Clay sculpture (Xu's clay colored sculpture)

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

Applicant: Daying County, Sichuan Province

Item No.: 346

Project No.: Ⅶ - 47

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Sichuan Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Daying County, Sichuan Province

Protected by: cultural relics administration of Daying county (Chinese Pottery Museum of Daying county)

Brief introduction of clay sculpture (Xu's clay colored sculpture)

Applicant: Daying County, Sichuan Province

Xu's clay sculpture is a kind of Folk Clay sculpture art with local characteristics, which is mainly spread in Daying County, Sichuan Province. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Yang Ziyuan and Luo Ticheng, the famous statues masters in Central Sichuan, took Xu de as their close disciples, which was the beginning of Xu's clay colored sculptures. Xu Xingguo, the son of Xu Deqin, studied sculpture, painting and calligraphy with his father when he was young, and inherited his legacy completely.

Xu's clay colored plastic is constructed with traditional techniques, first drawing design (including white drawing, effect drawing and construction drawing), then binding frame, building rough blank and applying fine mud. After the blank is dry, it is repaired, scraped and polished, made vertical color pattern, pasted with gold, and finally opened. The traditional modeling, costume color painting, gilding, meticulous painting and heavy color are used in the production, showing the elegant charm of ancient style. Most of Xu's clay sculptures are based on religious stories and historical figures, preaching truth, goodness and beauty and persuading people to turn to Taoism. The finished works mainly spread in Sichuan, Hunan, Taiwan and other places, and are very popular in tourist attractions and temples.

From 1981 to 1990, Xu Deqin and Xu Xingguo were employed to undertake the sculpture project of restoring Fengdu ghost town. In eight years, more than 2000 statues were designed and completed, making Fengdu a world-famous tourist resort. In 2001, they began to work on the statues of the ten thousand Buddha city in Luohan temple, Mianyang. More than 12000 small Buddha statues and more than 40 Buddha and Bodhisattva statues more than nine meters long have been completed, surpassing the scale of the ten thousand Buddha city in the United States, which is rare in the world.

With the development of society, the number of people who accept traditional art such as clay sculpture is decreasing. There are very few inheritors of Xu's clay sculpture. It is not easy to inherit and carry forward it, so it is in urgent need of protection.