The Traditional Handicraft --Clay Figurines and The Four Clay Figurines Schools
The traditional handicraft of clay figurines is one china folk art form of long history. Its emerge is full of features based on ancient fairy tale story. According to a Chinese fairy tale, humans were created out of clay by a goddess. In the hands of the folk artists, this myth is repeated over and over as the otherwise worthless clay is molded into fascinating sculptures via kneading, basking, coloring and baking, that is just clay figurine.
In recent years, with the development of China's tourism and flourish economy, the Chinese Clay Figurine Art is staging a comeback, and clay fingurines are widely taken by the Chinese and tourists as decorative crafts or travel souvenirs.
The Chinese Clay Figurine Art has a 3,000- year-history, and there are four schools of clay figurines to make clay sculptures in China, like Clay Figurine Fengxiang, Clay Figurine Zhang, Huishan Clay Figurine, Gaomi Clay Figurine. They are located in different province and have their own special art features as well as craftsmanship.
Fengxiang in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has a 3,000- year-history of making clay sculptures.
Clay Figurine Zhang, boasting a 180-year history, was created by Zhang Mingshan in North China's Tianjin City.
Compared with those found in northern China, Huishan clay figurines from East China's Jiangsu Province are short and their facial expressions are vividly depicted.
Gaomi Clay figurines. Clay figurines in Gaomi, a city in Shandong Province on the eastern coast of China, have a 400-year history.
The clay figurines usually are made of clay or mud material, which was mixed with pulp or compounded with a variety of traditional Chinese herb medicine, after it was shaped, the figurine was painted. The colors figurines may be scarlet, green and yellow so on. And the clay figurines could keep their original color and shape without any cracking or transfiguration for hundreds of years.
The clay figurines have a wide-range of subjects, including facial makeup, folklore, historical stories, rural life and others. Their bold and short shapes are widely exaggerated. The resonate with admirers, and are deeply loved by people at home and abroad.