Xu Jianhua

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From 1974 he worked at the Palace Museum on the mounting and restoration of ancient calligraphy and paintings, studying under Yang Wenbin. Within the regional tradition and school record of Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship in Gugongbowuyuan: The Palace Museum line was established only after the founding of the PRC: back then a group of master craftsmen from Yu Chi Shan Fang and Da Shu Zhai of Liulichang and from Ji Gu Ge and Liu Dingzhi Zhuangchi of Shanghai were invited into the palace to specialize in the mounting and restoration of painting and calligraphy artifacts, training others while they worked; "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," "Spring Outing," and "Five Oxen" all came from this line. Thereafter the palace restoration developed its own distinct style, sharing the same origin as the Rongbaozhai shop work but differing in division of labor. Xu Jianhua, a native of Beijing, has worked in the trade for over thirty years and has restored "Spring Outing" by Zhan Ziqian of the Sui dynasty and "Tribute Bearers at Rest" by Hu Gui of the Five Dynasties. The mounting and restoration craft of ancient calligraphy and painting is a unique traditional manual skill of China, mainly used for the decoration, restoration, and recovery of paintings, calligraphy, inscribed stone rubbings, and the like. It has a history of over 1,700 years. Chinese traditional mounting and restoration techniques developed over the long course of the Jin, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, and by the Ming and Qing periods had largely taken definitive form, giving rise to two schools: the "Jing mounting" (Jingbiao) centered on Beijing and the "Su mounting" (Subiao) centered on Suzhou. During the Republican era, China's painting-and-calligraphy restoration trade formed two major schools represented respectively by Yu Chi Shan Fang and Da Shu Zhai on Liulichang in Beijing, and Ji Gu Ge and Liu Dingzhi Zhuangchi in Shanghai. After the founding of the People's Republic, master mounters from Liu Dingzhi Zhuangchi, Yu Chi Shan Fang, and other establishments were invited to the Palace Museum to take sole charge of the mounting and restoration of its collected painting and calligraphy artifacts. They restored a group of national-treasure-level works—including "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan of the Song dynasty, "Spring Outing" by Zhan Ziqian of the Sui dynasty, "Five Oxen" by Han Huang of the Tang dynasty, and "Night Revels of Han Xizai" by Gu Hongzhong of the Five Dynasties—while also training many specialists in ancient calligraphy and painting mounting and restoration for the Palace Museum.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1951 in Beijing. National representative bearer of Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship (Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Over more than thirty years in the profession he has restored, for the Palace Museum and for other cultural relic institutions in China and abroad, numerous works of painting and calligraphy and excavated artifacts, including Zhan Ziqian's You Chun Tu (Spring Excursion) of the Sui dynasty, Hu Gui's Zhuo Xie Tu (A Wilderness Repast) of the Five Dynasties, Ma Hezhi's Tang Feng Tu (Airs of Tang) of the Song dynasty, Lin Liang's Xue Jing Shuang Zhi Tu (Snow Scene with Two Pheasants) and Xu Wei's Ba Jiao Tu (Plantain) of the Ming dynasty. He stresses the integration of theory and practice, has undertaken a number of research projects for the National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Palace Museum, and has published several articles on the mounting and restoration of ancient calligraphy and paintings. He stresses the transmission of techniques and the training of talent, and has taken as apprentices Yang Zehua, Liu Shunqiang, Wang Hongmei, Zhang Xiao, and others. Within the documented technical tradition of Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship in Gugongbowuyuan: Mounting was called "biaobei" in ancient times, also known as "zhuanghuang" or "zhuangchi." The ancient calligraphy-and-painting mounting and restoration craft of the long-famous time-honored shop "Rongbaozhai" possesses its own distinctive and complete craft process; it is the most concentrated embodiment of "Jing mounting" and stands uniquely in the national mounting community. Over years of development, the Beijing ancient-character mounting and restoration craft has formed its own distinctive character, with its own specialized tools, materials, styles, and techniques. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Recorded Craft Procedures": The ancient calligraphy-and-painting mounting and restoration craft of the long-famous time-honored shop "Rongbaozhai" possesses its own distinctive and complete craft process; it is the most concentrated embodiment of "Jing mounting" and stands uniquely in the national mounting community.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2012, Xu Jianhua was announced in the fourth batch of national representative bearers for Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship, with Gugongbowuyuan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Mounting and Restoration Craftsmanship in Gugongbowuyuan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Gugongbowuyuan as its declared area, and Palace Museum 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. Xu Jianhua · National Representative Bearer Archive