Furniture Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Jinzuo furniture making technique originated in the Qin and Han dynasties, gradually matured during the Song and Yuan dynasties, reached its peak in the mid-Ming dynasty, and continued until the end of the Qing dynasty. In the mid-to-late Ming dynasty, as hardwood materials became increasingly scarce, Jinzuo furniture rose in their place by using local softwood, becoming a remarkable anomaly in the world of furniture making.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jinzuo furniture is a typical representative of Chinese classical furniture. Jinzuo furniture uses high-quality local softwoods such as walnut, elm, and catalpa, and applies the techniques of hardwood furniture making; the resulting pieces have flowing lines and a solid, unadorned quality, and are known in the trade as "the softwood huanghuali" (yellow rosewood). Its natural-finish furniture must pass through process steps such as boiling, soaking, baking, sanding, lacquering, and burnishing. Its lacquer (daqi) furniture must go through complex process stages such as applying hemp cloth, applying putty, lacquering, gold outlining, and painted decoration. Signature techniques include "tortoise-crackle broken-pattern lacquer," "bamboo-wood-rattan three-timber structure," and "five-color with gold outlining." The Jinzuo furniture making technique is transmitted mainly within families, and has gradually developed into a distinctive local traditional craft.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Its natural-finish furniture must pass through process steps such as boiling, soaking, baking, sanding, lacquering, and burnishing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jinzuo furniture uses high-quality local softwoods such as walnut, elm, and catalpa, and applies the techniques of hardwood furniture making; the resulting pieces have flowing lines and a solid, unadorned quality, and are known in the trade as "the softwood huanghuali"—a key characteristic of Jinzuo furniture. Together with the Jingzuo (Beijing), Guangzuo (Guangdong), Suzuo (Suzhou), and Ningzuo (Ningbo) schools, Jinzuo is one of the five great schools of Ming and Qing furniture, and to this day furniture workshops in the Shanxi area still operate according to the old rules. Shanxi Tangrenju Classical Home Culture Co., Ltd. is the project's protecting institution.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Ming-style Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship · Furniture Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Its materials are pure and refined, and its workmanship is exquisite; the perfect unity of form and content reflects the artistic beauty of traditional Chinese culture as expressed in everyday furniture, giving it high artistic and cultural value. With the passage of time and social development, surviving examples of Jinzuo furniture made during the Ming and Qing dynasties are now very limited, and the transmission of the technique faces many difficulties; protection is urgently needed. Cao Yunjian (from the official archive records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1972, from Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the furniture making technique (Jinzuo furniture making technique), a fourth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. Jinzuo furniture making technician. From the age of 15 he studied classical furniture making under his father, and extensively collected rare Ming and Qing pieces circulating among the people. At 27 he became a disciple of Jinzuo master carpenter Zheng Xiaolong, and later of Jinzuo lacquer and painting artisan Wang Zhiquan, studying and systematically organizing the Jinzuo furniture making technique. Through years of research and practice, he distilled the key points of mortise-and-tenon structure in Jinzuo furniture craft, along with traditional signature techniques such as the tortoise-crackle pattern, gold outlining, and five-color decoration, and applied these techniques to the development of furniture products. To transmit the technique more effectively, he established the Jinzuo Furniture Craft Research Institute, trained a number of core personnel as carpenters, lacquerers, and painters, and adopted a model of veterans mentoring newcomers to excavate and study the Jinzuo technique.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xu Jianping 03-1318
- Zhongguiyou 03-1319
- Yang Xia 03-1320
- Cao Yunjian 04-1846
- Yang Jinrong 04-1847
- Huang Fuhua 05-2757
- Wang Zhaoqi
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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