Cloisonné Enamel Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The technique originated in the Ming dynasty and flourished in the Qing dynasty.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Jingtailan production technique is a traditional craft, born of the combination of imported enamel technique and native metal-enamel craftsmanship, for making special craft products: red copper serves as the body, flattened thin copper wire is affixed to the copper body and pinched into various patterns, the patterns are then filled with colored enamel glazes, and the piece is completed through multiple process steps including firing, polishing, and gilding. Dachang Hui Autonomous County, Langfang City, Hebei Province, is one of the main areas where the Jingtailan production technique is distributed. The county faces Beijing across the Chaobai River, and the influence of its technique has reached deep into Beijing and its surrounding areas. By craft category, Jingtailan can be divided into cloisonné enamel ware on copper (gold, silver) bodies, champlevé enamel ware on engraved metal bodies, enamel ware on hammered metal bodies, painted enamel ware on copper bodies, enamel ware on metal bodies with exposed ground, translucent enamel ware on metal bodies, enamel ware combining multiple techniques on metal bodies, and flat cloisonné enamel paintings on metal bodies. Jingtailan products from Dachang Hui Autonomous County use carefully selected materials, mainly gold, silver, and copper; the handmade craft is fine and complex, passing through six major stages and several dozen process steps. First comes artistic design, including the design of form, patterns, and color drawings. Next is body-making: sheets of red copper are cut into various shapes according to the drawings, hammered into copper bodies of various forms, and welded at high temperature into the finished body shape. Third is wire clipping: flattened thin red copper wire is pinched and bent with tweezers into exquisite patterns, which are then affixed to the copper body, and the copper-wire patterns are soldered onto it. Fourth is enamel filling: various enamel glazes are filled into the gaps between the wires, and the powdered glaze is melted into a smooth, glossy enamel surface, with glazing and firing repeated three or four times. Fifth is polishing: the uneven blue enamel is rubbed flat in three passes with coarse sandstone, yellow stone, and charcoal. Finally comes gilding decoration. The Jingtailan production technique is characterized by complex craft and numerous process steps; even an ordinary Jingtailan vase requires several dozen steps to complete, which is why it is called "court art." Because Dachang lies in the heart of the capital's outskirts, historical Jingtailan craftsmen were concentrated in the area centered on Dachang. On the basis of inheriting tradition, the Dachang Jingtailan production technique has been influenced by local Hui culture, and its product types, vessel shapes, and decorative patterns carry high historical, artistic, and socio-cultural value.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The Jingtailan production technique is a traditional craft, born of the combination of imported enamel technique and native metal-enamel craftsmanship, for making special craft products: red copper serves as the body, flattened thin copper wire is affixed to the copper body and pinched into various patterns, the patterns are then filled with colored enamel glazes, and the piece is completed through multiple process steps including firing, polishing, and gilding.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jingtailan products are sold throughout the country and around the world, and are widely acclaimed; they also play an important role in promoting local inclusive economic development and international cultural exchange.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Cloisonné Enamel Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Dachang County recruited educated apprentices to transmit the Jingtailan technique, established enamel factories, and clarified master-apprentice transmission relationships, enabling the Jingtailan industry to develop to this day and become one of the representatives of the "Jingzuo" (Beijing) school. Li Rongkui (from the official archive records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1941, from Beijing. Representative inheritor of the Jingtailan cloisonné technique, a fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. Senior technician. He once studied the Jingtailan production technique under Wang Baocheng, and after mastering it passed his own skills on to nearly one hundred disciples. He mastered signature techniques such as up-and-down wire-bending in cloisonné forming, traditional pattern wire-clipping, single-wire rendering of flowers and birds, single-wire rendering of the "wan" (swastika) motif, and dragons threading clouds with phoenixes threading flowers, and he restored the wire-clipping and enamel-filling techniques of imperial treasures as well as the secret formulas of enamel materials. His works feature novel forms and distinctive patterns that remain faithful to tradition while boldly innovating, such as the Azure Cloud Brocade-Wrapped Vase and the Jingtailan Stupa. With more than fifty years in the craft, he has developed his own distinctive artistic style. He is currently chief craft designer of Jingdong Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd. He participated in compiling the Jingtailan Craft Operating Procedures and the Quality Standards for Each Jingtailan Process Step, and led the compilation of materials such as Jingtailan Form Design.
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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