Liling Youxiawucaici Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
In the Tang dynasty, the Tongguan kilns near Changsha already had underglaze green and brown floral-and-bird patterns. In 1909 it won a first-class gold medal at the 'Wuhan Industrial Encouragement and Award Exhibition'; in 1910 it participated in the 'Nanyang Industrial Exhibition' and won a first-class gold award; in 1912 it won the top award at the 'Turin Exposition' in Italy; and in 1915 it won a gold medal at the 'Panama–Pacific International Exposition' held in San Francisco, USA.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Underglaze five-color porcelain is a skill unique to Liling, Hunan, with a long history. Liling underglaze five-color porcelain passes through nearly one hundred process steps from raw material to finished product, all completed entirely by hand. The porcelain fillers, glazes, and pigments are all made from high-quality local raw materials. Its painted designs use self-made underglaze colorants, applying techniques such as double-outline and water-division filling to dissolve the picture beneath the glaze, making it smooth and lustrous with a full sense of moisture. The glaze covering the decoration, after being fired at a high temperature, forms a glassy layer, appearing even more lustrous, sleek, and clean. The pigments used in underglaze five-color porcelain use metal oxides as coloring agents; their fluxes contain no toxic substances such as lead or cadmium, and they resist acid and alkali. After the body is formed, it must undergo bisque-firing at 800°C to increase its strength. After the body is painted, it is covered with sprayed glaze, then fired at a high temperature of 1350°C–1410°C into a finished product, bringing the colorful picture out from within the glaze layer. Its process of using underglaze cobalt oxide for coloring was widely adopted by later blue-and-white porcelain. Since modern times, Liling underglaze five-color porcelain has repeatedly won awards domestically and internationally for its unique craft and excellent quality. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liling underglaze five-color porcelain won gold and silver awards many times, was selected as the special-use porcelain for important sites such as Zhongnanhai and the Great Hall of the People, and was multiple times presented as a national gift to foreign heads of state. The Liling underglaze five-color porcelain firing craft is a major invention in China's porcelain, has greatly influenced the world's ceramic decoration methods, and holds high scientific and historical-cultural value.
Archival Account of Craft Procedures
Liling underglaze five-color porcelain passes through nearly one hundred process steps from raw material to finished product, all completed entirely by hand.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Liling underglaze five-color porcelain firing craft is centered on Liling City, Hunan Province, extending to the eastern Hunan region. Liling has been a center of porcelain production since the Tang and Song dynasties; in the late Qing and early Republic the Hunan Porcelain Industry School was established in Liling, and local porcelain clay and glazes could be obtained on the spot, so the underglaze five-color technique took shape here in modern times. The Liling City Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center is the protecting unit of the item.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Deng Wenke (per official inheritor archives): Representative inheritor of the Liling underglaze five-color porcelain firing craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the third batch. Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts, an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. He excels at creation through painting and realistic techniques, embodying deep mastery and an eclectic artistic character in his works. Over more than forty years of creative work, he produced a large number of fine works and trained many talents. His works have been displayed or collected by places such as the Ziguangge of Zhongnanhai, the Great Hall of the People, and the China National Arts and Crafts Museum. His authored works include 'Properties and Use of Overglaze New-Color Pigments,' 'Liling Underglaze Color,' and 'Liling Kiln,' among others. The large number of underglaze ceramic fine works he created were exhibited in more than thirty countries and regions including Britain, the United States, and Japan. In his creation he values tradition yet is not bound by it, and his works radiate the splendor of the times. Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1931, died in January 2018, a native of Liling City, Hunan Province. Chen Yanglong (per official inheritor archives): Representative inheritor of the Liling underglaze five-color porcelain firing craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. He began learning the underglaze five-color craft at age fifteen, excelling at fine-brush floral painting, and has long been engaged in the craft research, artistic design, and teaching of underglaze colored porcelain; on the basis of his predecessors he carried out technical innovations of 'printing in place of painting' and 'spraying in place of painting.' Building on the traditional single-line flat-fill water-division technique, he explored and summed up the 'thin application, light dyeing' (boshi danran) process, which both preserves the characteristics of traditional outline-filling and forms a personal style of watery, translucent, calm, and elegant beauty, with his works presenting the mood of 'Zen within flowers and grasses.' The artistic realm he pioneered has become the mainstream artistic direction of underglaze five-color porcelain today. He once participated in the making of porcelain for the state's three museums and for Chairman Mao's daily use, and undertook the design of national gift porcelain, display porcelain, and banquet porcelain many times. In 2017, the National Museum of China's 'Boshi Danran — Chen Yanglong Liling Underglaze Five-Color Porcelain Craft Inheritance Exhibition' systematically displayed his artistic achievements. Forty fine works and more than forty (sets) of manuscripts were collected by the National Museum of China. During his artistic career he trained more than three hundred apprentices, most of whom have become rising stars in the field. His eldest daughter Chen Li and daughter-in-law Shen Bin are respectively representative inheritors of the underglaze five-color porcelain firing craft at the Hunan provincial level and the Zhuzhou municipal level. Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1941, died in June 2013, a native of Liling City, Hunan Province. Chen Li's works deeply grasp the essence of Liling underglaze five-color porcelain's 'thin application, light dyeing' process; she won the gold award of the 2016 Baihua Cup China Arts and Crafts Fine Works Competition, and received the title of Advanced Individual in National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Work.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Deng Wenke 03-1352
- Chen Yanglong 04-1874
- Chen Li
- Huang Yongping
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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