Among the various Rishtan products, vessels for water in the form of birds - ducks, obdasta-ducks - also deserve special attention.
Animal forms are not uncommon in Central Asian pottery. On ceramic vessels, one can see images of elephants, rams, cows, lions, horses (asp) with birds perched on their backs, and nightingales (bulbulok). But all of them are reflected in the ceramic whistle, which has long been used in the ritual of summoning rain. The duck was honored to be included in the kitchen utensils.
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Duck production was a male occupation, considered a rather serious and laborious craft. The first stage of this work is the selection of clay. It should be very flexible and hold the shape well. The ducks are prepared on a potter's wheel by dividing them into separate parts, and then they are assembled into a single unit using liquidly mixed clay - slime. As a result, a winged duck-container with a convenient ring handle and two holes appears. One hole is located at the end of the trumpet-shaped mouth, which is attached closer to the tail of the duckling and is intended for filling it with fluid. The second is designed for drinking water and is located in the duck's beak. Then the finished duck was decorated with glazed emblems or floral patterns, and finally, quickly covered with alkaline glaze.
Sometimes the duck was made in the shape of a rooster - turned into a rooster-obdasta, and it differed from the duck only by the crown on its head. However, all pottery vessels traditionally made in the form of birds are now called ducks.
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Rishton ducks are considered among the leaders in their production.
The tradition of making duck dishes has historical roots in other cities of Uzbekistan, as well as in neighboring Tajikistan - here they were called murg'obi, murg'oba (Tajik: duck, murg' - bird, ob - water).
Duck vessels, considered an ancient Eastern invention, "flying around" many countries and still occupy their place in the production of ceramics to this day.
