The art of 1000 years of pottery in Meybod
Evidence from the discovered artifacts suggests that the history of pottery in Iran dates back to ten thousand years BC.
There is no doubt that the first pottery was produced by hand without the use of pottery wheels, glazes and even baking ovens, but with the construction of pottery wheels three thousand five hundred years ago, a great change took place in this industry and caused To make the products more diverse and elegant in terms of shape and construction, and to increase the amount of production.
With the beginning of the Islamic era, due to the simplicity of the soul and away from the luxury of Islamic culture, more attention was paid to the pottery industry, and today pottery, ceramics and tiles are part of a wide range of knowledge. In Yazd province, especially in Meybod city, the art of pottery and ceramics has been common since ancient times. Pottery in this city has emerged due to the abundance of raw materials and soil prone to emergence. The oldest signs of pottery are the pieces of pottery that are occasionally found in the thick jars of Narin Qala. Even in the large bricks of the castle, which is of Sassanid descent, you can see small pieces of colored pottery.
Paintings recently found in some places on some children, such as the role of a half-human, half-animal carved for pottery, are related to the religious beliefs of the people of this area, which is similar to the drawings of the third millennium BC.
The motifs on Meybod pottery are one of the images of the sun, which is actually inspired by the bright sun of the desert areas and is painted as a woman, which is called the sun of the lady, and the other is the image of decorative flowers, fish and birds. It seems that the fish is considered to be an allusion to water, which is of vital importance in this region.
In other words, the motifs of these pottery are a reflection of the living environment and the wishes and desires of its creators. Chess and washing are other popular designs of Meybod pottery. These patterns are mostly painted in blue, green, yellow and delicate black lines and have a special originality and beauty.
Painting with blue and green colors on the white background of the body color of these dishes is a special sign of Meybod pottery.
In the not-so-distant past, pottery for the production of household utensils such as pots and pans, pots and pans, bowls, glazed utensils such as plates, candies, glasses, etc. in architecture for yard carpets, roofing, making windbreaks, decorating Headers, roof reliefs and water features have been used.
Deputy of Handicrafts of Yazd General Directorate of Cultural Heritage / Handicrafts and Tourism said: Currently, 42 pottery and ceramics workshops in Meybod are operating with the official permission of this department and employing five hundred people, of which 20 are pottery workshops and the rest are ceramics.
Beheshti Nejad added: In these workshops, 600 tons of pottery and 360 tons of ceramics are produced annually with a total value of about 10 billion Tomans.
Although Yazd province is the largest producer of pottery and ceramics in the country, this valuable and multi-thousand-year-old art has not flourished for several years and is in a recession.
Describing the situation of handicrafts in this city as unfavorable, Meybodi pottery artist said: In the past, seventy pottery workshops were active in Meybod.
Askari, who has more than forty years of experience in pottery, said: If this process continues, the experience of more than a thousand years of this art will be lost and it will be impossible to revive it.
Gholami, another potter and ceramic producer of Meybod, said: With the high cost of raw materials / fuel and energy and Iran’s saturated market of porcelain, handicraft workshops do not have the traction and tolerance to continue working.
He mentioned the lack of complete expertise in the field of cooking in some workshops, the lack of an active and tasteful marketer and model maker for the variety of designs and roles among the pottery problems in Meybod.
Bahrami, another Meybodi ceramic maker, said: Due to the need for initial investment in the supply of products and the supply of Chinese products at lower prices, the sale of domestically produced goods is not very profitable.
He added: With the increase in the price of gasoline, we have less tourist tours in the city, which has also reduced the prosperity and sales of pottery and ceramic workshops.
The Deputy Minister of Handicrafts of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage / Handicrafts and Tourism of Yazd, pointing out that the government has asked the authorities across the country to buy a tenth of its development budget to buy handicrafts for the same purpose, in order to keep handicrafts alive. Office cost.
Dehghani, another pottery and ceramic producer in Meybod, said that the lack of packaging industries / the organization’s knowledge of the rules for exporting and importing pottery and ceramics / the lack of marketing and sales expertise and the lack of high financial capacity to reach capital are the most important problems for producers. He enumerated pottery and ceramics.
The Deputy Minister of Handicrafts of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage / Handicrafts and Tourism of Yazd, pointing out that these products are exported only in luggage, said: If these problems are solved, exports through Yazd Customs will be a priority.
Akbari is another potter who considers the import of Chinese goods / high prices of raw materials / fuel and workers’ wages and finally the cost of pottery and ceramics as other problems of this industry and added: by allocating more subsidies and more facilities and government support in this The problem must be solved, otherwise the pottery industry will not go anywhere and the pottery production workshops will either be closed or the brick workshops and ceramic pellets will be changed.
Regarding the import of Chinese goods, the head of the Meybod Cultural Heritage / Handicrafts and Tourism Department said: General policies in the field of export and import are regulated and implemented at the national level. Stores belonging to cultural heritage are prohibited and, if observed, the relevant store will be subject to a free tariff.
Dehghani pointed out that the introduction of handicrafts, especially pottery and ceramics, to other provinces and countries can be effective in promoting this industry in the world. Therefore, last year, the International Exhibition of Pottery and Ceramics with the presence of 120 domestic companies and A foreigner was set up in Meybod.
Dehghani said: Production of complete services / greater diversity in products and designs / observance of intellectual property of new designs and maps / marketing, advertising and proper packaging and holding specialized training courses for craftsmen are ways to solve the problem of Meybodi potters.