Complete detailed information on Guangcai porcelain firing techniques

Guangcai porcelain firing technique, a local traditional handicraft technique in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, is one of the national intangible cultural heritages.

Guangcai porcelain firing technique is the abbreviation of the overglaze color porcelain art in Guangzhou. It appeared from the late Kangxi period to the Yongzheng period in the Qing Dynasty. It was produced by integrating various techniques of colorful porcelain, such as multicolor and pastel, and flourished. It developed during Qianlong and Jiaqing, from Daoguang to Guangxu, and continued throughout the Qing Dynasty. During the Republic of China, affected by various factors, it fell into a low ebb. After the founding of New China, it regained its splendor.

On June 7, 2008, Guangcai porcelain firing techniques were approved by the State Council and included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, project number Ⅷ-97. Basic introduction Chinese name: Guangcai Porcelain Firing Technology Approval Date: June 7, 2008 Intangible Cultural Heritage Level: National Application Area: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province Heritage Category: Traditional Skills Heritage Number: Ⅷ-97 Historical origins, craft characteristics, Color, composition, techniques, process flow, inheritance and protection, inheritance value, inheritance status, inheritance figures, protection measures, social impact, important exhibitions, honorary commendations, international exchanges, historical origins from the middle and late Kangxi period to the Yongzheng period: the start-up that emerged at the historic moment In the 23rd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1684), the maritime ban was lifted, and overseas trade entered a period of customs management. At this time, the number of foreign merchant ships coming to China for trade increased. Foreigners attach great importance to Chinese porcelain and place orders or samples for processing in Guangzhou, thus promoting the production and development of Guangcai porcelain. From the middle and late Kangxi period to the Yongzheng period, it was the initial stage of Guangcai. There are very few physical objects handed down in China. At this time, all the craftsmen, pigments, and castings came from Jingdezhen. Most of them were painted according to the patterns of Jingdezhen colored porcelain, and there were still more traces of Jingdezhen colored porcelain. The contrast of the colors was not as strong as it was later, and the artifacts processed by the samples were relatively small. few. Qianlong and Jiaqing Periods: An irregular mature period. From the 18th to the early 19th century (Qianlong and Jiaqing Periods), Guangcai porcelain has formed its own unique style. Guangcai porcelain imitates foreign porcelain, which is very colorful and gorgeous. Characteristics have been documented. At this time, most of the Guangcai porcelain was sold to Europe; at the beginning of the maritime trade, Western merchants who came to China first came to Macao, and then went as far as Guangzhou. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, ships gathered and business flourished. Europeans favored Chinese porcelain, and Chinese merchants took advantage of it. They fired white wares in Jingdezhen, shipped them to Guangdong, hired craftsmen, and painted them according to Western painting methods. They opened ovens in Henan, on the south bank of the Pearl River, and dyed them to make colored porcelain. . The period from Daoguang to Guangxu: the development period of gorgeous colors. From the 19th to the early 20th century (the period from Daoguang to Guangxu), Guangcai entered another stage of development - a stage of gorgeous colors and gradually stylized forms. Around 1710, the Meissen porcelain factory in Germany successfully produced high-quality pouring vessels. After that, European self-produced porcelain gradually began to compete with China for the market, resulting in the export sales of Chinese porcelain to Europe beginning to decline in the late 18th century. In the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign (1789), American merchants opened the Pacific route from the United States to Guangzhou, and Guangcai's sales market mainly turned to the United States. After experiencing a short transition during the Daoguang period, Guangcai has completely entered the stylized stage during the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods. In the 1920s, Guangcai porcelain industry began to gradually develop into Hong Kong and Macao. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Guangzhou fell in 1938. Guangzhou's Guangcai porcelain industry suffered a fatal blow, and most of them moved to Hong Kong and Macao. It was not until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945 that the Guangzhou lottery industry slowly recovered. At this stage, there are two main styles of Guangcai porcelain: those sold to Europe and the United States are still based on the traditional style inherited from the late Qing Dynasty; those sold to the province and Southeast Asia mostly imitate the styles of Jingdezhen colored porcelain and Japanese colored porcelain . After the founding of New China: A period of innovative development to create greater glory. In the early days of the founding of New China, the Guangzhou Municipal Government recalled some old Guangcai artists from Hong Kong and Macao, and recruited some young workers from around the city and countryside. The old artists taught and trained apprentices. The talents of Guangcai design and painting brought Guangcai skills into a new period of revival and development in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s and 1990s, inspired by the reform and opening up policy, Guangcai entered a period of diversified development. At this time, *** vigorously supported the recovery and production of Guangcai.

