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The tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty was developed 1,300 years ago. This art form drew on the skills of Chinese painting and sculpture and employed techniques of clay-strip forming and incising. The lines produced from this process were rugged and powerful. 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 glazed pottery flourished during a rather short period of time (the 8th century) of the dynasty, when pottery pieces of this kind were used by the aristocracy as funerary objects. Those in existence today are limited in number and are considered to be rare treasures, valued for their brilliant color and life-like shapes.

Excavated tri-colored Tang pottery are usually horses, camels, female figurines, dragon-head mugs, figurines of musicians and acrobats, and pillows. Of these, the tri-colored camels have won the greatest admiration. They are presented as bearing loads of silk or carrying musicians on their backs – their heads are raised as if neighing; the red-bearded, blue-eyed drivers, clad in tunics of tight sleeves and hats with upturned brims, represent true-to-life images of men from Central Asia of that time, as they trudged along the Silk Road.

(Source: ancienthistory.mrdonn.org)

Cloisonné wares are the outstanding handicrafts in China. The production processes of cloisonné wares are painstaking and complicated. Cloisonné is an enamel ware, in which the colors of the design are kept apart by thin metal strips. Major work processes include: making the red-copper roughcast, forming patterns on the roughcast with thin copper strips, filling patterns with enamel of different colors, firing, and polishing. The making of Cloisonné integrates bronze and porcelain-working skills, traditional painting and etching. It is the pinnacle of traditional Chinese handicraft. 

It has several hundred years of history.   Beijing is where Cloisonné making originated. The earliest extant Cloisonné was made in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The best was made during the Xuande period (1426-1456) of the Ming dynasty. During the Jingtai period (1426-1456) of the Ming Dynasty, it became more popular, handicraftsmen found a dark-blue enamel which gave Cloisonné a gorgeous, solemn look, the technique turned to be quite mature. As the blue color was mostly used, so it is called Jingtai blue, and is still used today.

In Beijing as well as other cities, most shops in hotels as well as tourist stores sell Cloisonné articles, which can be as big as sacrificial utensils, screens tables and chairs, and as small as chopsticks, earrings, candy boxes, toothpicks and smoking tools. They are works of art as well as articles with use value. Handicraftsmen have of late developed a multi-coloring technique for the making of Cloisonné which has resulted in more refined and gorgeous products.

(Source: ancienthistory.mrdonn.org)

There is a legend on how it started. In the later years of Qianlong, a minor local official was addicted to snuff when he went to Beijing for business. Because of his not bribing the local official, his business was delayed again and again, he had to finally stay at an old temple. Due to his snuff addiction, he ran out of money to buy it. He was picking out the remainder of the snuff on the inside surface of the bottle. One Buddhist monk found his behavior and got inspiration from it. He dipped a bamboo pick with hook in Chinese ink and then painted on the inside surface of the clear bottle.

At the beginning, craftsmen painted on the inside surface of the transparent glass or crystal snuff bottle. Because of its smooth surface, craftsmen could only painted simple pictures, such as, grasshopper, Chinese cabbages, landscapes only with a few touches, simple figures, etc. Later, craftsmen learned to filled the bottle with iron sand and emery, then shake it and rub it smooth just like Xuan paper. Then they can paint with more detail.

(Source: ancienthistory.mrdonn.org)