*Dawu Clay Sculpture

*Dawu Clay Sculpture

Nominating Unit: Chao’an County, City of Chaozhou

Dawu clay sculpture, conventionally named as “Dawu Anzi”, is mainly distributed in Dawu and Yancuoxi Villages, Fuyang Town, Chao’an County, City of Chaozhou. Therefore, it is also named as Fuyang painted sculpture. From the late years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the earliest ancestor of the Dawu Village Wuding initiated “broadax-cut” portrait kneading model. In the mid Ming Dynasty, with the puppet show getting more and more popular in Chaozhou, Dawu Clay sculpture puppet head portrait and human sculptures went through rapid development. From the mid Qing Dynasty to the early years of the Republic of China, Dawu clay sculpture went into its prime time. Manufacturing workshops could be found throughout the village so that almost everyone could master the skill of making clay sculpture. The number of shops that produced and sold clay sculptures reached over 60. Over 100 clay sculpture craftsmen could be identified in this industry with Wu Panqiang as their outstanding representative. They developed such new skills as sculpture sticking, carving of floating flowers, etc. The sculptures were sold to a large number of countries in Southeast Asia. After the year 1958 when the large scale Dawu clay sculpture craftwork factory was established, Dawu clay sculpture went into a new phase of thriving. At the threshold of the 21st century, this village was named as “Home of Guangdong Province Folk Art.

Dawu Clay Sculpture mainly features in human statue with a wide range of themes and categories. The major themes cover tattoo, fighting scene, broadax-cut, from the highlights of Chao Opera, folklore, ancient stories. There are also over 120 kinds of facial make-ups embracing the five major roles in Beijing opera: male lead, the female lead, the painted face, mid-aged male and the clown; there are both images of all immortals, Buddha, gods, and toy images called “hotchpotch” including innocent cherubs, children couple, carp child. Dawu Clay Sculpture is especially characterized by kneading portrait for the living people, which is a prominent feat only commanded by great masters. It is said that the portraits kneaded of the local celebrities by Wu Panqiang, the Great master of Dawu Clay Sculpture, were most vivid and lifelike, making everyone exclaim with admiration.

Dawu Clay Sculpture takes the sand-free and sticky cream-colored field clay as the basic material, which can be obtained in the 0.5-meter-deep field in the West of the village. The production technique includes several procedures such as refining mud, molding, kneading, sintering shape, colored painting, etc. and complicated skills such as carving, molding, kneading, sticking, chiseling, stamping, sculling, coloring, etc. The sticking clay sculpture is the most ingenious and creative craftsmanship of Dawu Clay Sculpture, which is mainly applied in the ornaments of costumes for the characters in ancient drama. Clay sticking refers to sticking models with clothes, gowns, shoes, and adornments of all colors. The way of making it is first to roll the mud pie into one millimeter thick clay plate, then to stamp all sorts of clothes and gowns by using molds. After further adjustment, it gets wrapped over the clays. After that, various carefully carved molds are adopted to stamp all sorts of pictures and flower patterns on the thin clay plate. Then they get meticulously stuck on the gown, dress, official hat, helmet, loricae, amice or even caestus and cuff of a sleeve. The sticking portrait, after being sintered and color painted, generates strong bas-relief artistic effects, adding to its superb beauty, exquisiteness, refinement and delicacy.(https://www.daowen.com)

Dawu Clay Sculpture boasts a time-honored history, unique technique, and exquisite craftsmanship, with a perfect integration of sticking, stamping and coloring. It is said that Taiwan Gitly Arts Museum reserves a set of Dawu Clay Sculptures made in the late Qing Dynasty. They still remain bright in colors and intact in shape.

With the vicissitudes of life, the then accomplished craftsmen of Clay Sculpture have already been advanced in years. However, out of economic consideration, few of their descendants are prepared to inherit the technique of Clay sculpture so that it is on the verge of getting extinct, calling for urgent measures for effective protection from relevant departments.

Dawu Clay Sculpture was selected into the list of the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.