脱胎火种的大地馈赠

文/五花肉

陶始于粘土，历经火的淬炼而脱胎成器，是人类尝试利用化学变化改变物质天然属性的最早成果之一，被视为人类社会由旧石器时代向新石器时代演化的重要标志。

Tao was born out of clay and was refined by fire.It is one of the earliest results of human attempts to change the natural properties of matter by chemical changes and is regarded as an important symbol of the evolution of human society from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic.

土与火的邂逅

The Encounter between Earth and Fire

古人的很多伟大发明，都充满了偶然性。火法炼丹的一次爆炸事故，发现了火药；探寻铁矿的副产品磁石，造就了指南针。陶，亦如此。

Many of the great inventions of the ancients were full of chance.Gunpowder was invented by an explosion accident of fire alchemy.The compass was invented by magnet,which was the by-product of exploring iron ore.So is Tao.

陶狗（东汉）

龙山文化红陶鬶（公元前2400～2000年）

两万年前的某一天夜晚，江西仙人洞遗址附近的一支原始部落，在一场庆祝狩猎的篝火盛宴以后，意外发现了当地的一种粘土，用火烧制后，变得坚固耐用，不仅盛放的食物不会粘到泥渣，而且易于清洗、可以反复使用，谓之陶。One day night, 20,000 years ago, a primitive tribe near the Xianrendong site in Jiangxi Province in China unexpectedly discovered after a bonfire feast celebrating hunting that a local clay became strong and durable after being burnt.The clayware could be used to contain food and food would not be stick to mud.Furthermore, the clayware was easy clean and reusable so the clayware was called pottery.

质与量的突破

Breakthrough in quality and quantity

从诞生到普及，陶器还有两个棘手问题需要解决，一是稳定的质量，二是批量的生产。

From birth to popularization, pottery still has two thorny problems to be solved, one is stable quality and the other is suitable to batch production.

制陶的核心工艺在于火的温度。后人在长期的实践中发现，同样的原材料用不同的火温烧制，成品质量千差万别。只有当火温控制在950 ℃～1050 ℃时，陶器的品质才最为稳定，这一标准也沿用至今。The core technology of pottery making is fire temperature.Later generations found in longterm practice that the same raw materials were shaped with different fire temperatures and the quality of finished products varied greatly.Only when the fire temperature is controlled between 950 ℃ and 1050 ℃, the quality of pottery was the most stable, and this standard has been still in use up till now.

发展到秦朝，制陶工艺日臻精益，模块化的标准模具开始取代原始的手工制胚，彻底解决陶器难以量产的瓶颈，兵马俑就是其中的典范。当时的工匠大规模使用模具制作陶俑的头、手、铠甲等标准件，将其粘合、修饰后即可出品，大大提高了效率。

With the development of the Qin Dynasty, the pottery manufacturing process became more and more lean.Modular standard molds began to replace the original hand-made embryos and completely solved the bottleneck that pottery was difficult to mass produce.Terracotta Warriors and Horses were a model among them.At that time, craftsmen used molds on a large scale to make standard parts such as heads, hands and armor of pottery figurines, which could be produced after they were glued and decorated, greatly improving the efficiency.

艺与美的升华

Art and Beauty Sublimation

此后，飞入寻常百姓家的陶器，始终保持着低价、实用的质朴形象，直至紫砂的问世。

Since then, pottery began to fly into the homes of ordinary people and always maintained a simple image of low price and practicality until the advent of purple sand.

作为陶的一个特殊种类，紫砂盛产于江苏宜兴，最早可上溯至春秋时期，明清日益兴盛。与传统陶器相比，紫砂更注重艺术美感，引入了中国古画的审美标准，并在此基础上形成了完善的器型、工艺和品鉴标准体系，被誉为陶中珍品，承载着中华民族的独特审美情趣。

As a special kind of pottery, purple sand is rich in Yixing, Jiangsu Province.It can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and flourished in Ming and Qing Dynasties.Compared with traditional pottery, purple sand focused on artistic beauty and introduces the aesthetic standards of Chinese ancient paintings, and on this basis forms a perfect standard system of wares, crafts and tasting, which is known as the precious wares in pottery and bears the unique aesthetic taste of the Chinese nation.

结 语

Conclusion

从日常的生活器具到品鉴的艺术珍品，陶器的每一次突破与升华，无不契合了标准化的智慧，在给人惊喜的同时，也创造出更符合时代特征的独特价值。

Every breakthrough and sublimation of pottery, from daily living utensils to art treasures for tasting, fi ts in with the standard wisdom and creates unique values that are more in line with the characteristics of the times while surprising people.