Shiwan Pottery Sculpture Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The development of the Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft can be divided into roughly four periods: from the Tang dynasty to before the Ming it was a period of formation and growth; the Ming and Qing dynasties were its heyday; the Republican era was a low period; and after the founding of the People's Republic of China—especially following the Reform and Opening-up—it entered a period of full flourishing and innovation.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Rich natural resources, a location nestled by hills and waters, and convenient land-and-water transport made Shiwan an important pottery base in Lingnan, southern China. The Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft has the characteristics of humanism, locality, and nationality, and possesses a unique artistic style in its creation. The "Shiwan doll" (Shiwan Gongzai) pottery-sculpture craft, represented by figure modeling, combines form and spirit. It absorbs the essence of various cultural arts, marrying high realism with moderate exaggeration, blending everyday charm with artistic refinement, and forming a distinctive local style. Its making process comprises six stages—conception and creation, clay refining, shaping, decoration, glazing, and dragon-kiln firing—among which the firing heat is judged entirely by the master's experience and intuition. The upper, middle, and lower sections of the dragon kiln have three kinds of fire—high, medium, and low—used respectively to fire different parts of the moving wares; only a highly skilled artisan can control them. The Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft developed on the basis of daily-use pottery; the pottery sculptures unearthed from Eastern Han tombs at Shiwan reveal its artistic embryonic form. Among contemporary Shiwan pottery-sculpture masters, the representative figures are Liu Jia, Zhuang Jia, Liu Zemian, and Liao Xiongbiao.
Preparing clay and forming the piece
After the concept is set, the clay is kneaded to expel air and rolled or pinched to scale; the folds and sinews of Shiw figurines are formed entirely by finger pressure here.
Decoration and glazing
Once formed, headdress, drapery and colour are added and the piece is glazed; how glaze meets clay decides the effect, with exaggerated form and lifelike spirit settled at once.
Dragon-kiln firing and its three heat zones
The upper, middle and lower zones of a dragon kiln burn at high, medium and low heat, so the firing schedule shifts as pieces move; this is the least teachable of the six stages.
Applied relief modelling from ridge figurines
The applied-relief technique descends from late Qing ridge figurines; Huang Songjian copied them, building up thin drapery and fluttering sleeves by piling and pressing clay onto the body.
The five classes of Shiw forms
By physical form, Shiw figurines fall into figures, animals, vessels, miniatures and ridge sculpture; miniatures hide in trays or recesses, ridge pieces crown the roofs, figures weigh most.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Shiwan lies in the central area of Chancheng District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province; the Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft is mainly distributed in Shiwan Town Subdistrict of Chancheng District and surrounding areas. By physical form, the "Shiwan doll" pottery-sculpture craft is divided into five major categories: figure sculpture, animal sculpture, vessels, miniature sculpture, and roof-ridge sculpture.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Having developed to the present, the Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft faces the predicament of having no successors; limited market space and a difficult real-life environment make it hard for young people to take up this craft as a lifelong career. In this situation, large numbers of external elements have been injected into the Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft, the traditional craft is hard to preserve, and it urgently needs protection. Liu Zemian (per the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born 1937, a native of Foshan, Guangdong. Representative inheritor of the first national-level batch of the Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft, an Intangible Cultural Heritage project; a Grand Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. His works draw on many strengths, integrate them thoroughly, and form his own style, characterized by vigorous and lifelike vitality and archaic heaviness. When modeling figures, especially in rendering drapery folds and the structure of sinew and bone, he emphasizes human anatomical features, achieving both fine craft and free intent with superb form and spirit, bearing a strong flavor of traditional Shiwan ceramic art. He has made positive contributions to inheriting and developing Shiwan ceramic art; his works have repeatedly appeared in large domestic and international exhibitions, and he personally went to National Taiwan University and Louisiana State University in the USA to spread Shiwan ceramic art. In 1987 and 1997 he held solo exhibitions of his works in Hong Kong, China. His four children, nurtured by the family atmosphere, successively entered the ceramic-making profession and each achieved in the craft. Liu Zemian's representative works include "Source of Strength," "Eighteen Arhats," and "Laozi," among which "Source of Strength" and "Eighteen Arhats" are collected by the National Art Museum of China. Huang Songjian (per the official archive of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the Shiwan pottery-sculpture craft, an Intangible Cultural Heritage project. Senior arts-and-crafts craftsman. He has been engaged in ceramic-sculpture design and making for over fifty years, achieving major success especially in the appliqué-sculpture (tiesu) technique. In his early years he copied late-Qing Shiwan roof-ridge figurines, deliberately studying their appliqué-sculpture methods, and successfully created a series of appliqué works such as "Flute-playing Fairy," "Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter," "Playing the Xiao to Summon the Phoenix," and "Mazu," with a distinct artistic style; he founded a major modern school of Shiwan ceramic art, earned the appraisal "divine craft, wonderful sculpture," and is hailed as a pioneer of Shiwan appliqué ceramic art. He was invited to lecture and exchange in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, as well as in Singapore and the United States. Male, Han ethnicity, born October 1941, passed away January 2017, a native of Dongguan City, Guangdong Province.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Zemian 01-0123
- Huang Songjian 04-1825
- Liao Hongbiao 04-1826
- Panbolin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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