Pottery is an art that developed with time, a signature to every single nation. Old vases and dishes which were preserved from ancient times are living legends of the past, symbolizing more than just their age. Looking at one of these valuable museum pieces, you will be able to find out more about the culture, customs and traditions. You can compare these ruins of the past with the contemporary dishes and pottery pieces. This way, you can see if the present pieces still preserve the memory of the past or if the concepts, methods and patterns are completely new.
Culture and tradition can be symbolized through elements as simple as color. Of course, we can already tell that in our era of computers the present is looking pretty colorful. Color used to be very significant in a nation's traditions. It used to be representative for certain beliefs that needed to be kept as generations past.
The Ancient Greeks used to make their pottery pieces black or cream in color. The themes they used most were scenes of war or they represented the Gods they believed in. The Egyptians also used a radiant black but in a combination with red for simple pots and dishes. They also used combinations of cream, black, blue and red to recreate on pottery the same symbols found in their ancient pyramids. Korean pottery used to be plain in color, underlying the minimalist elegance and beauty. The colors they were created in were colder colors like blue or green, plain white or cream. This type of national pottery was not usually covered with a pattern, only in some cases Koreans decorated with nature themes. The Chinese still use red because it is their symbolic color for luck but they also used the combination blue and white in certain dynasties. The most common designs represent nature themes or dragons, the symbol of power.
All in all, pottery is a well preserved symbol of the past, an expression of culture and tradition passed from a generation to another.