Ceramics - Paper

It is believed that ceramics started after the primitive people observed the way earth reacts to fire. They must have noticed that on place that fire has touched or passed, the earth became very hard. They began to search for the material which we now know as clay, and baked and cooked them in extremely high temperatures to use as containers for water, rice, and other necessities. The practice became widespread around the world, though each civilization had its own culture.
      The ceramic culture of the Vietnamese borrowed many aspects from its neighboring countries, such as India, Cambodia, Champa, and most especially China, while at the same time having decorative motifs, glaze types, production methods, and attitude toward potting techniques so varied from the ones of the civilizations mentioned. It is undeniable, however, that China had a lot of influence among the Vietnamese ceramic culture during domination from 111 BC to 939 AD. proven by the ceramics excavated from Chinese tombs. These include objects brought by Han from China, those produced by the Vietnamese, and those made by the latter according the specifications their Chinese patrons. The unearthed Vietnamese ceramics had common shapes as they were all made around the same time period. The most common ones were vessel-shaped bowls, tall cups with large mouths, tall vases called dam xoe with slender necks, large mid-sections and bell-shaped bases and terracotta house models in the architectural design of the tu dai dong duong (dwelling of four generations living together).
      Most of the clay used for Vietnamese pottery were obtained from the Red River Valley, which provided the Vietnamese smooth, homogenous, and grayish-white clay. The widespread foreign influence combined with their own artistic techniques helped them create the most sophisticated ceramic tradition of Southeast Asia especially around the reign of the Ngo and Tran Dynasties approximately from 10th to 15th centuries. Vietnamese...