Tang Sancai is mainly used as a funeral vessel, with figurines and living utensils. The figurines mainly include figurines and animal figurines. The figurines have a wide range of themes, mainly including women, scribe figurines, warrior figurines, heavenly king figurines, tomb beasts, etc. These figurines have both gods and forms, and their subject matter portrays their different personalities and characteristics. The noblewoman has a fat face, full muscles, combs all kinds of buns, and wears colorful valerian clothing. The civil officials were polite, the samurai were brave and handsome, the bearded figurines were high-nosed and deep-eyed, and the heavenly kings were angry and fierce. When making these figurines, in order to enhance the texture of the figures, the "open phase" process was adopted: the heads of the figures were not glazed, and only white powder was applied; On the lips and cheeks, add vermilion; Eyes, eyebrows, beards, scarves and hats, etc., are painted in ink or color to enhance the realistic effect.

Tang Sancai female figurines are based on the living female figures of Tang Dynasty society, including standing figurines, sitting figurines, music and dance figurines, music and singing figurines, horse riding figurines, mirror dressing figurines, etc., focusing on the image of Tang Dynasty women with free posture, plump faces, delicate skin, delicate hands and soft feet. Women in the Tang Dynasty like to decorate, Tang Sancai female figurines such as forehead yellow, eyebrows, vermilion powder, lipstick, flower day, makeup and other decoration methods are all-encompassing, hairstyles are also novel and changeable, there are single high bun, double egg bun, wo pendant bun, two buns, knife bun, treasure bun, vertebral bun, snail bun, parrot bun and so on. The costumes of these female figurines are simple and bright, with many fold-neck narrow-sleeved shirts, exposed breasts, skirt belts, and round, square, oblique, straight, and chicken hearts in the collars, showing the diversified fashion of women's decoration at that time, and showing the spiritual outlook of women in the Tang Dynasty. The shape of the female figurines, the early delicate, the later plump, with the Tang Zhongzong period as the transition.

The figurines of the scribes were the image of the scholars in the Tang Dynasty, who had a high social status and favorable living conditions in the society. But "the companion is like a tiger", so these characters are quiet and dignified, deep in thought, and extraordinary. The warrior figurines are the epitome of the armed forces of the Tang Dynasty, mostly handsome and dashing young warriors, some standing, some riding horses, drawing bows and shooting arrows, most of these are the shapes of the early Tang Dynasty. When Wu Zetian arrived, there were figurines of the king in the shape of King Kong in Buddhism. During the period of Wu Zetian and Tang Zhongzong, the warrior figurines and the Tianwang figurines were seen together, and only the Tianwang figurines were seen later

The tomb beast originated from the ancient legend of Fang Xiangshen, which is a mountain and river spirit and has the power to drive away evil. The tomb beast was molded into a human hoof and foot in the early Tang Dynasty; When Wu Zetian arrived, there were animal bodies, bird wings, and hooves, and there were two kinds of animal faces or human faces. Because of its bizarre and terrifying shape, coupled with the bizarre glaze, it will make people feel terrifying in the specific environment of the tomb.

The Tang Sancai Hu people, music and dance, and acrobatic figurines show the diversification and enrichment of Tang people's lives from another side, which can be described as diverse and colorful. It reproduces the scene of friendly coexistence between the Central Plains and the people of all ethnic groups in the border areas and frequent exchanges between China and foreign countries during the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty.

Most of the Tang Sancai unearthed in Luoyang are processed from relatively pure kaolin, and this mineral deposit is produced around Luoyang. This kind of soil is more delicate, plastic, not easy to crack and deform after molding, and is a material that is superior to making various pottery. The selected mineral soil needs to be processed into spare clay through a series of processes such as selection, pounding, grinding, washing, precipitation, kneading, kneading, and staleness, and then it can be used. Judging from the unearthed artifact carcass, the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty were not very precise in the selection of tire materials, and the tire contained mineral impurities such as quartz particles.

