Ningbo Nijincaiqi
01 · Historical Records
Its origins can be traced back to a wooden-bodied red-lacquered bowl more than 7,000 years old, unearthed from the Hemudu site in Yuyao. During the Qing dynasty, Ningbo clay-gold painted lacquerware continued to advance, carrying forward its glorious history. During the Republican era, Ningbo clay-gold painted lacquerware also enjoyed a period of glory; its works frequently appeared at exhibitions in China and abroad and were highly praised by people at home and overseas. At the First National Folk Arts and Crafts Exhibition held in 1953, Ningbo clay-gold painted lacquerware works such as the double-dragon carrying bucket, rice bowl, and powder case received praise from connoisseurs.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Clay-gold painted lacquerware is a lacquer-applying craft characterized by the combination of clay-gold and colored-lacquer techniques, and is one of Ningbo's three traditional “gold” crafts. Clay-gold painted lacquerware has a long history. The craft reached the height of its production in the Ming dynasty; as the Zhejiang Gazetteer records, “during the Xuande reign of the Great Ming, Ningbo clay-gold painted lacquerware and gold-traced lacquerware were renowned at home and abroad.” Clay-gold painted lacquerware takes Chinese raw lacquer and gold leaf as its main materials. According to differences in production method, it is divided into three types: clay piling (relief modeling), powder-paste outlining, and clay-gold colored painting. A single technique can be used on its own to make an object, or all three methods can be combined to produce a richly crafted product. Clay piling is the most distinctive technique of clay-gold painted lacquerware: raw lacquer mixed with tile ash or oyster-shell ash in set proportions is pounded into lacquer clay, which is piled onto a primed wooden body to build up landscapes, flowers and birds, figures, pavilions, and other decorative motifs; the relief is then gilded and painted in color. With an elegant, plain, and richly colorful style, clay-gold painted lacquerware can be widely applied to the surface decoration of household buildings and everyday utensils, and can also serve as artwork for display in halls. As people's lifestyles and concepts have changed, clay-gold painted lacquerware has gradually lost its market for survival. Today, only a few artisans in Ninghai County still produce it; elsewhere it has become rare.
Piled clay relief
Its most distinctive method: raw lacquer, tile ash or oyster-shell ash are pounded into putty and piled on the wood base as landscape, bird-and-flower or figure relief, then gilded.
Powder lines and gold painting
By method it divides into piled relief, powder-line and gold-and-colour painting, used singly or in combination on a single object.
The Hemudu red lacquer bowl
Its roots reach the seven-thousand-year-old red lacquer bowl from Hemudu; by the Ming Xuande reign Ningbo's gold-and-colour lacquer was famous at home and abroad.
Buckets, boxes and beds
From bedroom furniture to carrying buckets, sweet boxes and hat tubs, the lacquer ware reflects local habits and folk custom.
Huang Cailiang's fruit bucket series
The fourth-batch inheritor Huang Cailiang, born in 1957, unites design, painting, carving and lacquering; his Fruit Bucket series won a provincial gold award and he teaches at a vocational school.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It is now mainly distributed in Ninghai County, Ningbo City, and the surrounding areas. Clay-gold painted lacquerware is closely bound up with the lives of ordinary people in the Ningbo region: from large bedroom furniture such as beds and cabinets down to small daily utensils such as carrying buckets, fruit boxes, and hat tubes, all of it reflects local living habits and folk customs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Huang Cailiang (per the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1957, a native of Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province. Senior arts-and-crafts artist; Master of Arts and Crafts of Zhejiang Province. He has worked in the craft of Ningbo clay-gold painted lacquerware since the age of 17. In the early 1990s he founded the “Oriental Art Society,” dedicating himself to the transmission and development of clay-gold painted lacquerware and the craft of clear-knife woodcarved Buddha statues. He combines design, painting, carving, and lacquering in a single person, with consummate and exquisite craftsmanship. Clay-gold painted lacquerware works such as the Fruit Bucket Series have won multiple awards, including the Gold Award at the China (Zhejiang) Arts and Crafts Fine-Products Expo; the clear-knife woodcarving “One-Leaf Guanyin” and eighteen clay-gold painted lacquerware works are held in the collections of the Nara Museum in Japan and the Heilongjiang Provincial Museum of Arts and Crafts, respectively. He established a specialized clay-gold painted lacquerware class at Ninghai County No. 1 Vocational School to pass on the craft. Representative inheritor of Ningbo clay-gold painted lacquerware, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project, fourth batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Huang Cailiang 04-1822
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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