Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-7Traditional CraftsmanshipJingdezhen, JiangxiBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

The important forming process steps of the Jingdezhen handmade porcelain-making technique were initially established in the Song dynasty. By the Yuan dynasty, the 'binary formula method' of adding kaolin to porcelain stone had been invented, along with the technique of underglaze blue-and-white painting. In the Song dynasty, Jingdezhen presented the spectacle of 'kiln fires in every village, potters at work in every household,' and the customs of the porcelain industry had already begun to take shape. During the Republican period, the outstanding manifestations of Jingdezhen's porcelain industry customs were the continuous growth of the body of non-local porcelain merchants and the large-scale emergence of porcelain firms, porcelain shops and porcelain brands.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Among the first 24 nationally designated famous historical and cultural cities, Jingdezhen is the only one listed on the strength of its own special product. Archaeological excavations show that Jingdezhen began producing porcelain in the Five Dynasties period, developed rapidly in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties had an imperial factory established at Zhushan, becoming the nation's porcelain-making center. Division of labor within the porcelain industry grew increasingly fine. Potters generally employed skills such as throwing, mould-pressing, trimming, foot-finishing, dip-glazing and swirl-glazing to form the porcelain bodies, and then used loading-and-firing methods such as upright firing in saggars, inverted firing on pad-saggers and inverted firing with ring supports. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen's porcelain industry developed further. As the saying goes, 'For the making of a single blank, it must pass through seventy-two hands before the vessel is completed; even then, the finer details cannot all be accounted for.' The handmade porcelain skill system was essentially perfected, with process steps such as mining, washing, saggar making, clay pugging, aging, throwing, trimming, body painting, glazing, kiln firing, red-enamel painting, furnace firing, porcelain selection and packing closely interlocked. The degree of specialization rose daily; in every respect there were master craftsmen with consummate skills. Jingdezhen's handmade porcelain industry thereby reached its historical peak. The customs of Jingdezhen's porcelain industry are an important component of Jingdezhen's porcelain-making history. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the establishment of the imperial factory at Zhushan and the further expansion of overseas markets stimulated the vigorous growth of Jingdezhen's porcelain industry, causing nearly all the small kiln workshops scattered across the countryside to concentrate in the city, forming numerous handicraft workshops that absorbed large numbers of workers: 'Kiln households and shop households made up seven or eight in every ten, natives two or three in every ten.' Jingdezhen thereby became a porcelain metropolis 'where people from all directions mingled,' known as a 'wharf of eighteen provinces,' laying a solid foundation for the final formation of the porcelain industry customs. Each merchants' guild had its own porcelain firm, porcelain shop or porcelain brand; they strengthened Jingdezhen's ties with other regions and also controlled the transport and sale of Jingdezhen porcelain. The customs and habits that came in from various places in their wake added new content to Jingdezhen's porcelain industry customs. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, with political and economic transformation and the continuous development of mechanized production in the porcelain industry, Jingdezhen's porcelain industry customs began to fade and are now on the verge of extinction.

Archival Records of Process Steps

The important forming process steps of the Jingdezhen handmade porcelain-making technique were initially established in the Song dynasty.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Jingdezhen handmade porcelain-making is concentrated in the urban area of Jingdezhen City and the surrounding town and village kilns. After the imperial factory was established at Zhushan in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the city became the national porcelain-making center; division of labor within the industry grew increasingly fine, and trades such as throwing, mould-pressing, trimming, foot-finishing, dip-glazing and swirl-glazing each had their own lines of transmission. The Jingdezhen Municipal Research and Protection Center for Handmade Porcelain-Making Skills is the project's protecting institution. Craftsmen mostly transmit the craft through family and master-apprentice lines; today veteran artists' studios operate alongside porcelain factories, and overseas orders are largely distributed through here as well.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Although Jingdezhen's traditional handmade porcelain craft has been partially preserved and developed, a large part of it continues to be lost and to die out, and it urgently needs rescue and protection. Chen Shengfa (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the Jingdezhen handmade porcelain-making technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third national-level batch. Porcelain-making technician; expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. In 1984 he was hired by the Jingdezhen Ancient Kiln Porcelain Factory, and later entered the Jingdezhen Ceramic History Exposition Area (Ancient Kiln) to demonstrate round-ware trimming skills. The bodies he trims are even in thickness and consistent inside and out, and his trimming speed is such that he could reach an output of six hundred large round-ware bowls trimmed per day. He has actively carried out protection and transmission activities for round-ware trimming, performed handmade porcelain-making demonstrations at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and has taken on a number of apprentices in succession. Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1930, died in September 2016, from Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. He entered the Red Flag Porcelain Factory in 1957 and worked there until his retirement in 1979; during that period he received the unit's honorary titles of advanced individual and production expert every year. Wang Yansheng (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1934, from Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the Jingdezhen handmade porcelain-making technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third national-level batch. In 1949 he went to the tableware section of the Jianguo Porcelain Factory to work in throwing, and later served as a workshop group leader. In 1995 he was transferred to the Jingdezhen Ceramic History Exposition Area (Ancient Kiln) for production-based demonstrations, and after 1999 specialized in demonstrating throwing at the Ancient Kiln. He excels at making round-ware bodies, such as bowls, plates and pots. Through continual research and innovation in practice, he created the technique of throwing multi-sectioned gourd bottles, enriching the range of round-ware body-making; his record for gourd bottles stands at fifteen sections. He has actively carried out the transmission and dissemination of the craft, having taught many people.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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