I can't read Chinese: where are these adorable tiny clay figurines from?
March 26, 2016 6:29 PM Subscribe
Got a set of twelve very tiny, hand-painted Chinese clay figurines at a thrift store. Only word on the box in English says "Minjianniren". Am tearing my hair out trying to figure out where these came from. Can you make out this faded Chinese text inside the box? Or do you recognize these things? (Pics inside.)
I nearly died from the cuteness when I opened up this little box at the thrift store and found twelve tiny, hand-painted, inch-high women inside. Each one is different; they're glued to the box and don't come out. They look like the kind of thing you'd pick up in a touristy souvenir shop. Like the Chinese version of Guatemalan worry dolls.
I figured I'd take them home and Google the word "Minjianniren," which is on a sticker on the front of the box, and find out where they came from.
Nothing. I can't find anything online about the company, the city they might be from, what year they were made, if there are other dolls like this. I found one! single! eBay listing! for another set of these, with zero information about the figurines.
I am really curious, and I can't read Chinese. There's a sticker in the box, but the words are faded. Forgive me for the poor quality: can any of you read this? The other sticker on the front is easier to make out.
I nearly died from the cuteness when I opened up this little box at the thrift store and found twelve tiny, hand-painted, inch-high women inside. Each one is different; they're glued to the box and don't come out. They look like the kind of thing you'd pick up in a touristy souvenir shop. Like the Chinese version of Guatemalan worry dolls.
I figured I'd take them home and Google the word "Minjianniren," which is on a sticker on the front of the box, and find out where they came from.
Nothing. I can't find anything online about the company, the city they might be from, what year they were made, if there are other dolls like this. I found one! single! eBay listing! for another set of these, with zero information about the figurines.
I am really curious, and I can't read Chinese. There's a sticker in the box, but the words are faded. Forgive me for the poor quality: can any of you read this? The other sticker on the front is easier to make out.
by the way, the Chinese characters for "minjian niren" were the ones on the clear photo.
（民间泥人） I got the meaning from reading the characters; just by looking at the "English letters" (pinyin) you can't really tell if out of context by just looking it up.
posted by bearette at 6:38 PM on March 26, 2016
（民间泥人） I got the meaning from reading the characters; just by looking at the "English letters" (pinyin) you can't really tell if out of context by just looking it up.
posted by bearette at 6:38 PM on March 26, 2016
Best answer: I think your last picture says 天津泥人張彩塑, which is the name of a artist's workshop in Tianjin, which apparently specializes in making clay figurines. Here is their English website (you can see that their logo at the top uses exactly the same calligraphic style as in your photo), and here is an article in the English Wikipedia. I think you can find more information by just googling "clay figure Zhang".
posted by water under the bridge at 9:26 PM on March 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by water under the bridge at 9:26 PM on March 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
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The second picture is too faded (can only make out the word "spring") and the third is written in a calligraphy which is hard for me to make out, but I think the first few characters also say "minjian niren"
posted by bearette at 6:34 PM on March 26, 2016 [1 favorite]