The Four Famous Craftsmen of Beijing

Beijing's four most famous craftsmen are cloisonné, lacquer carving, jade carving and ivory carving.

I. Cloisonné

1. Cloisonné, also known as copper enamel on silk, is a famous traditional handicraft in Beijing. The earliest origin in the yuan dynasty, prevalent in the Ming dynasty during the jingtai years, because the color of enamel glaze at that time to blue, so it is called cloisonné, cloisonné is made of copper into a variety of tire shape, and then flattened copper wire pinched into a variety of decorations glued and welded to the tire body.

2, after pickling, and then fill the color glaze in the decoration gap, after high temperature glaze firing, polishing, gilding and become. Beijing Cloisonné is world-renowned for its many varieties, elegant colors, thick and beautiful shapes, and golden artistic features.

Two, jade carving

1, jade carving is one of the oldest carving varieties in China. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, jade-making became a specialty, and jade objects became ceremonial utensils and decorative ornaments. Jade has always been regarded as a treasure. In ancient China, jade was regarded as a sign of good character and a symbol of the gentleman's demeanor.

2. Beijing has a long history of jade carving, with the industry being formed since the Yuan Dynasty and developed greatly during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, resulting in a unique style. Beijing jade is known for its excellent selection of materials, superb skills, majestic style, and stable and large modeling. Its craftsmanship is characterized by the use of a wide range of materials, the application of techniques according to the materials, and the use of playful colors.

Three, lacquer carving

1, carved lacquer is a traditional Chinese national art, at least 1,400 years of history. Across the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing five dynasties, in the Ming and Qing dynasties or royal court craft objects, has always had a high social status and artistic value. Carved lacquer in history is also known as: lacquer carving, pick red, pick yellow, pick green, pick rhinoceros, pick black, pick color, pile Zhu, pile lacquer.

2, the middle and late Ming Dynasty before collectively known as carved lacquer. Carved lacquer is the natural lacquer on the tire coated with a certain thickness, and then use the knife in the pile up on the flat lacquer tire carving pattern technique. Because of the different colors, there are "pick red", "pick black", "pick color" and "pick rhinoceros" name.

Four, ivory carving

1, ivory carving is an ancient traditional art ivory carving works of art, solid and dense, color and smooth texture, fine carving art, doubly valued by collectors, antiques in the unique varieties. Beijing ivory carving process as early as the Ming and Qing dynasties has been very mature.

2, because ivory is very precious, so most of the royalty all, folk has always been rarely seen. Ivory carving techniques are varied, generally have flat carving, three-dimensional round carving, deep and shallow relief and hollow carving. Color for the colored teeth, not color for the plain teeth.