Tasteful terracotta

Traditional crafts from the potter's wheel

Going by the well-known roadside stands in Dhanmondi, Gulshan and the High Court Mazar area, we learn that the potters have to buy the clay and make the items in the villages of Savar and Dhamrai.

Both men and women work on the clay, producing items like decorative elephants with floral motifs of the howdah, with details of the eyes, ears, trunk and feet done with care and proportion. There are then the outstretched eagles with sharp eyes, beaks and every fleck of feather etched on with precision. There are the horses with their bridles, tail and details of their eyes and noses done with love and attention. There are complete trees with branches, leaves, flowers and orange fruits. Some have been given a shiny, glitzy finish.

Likewise, there are the vases and jugs painted with traditional flowers and leaves as well as geometrical motifs of circles, lines, dots and whirling swirls of beige, brown and burnt-sienna. There are flowerpots and rectangular receptacles for holding plants. Toys for children in the shape of tiny pots and pans for cooking, jewellery for teenagers and even containers for keeping mosquito coils are found here, made with perfect precision with clay. They are painted over with a black base and multicolours forming the different motifs on them with paisley patterns, heart shapes and dots. They use enamel, plastic paints and oxide colours. Some are touched with bronze and gold hues. Both the wheel and the hands are used for making them.

These items were seen in the form of cooking vessels and everyday household items during the Mughal and British period. Today they are more decorative items. They are often taken to the Far East and Middle East. The items are sometimes even sent abroad and if they had the backing of authorities their sale would have risen even more. Their daily sales is limited to Taka 3,000 but could have been more, given the right incentive and help.