Cloisonné Enamel Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Imperial Superintendency (yuyongjian) and the Imperial Workshops (zaobanchu) both maintained enamel workshops in Beijing dedicated to serving the imperial court, and the craft advanced from maturity to splendor. After 1949, thanks to the state's active protection and support policies, this ancient craft was rapidly restored and developed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Beijing Jingtailan technique is also known as "copper-body cloisonné enamel" (tongtai qiasi falang); because it reached maturity during the Jintai reign era of the Ming dynasty, it came to be called "Jingtailan" (Jingtai blue). The technique uses copper as the body: thin copper wire is flattened by rolling and then shaped by hand into various patterns, which are pinched, soldered, and affixed to the body; enamel glazes are then applied, and the finished piece is produced through multiple process steps including firing, polishing, and gilding. The Jingtailan technique is the product of combining imported enamel technique with native metal-enamel craftsmanship. In modern times, amid social turmoil, the Beijing Jingtailan technique once fell into decline. The Beijing Jingtailan technique is complex and involves numerous process steps; it integrates bronze craftsmanship and enamel technique, inherits traditional painting and metal chasing (engraving) craftsmanship, and exemplifies the tradition of mutual learning and borrowing among Chinese craft categories. Under the impact of the market economy, owing to the unscrupulous practices of some practitioners, the artistic quality and technical level of Beijing Jingtailan have declined, large quantities of inferior products have flooded the market, and the effects have been damaging.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The technique uses copper as the body: thin copper wire is flattened by rolling and then shaped by hand into various patterns, which are pinched, soldered, and affixed to the body; enamel glazes are then applied, and the finished piece is produced through multiple process steps including firing, polishing, and gilding.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of the Beijing Jingtailan technique is concentrated in the enamel factories and private workshops of the Chongwen District area of Beijing; by Ming and Qing times it had already spread from the court into the wider society. In modern times, amid social turmoil, the production of Beijing Jingtailan suffered setbacks, but recovered again after the reform and opening-up period; today the "shop in front, workshop behind" model still survives, with veteran artists' studios operating alongside factory orders. Beijing Enamel Factory Co., Ltd. is the project's protecting institution.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Cloisonné Enamel Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Jingtailan wares have elegant forms, intricate patterns, and rich colors, bearing the characteristics of court art; they give an artistic impression of being "rounded, solid, and brilliantly golden," and possess very high artistic value. They have been shown in major domestic and international exhibitions many times, winning honors for the country, and are frequently presented as state gifts to foreign guests. Meanwhile, authentic Jingtailan production factories are either bankrupt or endangered, and highly skilled Jingtailan masters and their successors are few; if rescue and protection are not undertaken, this excellent technique will decline or even be lost. Qian Meihua (from the official archive records of the associated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in 1927, from Beijing. Representative inheritor of the Jingtailan cloisonné technique, a first-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project; holder of a master's degree; master of Chinese industrial arts. She was the first intellectual in New China to work specifically on Jingtailan design, and an exemplar of applying fine-arts theory to traditional Jingtailan craftsmanship. She applied the techniques of Chinese freehand ink painting to the cloisonné wire-clipping and enamel-filling craft of Jingtailan, created a "tiran" (selective-dye) enamel-filling method for depicting flying snow, researched and innovated four new methods of glaze application, proposed and popularized understated, elegant tones—namely harmonious colors—and enhanced the artistry of products through color-theory principles and the selective optimization of glaze colors. Her representative works include Zhou Qilei, the Precious Mirror of the Ode to Peace, and the covered-bowl vase; she also compiled China's first textbook on Jingtailan creative design, as well as reference books on Jingtailan pattern design. Today, although advanced in years, she continues to create and to teach apprentices. Several dozen of the forms and patterns she designed are still produced today as the company's retained products, and have repeatedly won gold awards at the national, ministerial, and municipal levels. Zhang Tonglu (from the official archive records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1942, from Beijing. Representative inheritor of the Jingtailan cloisonné technique, a first-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project; master of Chinese industrial arts. In 1958 he entered the Beijing Jingtailan Factory to study body-making technique, and the following year studied metalwork at the Beijing Arts and Crafts School. After graduation he returned to the Jingtailan workshop of the Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory, studying under Jin Shiquan and Qiao Defu, and served apprenticeships in the various process steps of wire clipping, enamel filling, and polishing, becoming familiar with and mastering the Jingtailan production craft. In 1963 he was transferred to the design office to work full-time on Jingtailan design, and later served as deputy factory director and chief craft designer, making outstanding contributions to innovative product design, the restoration of cast-body technique, the invention of enamel platinum crystal, the combination of Jingtailan with other crafts, and the extension of Jingtailan into outdoor environmental art. After retiring, he founded an arts-and-crafts company and continued working to revitalize the Jingtailan craft. His representative works include the saucer vase, the steel-bodied vase, the Huaguan Wannian Lamp, and the Auspicious Ram Treasure Lamp. Throughout his life Zhang Tonglu devoted himself to training apprentices, and he wields broad social influence in the industry.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Qian Meihua 01-0164
- Zhang Tonglu 01-0165
- Zhong Liansheng 04-1845
- Li Rongkui 05-2755
- Yifucheng
- Mi Zhenxiong
- Huang Jingren
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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