Cai Shuikuang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

The Cai family tradition of lacquer-thread sculpture is an heirloom of the decorative art of ancient Buddhist statuary. Cai Shuikuang is the twelfth-generation inheritor of the Cai family lacquer-thread sculpture; from 1956 he studied under his father Cai Wenpei, learning wood carving, ground preparation, lacquer-thread work, gilding and color application. Within the regional tradition and school record of Xiamen Qixiandiaojiyi in Xiamen, Fujian: The Xiamen lacquer thread sculpture technique is centered on Xiamen, Fujian, has passed through thirteen generations of the Cai family, and extends to Quanzhou, Putian and other parts of southern Fujian; the technique has been transmitted in Xiamen for more than three hundred years, and is a surviving lineage of ancient Buddhist statue sculpture art, arising under the inspiration of the line-carving techniques of the Song and Yuan dynasties, in particular powdered-line and clay-line sculpture. The Xiamen Weiyi Lacquer Thread Sculpture Art Co., Ltd. is the project's protecting unit. It took shape in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and gradually matured by the late Qing; its development in the Xiamen area was inseparable from the flourishing of folk religion and the prosperity of the Buddhist and deity statue sculpture trade.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

A man of Han ethnicity, he was born in 1939 in Xiamen, Fujian. A national representative bearer of Xiamen Qixiandiaojiyi (Xiamen lacquer-thread sculpture), a first-batch national intangible cultural heritage project, and a master of Chinese arts and crafts. In 1972, Cai Shuikuang created a group of works for that year's Chinese Export Commodities Fair, and over the following decade quietly honed his craft to produce many outstanding works; these achievements remain a source of pride that cannot be replicated. Cai Shuikuang's works have springy, resilient lines; every detail is handled with rigor, as fine as a hair, and the composition is ingenious. He carries forward and develops the aesthetic ideal of intricate colors and inlaid gold, with carving and painting filling the eye. His representative works include Boyue Dong Wukong Jiangyao (Wukong Subdues the Demon in the Moonlight Wave Cave), Nao Tian Gong (Havoc in Heaven) and Huan Wo Heshan (Return My Rivers and Mountains), among others; of these, Huan Wo Heshan and Boyue Dong Wukong Jiangyao were acquired by the state in 1994 as precious works of arts and crafts and are held in the collection of the China National Arts and Crafts Museum. Cai Shuikuang currently has four apprentices. Within the documented technical tradition of Xiamen Qixiandiaojiyi in Xiamen, Fujian: The lacquer thread sculpture technique has been transmitted in Xiamen for more than three hundred years, passing through thirteen generations of the Cai family. This technique is a surviving lineage of ancient Buddhist statue sculpture art, and arose under the inspiration of the line-carving techniques of the Song and Yuan dynasties, in particular powdered-line and clay-line sculpture. The traditional production of lacquer thread sculpture covers four aspects: sculpture, powder base-coating, lacquer thread decoration, and gilding with color filling. As for the creative design of a work, sculpture is the first consideration. But as for the special aesthetic appeal of the art, it is the lacquer thread decoration technique that is the key. Lacquer thread sculpture blends aged brick powder, raw lacquer, cooked tung oil and other materials, pounding them repeatedly into a soft yet resilient dough, commonly known as "lacquer thread clay"; this is hand-rolled into "lacquer threads", which are then coiled, tied, wound and piled on the primed body to build up raised designs. The lacquer thread sculpture technique attends to the aesthetic qualities of line; its forms are rich and varied, and in creation the artist follows his inspiration freely to reach a very high realm — the beauty of line in Chinese industrial arts is here sublimated. Lacquer thread sculpture coils its designs in thread yet presents them in relief, precise to the millimetre in the finest detail, every particular handled with strict care. It can be said that handwork is the soul of lacquer thread sculpture. More than three hundred years ago, the production base of lacquer thread sculpture was Maxiang Town in Tong'an County. The eleventh-generation heir Cai Wenpei moved the workshop to Xiamen; he was the first to use lacquer thread sculpture to depict historical figures, and he took on many students, opening the family's closely guarded technique to the public. Cai Wenpei's son Cai Shuikuang was a master of industrial arts; his artistic vision was broader, and his works "Return Our Rivers and Mountains" and "Wukang Subdues the Demon in the Moon Cave", as classic pieces, are collected by the China National Museum of Arts and Crafts. In 1972 Cai Shuikuang turned lacquer thread sculpture patterns into independent decorative artworks; these quickly became the mainstream product of modern lacquer thread sculpture and brought enormous returns. With the deepening of reform and opening up, the modern market economy has dealt a huge blow to the traditional lacquer thread sculpture technique. Because the technique is complex and not easily mastered, successors are hard to find; among the Cai family, the only person still engaged in lacquer thread sculpture today is the thirteenth-generation heir Cai Caixian, and there is a fear that the line may die out. The relevant authorities should protect and rescue this ancient handicraft so as to prevent the traditional technique from being lost. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Sculpture, ground, line and gilding": Four stages, of which the first is the design in clay and the second — the laying of the lacquer lines — is where the special beauty lies. "Thirteen Cai generations": Kept in one family for three hundred years and thirteen generations, the craft kept the standards of temple statuary rather than trade production. "From Song-Yuan line carving": Descended from Buddhist statuary and from Song and Yuan line carving, the lacquer lines are built from hair-fine powder-and-lacquer rods dried before use.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2007, Cai Shuikuang was announced in the first batch of national representative bearers for Xiamen Qixiandiaojiyi, with Xiamen, Fujian as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Xiamen Qixiandiaojiyi in Xiamen, Fujian: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Xiamen, Fujian as its declared area, and Xiamen Weiyiqixiandiao Art Co., Ltd. as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Cai Shuikuang · National Representative Bearer Archive