Balkhar jugs Automatic translate

“He raised his head, taking his hands by his sides, And yet he doesn’t look down on you!” – This inscription-riddle is dedicated to the Balkhar jug. The village of Balkhar is located far from Kubachi, but its craftsmen are also known far beyond the borders of Dagestan. Beautiful works made of light clay with delicate original ornaments decorate the homes of many connoisseurs of folk crafts.

Clay production is a long and labor-intensive process. This fishery in Balkhar originated in the first centuries of our era. Gradually, the craftsmen of Balkhar began to supply the entire population of Dagestan with dishes. By the middle of the 18th century, the forms and techniques of working with clay had finally developed. Typically, the clay was mined by men, and the dishes were sculpted, painted, and fired by women. And now in the Balkhara ceramics workshop of the Makhachkala art products plant, the majority of workers are women.

The most popular products of the Balkhar workshop are jugs. Available in a variety of shapes and sizes, jugs serve decorative and household purposes. But the strict simplicity of the silhouette is always combined with a very laconic and at the same time monumental decorative painting. Balkhar jugs resemble antique vases. A distinctive feature of Balkhar ceramics is engobes painting, which is done with a brush moistened with thinly diluted white or red-brown clay. There is no specific pattern, that is, each craftswoman makes it new on each jug. This creates the unique charm of any Balkhar product.

The painting is usually not geometric in nature, and symmetry is not observed in it. Straight and wavy lines, chains of commas, ellipsoidal leaves with internal painting create a conventionally floral ornament, such as was found on jugs of the island of Crete and Thrace (along the Danube and Dnieper) 2 millennia BC. And every dash or comma said something to the people of the past, meant something.

After the reorganization of production in the Balkhar workshop, a division of labor was carried out: some are busy with molding, others with clay processing and firing, and others with painting. This approach allows you to use your energy and time with the greatest impact. Craftswomen usually work to songs. The melody flows, drawn-out words sound and the patterns on the jugs are also displayed.

The most beautiful jugs are made from ordinary local clay. For many centuries, Balkhar craftswomen have been creating jugs and jugs of the most varied shapes, all kinds of patterns and paintings, and this tradition continues even now, at the beginning of the 21st century.