Fuli earthenware [Shandong Zaozhuang specialty]

What is Fuli pottery? Authentic Shandong Zaozhuang specialty: Fuli earthenware

Content summary:Do you want to know what Fuli earthenware is? This article is a detailed introduction to the special product of Shandong Zaozhuang - Fuli Pottery. It was compiled and edited by the editorial team of China Specialty Network after reviewing and collecting relevant information on Fuli Pottery. The full text takes about 13 minutes to read, mainly including the basic introduction of Fuli Pottery and the product characteristics of Fuli Pottery? How did the history of Fuli pottery come about? The production method of Fuli pottery and the awards and honors of Fuli pottery

Basic Introduction to Fuli Pottery

Fuli Pottery is a very ancient traditional handmade pottery technique of the Han ethnic group.

. The art of pottery has a long and rich history, with the characteristics of the primitive society's Neolithic style, the strong Han Dynasty charm, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were also imprints of absorbing the strengths of other sister arts. Tu Tao, with its unique shape and distinctive convex patterns, has formed its own unique artistic style, displaying the rich cultural and historical heritage of the Chinese nation for four to five thousand years and obvious characteristics of the times. It is praised by experts as a "precious and rare Tu Tao cultural relic that has been passed down from the ground to the present day"

Representative works include: Tao Gui and Si Ji Gui

Taotang: It is a masterpiece of pottery, which was used for food and drink by ancient people, and is also a typical representative of the Dawenkou culture period. It has a history of more than 4600-6400 years

Four Seasons Lotus: This bottle is composed of dragon, tiger, phoenix, turtle, and snake images at the front and back respectively, known as the "Four Gods". It was very popular in the Han Dynasty, and due to the correlation between these four patterns and directions, it is also known as the God of Direction. Used for interior decoration, it can ward off evil and seek blessings in all directions. The four gods also represent seasons. The general explanation is that the green dragon represents the east and spring, the white tiger represents the west and autumn, the phoenix pattern represents the south and summer, and the turtle and snake pattern represents the north and winter

Fuli pottery products are divided into three categories: sacrificial, ornamental, and daily necessities, with over a hundred varieties. Currently, there are more than 100 varieties, of which over 30 are popular

The categories of sacrificial offerings include Bodhisattva statues, great exorcism, incense burners, incense altars, incense plaques, lions, incense burners, and earthen mounds. Among them, lions are the most representative sacrificial ornamental products. The lion's nose is composed of two protruding mud balls, and its tail is upturned into an S shape. The decorative patterns include raised lines, milk nails, vortex patterns, chrysanthemum patterns, and lotus patterns. There are large standing lions, squatting lions that guard the gate and carry incense candles, and lion headed incense plaques. The image of a lion is majestic yet not fierce, with a strong decorative meaning

There are various types of ornamental items such as pottery figurines, pottery lions, pottery tigers, pottery sheep, toads, child pillows, mud whistles, etc. Toads have the most varieties and highest yields in Fuli pottery, and are decorated with patterns such as milk nails, jade rabbit pounding medicine, and ancient sayings to ward off evil. The people of Fuli make it into various shapes such as extra large, large, medium, small, and micro. The extra large toad is 30 centimeters long, 24 centimeters wide, and 16 centimeters high, and can dig holes on its back to plant flowers and plants, which can be used to ward off evil, control houses, and drive away viruses and epidemics; A large toad is 15 centimeters long, 11 centimeters wide, and 9 centimeters high, used as a decoration; Small and medium-sized toads with built-in ceramic balls can be used as children's ceramic bells. Frogs belong to the category of ornamental products and are local children's warding toys; The smallest toad is 1 centimeter long and 0.8 centimeters wide, and can be hung around the neck of children to ward off evil spirits

Daily necessities include Hanwen jars, octagonal pine branch pots, closed pots, lamp stands, drunkards for boiling wine, money masks, etc. The main function of Hanwen jars is to hang and store vegetable seeds to avoid rodent damage and moisture. Adorned with leaf patterns, breast nail patterns, loop patterns, spiral patterns, etc

The decorative patterns of Fuli pottery are mostly chrysanthemums, followed by lotus flowers, and other floral patterns are relatively rare, which is related to local folklore. Other decorative patterns of Fuli pottery, such as loop patterns, milk nail patterns, vortex patterns, spiral patterns, fish scale patterns, and line patterns, are all in line with the typical patterns of the Han Dynasty; Leaf patterns may be related to the reproductive worship of matrilineal societies; Fish, horses, toads, cicadas, birds, sun, moon, stars, water and other patterns have prehistoric cultural connotations

The production method of Fuli earthenware

Fuli earthenware still follows the ancient primitive production method

(1) The clay is exposed to sunlight, soaked, filtered, stepped on, and rubbed by hand to increase the viscosity and plasticity of the clay, and then the printed blank is formed

(2) It is refined into semi-finished products through more than ten processes such as carving, dipping, carving, glazing, polishing, and drying in the shade.

(3) It is then fired at a high temperature of 800-900 degrees Celsius to produce red clay pottery, which can be gray, deep purple, ivory yellow, and other colors depending on the temperature and soil quality, giving viewers a sense of returning to simplicity.

Awards and honors of Fuli pottery

In the winter of 1982, a total of 600 pieces of pottery art from 39 different varieties were excavated at the 1982 Folk Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Shandong Province. Within three days, they were sold out and caused a sensation in the high-level academic circles at home and abroad. The works flowed into 21 countries and regions around the world, and were hailed as a rare art variety developed independently among Shandong pottery art varieties. They are rare pottery cultural relics that have been passed down to the ground. Many news media outlets such as CCTV, China Culture Daily, and International Daily in the United States have conducted extensive special reports in prominent columns and pages. Subsequently, classic works and monographs such as "Dictionary of Chinese Sculpture Art", "Complete Works of Chinese Folk Art", "Tao Zi Volume of Chinese Art History" compiled by the Chinese Academy of Arts, and "Mythical Art of the Yellow River Basin" published in the United States have been included and introduced. The works have been exported in large quantities to the United States and exhibited in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries with Chinese folk art exhibitions. The Grand Station Lion has won the bronze award at the "China Folk Art Exhibition" held by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China for the first time

This town is planning to build a national level intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance base around the protection and inheritance of "Fuli Pottery". A "Fuli Pottery" cultural and leisure street has been built, and a "Fuli Pottery" museum and production base, as well as a design and art center, are also under construction

In 2012, "Fuli Tu Tao" was awarded the national geographical indication certification trademark and is known as a rare art variety developed independently among Shandong's pottery art varieties. It is a rare pottery cultural relic that has been passed down to the ground