Xiangqian
01 · Historical Records
Colored-stone inlay is a traditional decorative art popular in southern Zhejiang Province; it evolved from the 'dian' (mother-of-pearl) inlay technique of traditional lacquer craft, and is carried out mainly with the richly colored Qingtian stone.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Chinese inlay art has a long history and a distinctive style. As early as the Yin-Shang period, decorative patterns of gold inlay and jade setting already appeared in bronze casting. As craftsmanship continually improved, natural colored stones, pebbles, shells, mother-of-pearl, gems, jade, and man-made glass, ceramics, and wood all became materials for inlay. Over the course of its long development, inlay art has accumulated many important technical methods, mainly including direct inlay, the prefabrication method, the reverse-paste reverse-set method, and the obverse-paste obverse-set method. Besides flat inlay, inlay can also be carried out on relief surfaces, a method that can further enhance the three-dimensional effect of the inlaid object. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the relief inlay method came to be widely used in decorating various crafts; in the mid-to-late Qing dynasty there further appeared a relief inlay method that inlays opera figures and stories on different grounds, to which porcelain inlay and bone-and-wood inlay belong. Inlay crafts have the advantages of sturdiness, resistance to sunlight and damp, and freedom from discoloration; the texture of the materials and the resulting effects of form, color, and luster lend inlay crafts added artistic charm, fully displaying a bold, vigorous, and richly splendid beauty. Colored-stone inlay employs technical methods such as mortise inlay, pieced inlay, and adhesive inlay, and takes expressive forms including relief, round carving, and openwork carving. Its working process comprises fifteen steps: designing the sketch, shaping, arranging, carving, burnishing, matching, joinery, lacquering, inlaying, sculpting, gluing, waxing, finishing, outlining, and mounting. Colored-stone inlay products of southern Zhejiang are mostly ornamental crafts such as hanging screens, standing screens, large multi-panel screens, and tabletop display pieces; large works are magnificent in scale and small ones exquisitely wrought, with ingenious conception, layout, and execution. Works inlaid with the natural colors and grains of stone cover a wide range of subjects, their images rich in layering and their color effects pronounced. These inlay pieces depict small scenes of landscape, flowers, and birds, represent major historical events, reproduce classic calligraphy and painting, or recreate the figures and scenes of literary masterpieces, displaying strong decorative appeal and craft beauty.
Archival Process Records
Colored-stone inlay employs technical methods such as mortise inlay, pieced inlay, and adhesive inlay, and takes expressive forms including relief, round carving, and openwork carving. Its working process comprises fifteen steps: designing the sketch, shaping, arranging, carving, burnishing, matching, joinery, lacquering, inlaying, sculpting, gluing, waxing, finishing, outlining, and mounting.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Xianju colored-stone inlay took root in the county after being introduced from southern Zhejiang; the Xianju County Cultural Heritage Protection Center is the protecting unit. Local craftsmen apply colored-stone inlay to screens, cabinets, and hall wall decorations, often matching stones of different dark and light shades by color so that the layering of the image is more clearly differentiated.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Xiangqian · Xiangqian · Xiangqian · Xiangqian · Xiangqian · Xiangqian.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The working process of colored-stone inlay is intricate, comprising fifteen steps from initial sketch to final mounting, of which 'arranging' and 'matching' make the greatest demands on the eye: 'arranging' means breaking the image into sections according to the natural grain and color of the stone, while 'matching' means selecting suitable stone for each section. Artisans in the Xianju area preserve the practice of rendering figures' faces with single whole pieces of colored stone; viewed up close the stone grain is visible, while from a distance the work reads as a unified whole.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Mouchengjin 03-1298
- Chen Mingwei 03-1299
- Lu Zhigao 04-1815
- Xie Binghua 05-2700
- Xu Shaoxiong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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