The origin and development of branding painting

Branding painting, anciently known as "fire needle embroidery" and more recently as "fire brush painting" and "hot painting", is an extremely valuable and rare type of painting in ancient China. According to historical records, branding painting originated in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was once lost due to successive years of disasters and wars until the third year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, when it was rediscovered and reorganized by a folk artisan named Zhao Xing in Nanyang of Henan Province, and then gradually formed into a few major factions represented by Henan and Hebei Province after being passed on. In the past, branding was limited to branding on wooden materials, such as wooden boards, tree barks, gourds, and so on. The picture naturally produces uneven texture changes, with a certain relief effect, and the color is dark or light brown or even black. Branding paintings are made by using a special iron brush to brand on fan bones, comb, wooden furniture and paper and silk, etc. The modern bold use of rice paper, silk, etc. is also used. Modern times have enriched the art form of branding by boldly adopting materials such as rice paper and silk. It is produced in Henan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.