There are three common molding methods for Tang Sancai, namely sculpture, molding, and wheeling. More than two methods are often used to make an object. The craftsmen first have to carry out a detailed conception and design, and then use special sculpture tools to create sculptures with clay, and after repeated modifications, they finally take shape. Mold making is the division and turning of the sculpture into a mold. There are fewer simple modeling divisions, and even fewer than one or two molds. Complex shapes such as figurines of the king, tomb beasts, horses of different shapes, architectural models, etc., often need to be reproduced more molds. For irregular parts, there is also a set of molds, so this kind of molding molds often has as many as a dozen. The mold is divided into two types: single mold and mold clamping. Single-mode is suitable for small accessories such as decals and stacking plastics for decoration on utensils. Mold clamping is made by pressing two halves and then butt bonding, which is suitable for all kinds of people, animals and some living utensils. Craftsmen first put the moderately soft and hard clay into the mold after kneading and stale and press it by hand, and its thickness is flexibly grasped according to the size of the object, and then the mold is bonded with mud, and when the clay itself in the mold has a certain strength, the bonding is taken out and assembled, and the adhesive part is flattened with a special knife, wiped with fingers, and dipped in water with a brush or brush. A skilled craftsman can make the carcass uniform, moderately thin and thick, and the bonded parts are seamless, as if they were one. The wheel system is suitable for making utensils with a round body, such as cups, plates, bowls, saucers, beans, bottles, stoves, pots, jars, etc. in daily utensils, but there are also some oblate, ellipsoidal, irregular and other utensils that adopt the clamping method.

A molded utensil needs to be thoroughly dried before it can be fired plain to avoid deformation and cracking of the carcass during high-temperature firing. Tang Sancai generally needs to be roasted twice, the first time after a temperature of about 1000 °C ~ 1100 °C will burn the carcass, take out the glaze, and then enter the kiln after 800 °C ~ 900 °C temperature glaze firing, the glaze on the carcass begins to melt, the glaze melts and flows to infiltrate each other, forming colorful colors.

The partition glazing method is to apply different glaze colors to different parts, and several glaze colors are applied to one utensil at the same time, and the combination and blending between the glaze colors will produce a new effect. Pointillism glazing is the use of a brush to point on some parts of the utensils with the same or inconsistent size, or dotted, or block-like dots, or strip-like lines. Some are arranged neatly, some are natural and random, after high temperature melting, the flow and blending of glaze colors form a fantasy picture, virtual and real, mottled, such as sunset, such as dreams, forming a natural and natural art style.

Tang Sancai's most successful feature is its changeable glaze and exquisite shape. After testing the components of the unearthed Sancai glaze, it was found that the main components of the Sancai glaze were lead silicate and metal colorants. After hundreds of thousands of experiments, the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty successfully mastered the color of different metal oxides and formulated glazes of different colors. Quartz and lead powder are added to the glaze, lead oxide is used as a co-solvent, copper, iron, cobalt, manganese, antimony, chromium and other components are added in an appropriate amount, and after a temperature of 800 °C ~ 900 °C, it is restored to a variety of colors. For example, copper oxides are green, iron oxides are yellow or yellowish-brown, cobalt oxides are blue, and manganese oxides are purple or black. In order to achieve a special effect and produce a special color, the craftsmen have successfully fired brown, orange, light green, emerald green, dark green, sky blue, he, eggplant purple and other colors on the basis of the proportion of various metal ores. The glazes flow and blend with each other, creating a brilliant and gorgeous style of Tang Sancai art.

In recent years, with the continuous heating up of the collection fever, Tang Sancai has become more and more favored by people. Due to the gradual depletion of Tang Sancai's sources and the rise in market value, many fakes appeared. As for when Tang Sancai fakes began to appear, it is generally believed to be the Republic of China period. The predecessor of the Luoyang Cultural Relics Exchange Center, where the author works, is the Luoyang Museum Cultural Relics Replication Factory, so I have the opportunity to conduct in-depth and detailed research on the production process of Tang Sancai and the identification of Tang Sancai. As early as the early nineties of the last century, the Luoyang Cultural Relics Exchange Center had collected some imitations of the Tang Sancai of the Republic of China, except that the carcass was slightly different from the Tang Dynasty Sancai, from the shape to the glaze color is difficult to distinguish from the Tang Dynasty Sancai. Since the eighties of the last century, the production of Luoyang Tang Sancai imitations is mainly concentrated in the area of Chaoyang to Nanshishan Village, Mengjin County, on the mountain in the north of the city, the production of Sancai here is mainly handicrafts, and some imitations are made, but there are not many that really reach the degree of fake and real after doing the old. The main reason for the difficulty of identification is that people have too few opportunities to contact the genuine Tang Sancai. Through long-term practice, the author believes that the identification of Tang Sancai mainly starts from the four aspects of modeling, glaze color, carcass and technology.

