Dough Figurines
01 · Historical Records
The “Mianren Tang” dough-figurine art began in the late Qing dynasty; its style and school were founded by the renowned modern dough-figurine artist Mr. Tang Zibo (1882–1971).
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dough figurine making is an art that uses flour as its material and such techniques as kneading, rolling, cutting, picking, pressing, sticking, and pasting to model forms; the dough-figurine art of “Mianren Tang” of Tongzhou, Beijing, is one of its schools. With his deep artistic grounding, Mr. Tang Zibo drew widely on the strengths of other schools and, through long practice, absorbed the characteristics of sculpture from various regions, transforming the earlier folk dough figures from “stick-held” dough dolls into “board-mounted” tabletop dough sculpture, thereby making dough figurine making a folk art in the true sense. Thereafter “Mianren Tang” successively created various styles such as “walnut dough figures” (miniature dough figurines displayed inside half a walnut shell), relief dough sculpture, suspended dough figures, and old-coin dough figures. The materials used include flour as well as clay, wood, and mud, and wool, feathers, silk thread, and cotton are used to make the beards and hair of human and animal figures, enhancing the likeness of form. The dough figurines of “Mianren Tang” are complete and full in form, slightly exaggerated in modeling, bright and eye-catching in color, and varied in technique, with attention to spirit, expression, and movement — bearing a distinctly individual style. Because the craft makes high technical demands, at present only two students are studying dough-figurine art with Mr. Tang Suguo.
Tray-mounted desk dough figures
Tang Zibo transformed stick-held dolls into tray-mounted desk figures and later created walnut, relief, suspended and coin-sized dough figures.
Walnut dough figures
Walnut dough figures are minute scenes set inside half a walnut shell, one of the Tang school's most demanding techniques.
Zhong Kui, Long-browed Arhat and Weituo
Tang Suguo, the founder's son, is known for Zhong Kui, Long-browed Arhat and Weituo, and wrote several books on dough modelling.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
“Mianren Tang” takes Tongzhou, Beijing, as its center of transmission; founded by Tang Zibo (1882–1971), it is known together with the Li School of Shandong and the Zhao School of Shanghai as the three great schools of modern and contemporary dough-figurine art. Tang Zibo transformed folk “stick-held” dolls into “board-mounted” tabletop dough sculpture, and later created styles such as walnut dough figures, relief dough sculpture, suspended dough figures, and old-coin dough figures. His materials drew on clay, wood, and mud as well as flour, and he used wool, feathers, silk thread, and cotton for beards and hair, forming a Beijing-school character of full-bodied forms, slight exaggeration, and attention to spirit. Tang Zibo's second son, Tang Suguo, inherited his art; his works are mostly accompanied by calligraphy and painting he painted himself, with representative pieces including “Zhong Kui,” “Long Eyebrows,” and “Weituo (Skanda).”
Other submitting regions for the same item: Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines · Dough Figurines.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Today the dough-figurine art of “Mianren Tang” is carried on by Tang Zibo's second son, Mr. Tang Suguo. Tang Suguo (from the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Associate research fellow of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In nearly fifty years of artistic creation he has drawn on the strengths of many schools, continually absorbing the essence of multiple cultures. His works emphasize the depiction of figures' expressions and spirit, and most are accompanied by calligraphy and painting he painted himself. His representative works include “Zhong Kui,” “Long Eyebrows,” and “Weituo (Skanda).” His writings include “Dough-Figurine Master Tang Zibo's Sketches,” “A Panorama of Chinese Folk Art,” and “Making Dough Figurines.” He has held exhibitions and given lectures in nearly thirty countries and regions, comprehensively raising the artistic level of dough figurines and carrying this Chinese folk art to the world. Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1933, died in March 2015, from Beijing. He was a representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the national intangible cultural heritage project “Dough Figurines (Mianren Tang).”
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lang Zhili 03-1268
- Zhao Yanlin 03-1269
- Li Jincheng 03-1270
- Tang Suguo 04-1795
- Chen Sujing 05-2647
- Wang Xijin 05-2648
- Wang Di
- Chen Yu
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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