Above, a pottery jiao vessel, c. 2000-1500 B.C.; Below, a bronze pouring vessel (jue), c. 1200 B.C. Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Beijing.

The techniques of ceramic production were crucial to the development of bronzes (see Bronze Vessels). The shapes of bronze vessels were also dependent on clay prototypes.

The technical innovation and experimentation that have made Chinese ceramics world-famous had their beginnings in the Neolithic period. As long as 9,000 years ago, Chinese potters had learned to transform the basic elements of earth, fire, and water into objects that were both beautiful and functional.

China is blessed with an abundance of clay and especially large deposits of ocher-colored loess in the north, which the Chinese refer to as yellow earth (and whose silt colors the Yellow River). Before invention of the potter's wheel, vessels were formed by hand. Clay was coiled into ropes and then carefully smoothed using a paddle on the exterior pressed against an anvil on the inside wall. A clay slip was often applied to serve as a ground for painted decoration. Neolithic pots were fired in kilns dug in the ground. Yangshao kilns had pierced floors to allow better circulation of heat and air. After firing, pots could be burnished with pebbles or bones, which gave them a lustrous sheen.

Invention of the fast wheel, first used shortly after 3000 B.C. by the east coast Dawenkou and Longshan cultures, meant that potters could make thin-walled, evenly formed vessels, and with greater speed. Later, some pottery shapes were mass-produced using molds.

The idea of heating clay to harden it probably first came about after raw clay had been left next to a hearth. Firing within a confined space (kiln) permitted further experimentation with different firing temperatures, raw materials, and types of decoration. The development of freestanding kilns in the Bronze Age meant that higher temperatures -- and stronger vessels -- could be achieved. Shapes became more refined and, eventually, glazes were added that made the clay impermeable to liquids.