Bantong Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The starting point of spotted copper is the copper mines around Dongchuan and Huize: the local ore veins vary in gold and silver content, which cannot fully fuse after entering the furnace, leaving metallic crystalline markings inside the copper body when cooled — a property inherent to the ore veins. Ming-dynasty craftsmen found that this property could be turned to advantage; they switched to cold forging instead of melting and casting, directly hammering the ore into objects without opening the furnace, so that the markings were preserved on the surface, and the spotted-copper craft thereby took a different path. In terms of craft genealogy, this line does not share the same origin as the cast-copper line of the "Zhuti Xi" and "Tanglang Xi" basins — one relies on casting, the other on forging, and this division between the two methods is precisely where the spotted-copper craft stands.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
As early as the pre-Qin era, Yunnan was already known worldwide for its bronze ware making. During the Qin and Han periods, bronze wares such as the "Zhuti Xi" and "Tanglang Xi" produced in Zhuti and Tanglang (present-day Zhaotong City, Dongchuan County, and Huize County in Yunnan) were sold everywhere and valued by the age. By the Ming dynasty, Yunnan bronze craftsmen adopted the natural spotted-copper ore near Dongchuan and, using the cold-forging shaping method, made spotted-copper products of figures, animals, and antique-style vases, ding tripods, censers, jars, and jue cups, opening a new path for bronze ware making. When copper is mixed with other metals such as gold and silver that fail to fully fuse, a special luminous spot appears, forming spotted copper. Spotted copper comes in colors such as deep blue, purple-gold, and crimson, of which the most dazzling is golden yellow. When craftsmen make objects with spotted copper and polish their surfaces, a natural effect of brilliantly glowing spots appears on the antique-bronze ground, and no two objects have identical spot shadows. The spotted-copper making craft is a unique traditional handicraft of Yunnan with high historical and cultural value. Protecting and developing the spotted-copper making craft is of great significance for displaying the creative power of ethnic culture.
Selecting the ore
Ore from the natural copper veins of Huize and Dongchuan; its gold and silver content decides the colour of the spots.
Smelting with pear-charcoal
A slow fire of pear wood-charcoal, slag beaten out as the metal is worked, or the crystalline pattern is killed.
Cold forging
The ore is hammered cold rather than cast, so pressure pushes the crystalline pattern to the surface.
Firing, boiling and revealing the spots
Three decisive stages — firing, boiling and revealing — that bring out deep blue, purple-gold and crimson spots.
Raw and fired spotted bronze
Raw spotted bronze keeps its natural markings; polished bronze sets them shimmering on an antique ground, never twice alike.
Proportioning the vessel
Ears, neck, body and feet are proportioned so that the walls ring even and thin.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of spotted copper is concentrated in the Qujing, Huize, and Dongchuan area; Huize is the hometown of Zhang Kekang, the twelfth-generation inheritor, and the artisans mostly take their material from natural copper veins within the jurisdiction of Dongchuan and Huize. The methods of the various families differ slightly: some take the whole material, open the furnace, and first melt then forge; others insist on low-temperature firing with pear-charcoal, beating while removing slag; the firing differs, so the deep blue, purple-gold, and crimson of the spots each have their emphasis, by which the school can be recognized. The family rules of this line are strict and the craft is kept secret, usually passed only to members of the own school; outsiders mostly learn only the external form, while the quality of the spots and the proportions of the objects are hard to imitate.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhang Kekang (per the official record of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Spotted-Copper Making Craft." The twelfth-generation inheritor of the spotted-copper making craft. Over more than thirty years of practice, he has thoroughly mastered the spotted-copper making craft; on the basis of inheriting tradition, he has continuously improved and innovated, strictly selecting materials, using natural copper within the jurisdiction of Huize and Dongchuan and firing it with pear-charcoal, beating while removing impurities such as slag, and precisely grasping the key links of spot-firing, spot-boiling, and spot-revealing. The raw spotted copper he makes shows superb craft, with the ears, neck, body, and three legs in harmonious proportion and even thickness. The color of the spot crystals includes deep blue, purple-gold, crimson, and others. It is vigorous and antique, elegant and magnificent, with extremely high appreciative and collectible value, enjoying the reputation of "a unique wonder of China." He actively takes on apprentices and teaches the craft; because the spotted-copper making craft is kept secret, he has now trained his two sons as inheritors. Male, Han ethnicity, born April 1955, died February 2013, from Huize County, Yunnan Province
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhang Kekang 03-1376
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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