The shape of Tang Sancai was created by craftsmen in the Tang Dynasty in a specific historical period, and the social customs, living environment, aesthetic awareness, production materials, and craft level at that time were inseparable, so both characters and animals can show a vivid and realistic demeanor, and the breath of life is strong. Judging from the unearthed Tang Sancai, the sculpture level of the craftsmen in the Tang Dynasty is very high and skilled, the proportions of figures and animals are coordinated, and the image is vivid. The faces, facial features, expressions, postures, and gestures of the characters change, and all kinds of animals are static or moving, and the forms are natural and expressive. The production of imitations, one is according to the original, the second is according to the picture, the third is to innovate on the prototype, and the fourth is to fabricate. Although the makers have put a lot of effort into the modeling, some of which are similar to the originals, but due to the lack of skills of the sculptors, coupled with the different living environments of the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty, the production can only resemble the shape and cannot reach the god-like, often the shape is stiff and lacks changes. For example, the figurines are often uncoordinated in proportion, the face is sluggish, the lines are stiff, and some lines are too regular. The bottom foot of the Tang Dynasty three-color round utensils is generally in the shape of "flying edges", and a knife is repaired outside the edge, which is most common on bowls, plates, bottles, pots, bowls and other utensils, while imitations often lack this process.

Glaze Tang Sancai buried in the ground, after more than 1,000 years, by the soil environment and the erosion of chemicals in the soil such as acid, alkali, etc., the bright and dazzling luster has become soft and luster, the glaze of the opening piece is uniform and fine, regular, the four sides of the opening piece are slightly upturned, carefully observe the gap between the pieces with a magnifying glass There is rust Yinqin, similar to the lead phenomenon of the green glazed pottery pot in the Han Dynasty. With direct observation with the naked eye, looking at the surface of the glaze from the side, a thin layer like a fly's wings is generated, and the lines between the open pieces are like bulging lines, which is Tang Sancai's "pulp". In order to remove the dazzling and dazzling luster of the glaze, imitations often use hydrofluoric acid to remove the light, and then neutralize it with alkali, so it looks very jerky. In recent years, the maker has also studied the method of firing a small piece of glaze, but the opening piece is hard, some are too finely broken, some of the lines are disorderly, and the opening piece often produces the phenomenon that individual lines are too long, and the glaze has no fly wing "pulp". Although some of them are also made with a layer of silver or five-color rainbow light, they are like a layer of mist floating on the glaze, which is very shallow and not firm.

The carcass unearthed in Luoyang Tang Sancai, the tire material contains a trace amount of iron. Due to the difference in firing temperature and furnace atmosphere, the color of the carcass after firing is white, pale pink or light yellow, etc., the fetal quality is not very fine, and the fetal material contains tiny particles such as quartz, and other mineral impurities. From the point of view of carcass firmness, some carcasses are relatively hard due to high firing temperature; Due to the low firing temperature, the hardness of the carcass is smaller, the carcass is looser, and the glaze layer is easy to peel off. The production of imitation products, one is the use of processing modern three-color handicrafts carcass material, that is, pure kaolin, without special ingredient processing, after firing the carcass is white and delicate, relatively hard, less impurities, the sound of knocking is loud, the feel is heavier, and the Tang Dynasty Sancai is quite different. Another material is also kaolin, using a similar process to the ancient process to process the tire material, the maker hollows out the mind, adds a small amount of quartz powder and other substances to the tire material, after careful preparation, after firing, whether from the hardness, tire color or density are close to the Tang Dynasty Sancai, there is a certain difficulty in distinguishing.

The production of the craft Tang Sancai generally adopts the first sculpture, then the mold, then the blank, and finally the bonding assembly. At the same time, the method of wheel system and kneading is adopted, and these process traces have been left in both figurines and utensils. Figures and animals are mostly molded in sections, pressed by hand, and bonded with clay. Judging from the unearthed objects, these traces are very obvious, and a closer look at the tread inside these three-color bodies shows the fingerprints of Tang Dynasty craftsmen. Flat three-color utensils such as flat pots, etc., basically have butt and knife cutting marks on the side. For example, bowls, cans, bottles, water injections, plates, bowls, etc. are made by wheels, and the fine string patterns left in the production process are clearly visible. Some imitations use grouting process, and the kneading and wheel system and mold clamping mud sticking process can not be seen on the carcass of the utensils, and the production method is very different from the real product, and the finished product feels lighter. Some round utensils are placed on the turntable after grouting or molding, and the rotation of the turntable is used to draw out traces of the wheel system, but the string lines look unnatural. Some are made by a similar molding process as in the Tang Dynasty, but after the combination, whether it is a figure, an animal or a vessel, it looks clumsy, the proportions are uncoordinated, and the lines are stiff. Some are too elaborately carved, and the painting of snakes adds to it, so that people can't feel the charm of the Tang Dynasty. Under normal circumstances, Tang Sancai figurines are not glazed on the skin that is not covered by clothing, such as the face, neck, and hands of the figures, which are generally painted. Hair, eyebrows, eyes, beard, scarves and hats should be black, and lips and cheeks should be vermilion. The facial features and eyebrows of the characters are depicted in detail. Over the millennium, the colors have faded and thinned, seeping into the carcass. The painted colors of the imitations are bright and clear, they look more floating, the lines are not clean and neat, the expressions of the characters appear sluggish, and the brushwork used is often not in place, which is different from the real thing.

