Changsha Kiln Ceramics of the Tang Dynasty and the inspiration of Sassanid Art

This is an overview of Chinese ceramics and Sassanid art that demonstrates frequent exchanges of culture, art and technology are distinctive features in their bilateral relationship. We have investigated a specific type of Chinese ceramics known as Changsha Kiln which produced ceramics at the end of the Tang Dynasty and have compared it with Sassanid art to ascertain the influences of each. This research provides evidence and substantiation data to discover their co-relational pattern designs, an important aspect in the study of ceramic design.

Changsha Kiln Ceramics

Historians claim that thousands of wooden ships used to frequent the maritime ceramic route from Persia to China, causing them to brave long distances. Subsequent research uncovered evidence and made public the story of the wrecks.1 This research is an important indicator of the inter-cultural communication between the East and Persia. On this matter F. H. Schafer states:

'Most of China’s overseas trade was through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. From the seventh to the ninth century, the Indian Ocean was a safe and rich ocean, thronged with ships of every nationality… Siraf, on the Persian side of the Persian Gulf below Shiraz. This town owed all its prosperity to the Eastern trade, and it dominated the Persian Gulf until destroyed by an earthquake in 977 … the handsome Tang fabrics preserved in the Shosoin and Horyuji at Nara in Japan and the almost identical ones found near Turfan in Central Asia, display the popular images, design and symbols of Sasanian …'

During this time the Changsha Kiln (in