Lacquerware Decoration Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Carved lacquer (diaoqi) began in the Tang dynasty, and tixi (a carved-lacquer technique) was formalized in the Song dynasty; its name appears in historical texts such as Cheng Dachang's Yanfanlu. The only specialized treatise on lacquerwork in Ming-dynasty China, the Xiushilu (Record of Lacquer Decoration), also mentions tixi.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Tixi is one of the carved-lacquer techniques. Prominent Chinese scholar Wang Shixiang and others hold that tixi is principally produced in Xinjiang County, Shanxi Province. Tixi involves building up, in a regular pattern, layers of two or three colored lacquers—vermilion, black, yellow—on the surface of an object; once a certain thickness (about 0.3–0.5 mm) is reached, patterns are carved with a V-shaped blade, and the cut reveals the different colored layers, which sharply distinguishes it from other carved lacquers and lacquerware. It is called "tixi" because the carved pattern's cut edge shows layered cross-sections resembling the grain of cut rhino hide. At the same time, because the patterns are mostly meander (huiwen) and cloud-hook (yun'gou) motifs that flow and spiral vividly, since modern times it has also been called "yun diao" (cloud carving). Tixi is among the more intricate lacquering crafts in China's lacquerware production. From timber selection through body-lining, ground-body preparation, lacquering, pattern drafting, carving, and polishing, every process stage must be strictly controlled and handled by artisans with years of experience; in particular, lacquering must be done in a damp, unventilated, clean, and pollution-free basement. Generally some eighty coats are applied; one coat is laid, allowed to dry in the shade, then another is applied, and each colored lacquer requires several coats per layer—dozens of coats taking over a month. After the whole piece is shade-dried and rested for a period, the patterns can be drawn and carved; each pattern must be carved and retouched again and again until its depth, width, and thickness all meet the required standards before it is accepted, after which the remaining processes follow.
Archived Process Record
From timber selection through body-lining, ground-body preparation, lacquering, pattern drafting, carving, and polishing, every process stage must be strictly controlled and handled by artisans with years of experience; in particular, lacquering must be done in a damp, unventilated, clean, and pollution-free basement.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jiangzhou tixi formed its own school around Xinjiang. Its approach runs opposite to carved lacquer elsewhere: rather than raised relief, it builds two or three colored lacquers—vermilion, black, yellow—layer by layer to a thickness of three to five millimeters, then works the patterns with a V-shaped blade, the cut opening out into layered cross-sections like rhino hide, with motifs mostly meanders and cloud-hooks. Time is also spent in lacquering: generally some eighty coats, dozens of which consume over a month, and the lacquering room must be a damp, unventilated basement.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The tixi production craft of Jiangzhou has weathered several rises and falls; although it has now begun to reach a certain scale, because the hand-making techniques are extremely intricate and refined and cannot yet be replaced by mechanized production, while only a handful of people in the county engage in tixi production, Jiangzhou tixi still faces the crisis of near-loss. He Junming (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1964, a native of Wenxi County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Lacquerware Decoration Craft (Jiangzhou Tixi Craft)." A Jiangzhou tixi artisan. At sixteen he entered the Xinjiang County Arts and Crafts Factory, studied under Wang Buguang, devoted himself to the study of yun diao production techniques, and through diligent study mastered the complete tixi production process. In 1992 he founded the Xinjiang County Huanghe Yun Diao Craft Factory, engaged several veteran craftsmen, and cooperated with art academies inside and outside the province to innovate and develop the traditional tixi-making craft. He insists on the ancient method of boiling raw lacquer and using natural lacquer, while also integrating modern concepts into the design of the ancient craft. Through the study of ancient Chinese totems, auspicious patterns, murals, and other artworks, he created a large body of entirely new design drafts, and by improving the tools and carving methods enhanced the expressive power of his works. Over more than twenty years of teaching apprentices he trained over two hundred technicians, and cumulatively provided internship bases for more than ten thousand college graduates.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Gan Erke 03-1389
- Chen Sibi 03-1390
- He Junming 04-1891
- Li Bosheng 04-1892
- Zou Dexiang 04-1893
- Li Aizhen 05-2823
- Ding Guokun 05-2824
- Fu Yizhou 05-2825
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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