What is a papyrus gourd?

That is, grass paper mold gourd, also known as paper mold gourd and model gourd. It is a traditional handicraft unique to China. It was created by eunuch Xu Jiugong (referring to Liang Jiugong) in the late Ming Dynasty and became a royal article in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. During the reign of Tongzhi and Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, the court artists who made gourds introduced their production skills to people.

Paper mold is based on Xuan paper, pasted on a "gourd mold" for drying and shaping, and then the dried "paper gourd mold" is placed on the growing gourd, and the mold forces the gourd to grow and shape according to people's wishes. The production method is to put the young gourd into a model engraved with various patterns and wrap the young fruit. As the gourd grows up, it gradually fills the space in the model. After the gourd was lignified, it was taken out, and the model was displayed on the gourd in Yang Wen. The gourd molded by the paper mold of the paper paste mold is a paper mold gourd.