Seeing this painted pottery vase, many people may wonder, why is this a female character?
It turns out that according to archaeological experts, this painted pottery vase with a human head-shaped mouth was produced approximately 5,500-5,900 years ago and belongs to the middle and late Yangshao Culture.
During this period, China was in the matrilineal clan society stage, and social production mainly relied on female gathering.
In a marriage relationship, one wife can have multiple wives. It is a social norm to "only know one's mother but not one's father". Women enjoy a high social status in society.
It can be said that the painted pottery vase with a human head-shaped mouth is a product of the worship of women brought about by economics and reproductive status.
Then why does the human-head-shaped painted pottery vase appear as a pregnant woman?
That's because the productivity and medical level of the ancients were low. People often didn't know what life was like, but they had to experience death. Few ancient people lived to be 30 years old.
Therefore, the gourd-shaped pottery is used to summarize the female body and the human head-shaped mouth bottle.
This is the image of the mother's womb that combines the characteristics of many children, nurturing, supply, and shelter, and expresses people's blessings for the birth of new life.
Historians believe that if the ancients put seeds into gourd-shaped painted pottery, it also meant that the ancients hoped to use human reproductive capabilities to bring strength to the seeds and make them thrive, thereby achieving a bumper harvest of grains.
All activities of the prehistoric ancestors, whether social and material activities or artistic creation, were carried out around their own development needs, and there was no pure appreciation of art.
So this is why, behind a small painted pottery vase, there is such a rich connotation.
In the early days of primitive society, people had not yet formed a rational understanding of death.
Later, with the development of human thinking, the concept of soul appeared. From humans to nature, the concept of "all things have animism" emerged.
People at that time believed that people would turn into stars in the sky after death, and that at least part of the human soul would exist in the hair. After death, the body would decay, but the soul would not.
Therefore, in the program "National Treasure", the actor played Brother Jin Yang. In order to save his sister's soul, he listened to the wizard and made a painted pottery vase in the shape of a human head in the shape of his sister, and stored a section of his sister's hair in the vase.
to preserve her soul and wait for her resurrection.
"There is a star in the sky and a spirit on the ground. The doll is gone, but the stars are shining brightly."
As long as they miss their deceased relatives, the ancients would look up at the stars in the sky.
It seems that their relatives have never left, but have just changed their way of accompanying them. They will definitely be resurrected one day in the future.
Perhaps this is the romance of the ancients in Eastern countries that transcends life and death!
In daily sacrificial activities, painted pottery bottles with human head-shaped mouths also play a vital role.
People will make painted pottery vases with human head shapes and mouths according to the image of their ancestors.
Fill it with fine wine, and then the wizard drinks the wine inside to enter an illusory state.
At this time, the wizard can communicate with the ancestors and express their nostalgia to the ancestors on behalf of the tribe.
This type of painted pottery vase with a human head shape is full of ancient people's prayers for the souls of the deceased. It has a strong color of primitive religious sacrifice and represents people's longing for life.
Maybe we have never thought before that painted pottery can look like this!
A gentleman from Sioux City University put forward three key words for appreciating painted pottery: "implicitness, wandering eyes, and Picasso".
Many people can't help but wonder when they see it, what does this mean?
The so-called "implicit" is compared to the open, exaggerated, concrete and realistic expression techniques of European painted pottery in similar periods.
The painted pottery goddess statues of the same period in Europe are more like pure human sculptures.
These goddess statues directly highlight the protruding parts of women, similar to today's body measurements.
Even exaggerated artistic expressions are used to create a fuller feeling.
my country's painted pottery vases with human head-shaped mouths adopt a more abstract and subtle artistic expression technique.
They use gourd-shaped pottery to summarize the female body, ignoring the existence of limbs, focusing on the abdomen of pregnant women, and vividly and meticulously depicting human facial features and expressions, making the entire porcelain three-dimensional and lifelike.
We say that gourds with many seeds can bring endless happiness to people.
The human-head-shaped painted pottery vase expresses the ancient people's understanding of beauty in such an implicit way.
The second key word is "Wandering Eyes", which refers to the wandering gaze.
The wandering point of view is our traditional way of seeing things.
When unfolded, our painted pottery vase is a two-sided continuous pattern.
It is a single pattern that unfolds to the left and right sides.
Turning it around, it looks like the endless flow of the Yellow River water, full of endless vitality.
In addition, the ancients did not have tables and chairs when making painted pottery. Most of the time they made pottery on the ground.
Therefore, when we appreciate painted pottery, we can also look from top to bottom. For those of us who usually only know how to appreciate cultural relics, it seems to open up a new world and make people feel enlightened.
Looking at it from a new perspective, you will find that the originally static painted pottery patterns seem to be moving at this moment.
You can't find its starting point or its end point. It seems to have no beginning and no end, making it impossible to copy it.
At this point, we can’t help but marvel at the wisdom of our ancient people, it’s really amazing!
The last keyword is "Picasso". It is not difficult to understand that Picasso's painting method is applied to the appreciation of painted pottery.
Typical features of Picasso's Cubist paintings are monochromatic, upside-down canvases filled with overlapping geometric shapes.
For example, Picasso would separate various parts of the human face or human body, and then reassemble them according to his ideas.
The painting techniques of painted pottery in my country are similar to them.
This is how the pattern on the human-head-shaped painted pottery vase was painted. The pattern was gradually simplified from the pattern of a flying bird with three legs, and it became more and more abstract and three-dimensional.
Along the long river, the painted pottery vases that express the ancients' nostalgia for their ancestors and their eternal yearning for the soul have revealed the code of civilization more than 5,500 years ago and opened the door to a new world.
What you appreciate from different angles is the different beauty of pottery, and what you appreciate in different shapes is the ancients’ different perceptions of beauty.
But the same thing is that these exquisite pottery embody the wisdom of the ancients and are precious treasures left to future generations!
The painted pottery vase with a human head-shaped mouth has been sleeping underground for five thousand years. When we found it and stared at it, it was like waking up from a five-thousand-year dream!
As for the ancient pottery with human head-shaped mouth and painted pottery vase, we are not the only ones who have discovered it in our country.
These pottery, no matter whether it is good or bad, as long as it survives, it is a treasure just because of its age, not to mention some of them are top-notch works of art.
If art is valuable, then the inheritance of civilization is priceless.