Talc-Rich Black Tibetan Pottery of Derge County, Sichuan Province, China
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Talc-Rich Black Tibetan Pottery of Derge County, Sichuan Province, China Chandra L. Reedy 1, Pamela B. Vandiver 2, Ting He 3, and Ying Xu1 1
Laboratory for Analysis of Cultural Materials, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A. 2 Program in Heritage Conservation Science, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A. 3 Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People’s Republic of China
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.
INTRODUCTION Black pottery traditions are common in China from about 2200 B.C.E. onwards, and are found in many Tibetan areas. However, unusual raw materials distinguish the black pottery of one particular Tibetan workshop located in Derge County of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The raw materials and production methods result in a ceramic that is very well suited to heating and cooking uses, and is in many ways a traditional hand-made pottery analogue to some modern industrial ceramics. This highly functional pottery can be either black or dark grey, with a very smooth, lustrous surface (Fig. 1). The small pottery workshop is located in the Puma township of the Dzongsar-Maisu (also called Menshö) area of Derge. Derge is in the eastern Tibetan cultural area traditionally known as Kham, now administratively in the northwestern part of Sichuan Province near the border of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The town of Derge, the county seat, is famous as the location of the Derge Parkhang, a historic Tibetan printing house and temple. Puma township is located to the southeast about a half-day drive out of Derge (Fig. 2). What is most important about the unusual raw material mix is that, even with handbuilding fabrication methods and a simple firing procedure, a high-quality ceramic is produced that is well suited for heating and cooking. The local black clay, an illitic ball clay, contains calcium carbonate and carbon. This clay is mixed with about 40-50 vol% of a material the potters call “gold stone” (sedo in Tibetan) which is primarily talc. The fabricat
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