Chen Wenmin

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Chen Wenmin, Male, Han, from Guangzhou, Guangdong, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Guangcaici Firing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-97). The tradition is documented in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Guangcaici Firing Craftsmanship in Guangzhou, Guangdong: The painted types can be divided into four major categories: hand painting, custom-order painting, gold-accumulation painting, and Lingnan-school painting. The Guangzhou Guangcai porcelain firing craft is representative of overglaze painting; it has a long history, beginning around the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, and has lasted over three hundred years to this day.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Born in February 1961 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, he is a man of the Han ethnic group. He is a national representative bearer of Guangzhou polychrome porcelain firing craftsmanship, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He is a senior crafts artist and a master of arts and crafts of Guangdong Province. He studied under the Chinese arts and crafts master Yu Peixi and later learned pigment making and firing techniques from other Guangzhou polychrome masters, mastering the entire production process of firing and making Guangzhou polychrome porcelain. He has strong independent design and creative ability and is especially good at absorbing elements from other arts: he applies the brushwork and line of calligraphy to Guangzhou polychrome art, incorporates Western craft styles, and experiments with modern technical methods such as photography and computing to enhance its expressive power. He has trained more than one hundred and eighty apprentices, many of whom have set up their own workshops and can now work independently. Within the documented technical tradition of Guangcaici Firing Craftsmanship in Guangzhou, Guangdong: Historically, Guangcai porcelain was exported in large quantities to meet the demand of Western merchants. Guangcai porcelain covers a wide range of subjects and has brilliant colors. Its firing craft mainly includes the making of painted-decoration pigments, the use of painted-decoration tools, and the gilding "doucai" (contrasting-color) technique. Guangcai porcelain comes in many varieties, mainly including daily utensils, display and curio objects, stationery and recreational items, and religious ritual implements. Guangcai porcelain includes different types such as three-color, five-color, and cloisonné-enamel (falangcai) glaze, and also imitates Western painting methods to produce porcelain with a unique painted style. Its firing craft is rooted among the people and manifests four major characteristics—the fusion of Chinese and Western colored-porcelain techniques, distinctive pigment making, a strong Lingnan cultural character, and rich painted methods and subject matter—giving it important cultural and historical research value. As an important carrier of Lingnan culture, the Guangcai porcelain firing craft still enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad to this day. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Making the overglaze colours": Guangcai colours are mixed to a workable consistency and tested first, so every piece of a pattern comes out the same hue. "Sealing the gold": Gold must be sealed before the final firing or it flakes and dulls; this step separates fine guangcai from ordinary gilt ware. "Handling the brushes": Fine brushes carry the wash: how much colour sits in the tip decides whether one stroke gradates or goes dry. "Built-up gold painting": Built-up gold lays several layers so the line stands proud with a deep lustre, the hardest of the four guangcai painting types.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2012, Chen Wenmin was announced in the fourth batch of national representative bearers for Guangcaici Firing Craftsmanship, with Guangzhou, Guangdong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Guangcaici Firing Craftsmanship in Guangzhou, Guangdong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Guangzhou, Guangdong as its declared area, and Guangzhou Panyulianhuacaicishiye 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. Chen Wenmin · National Representative Bearer Archive