Chengdu Yinhuasi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Filigree silver (Yinhuasi) and Chengdu's bronze-casting industry grew from the same lineage: the history of copper use in the Chengdu area can be traced back to the Qin and Han dynasties; later, gold and silver ware-making gradually flourished, and because silver is soft and can be twisted and piled, it became an excellent material for fine work. By the mid-Qing dynasty there were already sizable gold and silver workshops in the city, and the filigree flat-filling style, being labor-intensive and thus costly, mostly appeared in the furnishings and dowries of official households. As for filigree silver, a household that could produce fine detail established its reputation, and apprentices entering the workshop began with the most basic tasks such as twisting wire and pinching flowers.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The making of gold and silver ware in Chengdu was already quite developed in the Qin and Han eras, and by the mid-Qing dynasty had formed a certain scale; among it, the filigree silver-making craft is the most outstanding, with a history of over two thousand years. The filigree silver craft is renowned for its flat filigree filling, with exquisite workmanship and distinctive shapes, displaying rich ethnic characteristics and a unique local style. Filigree silver products mainly include traditional display pieces such as vases, trays, censers, tripods and boxes, as well as ornaments such as hairpins, rings and bracelets; in recent years new varieties such as "silver-wire paintings" have also been developed. The Chengdu filigree silver-making craft uses silver as its material and comprehensively applies techniques such as filigree, chasing and engraving, wire filling, wire piling, wire threading, wire twisting and soldering to carefully produce various handicrafts according to design requirements; the finished products have very high artistic and collector value.
Twisting the silver wire
Silver is drawn into fine wire and two strands twisted into a braid — speed must suit the hand.
Pinching and stacking blossoms
Loops are pinched into blossoms, tails and scales; the shape is fixed in a single pinch.
Filling with flat filigree
Layer upon layer of filigree fills a surface with no hollow showing and no seams visible.
Threading and soldering
Filigree is threaded through chased slots and soldered point by point.
Grinding and polishing
The surface is lapped until solder joints and wire ends disappear and the silver reflects.
Making the silver-thread picture
The flat-filigree technique turned into picture plane, a new category opened up in Chengdu.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Chengdu filigree silver work is concentrated in the city's gold and silver products factory and small neighborhood workshops; the products are divided into two categories—display pieces and ornaments: vases, trays, censers, tripods and boxes are display pieces, while hairpins, rings and bracelets are ornaments. In recent years the new product "silver-wire painting" has been added, following the approach of laying filigree flat to form a picture. In craftsmanship it excels at filigree, supplemented by chasing, wire filling, wire piling, wire threading, wire twisting and soldering; a single object often must be made in layers and soldered many times, and simply straightening, orienting and affixing a bundle of fine silver wires to the body can take several days. Dao An studied and mastered the full set of techniques at the Chengdu Gold and Silver Products Factory from 1980 to 1999, and in 1999 designed the first filigree silver painting and obtained a patent for it.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Dao An (per the official archive of the associated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in January 1962, from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. Representative inheritor of the Chengdu filigree silver-making craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in its third batch. A Sichuan province arts-and-crafts master. From 1980 to 1999 she studied at the Chengdu Gold and Silver Products Factory and mastered the full set of Chengdu filigree silver-making techniques. From 2003 to the present she has mentored five disciples: Wang Xiaolu, Wang Di, Wang Limei, Liu Wenying and Hu Xiaolin. Her representative works include "World Cultural Heritage—Dujiangyan," "Three Heroes Battle Lü Bu Relief Hanging Screen," "Hexagonal Dragon-Phoenix Vase," and "Sanxingdui Chicken Ornament," among others. In 1999 she designed and innovated the first filigree silver painting and obtained a national patent.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Daoan 03-1381
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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