Firing techniques of yaotou ceramics in Chengcheng

China's national intangible cultural heritage Name: Chengcheng yaotou ceramic firing skills

Applicant: Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province

Item No.: 362

Project No.: VIII - 12

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Shaanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province

Protection unit: Chengcheng County Cultural Center

A brief introduction to the firing techniques of yaotou ceramics in Chengcheng City:

Applicant: Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province

Coarse porcelain is produced in yaotou Town, Chengcheng County, Eastern Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province. This place is rich in coal resources, and there are crucible soil minerals distributed in the cliffs of gullies, mixed with white and purple raw materials, which are convenient for firing ceramics and sand ware. Local farmers make use of their leisure time to make green bodies and color paintings in summer and autumn and sell them in kilns in winter.

According to the county annals of the Ming Dynasty, Chengcheng "porcelain sand began in the Tang Dynasty" and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Yaotou porcelain is all handmade by local methods. The raw materials are from local crucible soil. The processing process includes four steps: slurry, blank making, glazing and calcination. The slurry is crushed with dry soil and ore, put into the pool to soak for several days, and then stirred to form slurry for sedimentation in separate pools. The coarse mud is made into large utensils such as urn and basin, and the fine mud is made into fine porcelain such as bowl and dish. Porcelain products are closely related to the production and life of the masses. Their shapes are coarse but fine, and clumsy but ingenious. They give people a simple and natural aesthetic feeling, which is quite different from the delicate and exquisite style of Southern ceramics. The porcelain tiger pillow is exquisite, lustrous, covetous, but childish and lovely. It is not only a pillow but also a decoration, and contains the meaning of exorcism and courage. The "lazy wife" of the child sitting in it has the flavor of primitive painted pottery, and the child sitting in it can spare hands to do housework. The black mouse jar and lion jar have a unique image, covered with various forms of mice and lions as buttons, which is full of fun.

The glaze color of yaotou coarse porcelain is white, yellow, black, blue and brown red. The flowers and animals decorated on all kinds of utensils come from the same origin as the local paper-cut and flour flower. Most of the contents are lotus, peony, chrysanthemum, or words such as Fu, Lu, Shou, Xi, etc.

In recent decades, great changes have taken place in people's life style and consumption concept, and the main products of yaotou ceramics, such as urn, basin and can, are losing their use. At present, most of the ceramic artists are in their 60s and 70s, and there are less than 20 newly trained artists. The only remaining small workshops can only produce a small number of timely products intermittently according to the market demand. Yaotou's ceramic art is now endangered and needs urgent rescue.