Unpretending，Straightforward Prehistoric Paintings in China
4 min readChinese prehistoric painting was rooted in rock painting in late Paleolithic period.And in the Neolithic period appeared colored pottery，on which decorative patterns demonstrated painting characteristics.In addition，images of animals carved on animal bones and jade wares also revealed prehistoric people’s understanding of nature and themselves，as well as their aesthetic consciousness.
Although those painting skills were simple and rough，they embodied the artistic language of painting.They are of great significance as the germination of Chinese painting.
1.Simple and Straightforward Rock Painting
Rock painting，with its 15，000 years history，is the origin of Chinese painting.It is also the earliest form painting in human history.Prehistoric people used stone wares and colors，later metal tools to carve and paint different images on rocks and the surface of cliffs so as to record their hunting life，their belief，society and culture.
China is the country with the earliest rock painting and the earliest record of rock painting.As early as in the Northern Wei period，Li Daoyuan，a famous geographer had mentioned rock painting in his work Notes on Book of Waterways.
Chinese rock paintings could be found in many different places and with variouscontent and painting skills.They can be roughly divided into three kinds:first，rock paintings on grassland in the north，the contents of which are about the hunting life and primitive worship and belief.These pictures were mainly carved in a rough and wild way.
Second，rock paintings on the southeast coast，mainly depicting farming and things related to the ocean.There were also many carved curved-line symbols inscribed in a simple way.Third，plateau rock paintings in the southwest，which are about scenes of hunting，dancing and war，mainly painted by red color.Some of the rock paintings are very large，for example，the rock painting on Hutubi in Xinjiang involves more than 300 figures and animal images on a stonewall about 14 meters long and 9 meters high.The various images revealed worship of reproduction and people’s hope of race multiply.And the rock painting on the Flower Mountain in Guangxi，which depicts 2，000 images dancing on a 40-meter-high cliff wall，is known as the largest rock painting in China.
2. Decorative Painting on Colored Pottery
Colored pottery refers to pottery with colored paintings. Colorful images were painted on the raw utensil with brush-pen-like tools and colors of hematite and oxidative manganese. Then the raw utensil would be grilled in a kiln of 900-1,050℃ temperature. Images and designs of black, red, white colors would appear on the orange utensil afterwards.
Colored pottery has a long history. As early as 5,000 years ago, there were original forms of colored pottery. Yet the most typical colored pottery didn’t appear until Yangshao culture and Majiayao culture in the Neolithic period. Colored pottery in Yangshao culture could be divided into two kinds: first, Banpo colored pottery, which was featured by patterns of human-mask fish, fish, integration offish and bird, as well as frog, deer images and other geometric patterns at the bottom and on the exterior surface of the utensils. The human-mask fish pattern was the most exquisite one. There were different interpretations of the combination of fish and human mask, for example, some believe that it was a totem symbol. Anyway, the aesthetic value revealed in the pattern is self-evident. Second, Miaodigou colored pottery.
In the earlier period, there were mainly bird image patterns on the pottery. Inthe later period appeared more plant patterns and geometric patterns. In Henan province’s Linru a colored pottery jar of the later period was found, on which was a picture depicting a big fish in a bird’s long beak. The bird was similar to marabou with long legs, big and shining eyes and white color all over. Near the bird there was a long axe, seemed with some symbolic meaning. The whole picture was painted in a flat way. Black lines were used to sketch the shape of the fish and the bird’s eyes. The trenchant lines greatly helped to reveal the image and manner of the marabou. The picture is considered as a representative work of prehistoric painting.
There were three categories of colored pottery in the Majiayao culture: first, Majiayao colored pottery, the whirl and wave pattern on which best represented the epoch characteristics. The surfaces of utensils in this period were covered with whirl and wave patterns of strong sense of motility. The most significant pottery that represented the achievement of painting art was the colored pottery with dancing pattern, which was unearthed in Qinghai province’s Datong in 1973. On the interior surface of the color pottery, there were 3 groups,15 people hand in hand, dancing at the waterside. The human images were silhouette of people dancing beautifully. This colored pottery was really an invaluable artistic work. Second, Banshan colored pottery, patterns on which included sawtoothed screw pattern, wave pattern, sawtooth pattern, human, frog and fish images. The first three patterns were the best ones. Third, Machang colored pottery, patterns on which were mainly concentric circles, rhombus and human-shaped frog.
Colored potteries were utensil used in prehistoric ancestors’ daily life. The abundant shape and decoration patterns clearly revealed the life style, understanding of nature and aesthetic consciousness of people at that period.
