Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Boshan glaze-firing craft already had a considerable scale in the Yuan dynasty. The Qing court established the Imperial Workshop (Zaobanchu) within the palace, among which was a workshop specialized in producing glaze tribute goods; the raw materials and glass rods it used were supplied by Boshan, and Boshan glaze entered a flourishing period, its products sold far to all parts of the world.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Boshan glaze-firing craft is a craft distributed in Boshan District, Zibo City, Shandong Province, using the locally abundant mayashi (horse-tooth stone), zishi (purple stone), lingzishi, niter, and coal as raw materials, to produce glaze ware by traditional techniques. The main Boshan glaze products include glaze vases, decorative flower balls, Shandong-school inside-painted snuff bottles, jigan shi (chicken-liver stone), jiyou huang (chicken-fat yellow), jinhong (golden red), turquoise, overlaid-color carved ware, glass-bead ornaments, jade and agate imitations, and lampwork glaze. Glaze making involves complex procedures, represented by blowing technique and modeling technique. Blowing makes use of the plasticity of glaze within a certain temperature range: using a hollow iron rod to draw glass material from the furnace, one keeps turning the rod in hand as it cools, blowing the shape of the glaze. Modeling requires the craftsman to hold a long iron rod with a small hook, hook the material and send it into a furnace at a temperature as high as 1200 degrees Celsius; once the material melts, it is quickly drawn out and placed on an iron anvil, one hand pulling the high-temperature material with a tool while the other hand pulls out the form with pincers, making various glaze artworks. In addition, the Boshan glaze-firing craft includes painting inside glaze snuff-bottle blanks to make exquisite inside-painted snuff bottles; making multi-colored, multi-layered overlaid-color carved glaze artworks by overlaying colors on the glaze blank; making lampwork glaze products from glaze rods; and making pusi (silk-laying) artworks from fine glaze filaments. The characteristic of this craft lies in its skillful use of such superb techniques as blowing, pulling, turning, and pressing, together with precious color materials such as jiyou huang (chicken-fat yellow), jigan shi (chicken-liver stone), bright red, and foreign blue, to manifest the value of the work. In the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, the Palace Domestic Service (Neigongjian) set up an 'outer factory' in Boshan to produce glaze tribute goods such as 'qinglian' (blue curtains) for the court. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a hundred glaze households gathered in Boshan, renewing the youthful vigor of glaze art. Boshan glaze making through the ages has mostly been master–apprentice; under the cultivation of old craftsmen, a new generation of glaze artisans has gradually mastered the traditional craft. The Boshan glaze craft upholds the essence of traditional Chinese plastic arts; with supple curves, gorgeous colors, and subtly varying forms, it endows glaze works with an never-fading artistic life. Among these, inside-painting, carving, and silk-laying employ traditional Chinese patterns and the painting techniques of Chinese brush painting, displaying the distinctive charm of Chinese culture.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Glaze making involves complex procedures, represented by blowing technique and modeling technique.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Boshan glaze kiln industry is concentrated in the Boshan District of Zibo City; the mayashi, zishi, and lingzishi used all come from the local hills, and the niter and coal are also locally sourced. In the Hongwu reign of the Ming the Palace Domestic Service set up an outer factory in Boshan to fire tribute goods such as qinglian for the court, and in the Qing the raw materials and glass rods used by the Imperial Workshop were also supplied by Boshan. The closeness of kiln sites and material sources remains unchanged to this day, and production is now carried on by enterprises such as Zibo Aimei Glaze Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship · Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship · Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Boshan glaze integrates everyday vessels, ornamental display, and painting into one. The inside-painted snuff bottle borrows the Shandong school's painting method to paint within the small mouth; overlaid-color carving reveals layers through multi-layered material colors; lampwork and silk-laying show mastery of glaze rods and glaze filaments. Precious color materials such as jiyou huang (chicken-fat yellow), jigan shi (chicken-liver stone), bright red, and foreign blue differ in tone, and a work's value is often jointly determined by its material color and the fineness of the handwork. Making through the ages has mostly been master–apprentice; now old craftsmen are dwindling, and artisans who can simultaneously handle blowing, modeling, carving, and inside-painting are even rarer.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Jiang Jianguo 03-1347
- Ge Yuansheng 03-1348
- Wang Shubao
- Su Yongjun
- Liu Kaibao
- Zhao Changan
- Sun Yunhao
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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