Zhu Wenqian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1979 she joined Xiyuan Temple in Suzhou as a full-time artist, studying the restoration of Buddhist images and hall painting under Zhang Yongqing. In 1985 she studied Buddhist image painting and gilding under Liu Guoxiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Clay Sculpture in Suzhou, Jiangsu: Suzhou clay sculpture falls into two major categories: the first is large-scale clay sculpture, that is, the statues of gods and Buddhas in temples; the other is small clay sculptures, that is, the Tiger Hill clay figures. Suzhou clay sculpture has enjoyed a high reputation throughout its more than two thousand years of development, ranking alongside the Chaozhou Fuyang clay sculpture, the Tianjin Clay Figure Zhang and the Wuxi Huishan clay figures as an important representative of Chinese clay sculpture. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, temples and monasteries have stood in great numbers in Suzhou; sculptors nailed wooden armatures of local hill clay, prepared coarse and fine clay, applied the clay, and painted or gilded the images, so that the tradition of statue-making continued unbroken. The clay around Tiger Hill is black, fine and sticky, well suited to modeling small-scale clay figures, and in the Qing dynasty the Tiger Hill (Huqiu) clay figure, known for its opera-story subjects, took shape.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in April 1949 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Arts and crafts artist. She loved painting from childhood. She has successively restored and modelled Buddhist images for Xiyuan Temple, Hanshan Temple, Lingyan Hill and Dinghui Temple. She revived the hand-pinched portrait sculpture technique, which had been lost for nearly a century. Her sculptures have accurate forms and delicate modelling; when finishing the face she pays particular attention to spiritual resonance, charm and temperament, and her works are characterised by dignified and expressive features, flowing and lively garments, rich patterns and refined colours. Representative works include the painted clay sculptures Naughty Boy, Arhat after the Tang Mode, Guanyin and The Fifteen Strings of Cash, as well as portrait sculptures of Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Puchu, Fei Xinwo, Zhang Hanyue, Master Yinguang and Master Jingkong. Within the documented technical tradition of Clay Sculpture in Suzhou, Jiangsu: Suzhou is an important central city in the Yangtze River Delta region, and a nationally famous historic and cultural city and scenic tourist city. Throughout its more than two thousand years of development, Suzhou clay sculpture has enjoyed a high reputation, standing alongside the Chaozhou Fuyang clay sculpture, the Tianjin Clay Figure Zhang and the Wuxi Huishan clay figures as an important representative of Chinese clay sculpture. Traditional Suzhou statues of gods and Buddhas are famous for their refinement, expressiveness and elegance; the ready availability of local materials is one of their great advantages. In modeling a statue, local hill clay is generally used, and the image is formed through such process steps as nailing the wooden armature, preparing the clay (processing it into coarse and fine grades), applying the clay, and painting or gilding. Each major step contains several minor steps in turn, and completing a single work takes at least one to two years. The material for Tiger Hill clay figures is the clay of the Tiger Hill surroundings; this earth is black, fine and sticky, and is well suited to modeling small-scale clay figures. The greatest characteristic of the Tiger Hill clay figures is their strong realism; the works are generally about ten to fifteen centimeters high and mostly take opera stories as their subject matter. The most distinctive of the Tiger Hill clay figures is 'pinch-portrait' (niexiang), also called 'modeling the true' (suzhen): facing a particular person, the artist grasps their spirit in the shortest possible time and pinches the likeness on the spot in clays of various colors. The modeled figures have clearly marked characteristics and are remarkably true to life, often achieving a unity of form and spirit. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Temple images and Huqiu figurines": Two branches: large refined temple images, and the small highly realistic Huqiu figurines some ten to fifteen centimetres high. "Niesiang, or moulding from life": The most distinctive Huqiu skill: catching a sitter's spirit on the spot and modelling the likeness in coloured clay. "Armature, clay preparation, building and gilding": Temple images are modelled on an armature from local hill clay, built up and painted or gilded, a process taking at least a year or two. "Zhu Wenqian reviving the portrait craft": Zhu Wenqian restored and made Buddhist images for Suzhou temples and revived the portrait-modelling skill lost for nearly a century.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Clay Sculpture (Suzhou Clay Sculpture), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

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. Zhu Wenqian · National Representative Bearer Archive