Crafting a future for traditional arts

Sancai glaze painting Terraced Fields by Guo Aihe. [Photo provided to China Daily]

As Guo grew up in the place where sancai originated, it was no coincidence he was drawn to it.

He is always proud to spread his knowledge of sancai with a wider range of people through his lectures and books, including China Luoyang Sancai.

According to him, the word "porcelain" was invented to represent enameled pottery. Sancai is the most famous representation of porcelain.

"Sancai used to be misunderstood as meaning 'three-colored' in the West because of its direct translation. But actually it means the whole spectrum of colors that occur in the world."

Guo says Tang sancai only represents a development phase of porcelain, but the history of porcelain can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC).

"Dating back for over a thousand years, sancai art employed the most cutting-edge techniques of the day in the fields of mineralogy, physics, kiln technology, design and the engraving arts."