A piece of the past is coming back into fashion. Antique brick and pottery items, long since replaced by more modern materials, are once again sought after-this time, for their decorative and cultural value. Old clay calabash-shaped incense holders and small earthenware incense burners are proudly displayed in modem Taipei apartments. Trendy restaurants and teahouses in upscale neighborhoods are decorated with pottery chopstick holders and pastry stamps. And shoppers may find an antique clay cistern filled with water lilies at the entrance to a fancy boutique.
Ask collectors and interior designers what they find attractive about the coarse, red, unglazed pottery, and most will say that it is nostalgia. These handmade clay objects evoke the simplicity of an earlier age. And they convey a sense of human warmth which is often missing in this age of mass-produced goods.
Abundant and inexpensive, clay was once used for making everything from stovepipes to religious statuary. Although objects made from clay played an important role in the daily lives of island residents just fifty years ago, few people today know much about the history of the craft. In order to reacquaint people with this part of their cultural heritage, the Tso Yang Arts Studio (左羊藝術工作坊), in the central-island city of Lukang, organized an exhibition of kiln-fired, unglazed brick and pottery as part of the 1992 Taiwan Arts Festival.
Huang Che-nung (黃志農), director of the Studio, joined with Wen Wen-ching (溫文卿), a noted collector of brick and pottery items, to assemble the more than two hundred objects in the exhibit. These were divided into three categories based on function-architectural, household, and religious. All pieces were in use before 1950. The date was not chosen arbitrarily. Huang explains: "Before 1950, the island lacked resources; residents had to take advantage of the raw materials at hand. Economy and convenience were the rule as artisans stretched the applications of their material."
Going, going, gone- brick-and pottery making are on the verge of extinction.
Both Huang and Wen are dedicated to studying and preserving the island's folk culture. "We wanted to do the show be cause the craft is on the verge of extinction," Huang says. "We have to do the preservation work now because in another generation it may be too late." The organizers do not expect to revive the dying art. Huang admits that clay can no longer fulfill the needs of modem life. "What's important at this point is to research and document the craft-its history and its significance-so that coming generations will have this knowledge," Huang says.
Wen, who has been collecting antiques for more than two decades, contributed over half the pieces displayed in the exhibit. "Pottery and brick have been used for a long time in Taiwan," he says. "They are part of our past. In some ways, I feel they are even more important than the treasures in the National Palace Museum. After all, these things were used by our ancestors. They represent a whole way of life. I began collecting when people started replacing things made out of clay with plastic or other inexpensive goods. I couldn't bear to see our heritage thrown away like that." In the process of collecting, Wen says he has learned a great deal about Taiwan's past, as well as his own roots. He hopes that younger generations will also take an interest.
Archaeological evidence shows that the potter's art on Taiwan dates back Nell into Neolithic times. The island's indigenous tribes practiced open-air pottery firing-a method still used today. Pots and potsherds found at the Shih-san-hang archaeological site on the Tamsui river, north of Taipei, date back about 1,500 years.
Han Chinese pottery and brick making in Taiwan date back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). It is said that when Ming loyalist Cheng Chen-kung, better known as Koxinga in the West, retreated to Taiwan at the fall of the dynasty, his military counsellor, Chen Yung-hua, introduced kiln-fired brick and tile-making to the island. Red brick became the most widely used building material and a standard feature of local architecture.
The commercial manufacture of brick and tile began in 1796 in Nantou, central Taiwan. By 1821, there were three kilns in the area, making it the center of the brick-making industry. In 1901, with the cooperation of Japanese experts, manufacture was upgraded, glazed pottery introduced, and distribution channels expanded. The fame of the Nantou kilns spread, influencing manufacturing in other areas around the island. Production increased to include vases, cisterns, conainers for storing rice, tea sets, and herbal-medicine jars and cookers. Glazed items were produced primarily for markets overseas, while the unglazed red pottery remained popular at home.
