Demoulding
Hsiu-hsien
Top glaze
Add firewood to the kiln to increase the temperature
out of the kiln
He Zhanquan's pottery works
Guangzhou Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, Foshan Ancestral Temple, Cantonese Opera Art Museum, Zhaoqing Deqing Yue Jackie Chan Mother Ancestral Temple...... The ancient buildings of Lingnan are thunderous, and their tile ridge restoration work is all due to He Zhanquan's "Jucheng Pottery House". He Zhanquan is from Xiaolan, Zhongshan, and has been in the art for 44 years, and is the first Guangdong Province Traditional Architecture Master Craftsman, and the representative inheritor of the Guangdong Traditional Architecture Ceramic Sculpture Tile Ridge Production Skills Project.
The southern style pottery tile ridge is a kind of high-relief pottery sculpture art ornament installed on the roof of the traditional Lingnan building, which mainly takes myths and legends and drama stories as the theme, takes pavilions, attics, mountains and forests and trees as the background, and intersperses them with dragons and phoenixes, Bogu dragon pieces and characters and flowers and plants, and adds various animals, flowers and birds, melons and fruits and other patterns to embellish, reflecting the social fashion and aesthetic taste of the time. He Zhanquan introduced that compared with the northern school, the southern school pottery tile ridge technology is higher, and many century-old buildings that have been preserved to this day are still fresh.
In 1983, He Zhanquan, who had achieved great learning, established the "Jucheng Pottery House", aiming to continue the old name of Xiaolan "Jucheng" and the local culture behind it. Over the years, he has always adhered to the ancient method, insisting on using plants and minerals to prepare the glaze, and insisting on manually firing it with firewood in the dragon kiln. Although He Zhanquan, who does not need mechanized production in the eyes of outsiders, insists on hand-made production, and does everything "very stupid", he said: "The craftsman spirit I understand is the spiritual belief that people can persist in a lifetime, and it is the awe of traditional culture." ”
It is precisely with this tenacity and persistence in handmade ingenuity that He Zhanquan has made a name for himself in the field of ancient building restoration, and continues to make important contributions to the protection and inheritance of the pottery and plastic tile ridge production skills of traditional ancient buildings in Lingnan. Among all the cultural relics restoration, the most satisfying for him is the restoration of Yongning Linggong in Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan City - after two years of careful preparation and production, on December 8, 2020, a 20-meter-long large dragon spine reflecting the essence of Lingnan pottery was fired in the "Jucheng Pottery House" dragon kiln. The renovated dragon's spine covers elements such as mythological stories, traditional folk customs, and Taoist allusions, and gathers the essence of Cantonese culture, which is lifelike and magnificent.
Nowadays, more and more attention has been paid to the protection and inheritance of history and culture, and many ancient buildings have been revitalized in the new era. Seven years ago, Ho Zhanquan founded the Pottery Culture and Art Museum, which is committed to promoting traditional pottery culture to the Greater Bay Area and the world. Regarding the inheritance of traditional culture, He Zhanquan said with deep feelings: "Excellent traditional culture is our 'root' and 'soul', and I hope that this craft, which has been passed down from generation to generation, will convey humanistic feelings and convey the charm of Lingnan culture through the form of art." ”
(Source: Southern Labor Daily Author: Text/All-Media Reporter Yu Jianye Photo/All-Media Reporter Lin Jingyu)
Editor-in-charge: Huang Yu
Second trial: Pan Chao