Cheng Wen
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1950, a native of Zhaoqing, Guangdong. He is a national representative bearer of the Duan Inkstone Making Craftsmanship, a first-batch national intangible cultural heritage project, and is a renowned inkstone maker of Zhaoqing. The Cheng family's Duan inkstone making has been transmitted for fifteen generations. Cheng Wen is the thirteenth-generation inheritor of the Cheng family's Duan inkstone making, carrying on the inkstone craftsmanship of Cheng Si, the twelfth-generation inheritor and a great master of his generation. Building on the inheritance of traditional styles, he innovated boldly and developed the art in many directions, fully mastering it and breaking through his predecessors' confinement to a single approach, and he became a versatile and skilled maker of inkstones. Cheng Wen makes inkstones with abundant passion; he works according to the shape and material of the stone, adapting his technique to the material and carving with bold, decisive strokes. Even when carving small square inkstones, he reveals his grand and unconstrained style. His works cover flowers, birds, fish, and insects, dragons, phoenixes, turtles, and snakes, pavilions and towers, landscapes and figures, and imitations of stone inscriptions, all executed with fluent knife work and solid fundamental skills. Representative works include Xuri Dongsheng Yi Lang (Rising Sun and Swell), Chenxi (Morning Light), and Duanzhou Gujun Tu (The Ancient Commandery of Duanzhou).
Honors & Recognition
Since 2000, many of Cheng Wen's inkstones have won national special gold awards and national gold awards. He has also written papers on his experience in inkstone making and on how to appreciate Duan inkstones, offering them to the many enthusiasts and students of Duan inkstones.
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。