Sancai is a versatile type of decoration on Chinese pottery using glazes or slip, predominantly in the three colours of brown, green, and a creamy off-white. It is particularly associated with the Tang dynasty (618–907) and its tomb figures, appearing around 700. Therefore, it is commonly referred to as Chinese: 唐三彩 Tang Sancai in Chinese. Tang sancai wares were sometimes referred in China and the West as egg-and-spinach by dealers, for their use of green, yellow, and white, especially when combined with a streaked effect.
Tang dynasty tomb figure, sancai horse, 7–8th century, also using blue, as on the saddle
Tang footed jar with relief decoration
Foreign musicians on camel. Sancai glaze, 723 AD, Xi'an.
Sancai rhyton with duck's head.
Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the sophisticated Chinese porcelain wares made for the imperial court and for export. Porcelain was a Chinese invention and is so identified with China that it is still called "china" in everyday English usage.
a pair of complementary flasks from Yongle period (1402–1424) in the Ming dynasty
Pair of famille rose vases with landscapes of the four seasons, 1760–1795
A black pottery cooking cauldron from the Hemudu culture (c. 5000 – c. 3000 BC)
Painted jar of the Majiayao culture, Late Neolithic period (3300–2200 BC)