Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T00:05:02.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Talc-Rich Black Tibetan Pottery of Derge County, Sichuan Province, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2017

Chandra L. Reedy ,
Pamela B. Vandiver ,
Ting He  and
Ying Xu
Chandra L. Reedy*
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Analysis of Cultural Materials, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A.
Pamela B. Vandiver
Affiliation:
Program in Heritage Conservation Science, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.
Ting He
Affiliation:
Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People’s Republic of China
Ying Xu
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Analysis of Cultural Materials, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A.
*
*(Email: [email protected])
Get access

Abstract

Unusual raw materials are used to produce Tibetan black pottery in Puma township of Derge County, Sichuan Province, China. Carbonaceous, calcareous pyrite-rich illitic lakebed clay is mixed in equal proportions with a ferruginous talc-chlorite steatite. A two-stage firing process results in a dark, lustrous surface. The large amount of talc imparts many useful functional qualities to this pottery; most significant are the low thermal expansion and good thermal conduction properties of talc that make these ceramics highly suitable for heating and cooking in this high mountain region. Although used in some modern ceramics, and even in modern stoves, talc is an unusual ingredient in non-industrialized ceramics. Procurement and preparation of this resource adds to the production time but its properties and performance make talc an excellent choice for the well-being and comfort of local Tibetan households.

Keywords

ceramicarchaeologymicrostructure
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Advances , Volume 2 , Issue 35-36: Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology XI , 2017 , pp. 1943 - 1968
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Dege Dzongsar Tibetan Hospital, Internal Handbook. Dzongsar: Tibetan Hospital, n.d., pp. 7–13.Google Scholar
Reedy, C.L., Thin-section Petrography of Stone and Ceramic Cultural Materials, Archetype, London, 2008.Google Scholar
Reedy, C.L., Anderson, J., Reedy, T.J. and Liu, Y., Image Analysis in Quantitative Particle Studies of Archaeological Ceramic Thin Sections. Advances in Archaeological Practice 2(4), 2004, pp. 252–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reedy, C.L., Anderson, J. and Reedy, T.J., Quantitative Porosity Studies of Archaeological Ceramics by Image Analysis. In: Vandiver, P.B., Li, W., Maines, C. and Sciau, P., eds., Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology X, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014, doi# 10.1557/opl.2014.711.Google Scholar
Kingery, W.D. and Vandiver, P.B., Ceramic Masterpieces: Art, Structure, Technology, Free Press, New York, 1986.Google Scholar
Vandiver, P.B., Variability of Song Dynasty Green Glaze Technology Using Microstructure, Microcomposition and Thermal History to Compare Yaozhou, Jun, Ru, Yue, Longquan, Guan, and Korean Koryo Dynasty Materials and Practices. In: Shi, N. and Miao, J., eds., Proceedings of International Symposium on Science and Technology of Five Great Wares of the Song Dynasty, Science Press, Beijing, 2016, pp. 391–432.Google Scholar
Frederick, Matson, personal communication to P.B. Vandiver, Fall 1984.Google Scholar
Vandiver, P.B., Ellingson, W.A., Robinson, T.K., Lobick, J.J. and Seguin, F.H., New Applications of X-radiographic Imaging Technologies for Archaeological Ceramics. Archaeomaterials 5(2), 1991, pp. 185–207.Google Scholar
Kane, L.F. and Ueltz, H.G., Possible Uses of Ferruginous Talcs in Steatite Dielectrics. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 26(11), 1943, pp. 389–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoops, G., Guidelines for Analysis and Description of Soil and Regolith Thin Sections, Soil Science Society of America, Madison, 2003.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, R.C., Differential Thermal Analysis, Academic Press, London, 1970, pp. 317–321.Google Scholar
Wendlandt, W.W., Thermal Analysis, John Wiley, New York, 1986, pp. 373–380.Google ScholarPubMed
Kingery, W.D., Uhlmann, D.R. and Bowen, H.K., Introduction to Ceramics, Wiley, New York, pp. 288, 307-311, 591, 640–646, 951.Google Scholar
Singer, F. and Singer, S., Industrial Ceramics, Chapman and Hall, London, 1963, pp. 486-494, 498, 1169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, D. E. The Evolution of Ceramic Production in a Maya Community, University Press of Colorado, Boulder, 2015.Google Scholar
Müller, N.S., Hein, A., Kilikogou, V. and Day, P.M., Bronze Age Cooking Pots: Thermal Properties and Cooking Methods. Préhistoires Méditerranéennes 4, 2013, pp. 1–11.Google Scholar
Kilikoglou, V., Vekinis, G., Maniatis, Y. and Day, P.M., Mechanical Performance of Quartz-Tempered Ceramics: Part 1, Strength and Toughness. Archaeometry 40(2), 1998, pp. 261–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borowski, M.P., Furmanek, M., Czarniak, K. and Gunia, P., Steatite-Tempered Pottery of the Stroke Ornamented Ware Culture from Silesia (SW Poland): A Neolithic Innovation in Ceramic Technology. Journal of Archaeological Science, 57, 2015, pp. 207–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, T., Steatite-Tempered Pottery from Selevac, Yugoslavia: A Neolithic Experiment in Ceramic Design. Archeomaterials 3(1), 1989, 1–10.Google Scholar
Sillar, B., Shaping Culture: Making Pots and Constructing Households, J. and E. Hedges, Distributed by Hadrian Books, Oxford, 2000.Google Scholar
Whitbread, I., Materials Choices in Utilitarian Pottery: Kitchen Wares in the Berbati Valley, Greece. In: Spataro, M. and Villing, A., eds., Ceramics, Cuisine and Culture, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2015, pp. 28–36.Google Scholar