In 1805, settlers in Yingko, a town south of Taipei, found abundant deposits of clay. The red clay contained a great deal of iron, which gave a yellowish cast to the fired pottery. The settlers focused on the production of household articles, such as stoves, steamers, and hand and foot warmers. They later expanded operations to include bricks and tiles. The kilns eventually became one of the most profitable industries in Yingko, employing many of the town's residents.
During the Japanese occupation, the colonial authorities instituted an industrialization policy which brought consider able changes to production. The Nantou kilns started producing high-quality pots and porcelain with colorful glazes as well as teapots. The Peitou kilns, north of Taipei, focused on fine ceramic vases and tea sets because of the availability of fine white clay in the area. Due to the stiff competition in high-quality ceramics, the Yingko kilns continued to make bricks, tile, clay pipes, flower pots, urns, and jugs-household items that were still in great demand locally. But in the final years of World War II, they too shifted to producing more profitable items such as portable ceramic commodes.
In the post-war years, Taiwan started on the road to large-scale industrialization. Over the next few decades, the economic and investment climate changed as the government targeted certain industries for development. The process literally changed the face of the island. Reinforced concrete walk-ups and high-rises began to take the place of brick and tile buildings. And household items once made from clay were gradually replaced by plastic and aluminum goods. Today, the craft has all but vanished.
Because both the craft and craftsmen have largely disappeared, compiling accurate historical information on brick and pottery making is becoming increasingly difficult. A great deal of knowledge has already been lost. Trying to pinpoint the exact date when an item was made is often a problem. Although most of the pieces were crafted by anonymous artisans, some were stamped by the kiln or artist, giving clues to the date of fabrication. "If the item has been marked by the craftsman, the probable year of production can be narrowed," Wen says. "But it's really difficult to set a time frame for unmarked pieces. It can get pretty confusing. Appearances can be deceptive. Coarser pieces look older than the finely crafted ones, but that's not always the case."
One of the best places to see traditional brick and pottery is at the island's many old temples. For example, the Tainan Confucian Temple is a great showcase for the architectural application of brick and pottery. Willow leaf and plum blossom window blocks are quite common, as are traditional roof tiles, floor tiles, and decorative fence blocks. For Wen, the wisdom of his ancestors is contained in these mute architectural elements. "The choice of building materials and the structure and layout of a temple all have a practical and an aesthetic significance," he says. "They can help enrich our knowledge of the past."
Religious and quasi-religious architectural sculpture is also quite common on the island's temples and very old homes. Early settlers from southern China brought these statues with them. Mythical chihwen and wind lions were commonly added to roof ridges to ward off evil. Terra-cotta wall panels depicting auspicious beasts such as the chilin are also seen on temples and the homes of the wealthy. "Our ancestors paid a lot of attention to the feng-shui [geomancy] of their houses," he says. "Before they attached these auspicious symbols, they Going, going, gone- brick-and pottery making are on the verge of extinction.
first had to determine the most efficacious place to put them. They believed the position of their home could decide the en tire family's future."
Pottery statues of gods and goddesses can still be found on temple altars around the island. Most of these clay images were actually made by craftsmen in the southern coastal provinces of mainland China, then brought to Taiwan. "Such statues occupied a very important part in the daily lives of island residents," Wen says. "No matter how poor they were, the faithful were always willing to pay a high price to acquire statues made by well-known mainland craftsmen." People here regard these statues as the actual embodiment of a god or goddess, and are reluctant to get rid of them even if they are outdated. If a temple wishes to replace an old statue, a ritual is required to move the spirit of the god out of the old statue and into the new one.
"Our ancestors had many virtues that are rarely seen nowadays," Wen sighs. "And many of them are embodied in pottery objects. For example, pastry stamps symbolize the virtue of teamwork." During religious festivals, offerings of food such as fancy pastries are common. Stamps made of clay or wood were used to impress designs on the surface of the pastries. "Rich people would ask a good craftsman to do the molding," Wen says. "Moderately well-off people would buy mass-produced molds from the kiln, and poor people would pitch in to buy a set of stamps for the whole neighborhood. It was not uncommon for a community to make pastries together and portion them out."