Tang Sancai in the Tang Dynasty is the general name of colorful lead glazed pottery products, which was won in the early Tang Dynasty. Its glaze is available in yellow, green, brown, blue, black, and white. Therefore, its exact and practical name should be "Tang Dynasty colored glazed pottery". But because this kind of colored glazed pottery is white, green, yellow three colors as its main color, so people are accustomed to call it Tang Sancai. In ancient China, there was a meaning of three and five as the majority, so the three colors also have a colorful meaning. A large number of its treasures were excavated in Luoyang, the ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties, so it is also known as "Luoyang Tang Sancai". At that time, in addition to some daily necessities and furnishings, the three-color glaze was also widely used in pottery figurines, pottery horses and other burial objects.

The artistic characteristics of "Tang Sancai" are not only manifested in the sculpture art, but also in the brilliant colors. "Tang Sancai" in the glaze color using China's unique string process, in the calcination process, the potter uses the lead glaze strong fluidity, firing when flowing down the characteristics, the glaze skills and decorative techniques are combined with each other, resulting in elegant and rich artistic effect. Potters use yellow and brown glaze to depict the manes of horses and camels, and blue and green to depict the muscles of human figures,...... This is completely the application of "color with class" in Chinese painting in sculpture, and the vivid sculpture works coupled with these natural and colorful colors finally constitute the Tang color glaze with a strong national style.

The production of Tang Sancai has a history of more than 1,300 years. It absorbs the characteristics of Chinese traditional painting, sculpture and other arts and crafts. Tang Sancai has a complex production process, using finely processed kaolin as the body, using copper, iron, cobalt, manganese, gold and other minerals as the colorant of the glaze, and adding an appropriate amount of lead-smelting slag and lead ash as additives in the glaze. First, the plain blank is roasted in the kiln, and after the pottery blank is fired, it is glazed and fired to about 800 °C in the kiln again. Due to the strong fluidity of the lead glaze, the glaze spreads and flows around in the process of firing, and the glaze of various colors infiltrates and blends with each other to form a natural and mottled gorgeous color, which is a traditional handicraft with a unique style in China.

Tang Sancai is not only expensive in the glaze color is rich and magnificent, and the shape of camels, horses and figures is vivid and expressive, full of life, at that time in the international field, Tang Sancai has been famous, become one of the important items of economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. In 1928, when the Longhai Railway was built to Luoyang Mountain, a large number of Tang Sancai were unearthed, and the antique dealers transported it to Beijing, which was valued by antiquities researchers at home and abroad and favored by antique dealers. After that, the Luoyang area continued to have Tang Sancai unearthed, the quantity of quantity, the beauty of quality, amazing.

Tang Sancai's copying and imitation technology, in Luoyang has a history of 100 years, after the development of generations of artists, Tang Sancai technology has been gradually improved, and the firing level has been continuously improved, so that the "Luoyang Tang Sancai" technology and artistic level have reached a certain height. In the international market, Tang Sancai has become an extremely precious work of art, and has been rated as an excellent tourism product at the international tourism conference attended by more than 80 countries and regions, and is known as the "treasure of oriental art". Tang Sancai horses and camels have been presented as national gifts to heads of state and government of more than 50 countries.

Tang Sancai is a gorgeous and dazzling wonder in the treasure house of ancient Chinese traditional ceramic art. Tang Sancai is the general name of lead glazed pottery in the Tang Dynasty, because it is mainly yellow, green and brown 3 kinds of glaze color, in the firing process due to the flow of lead glaze, all colors show shades of layers or various colors are skillfully intertwined, forming an intricate, gorgeous and colorful color glaze. Tang Sancai can best reflect the prosperous style of the Tang Dynasty and the majestic and broad bearing of the Tang Dynasty culture, whether in the modeling, decoration, or firing technology, all of which are shining with the artistic brilliance of the heyday of ancient Chinese society. At the beginning of the last century, Tang Sancai was first discovered in Luoyang, and the unearthed Tang Sancai was mostly concentrated in the two capitals of the Tang Dynasty: Chang'an and Luoyang.