The origin of Tang Sancai in Luoyang

Mang Mountain is located to the north of Luoyang and south of the Yellow River. It is a geomantic treasure. It has become a famous tomb area since the Han and Tang Dynasties. Therefore, there is a folk proverb "born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, dead in Beimang". The ancient tombs of past dynasties overlap here, and "there is almost no place for cows to lie down". The first discovery of Tang Sancai was in the late Qing Dynasty. The Qing government built a railway project from Kaifeng to Luoyang that passed through the foot of Mang Mountain, destroying countless monuments here. Among the precious relics unearthed from Tang tombs, the unheard of Tang Sancai came into being.

The term "Tang Sancai" is not recorded in historical materials. It was not until the early years of the Republic of China that a large number of these brightly glazed figures, camels, utensils and other pottery suddenly entered the market in Nanliuchang, Beiping. , green, and white are the most common, as well as red, brown, blue, purple and other colors. Regardless of single color, two colors or multiple colors, they are all vivid in shape and gorgeous in glaze, causing a sensation. Antique dealers privately call it Tang Sancai. "Three" is an extreme number, and it is very appropriate to describe colorful pottery. Therefore, the term was quickly accepted by ceramicists, and people named this type of pottery after Tang Sancai, which is still in use today. At the same time, Tang Sancai also attracted research by a group of scholars such as Luo Zhenyu, which proved that these beautifully colored antiquities are indeed relics of the Tang Dynasty. A large number of Tang Sancai pottery has been unearthed in Luoyang. Gong County, Henan Province, not far from Luoyang, is the hometown of Tang Sancai pottery. Dahuangye Village and Xiaohuangye Village, about 10 kilometers away from Gongxian County, fired three-color wares mainly with yellow glaze in the Tang Dynasty, so they were called Huangye (porcelain). According to the analysis of specimens unearthed from the kiln site, the characteristics of the three-color kilns in Gongxian Kiln are: except for a few red pottery bodies that are fired from ordinary clay, most of them are relatively pure white kaolin. Due to the difference in firing temperature, they appear white or pink. The firing temperature is slightly lower than that of porcelain, between 800℃-1000℃. The firing temperature of three-color figurines is about 900℃, and the firing temperature of three-color ware is about 1000℃. Huangye Village is the earliest discovered kiln site for firing Tang Sancai.

Luoyang Tang Sancai were mostly concentrated in the suburbs of the eastern capital of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, namely Mang Mountain in the north of the city, Guanlin and Longmen in the south of the city, and Gushui in the west of the city. Many of them have been unearthed in Tang tombs in Yanshi, Mengjin, Yichuan and other places. From a comprehensive study of excavated data, it is known that Luoyang Tang Sancai appeared in tombs from the period of Wu Zetian to Zhongzong (684-709 AD), and is rarely seen in Tang tombs after the early Kaiyuan Tianbao period of Xuanzong. This period was when the Tang Dynasty's national power was at its strongest, with clear government affairs, social stability, and economic prosperity.

Luoyang Tang Sancai has a wide variety and rich content, covering all aspects of social life at that time.