Brick and pottery objects tell much about life in the days before modern conveniences. For example, before indoor plumbing and running water were widely available, people had to carry water from a stream or a well. "A private well was a luxury only the rich could afford," Wen says. Thus, most homes had a large earthenware cistern for storing water.
In southern Taiwan, the quality of well water was usually inferior to the rest of the island. Therefore, antiseptic bottles shaped like amphoras were commonly used for water purification. "Nine out of ten of these bottles were used in the southern part of the island," Wen says. "First, the bottle is filled with an antiseptic solution, then the mouth is sealed and the bottle suspended over the well. The sides of the bottle are full of pinholes which allow the antiseptic to seep out and purify the water."
Before central heating or electric space heaters were common, people used clay hand and foot warmers to stay warm during the cold winter months. In some homes, they were placed beside the bed. Warmers come in all shapes and sizes but bell-shaped and cistern-shaped warmers were the most common. Some are more like shallow dishes and come with special carriers woven out of bamboo. Besides providing warmth, they could also be used to heat water for tea. And grandparents would sometimes use them like a small hibachi and barbecue corn or dried squid for their grandchildren.
Before the advent of modern health care, people had to rely on grandma's favorite herbal cures. If a person caught a chill during the winter, they would most likely have some sort of traditional remedy on hand in an earthenware medicine jar. Many of these jars are incised with the characters of popular folk remedies such as chen-pi, a preserved orange peel for colds and flus, lu-tou-huang, or green bean millet, to neutralize poison, and home remedies for diarrhea, stomachache, fever, and other common ailments. Doctors of traditional Chinese medicine also prescribed herbal medicines. One of the most common ways of preparing an herbal formula was to simmer it at home over a low fire in a special clay medicine cooker.
Some clay objects had unusual functions and are no longer used. For example, before the days of mandatory education, when only the very wealthy had the time and money to study, scholars kept special pots in their study for burning waste paper with writing on it.
"Owing to the high illiteracy rate, people with education were highly respected," Wen says. "A piece of paper with words on it was considered almost sacred, and couldn't be thrown away as garbage. That's why in every school there was a brick pavilion, and in every study a small pottery container for burning papers with words on them."
No scholar's study would be complete without a paperweight to hold long scrolls of paper in place while practicing the art of calligraphy. One of Wen's personal favorites is shaped like Maitreya, the pot-bellied Buddhist messiah. At first glance, it looks like another piece of temple statuary. But Wen says that it was made by local calligrapher Huang Tien-su (黃天素), who is now eighty-four. He made the statue for a paperweight and brush holder. "Such a small thing has so much to tell about art and artists, religion, and the life of the literati," Wen says.
Many objects and utensils used in the kitchen such as funnels, ash cans, and even small stoves, were made out of clay. Pottery chopstick holders, which were designed to hang on the wall, were once quite common in kitchens. The holders are now popular with collectors who often use them as pen holders. Before the days of glass and plastic jars and bottles, all kitchens had a large assortment of earth enware jars and urns for storing salt, rice, soy sauce, ginger, and other condiments. Some people also had special food processing utensils for grinding cassava root and sweet potato, both staple foods in the past.
In the old days, free-standing cabinets for storing food were quite common. They were not airtight and ants could be a problem. But some ingenious craftsman devised a way to keep ants out. Four special bowls with raised centers were all that was needed to ant-proof any cabinet. The legs of the cabinet rested on the raised centers of the bowls, which were then filled with water, forming a protective moat.
Clay and brick objects played a part in almost every facet of daily life in Taiwan prior to industrialization. Today, these objects stand as silent testimony to the genius of countless unknown craftsmen. Using the only materials available to them, they found creative ways to improve the quality of life. As one visitor to the exhibition said: "When I see these things made out of clay, I can feel how tough it must have been for my ancestors. But at the same time I can feel their strength. They didn't just survive. They experimented and worked to improve their lives."