Maqiao recreates ancient relics as urban landscape elements, souvenirs
Sculptures at the entrance of the Maqiao Culture Exhibition Hall
Maqiao Town of Minhang District has recently created urban landscape elements and a wine set modeled after some of the ancient relics such as the duck-shaped pottery pot excavated from the Maqiao Culture relics site.
A set of lighting artworks and some sculptures in the shape of ancient duck-shaped pottery pot, double boiler, round-mouthed food vessel, stemmed bowl and wine goblet appeared at the intersection of Yuanjiang and Huawang roads in Maqiao and around the entrance of the Maqiao Culture Exhibition Hall.
Lights were added at a miniature park during a facelift that also included new vegetation and plants. They were partly hollowed to let out some light. When night falls, the lighting artworks, set against warm glows from their background, turn more vivid with their contours.
The Maqiao township officials came up with the sculptures mimicking its ancient relics in front of the Maqiao Culture Exhibition Hall to serve as a bunch of vibrant historic and cultural symbols characteristic of the town.
A bird's-eye view of the sculpture set shows an elliptical layout. It has seven pieces arranged artistically in accordance with their different heights and sizes.
Running water drops from the biggest duck-shaped pot to a lower stemmed cup, then further to other utensils around them. The water is finally collected in a pond and recycled again into the duck-shaped pot.
The Maqiao ruins site, situated in the east of Yutang Village in the town, indicates a history back to the Neolithic Age some 3,900-3,200 years ago. The site was discovered in 1959 and followed by the unearthing of animal bones and many pieces of ancient stoneware and potteries.
Meanwhile, a wine set designed by Maqiao Town has won at the 2022 Shanghai Souvenir Primary recently. It, together with 46 pieces of souvenirs, will enter the second round of the competition held by the Shanghai Consumer Council.
A blue-porcelain wine set is modeled after the duck-shaped pottery pot excavated from the Maqiao Culture relics site.
The wine set consists of a blue-porcelain wine pitcher and two yuntun (云吞, one gulp) cups. It was a tradition among the ancient Chinese to drink their wine in one gulp to manifest their valiance.
The wine pitcher was modeled after a gray duck-shaped pottery pot with cloud-and-thunder patterns that was unearthed from the Maqiao Culture relics site in the 1990s, and the pair of yuntun cups take the shape of the ancient Maqiao wine goblet.
The wine set can be both an everyday use and a decoration.
In addition to the creative items inspired from the Maqiao Culture relics, the town also came up with other cultural products, including blessing money envelops and cushions with Maqiao lion dance paintings on them, a purple cup with wisteria-shaped curving to mark the town's ancient wisteria park and handkerchiefs, scarves and paper tissue containers made of local indigo printing fabrics.
A fan featuring Maqiao painting
Handkerchiefs and scarves made of Maqiao indigo printing fabrics
A cup with wisteria-shaped curving to mark Maqiao's ancient wisteria park
