The firing technique of Uygur molding earthenware

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Uighur molding earthenware firing technique

Applicant: Yingjisha County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Project No.: 356

Project No.: VIII - 6

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Type: new item

Applicant: Yingjisha County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Protection unit: Yingjisha County Cultural Center

A brief introduction to the firing techniques of Uygur molding earthenware:

Applicant: Yingjisha County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

The Uyghur molding pottery firing technique has a history of more than 2000 years. It rose with the opening of the Silk Road, during which it developed and innovated continuously, and has been handed down to the present day. It is handed down by hand and mouth, without detailed written records.

Kuoziqiyarbisi residential area under guzeer community in Kashgar City is a place where earthenware work has been done for generations. The soil here is clay, which is an important raw material for making pottery. Earthenware makers use this clay to make pottery. Without any processing or adding ingredients, they use water and mud to make utensils and dishes, and then use different colors to make glossy and beautiful daily necessities.

Yingjisha county is also an important area for Uighur pottery making, and its products have been exported to southern Xinjiang for a long time. Its products are elegant, simple and have a typical Uighur style. Yingjisha's earthenware can be divided into plain pottery and glazed pottery, both of which are made of yellow mud. Plain pottery is fired directly, while glazed pottery is fired again. Because the glaze has aluminum, black iron slag, quartzite, laterite and other different components, it has dark green, light green, brown, white, earth yellow, earth red, milk yellow and other colors after firing.

Turpan Uygur clay pottery has a long history. There are three kinds of pottery: plain pottery, plain glazed pottery and colored glazed pottery. The production processes include preparing clay, mixing clay, boring clay, kneading clay, modeling, glazing, firing, processing, etc. the modeling and style of the finished products are unique.

These earthenware and their techniques are the material evidence of the exchange between the East and the West on the silk road. Many works are obviously imprinted with Buddhist culture, and at the same time have distinctive Arabic style. In depth study of Uygur pottery techniques can help people understand the cultural exchange between China and the west at that time.

With the rapid development of social economy and culture, earthenware is used less and less in people's daily life, resulting in a sharp decrease in varieties. For example, in Turpan, there are only a few kinds of earthenware from a hundred, and the patterns and colors have also changed from complex to simple. Apart from flowerpots and flowerpots, earthenware has basically withdrawn from people's life. Because of the impact of the market economy, most earthenware craftsmen idle their ancestral crafts, and the younger generation is not interested in learning and inheriting the traditional firing skills. Before 1949, there were more than 100 craftsmen engaged in earthenware in kuoziqyarbisi residential area of Kashgar City. Today, there are only 11 craftsmen left, of which only 17 are craftsmen. In the face of this situation, we must quickly take measures to rescue and protect the Uyghur molding earthenware firing.