Lacquerware Decoration Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
In 1915, the "black-finish carved-lacquer gilt hat holder" made by Poyang County lacquer artist Zhang Xizhen won a prize at the Panama International Exposition.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Body-less (detached-body) lacquer art is a traditional Chinese craft with a long history; its wares are celebrated for novel forms, bright lustrous surfaces, exquisite workmanship, and smooth interiors, and together with Jingdezhen porcelain and Beijing cloisonné are counted among the "Three Treasures of China." Poyang's detached-body lacquerware uses a solidification-molding detached-body process that opened a new path for detached-body lacquerware making and pioneered the craft in China. The making of Poyang detached-body lacquerware passes through process steps including body forming, lacquering, adding a metal gilt rim, color painting, polishing, and a final luster-inspection. The bodies of the lacquerware are mainly of several kinds: wooden body, cloth-lined body, leather body, and rattan body. The completion of a single detached-body lacquer object must pass through mold-body, splitting-body, and gluing-body steps, which are especially complex for large pieces.
Archived Process Record
The making of Poyang detached-body lacquerware passes through process steps including body forming, lacquering, adding a metal gilt rim, color painting, polishing, and a final luster-inspection.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Poyang school began with solidification-molding detached-body craft, opening a separate path for detached-body lacquerware. The bodies come in several kinds—wooden, cloth-lined, leather, rattan—and large pieces especially show the skill, requiring mold-body, splitting-body, and gluing-body steps before the shell is released, followed by lacquering, adding a metal gilt rim, color painting, and polishing, then a final luster inspection to set the color sheen. Transmission follows two lines—one within the factory and one within families: Li Bosheng founded the Raozhou Detached-Body Lacquerware Co., Ltd. in 2007 and converted the water-grinding machine to a straight axle; Ding Guokun built on the foundation of the Ding Guangchang workshop and in 2005 established the Ding Family Detached-Body Lacquerware Craft Factory.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Poyang detached-body lacquerware began in the pre-Qin period, was transmitted through the ages, and saw major development and breakthroughs by the late Qing. Li Bosheng (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1956, a native of Poyang County, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Lacquerware Decoration Craft (Poyang Detached-Body Lacquerware Decoration Craft)." Senior industrial-art craftsman. From 1984 to 1997 he served as a leader of the factory, responsible for technical production guidance. When the factory was reorganized into a private enterprise in 2000, he was engaged as an engineering designer. In 2007 he founded the Raozhou Detached-Body Lacquerware Co., Ltd. He has mastered all the process steps of the craft, converted the original molding water-grinding machine to a straight axle, and improved techniques such as rotational casting-molding for large vases. His works are held in the collection of the China National Arts and Crafts Museum. He has successively taught six apprentices, who can basically complete each process step independently. Ding Guokun (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1943, a native of Poyang County, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Lacquerware Decoration Craft (Poyang Detached-Body Lacquerware Decoration Craft)." A Poyang detached-body lacquerware decoration craftsman. Since 1960 he successively served as apprentice, production-team leader, and lacquer-innovation-team leader at the Poyang County Detached-Body Lacquerware Factory, during which time he taught lacquer art at the Jiangxi Provincial Arts and Crafts Research Institute and elsewhere. In 2002 he became technical director of Poyang County's first private detached-body lacquerware factory. In 2005 he founded the Poyang County Ding Family Detached-Body Lacquerware Craft Factory. Over more than fifty years of practice he invented the "casting-solidification molding and demolding method" and improved the traditional xipi (rhino-skin) and liuqi (flowing-lacquer) grinding-reveal techniques. His works have been presented as diplomatic gifts to foreign heads of state. He has successively taught more than thirty apprentices, active in Fujian, Hubei, and other places. Born into a lacquer-art family, he is the third-generation inheritor of the "Ding Guangchang" lacquer shop. Many of his works have won awards; among them the "xipi lacquer floral non-floral-pattern detached-body vase" received the silver prize of the 2011 China Arts and Crafts Hundred Flowers Award issued by the China Arts and Crafts Association.
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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