Between Practicality And Aesthetics

Like potteries in other regions,Qinzhou Nixing Pottery were first used as daily necessities.Decoration and form of Nixing Pottery feature special style of south of the Five Ridges and minority areas.With development of pottery making techniques in modern times and improvement of people’s spiritual needs and aesthetic taste,practical functions of potteries cannot satisfy people’s needs,Nixing Pottery welcomed a transformation from daily utensils to display decorations.Such a change is transformation from practical function to aesthetic function and change from people’s material needs to spiritual pursuits as well.Looking back in history,it could be found that Nixing Pottery experienced development phases of origin,flourish,boom,decline,revitalize,and slow growth.The decorative elements and form style also witnessed a transformation from Han cultures in south of the Five Ridges to the culture of Zhuang ethnic group in Guangxi minority areas.By field study methods and theories in cultural anthropology aesthetic sociology,this paper discusses and studies cultures,art form,religious belief,spoken and written language,as well as social organization related to Nixing Pottery from the perspective of artistic design.In particular,this paper firstly dates back to the history of Nixing Pottery,summarizes and analyzes their forms,decorations,style,material,craft,tools,methods etc.then gives interpretations from sociology of design,design anthropology,design axiology,and design culturology.The research emphasis is as follows: first,to clarify the origin and historical development of Nixing Pottery,especially the materials,craft,form and decoration;second,to make clear the modern development of Nixing Pottery through careful study and investigation,in particular issues like function and aesthetic,cultural change,and inheritance and innovation;third,to analyze and discuss the social culture representations and the cultural logic of Nixing Pottery,thus propose development direction of modern Nixing Pottery.Conclusion point of this paper: first,proposes and proves the idea that Qinzhou Pottery and Nixing Pottery are of the same origin,so “the missing link between them” was a problem of cognition;second,argues and illustrates that the name “Nixing Pottery” was originated from market economy in late Qing Dynasty,which was affected by Yixing Pottery and showed the real demands of revitalizing the local traditional pottery industry;third,proves and illustrates Nixing Kiln was actually folk kiln in essence,but not so called official kin,thus analyzes and corrects the generally accepted claim that Qinzhou kiln is official kiln.This paper holds that Nixing Pottery is now in a dilemma between function and aesthetic.The development difficulty of practical products lies in the lack of modern design consciousness and innovation,so it’s hard to cater to the social demand nowadays,while decorative utensils for display were also lack of excellent design and artistic innovation,the artistic standards of which are generally low,and the form change and innovation of ethnic factors are far from enough.The root problem is that traditional handicraft,humanistic spirits,and cultural connotation of Nixing Pottery have not been inherited efficiently.Function and aesthetic properties were not integrated,so Nixing Pottery develops slowly.