Ousu
01 · Historical Records
Ousu is a traditional plastic art handed down in the Wenzhou area of Zhejiang Province. It developed out of the pile-lacquer technique of China's traditional lacquer art, and takes its name from its origin in the Oujiang River valley in southern Zhejiang. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, pile lacquer developed considerably in Wenzhou, giving rise to three Ousu craft varieties: "yinqi cuojin" (raised relief with gold applied), "yinqi cuoqi" (raised relief with coloured lacquer) and "yinqi cuoyou" (raised relief with coloured oil) — specifically, applying gold, coloured lacquer or coloured oil on the basis of the piled lacquer.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
During the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, Wenzhou was a major centre of traditional lacquer art. The pile-lacquer technique, in which patterns are built up with lacquer ash, was quite popular in the region and was commonly known among the people as "duiqimen" (the piled-up school); it was widely used in the decoration of temples, dwellings, furniture and dowries. In modern times the folk artisans of Wenzhou have made many improvements in technique and materials, and the expressive power of Ousu has thereby been further strengthened. Ousu works in an oil clay made by pounding together tung oil, white powder, pigments and other ingredients; its hardness can be adjusted and it does not easily dry and crack, so it can be piled up, carved and reworked repeatedly and preserved for a long time. On a prepared ground board the artisan first piles up the general form in oil clay, then adds layer upon layer and carves the details, and finally applies colour or gilding. The finished piece lies between low relief and high relief, and both to the touch and to the eye it closely resembles lacquer work.
Gold, lacquer and oil raised work
By Ming-Qing times Wenzhou raised work had split into three types — gilded, lacquered and oiled — all built on piled lacquer.
The oil-clay material
Its special medium is pounded from tung oil, whiting and pigment, adjustable in hardness and neither drying nor cracking.
Duiqi men
In the Song period Wenzhou was a lacquer centre where raised paste ornament, known locally as duiqi men, covered temples, houses and dowry chests.
Large landscape panels
Richly coloured and firmly adhering, the medium has been extended to large wall panels of landscape, architecture and figures.
West Lake Scenery Under Heaven
A signature work by the inheritor Zhou Jinyun, who made over two hundred pieces for state halls and murals for the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Ousu has been handed down in the Wenzhou area over many years and has developed distinct regional characteristics. Its rich colouring and strong expressive and adhesive qualities have made it a widely applied means of decoration, much favoured by the local people. Ousu is centred on the urban area of Wenzhou, with artisans also distributed in Rui'an, Pingyang and Cangnan. Its works are used mostly for the lintels, hanging screens and wall decorations of temples, ancestral halls and dwellings, and can also be seen on dowry trunks and cabinets. In modern times Wenzhou artisans have replaced the traditional pile-lacquer motifs with pictorial subjects such as mountains-and-water, figures, flowers and birds, adding layers of distant mountains and near-by trees, so that Ousu has expanded from architectural decoration into the field of large-scale murals.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhou Jinyun (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1948, a native of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. Senior arts-and-crafts artist; Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts; expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. He excels at large-scale creations on the themes of mountains-and-water, scenery, architecture and figures; his works emphasise the expression of artistic conception and the effect of colour. His representative works include "West Lake Under Heaven", "Escorting the Bride", "The Scenery of Yandang Ranks First Under Heaven" and "Sole Revered Among the Five Sacred Mountains". He has created more than two hundred Ousu works for the Zhejiang Hall, the Ningxia Hall and other halls of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In 2016 he created the murals "West Lake Under Heaven" and "Grand Scenery of Banshan" for the G20 Hangzhou Summit. His works have circulated in more than thirty countries, including the United States, Russia, Germany and Japan. He has trained more than fifty apprentices, served as chief editor of "Wenzhou Arts and Crafts" and "The Art of Ousu in Wenzhou", and published more than sixty papers on Ousu art. He serves as director of the Wenzhou Yunyi Ousu Research Institute. In 2016 he was awarded the title of Asia-Pacific Master of Handicrafts by the Asia-Pacific Branch of the World Crafts Council. He is a representative inheritor of Ousu, an item of national-level intangible cultural heritage included in the third batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhou Jinyun 03-1295
- Zheng Jianqin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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