Ketong
01 · Historical Records
Du family copper engraving was founded by Mr. Du Xingjing (formerly known as Du Xingxian; his ancestral home is Chahua Town, Yingdong District, Fuyang). In the late Qing period, Du Xingjing studied copper engraving in Beijing under the master engraver Mr. Chen Yinsheng; thereafter, successive generations of Du family copper-engraving inheritors carried on the craft in the Fuyang area, gradually forming a 'copper painting' craft that uses white copper (cupronickel) and brass as its main materials and self-made gravers to inscribe paintings and calligraphy on the surface of copper.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Du family copper engraving is a handicraft that uses white copper (cupronickel) and brass as its main materials, employs gravers made by the Du family, and passes through multiple process steps—material selection, design finalization, engraving, polishing, and color baking—to inscribe images on flat copper. It is centered on Yingdong District, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, and extends outward to northern Anhui, eastern Henan, and Jiangsu. The craft borrows from and absorbs the techniques of traditional bamboo carving, inlay engraving, and seal carving. The main objects produced include ink boxes, paperweights, incense burners, tea caddies, teapots, water pipes, wine vessels, and plates; the pictorial themes are mainly landscapes, figures, and flowers and birds. It is a folk 'copper painting' craft of considerable carving difficulty and superb technique; its works have the rich, plain, weighty flavor of metal and stone. Most engraved copper objects are scholarly studio curios, and the subjects inscribed are mostly calligraphy, painting, seals, and inscriptions, full of literati refinement. Du family copper engraving was founded by Mr. Du Xingjing (formerly known as Du Xingxian; his ancestral home is Chahua Town, Yingdong District, Fuyang). In the late Qing period, Du Xingjing studied copper engraving in Beijing under the master engraver Mr. Chen Yinsheng. Thereafter, Du Hongnian (formerly known as Du Shuxiu), the second-generation inheritor of Du family copper engraving, reformed and innovated on the basis of Chen Yinsheng's engraving tradition, integrating printmaking techniques into copper engraving and forming a technique with its own distinctive character. Using simple tools such as self-made gravers and hammers, Du family copper engraving has improved or innovated techniques including intaglio (incised) engraving, relief engraving, deep carving, double-hook lines, hemp-rope lines, and 'floating-hair' fine carving. A finished work usually requires the combined use of many techniques—magnificent yet refined, minute in detail, and fresh beyond the commonplace. Du family copper engraving makes high demands on the maker's calligraphy and painting ability, comprehension, and cultural accomplishment. Its compositions and subject matter include traditional content as well as themes reflecting the realities of social life, folk customs, and cultural and artistic achievements. Du family copper engraving has a history of more than a century to date and has had significant influence in the northern Anhui region around Fuyang, making it one of the exquisite and representative folk handicrafts of Anhui.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Du family copper engraving is a handicraft that uses white copper (cupronickel) and brass as its main materials, employs gravers made by the Du family, and passes through multiple process steps—material selection, design finalization, engraving, polishing, and color baking—to inscribe images on flat copper. It is centered on Yingdong District, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, and extends outward to northern Anhui, eastern Henan, and Jiangsu.
The five stages
Stock, design, cutting, polishing and colouring — the last stage darkening the plate so the strokes appear only in raking light.
Du Xingjing and Chen Yansheng
The founder learned in Beijing from the master Chen Yansheng, whose ink boxes were celebrated in the capital, and carried the art home to Fuyang.
Representative works
Du Ping's works — Nüwa Mending the Sky, Lü Bu and Diao Chan, Spirit of the Nation, Ancient Charm of Yingzhou — have toured Hong Kong, Macao and the United States.
The scholar's desk object
Made for the scholar's studio and engraved with calligraphy and seals, the work reads as painting in metal with a heavy antique gravity.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Du family copper engraving is centered on Yingdong District, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, and extends outward to northern Anhui, eastern Henan, and Jiangsu. The craft borrows from and absorbs the techniques of traditional bamboo carving, inlay engraving, and seal carving. The main objects produced include ink boxes, paperweights, incense burners, tea caddies, teapots, water pipes, wine vessels, and plates; the pictorial themes are mainly landscapes, figures, and flowers and birds. Most engraved copper objects are scholarly studio curios, and the subjects inscribed are mostly calligraphy, painting, seals, and inscriptions, full of literati refinement.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Ketong · Ketong.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Moreover, these engraved copper objects are often connected with historical events and figures, carrying considerable historical and cultural substance as well as collectible value, and have become collectible artworks that people prize. The project reflects the character and achievements of local culture from one perspective and records documents and content from social life, giving it considerable socio-cultural value. Du Ping (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1960, from Fuyang City, Anhui Province. His works display fresh, deft cutting and flowing lines, integrating engraving, poetry, painting, and ornament into a single art of precious artistic value. His works have been exhibited and have won awards at events including the First China (Huangshan) Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Crafts Exhibition, hosted by the Ministry of Culture and the People's Government of Anhui Province, and the China Folk Crafts Art Exposition, jointly held by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Folk Literature and Art Association; they have been exhibited and exchanged in Hong Kong, Macao, the United States, and other countries and regions on many occasions. His representative works include 'Nüwa Mends the Heavens,' 'Lübu and Diaochan,' 'Spirit of the Nation,' and 'Ancient Charm of Yingzhou.' He is a representative inheritor of Copper Engraving (Du Family Copper Engraving), an item of the fifth national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Du Ping 05-2719
- Huang Junjun
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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