Clay sculpture (Yutian clay sculpture)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: clay sculpture (Yutian clay sculpture)

Applicant: Yutian County, Hebei Province

Item No.: 346

Project No.: Ⅶ - 47

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Hebei Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Yutian County, Hebei Province

Protected by: Yutian cultural center, Hebei Province

Brief introduction of clay sculpture (Yutian clay sculpture)

Applicant: Yutian County, Hebei Province

Yutian county is named after the legend of the ancients planting jade. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province, at the southern foot of Yanshan mountain, just between Beijing, Tianjin and Tang Dynasty. Yutian clay sculpture was formed in the Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty and has a history of more than 100 years.

Yutian clay sculpture takes historical figures, fairy tales, and pastoral animals as subjects. It uses clay to shape the image. After being painted, it becomes a clay Cuan for children to play with. Its shape is generally ellipsoid, simple and concise, half plastic and half painting, mainly painting, with reed flute inlaid inside, white as the bottom outside, and red, yellow, green and black as the base. The color is strong, but the overall feeling is very harmonious. The clay sculpture is arranged in good order, including eight steps: Earth and mud, kneading mud, clay making, clamping flute, dressing and drying, spreading white foundation, adjusting glue and applying color. The representative works of Yutian clay sculpture include "Eight Immortals crossing the sea" and "Qilin sending a child". These works are vivid, auspicious and full of local flavor. Yutian clay sculpture is unique, second to none in Hebei clay sculpture, and also occupies a place in the field of Folk Clay Sculpture in China. It is an important research object of Yanzhao regional culture and folk clay sculpture history.

With the change of society, the clay toys which used to be popular in the countryside have been replaced by new products. The great changes of living environment have led to the rapid decline of Yutian clay sculpture, which is on the verge of extinction. It has become an urgent task to invest in the excavation, rescue and protection of this important folk art.