Only a few days after returning to Singapore I was invited to join friends on a trip to a rather unusual place-in Singapore at least.
In the western part of the island down an almost rural track lies an 84ft dragon, well a dragon kiln anyway, at the Thow Kwang pottery jungle. Built in the 1940s this is the only dragon kiln now left in Singapore and was used to fire ceramic products for many years. It fell into disuse but was saved from demolition by enthusiasts and brought back to life in 2001.
The heat from the intense fire then travels up through the dragons body snaking up behind the head and this is where the ceramic products are placed for 'firing'
The side entrances to the kiln are sealed up once the ceramics have been placed inside
The pottery jungle site is aptly named as there was pottery everywhere, some stacked for sale, some looking abandoned lying on the ground
I browsed the huge sales area which had a wide selection of goods on offer, I was a little disappointed to find that most of the pottery for sale was made elsewhere, mainly in China it seemed. There was everything from fabulous garden pots, huge beautifully decorated platters, vases, dining services and lots of ornaments and statues
Some things were peculiar and some downright ugly. There were plenty of Chairman Mao statues..
and figurines from Chinese mythology
and Buddhist and Hindu icons
...plenty of light bases
finally I found a shelf of vases that had been made at this pottery, all quite 'rustic' and heavy looking
Before leaving I bought a vase that I will give as a gift for friends who have recently married, it's not been made at the dragon kiln pottery but hopefully they will like it. I forgot to buy something for myself but that gives me a good excuse to return to this fascinating place.
No comments:
Post a Comment