Zheng Yikun
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
A man of Han ethnicity, he was born in 1936 in Fuzhou, Fujian. A national representative bearer of Fuzhou Tuotaiqiqi Lacquer Decoration Craftsmanship, a first-batch national intangible cultural heritage project, and a master of Chinese arts and crafts. In 1956, Zheng Yikun was admitted to the lacquer art department of the Fuzhou Arts and Crafts School, where he studied the basic techniques of lacquer craftsmanship systematically under the great master Li Zhiqian. He also received the careful guidance of the senior figures of the previous generation, including the lacquer artist Gao Xiuquan, the celebrated flower-and-bird painter Chen Zifen and the calligrapher Pan Zhulan. In the 1960s, Zheng Yikun originated the Fuzhou-style lacquer painting of goldfish. In the 1980s, at the Fuzhou Research Institute of Arts and Crafts he organized research personnel to study and develop lacquer products such as decorative lacquer film and pattern transfer on lacquerware, creatively advancing a series of techniques including veiled transparency, variegated coating and polishing through, which enriched the vocabulary of the lacquer arts and enhanced their expressive power. Taking the grinding and polishing of raw lacquer as the technical hallmark of his work, the creation of lacquer artworks with elusive layers, shifting textures and profound atmosphere has been Zheng Yikun's lifelong pursuit. His representative works include Jinyu (Goldfish), Chunqing Die Wu (Butterflies Dancing in Spring Sunshine), Xinyuan (A Wish), Yexun (Night Rounds) and Juxiang (Fragrance of Chrysanthemums), among others.
Honors & Recognition
He received the Lifetime Achievement Award of Chinese Arts and Crafts.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
Profile
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。