces usually have the polished finish, with only few examples of the stamped rope patterns. The late-Shang Dynasty was the time of rapid development in the making of white pottery. The works during this time used fine quality body that was white and smooth. On the surfaces are engraved with unique Chinese patterns such as Taotie, Kui, Yunlei, and more. It is also evident that some white potteries were imitations of bronze wares of the same time period, having similar or identical modeling and adorning motifs. The firing technique for white

pottery was the most advanced of all pottery at the time. Compare to other potteries, white pottery was sturdier in material, cleaner and more elegant in appearance; thus it was the favorite among the ruling class. During the Xia (21sM7th centuries B.C.) and Shang dynasties, white potteries were mostly Chinese wine containers owned by the ruling class, such as the gui, he and jue or vessels for foods such as the Dou and Bo.

Shang Dynasty zun (wine vessel) with parallel line patterns and green glaze, H 18 cm. Dia. 19.65 cm at mauth. Collection of the Shanghai museum.

    There were three basic requisites to producing primitive porcelain. First was the choice of raw material and treatment; increased aluminum oxide content and lowered iron oxide concentration was needed so that the body can be of a white

 color. The second requirement was maturing temperatures of at least 1,200 degrees Celsius, so that the body can be fully congealed and no longer water-absorbent; when knocked on, it produced a crisp metallic ring. Third and last requirement was the glaze, which was applied uniformly to the body and also fired at high temperatures.

Primitive porcelain gui, H 12 cm. Spring and Autumn Period. Unearthed from Changzhou in Jiangsu Province. Collection of the Changzhou Municipal Museum in Jiangsu Province

     The creation of glaze was certainly an essential condition for making porcelain ware. The glaze on primitive porcelain was perhaps discovered by chance. While firing a piece of pottery inside a tightly sealed kiln with rather high temperatures, some burnt wood ash came into contact with the surface of the pottery, and was melted and congealed with the feldspar in the porcelain clay. Thus a thin layer of natural glaze was formed. This accidental occurrence gave pottery-makers an innovative idea.They proceeded to mix firewood ash with diluted porcelain clay, and applied the mixture on the surface of unfired clay body.

    That was how early ash glaze was born. This type of glaze which contained firewood ash and small traces of iron turned yellow or brown in oxidation fire, and blue or blue-green in reduction fire. High-temperature glazing can be considered a great invention of the Chinese people, albeit accidental, its discovery was even earlier than the first practice of low temperature glazing, which was invented in West Asia. Usually in basic colors of olive green, green, blue-green, blue, yellow and brown, high temperature 

White pottery Ding, Imitating bronze.

    Primitive porcelain wares usually came in vessels such as wine cups, lei, bowl, urn, jar, dou, gui and so on. Its body was relatively tough and usually in a grayish white or grayish brown color. Very few pieces have bodies of off-white with a slight

yellowish tint. Its glaze color was usually blue-green; some were bean green, dark green or yellow green. The modeling of primitive porcelain was the same as hard stamped pottery, which was made through the coil method. After achieving desired

shape, stamps engraved with design patterns would be used to slap the surface of the body. On one hand, it strengthens the bond of the clay coils. On the other hand, decorative patterns were impressed onto the cast. Finally, the vessel was smoothed, glazed and fired. Primitive porcelain were rarely plain under the glazed surface, most were covered with geometric patterns such as leaf veins, saw teeth marks, parallel lines, mat crossings and s-shapes, some would be circular or rope patterns.

    The newly introduced primitive porcelain in the Shang Dynasty had many great qualities. Its surface had a smooth glaze, which was somewhat resistant to dirt and easy to clean. Aside from the middle to lower reaches of the Yellow River where small quantities of primitive porcelain was unearthed, most archeological findings of primitive porcelain were concentrated around the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and southeastern China along the coast.