Jinqixiangqian Lacquer Decoration Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Beijing is an important lacquerware-producing region in China's history; the rise of official handicraft workshops such as the Yuan-dynasty Paint Bureau, the Ming-dynasty Guoyuanchang carved-lacquer workshop, and the Qing palace's Imperial Workshop laid the foundation for the development of Beijing lacquerware. Today, Beijing gold-lacquer inlay has, in many aspects from craft techniques to artistic style, directly inherited and developed the lacquerware art of the Ming and Qing imperial courts.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Gold-lacquer inlay is an important category of traditional Chinese lacquerware craft, with a history of over seven thousand years. Beijing gold-lacquer inlay decoration encompasses numerous techniques, broad themes, and richly varied artistic expressions. Among these, inlaid products have clear layers and are delicate and translucent; painted products are brightly colored, brilliant as fine brocade; carved-and-filled products have fluent lines and a magnificent bearing; incised-gray products bear sharp knife edges and vivid spirit; crackled-pattern products are archaic and elegant, refined and graceful; tiger-skin lacquer products are resplendent in varied colors, close to nature. By use, Beijing gold-lacquer inlay products include vessels, furniture, screens, plaques, and wall decorations. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and especially since the reform and opening up, Beijing gold-lacquer inlay has made considerable progress, but there are also causes for concern.
Preparing the base
Wood, cloth or coiled bases are made flat and true before any lacquer goes on.
Lacquering
Raw lacquer is laid in layers, each dried and ground, building the depth of the surface.
Hundred-treasure inlay
Stones, shell and coral are set into the lacquer in clearly layered, intricate relief.
Engraved and filled carving
Patterns are carved and filled with colour, the technique paired with revived crackle work.
Ash-engraving
Cut into an ash ground, the blade leaving the imagery its own momentum.
Crackle and tiger-skin lacquers
Crackle glazes are austere and elegant; tiger-skin glazes are mottled almost like nature itself.
Gold ground with light colour
A newly developed gold-ground technique where pale colour is laid over gold without hiding it.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The old foundation of Beijing lacquerwork is the official workshops: the Yuan dynasty set up the Paint Bureau, the Ming dynasty had the Guoyuanchang carved-lacquer workshop, and the Qing palace's Imperial Workshop gathered a large group of skilled artisans; today's gold-lacquer inlay, in craft techniques and artistic style, largely took over directly from the Ming and Qing court set. Now these jobs are scattered among several lacquerware enterprises and studios, producing objects from boxes, trays, and screens to plaques and wall decorations; inlaying mother-of-pearl, jade, and bone-horn each requires different manual work.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This ancient handicraft has considerable artistic research value; its products are both convenient and practical and collectible, and are deeply loved by consumers. Originally there were over a thousand workers engaged in gold-lacquer inlay; now veteran employees have retired one after another, and because the working conditions are fairly harsh and wages are low, most young people are unwilling to choose this profession—currently only 160 people continue to practice gold-lacquer inlay. This ancient craft faces the crisis of a break in transmission and loss, and urgently needs protection and inheritance. Bo Deyuan (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Gold-Lacquer Inlay Decoration Craft." He participated in the R&D of carved-and-filled crackle-pattern techniques and the restoration of gold-lacquer inlay and other nearly lost exceptional skills, breaking the oral-transmission model and leaving a large amount of technical data and valuable materials for the craft's transmission. His works manifest the court artistic style: carved-and-filled pieces are magnificent, painted pieces brightly colored, inlaid pieces clearly layered, incised-gray pieces of profound spirit, and crackle-pattern pieces archaic and weathered. His representative works include the large three-dimensional treasure-inlaid "Nine-Dragon Wall" and the gold-lacquer inlay throne in the Qinzheng Hall of the Fragrant Hills. He has trained apprentices including Bo Qun, Li Delun, Xie Huan, Zhang Xinhui, and Ma Jianli. Male, Han, born February 1947, died July 2019, from Beijing. Wan Zi (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Female, Han, born October 1959, from Beijing. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Gold-Lacquer Inlay Decoration Craft." Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. She excels especially at the design and making of painted, carved-and-filled, and inlaid techniques, and innovatively developed the gold-lacquer light-color craft. She led the design and supervision of the "Imitation and Replication of Classic Lacquerware Works through the Ages" project, producing over three hundred works and rescuing nearly extinct techniques and varieties. Her representative works include the finely inlaid "Dream of the Red Chamber" "Dewy Autumn, Ode to Chrysanthemums" screen, the large three-dimensional inlaid "Nine-Dragon Wall," and the finely inlaid "Fragrant Flowers Congealing Jade" screen. She teaches apprentices at the project's protecting unit, universities, and vocational schools, and actively participates in publicity and exhibition activities related to the project. She received the Gold Award of the Baihua Cup Excellent Chinese Arts and Crafts Works Prize and the Chinese Ethnic Art Treasure Prize, both conferred by the China Arts and Crafts Association.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Bai Deyuan 04-1890
- Wan Zi 05-2822
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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