Sarawak pottery
Traditional Iban pottery and the wooden beaters used to imprint patterns on the pots.
There are two distinctive types of pottery made in Sarawak. One is by the indigenous people, particularly the Iban, Lun Bawang, Kelabit, Melanau and Orang Ulu who hand-moulded and low-fired their pottery to be used as utensils as well as for ceremonial purposes. The other type is wheel-thrown Chinese pottery introduced by immigrant artisans, descendants of potters from Swatow (Shantou) in Guangdong province in China, a famous pottery production area. As cheap imports flood the market the manufacture of tourist ware becomes more obvious, with less emphasis on goods made and used for daily use.
- Information in the full article includes
- A long pottery tradition
- Heirlooms
- Into the South Seas
- Pottery kilns
- Recent developments