Hengshui Inside-painted Art
01 · Historical Records
The inner-painting technique for snuff bottles emerged in the Qing dynasty. In 1696, the Kangxi Emperor established the first glassworks, dedicated to making snuff bottles to be bestowed on princes, high officials, and foreign envoys; under the Qianlong Emperor, the range of materials used for snuff bottles was expanded from paste ware (glass) and porcelain to ivory, amber, coral, agate, crystal, and bamboo root, among others. Hengshui inner painting is known as the Ji school and has close ties with the Jing school; its founder, Wang Xisan, was the first student of a different surname taken on by Ye Xiaofeng and Ye Fengqi, sons of the veteran Jing-school artist Ye Zhongsan. In the late 1950s, after Wang Xisan had fully mastered the inner-painting techniques of the capital's 'Ye school', he introduced the gongbi 'simao' (fur-and-feather splitting) technique of Chinese painting into inner painting on snuff bottles. In 1981, the school experimented with oil colors for portrait inner painting and, through repeated exploration, mastered oil-color inner-painting techniques, breaking through the limitations of traditional watercolor painting and accomplishing the feat of 'combining Chinese and Western elements'.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Its craftsmanship is extraordinarily exquisite: 'within an inch of space lies the momentum of a thousand li' — as if wrought by spirits — and is considered inconceivable by outsiders. During the Jiaqing reign, Jing-school inner painting with a distinctive style began to appear, and it developed further during the Xianfeng reign. Its production techniques include writing, painting, carving, engraving, openwork, chasing, firing, soldering, cutting, grinding, inlaying, setting, casting, damascening, gluing, lacquering, and mold pressing. In the late Qing period, a group of inner-painting masters emerged in the capital. Among them, Ma Shaoxuan, Sun Xingwu, and Ye Zhongsan and his sons excelled at painting figures, while Zhou Leyuan, Ding Erzhong, and Ziyizi excelled at painting landscapes, flowers, and birds. He created the special tool of Ji-school inner painting, the metal-shaft hooked brush, known as the 'Xisan hooked brush', whose shaft can be bent or straightened and its direction changed at will. Hengshui inner painting introduces techniques of Chinese painting such as cun (texture strokes), ca (rubbing), ran (washing), dian (dotting), gou (outlining), and si (splitting) into inner painting. Hengshui inner painting has a profound conception, rigorous composition, rich line-drawing techniques, harmonious and refined coloring, and equal excellence in painting and calligraphy, appealing to both refined and popular tastes; it is highly regarded. Hengshui inner painting is the representative of modern Chinese inner painting; the field is full of talented people, with more than a dozen first-rate painters each having their own specialty. Its works are bold and free, full of poetic charm; portraits are colored lightly and delicately, with clear gradations and a rich sense of texture.
The Xisan bent-hook brush
Wang Xisan's own tool for Hebei-school inside painting: a metal-shafted hooked brush whose straight or bent shaft can be turned at will, bringing the Chinese ink techniques of texture, rub, wash, dot, outline and hair-stroking into the bottle.
The oil-colour inside-painting technique
In 1981 the school began painting portraits in oils inside the bottle, mastering the technique and breaking the limits of the traditional water-colour method in a fusion of Chinese and western means; Wang's portraits are pale in tone, clearly modelled and full-bodied.
The series of American presidential portrait snuff bottles
The signature work of Wang Xisan, along with Chinese Rulers of Successive Dynasties and Rare Treasures; in 1983 the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society made him its first Chinese honorary member.
The late-Qing Beijing masters
The Beijing school took shape in the Jiaqing reign and grew under Xianfeng; by the late Qing the capital had masters such as Ma Shaoxuan, Sun Xingwu and the Ye family for figures, and Zhou Leyuan, Ding Erzhong and Ziyizi for landscape and bird-and-flower.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hengshui inner painting is a technique of painting on the inner wall of snuff bottles in Hengshui City, Hebei Province, mainly distributed in Hengshui City and its surrounding areas.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Inside-painted Art · Inside-painted Art · Inside-painted Art.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
However, at present Hengshui inner painting has only Wang Xisan's master-apprentice transmission genealogy; apart from this, there are no systematic written records or treatises. If specific protection measures are not formulated to strengthen management, this distinctive skill will be difficult to sustain. Wang Xisan (official archive record of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born in 1938, from Fucheng, Hebei. Representative inheritor of Hengshui inner painting, a project of the first national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage, and a Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. During the 'Cultural Revolution' he was sent back to his native place; in 1977 he was transferred back to Hengshui, where he established the Special Crafts Factory. His works cover a wide range of subjects, capturing both form and spirit, with equal excellence in painting and calligraphy. He introduced techniques of Chinese painting such as cun, ca, ran, dian, gou, and si into inner painting, with flexible brushwork. He also drew extensively on the strengths of other sister arts, pioneered the 'metal-shaft hooked brush' now widely used in the inner-painting field, and founded the 'oil-color inner-painting technique'. Since 1968, he has successively trained numerous rising stars of inner painting; he is the founder of the 'Ji school' art of inner-painted snuff bottles. In 1983, he was made the first Chinese 'honorary member' of the International Snuff Bottle Society. His representative works include the series of snuff bottles with portraits of successive presidents of the United States, Famous Rulers of China Through the Ages, and Pictures of Rare Treasures, among others.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Xisan 01-0065
- Liu Shouben 03-1222
- Yang Zhigang
- Zhang Guangqing
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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