Dai-style pottery: Pottery with belief
Dai-style pottery: Pottery with belief
傣陶：有信仰的陶
Edited by Yu Xuebin
Dai-style pottery has always had two functions, either as utilitarian household vessels or religious ritual props. For the latter, Dai people have decorated the roofs and ridges of Buddhist monasteries with different types of pottery, showing their worship to nature and deities. Dai-style pottery, modeled after plants and animals, are used to decorate religious architectures. These pottery articles reflect people’s reverence and pious wishes, and are regarded with divinity. Closely linked to daily lives and religious beliefs of the Dai people, Dai pottery is one of the few pottery styles worldwide that can be called “pottery with belief”.
The functionality of Dai-style pottery has significantly improved over the thousands of years of its evolution and development. Today, Dai-style pottery mainly include lamps, tea sets, fragrance diffusers, vases, and characteristic tableware. They have become increasingly practical and gained wide popularity in the whole society.
Xishuangbanna Taixiang Pottery Studio is a Dai-style pottery making workshop dedicated to popularizing Dai-style pottery craftsmanship and culture, with emphasis on the spiritual inheritance of the Dai people. In Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Taixiang Pottery, whose works are elegant in shape and full of unique traditional cultural symbols, has become a synonym for Dai-style pottery. Adhering to their tradition of “obtaining materials from local sources”, Taixiang Pottery uses pure, natural clay obtained from local deposit, to make its pottery, and is especially renowned for its tea sets. When a tea set is shaped, the clay body is fired at 1,000 to 1,200℃ temperature for oxidation reduction reaction, which enables the finished tea wares to contain over a dozen minerals beneficial to health, such as iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and strontium.
从一开始，傣族制陶就具备两个功能，一是民用陶器的实用功能；二是宗教用陶的礼器功能。大量应用在佛寺屋顶和屋脊的傣陶，反映了人们对自然及自然神的崇拜。取之于自然的植物、动物陶器造型，应用到宗教建筑装饰中，使傣族陶器具有了神性，承载着人们对神圣力量的敬畏与期冀。傣族制陶与傣族人民日常生活、宗教信仰紧密联系在一起。就全世界来看，傣族制陶是少数可以称为“有信仰的陶”。
经过几千年的传承，傣陶的功能性得到了极大的改善，今天的傣陶有陶灯、普洱茶器、香器、花器、特色餐具等几大类，随着技术的进步，傣陶的实用性进一步提高，受到了社会的广泛关注。
西双版纳泰象陶团队是一支专注于傣陶手工艺文化传播、强调傣族精神传承的傣陶制作团队，在西双版纳，泰象陶已经是傣陶的代名词，泰象陶设计制作的傣陶，器型典雅，独具传统文化符号。泰象陶团队坚持就地取土，充分利用西双版纳天然陶矿自然洁净的属性制作陶器，所制作的傣陶茶具在1000-1200度高温间不断地氧化还原中烧制而成，含有铁、锌、钙、镁、锶等十几种对人体有益的矿物质。
Plain tea set
普洱茶冲泡简便套具
This tea set, decorated with patterns based on the holy trees and flowers of Therevada Buddhism, has been fired with a unique high-temperature restoration technology. Its scientific design and breathability render it ideal for brewing Pu’er tea. It inherits the pragmatic philosophy of the Dai people, perfectly combining practicability with traditional aesthetics.
Market Price: RMB 1,200 per set
Wood ash-glazed juice cup
草木灰釉果汁杯
Using a wood ash glaze preparation technique dating back to the ancient Shang Dynasty(1600BC—1046BC), this unique attractive glazed clay juice cup is widely favored and are used for containing tropical fruit juices.
Market Price: RMB 260 per piece
Lotus patterned tea caddy
莲花纹储茶罐
This tea caddy, ideal for storage of Pu’er tea, is made of local clay fired at 1,200℃ with unique high-temperature oxidation reduction technology. It bears a decorative lotus pattern of Therevada Buddhism in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, and is hand-carved by master sculptors.
Market Price: RMB 1,280 per piece
Incense burner
香器
This incense burner, modeled after the Buddhist pagodas commonly found in Dai-inhabited areas, is elegant in shape and highly effective in fragrance diffusion.
Market Price: RMB 260 per piece
Fine tea set
普洱茶冲泡精品套具
This tea set, decorated with images of tropical rain forest species, featuring high breathability, and distinctive form and design, can be used for both storage of loose tea leaves and brewing of Pu’er tea.
Market Price: RMB 2,200 per set
Characteristic pottery lamp
特色陶灯
This distinctive courtyard lamp, hollowed out with plant totems unique to Xishuangbanna region, adds romance to cozy courtyards.
Market Price: RMB 660 per piece
Address 3-1701 Ganbai Street, Gaozhuang Xishuangjing, Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture
