Tangsancai refers to the tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D), painted earthenware, which appeared in the wake of celadon. It is called “tri-colored” because yellow, green and white were normally used, although some piece are also in two or four colors. Developed on the basis of the green and brown glazed-pottery of the Han Dynasty, it represented a peak in the development of Chinese ceramics and was already well-known in the world in its time.

Unearthed tri-colored Tangs are usually horses, camels, female figurines, dragonhead mugs, figurines of musicians and acrobats and pillows. Of these, the tree-colored camels have won the greatest admiration. They are presented as bearing loads of silk or carry9ing musicians on their backs, their heads raised as if neighing; the red-bearded, blue-eyed drivers, clad in tunics of tight sleeves and hats with upturned brims, reproduce true-to-life images of men from central Asia of that time as they trudged along the Silk Road to the tinkle of camel bells.

The tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty was developed some 1,300 years ago by drawing on the skills of Chinese painting and sculpture and employing on the bodies the techniques of clay-strip forming and incising. The lines thus produced were rugged and powerful. Then glazes of different colors were painted on and, while chemical reactions took place in the process of firing in the kiln, they dripped naturally so that the colors mingled with each other and formed smooth tones.

The tri-colored Tang flourished during a rather short period of time (the 8th century) of the dynasty, when pottery pieces of this category were used by the aristocrats as funerary objects. So the finds today are limited in number and are considered to be rare treasures, valued for their brilliant color and life-like shapes.

Imitations now produced in Luoyang, Xi’an and other cities of China are well received as tourist souvenirs because of their close resemblance of the authentic works.