Some clay statuettes, which are animals, birds or people, can produce sound. Among the animals, horse is often focused. There are red horse, black horse, double-headed horse or pony. People are also the topic of figurines, which are mostly chosen from stories or legends.
The picture shows a common legend, eight fairies. As you can see, each fairy has its own feature. Some sit and some stand. Some are quiet and some are active. Craftsmen tend to portray these fairies in a realistic way. They also use different colors for the figurines according to their different background, status, clothing or decoration. The color used for people is different from those in animals. The production processes are done with neat and care. Generally speaking, the figurines lack flavor of countryside, yet they can still be considered good products.
Various topics are chosen to make clay figurines. One of topics is people from traditional local opera. Sometimes two or three figurine is made in one mould. This way, it is easy to remold it.
One of the common topics in the traditional opera is riding, which are usually placed in the house. With a knife in the rider's hand and usually about 60 centimeter tall, such figurine is said to ward off evils.
In the picture, the figurine of the riding has simple design and bright colors. There is no delicate description and the main colors used are red, yellow and black. It is interesting.
In north China's Hebei province, cock clay statuette is very famous. The cock shows enthusiasm and is one of the typical clay statuettes in north China.
There are three sizes for cock clay statuette, small, medium and large. The large one is about 25 centimeters and the small one is about 6 centimeters. It requires some ability to make the cock and the figurine.
The picture shows a cock with simple shape and bright colors. The colors of red and yellow cover most of the areas and the rest is in black. Paper cutting is also adopted. People try to display the cocky expression with the red cockscomb, black neck and sticking tail. They finally brush the surface of the clay with paint in no color. It gives people an atmosphere of luck and harmony.