In the early 1980s, Guangcai was mainly exported to the United States, and its themes were mainly so-called antique porcelain that combined flowers, birds, and figures in ancient costumes. Since the 1990s, Guangzhou Cai’s export sales have suffered setbacks due to war in the Middle East, its main export destination. Entering the 21st century, the state and local governments at all levels have increased their efforts to protect and develop Guangcai porcelain firing techniques. Technological Features Color Guangcai Porcelain Firing Technique is to paint golden patterns on the glaze of various white body porcelains, as if brocade is embroidered with thousands of colorful, elegant and luxurious gold threads. The characteristic of color is that it is rich in color. The layers are exquisite, and in addition to dry red and western red, there are also a variety of colors such as aqua green and lake green used. At the same time, the complex colors created by using two or more spices give the work a rich layered feel. The themes of the paintings are a fusion of Chinese and Western styles, and they are often painted according to incoming samples, or imitate Western paintings, combined with traditional painted patterns. Its products are characterized by "many ingenious styles and no fixed pattern from time to time", and their style is similar to that of enamel. Composition The firing technique of Guangcai porcelain uses the technique of Chinese brocade patterns and is famous for its bright colors, rigorous composition and fine painting work. Guangcai uses various colors and gold and silver water to hook, trace, weave and fill, just like countless gold and silver colored silks woven on white jade. Above, it looks so dazzling and magnificent. There is a poem that sums up the characteristics of Guangcai in a very general and vivid way: "The colored pens are used as needles, and the paintings are used as threads. The needles are intertwined vertically and horizontally. There is no need for brocade to embroider spring pictures, and spring flowers fly on the silver porcelain surface." Guangcai has many shapes. Imitation European silverware, pottery, woodware, glassware, etc. The colors are mostly hemp, western red, gold, dry scarlet, and eggplant. The composition is tight, the patterns are complex, the colors are bright, gold is often used, and the decoration is strong. Techniques In terms of painting techniques, Guangcai is characterized by thick and thick coating, mainly using traditional outline flat coating, stylized decorative patterns, and mostly using square patterns. It combines the perspective techniques of Western painting with the fine brushwork and boneless painting techniques of Chinese painting, and draws on European oil painting techniques. It uses rich colors, pays attention to changes in light and shade, and is rich in three-dimensionality. It is a unique blend of Chinese and Western styles. Process flow design artwork Design artwork is the first step in Guangcai production. Before drawing a single piece of work, the entire composition needs to be designed on paper. In mass production, this process often refers to sample design. In the traditional era, Guangcai Guild Lingsi Hall had strict regulations on sample design. Generally, the head (workshop owner) and the more skilled artists in the industry set the unit price of the painting first. , and paint the sample at double the price. If someone places an order after completion, the person who painted the sample must be the first to take the order. The person who painted the sample has the priority to paint the product. Selecting a porcelain body Selecting a white body is the basic work before painting. It is required that the glaze of the porcelain body is smooth, not yellowing, not black, not deformed, and can sit firmly. Before painting, you need to clean the porcelain body. You need to wipe it with a damp cloth first, and then wipe it with a dry cloth before you start painting. Preparing Pigments When preparing pigments, you need to pour the selected pigment powder into a bowl, first use a color mallet to dry trace the powder, and then add water or glue according to the properties of each pigment to continue inserting. There are many operating essentials, such as not being greedy for inserting too much paint at one time, otherwise it will be difficult to draw through; the dry insertion time should account for about 60% of the total insertion time; water needs to be gradually added during the insertion process to make the paint Mixing the powder and water thoroughly will not cause sand; it is best to add the glue gradually during the process of adding water, and it needs to be pressed firmly and sown tightly. After the paint is inserted, use a bamboo shovel to shovel it into a pile and gradually start using it. When using pigments, water or vegetable oil (camphor oil or olive oil) needs to be used to adjust the pigment to a suitable concentration, so that the pigment does not flow when filled with porcelain body. When using, you must pay attention to maintaining the concentration of the pigment. When using, lift it up from the bottom of the pigment pile. Do not let the pigment reach the bottom of the bowl. At the same time, do not cause the base of the pigment to collapse, and do not store water for mixing. Color painting The process involved in color painting is relatively complex and is a key process to achieve the unique style of Guangcai. (1) Open width, car line, and command circle. The first step in painting is to open the frame, that is, according to the design drawing, use an ink meter (a self-made measuring tool of Guangcai) and a good ink strip to determine the rough composition. The layout is required to be reasonable, regular and well-proportioned. Then the car lines and the ring are drawn. The car line is to determine the edges required for various patterns, and the ring is the various circles needed to depict the patterns. The thickness and density of the lines are required to be uniform. (2) Write porcelain black.

Use porcelain black (a Guangcai pigment made from Duan inkstone powder from Zhaoqing, Guangdong) to depict various patterns on the opened porcelain body. Generally, the fixed patterns of squares and edges are painted first, and then the flowers and birds are painted. Fruits, grass, insects, feathers, animal mouths, etc., first close and then far, first the subject and then the background, gradually depict. (3) Color filling. Fill in various colors on the porcelain body with the painted pattern. Because each pigment has different properties, some require thick filling and some require thin filling. The operator must first master the properties of various pigments and pay attention to the thickness when filling to prevent bubbling and falling off after firing. When filling in the line, use the upright tip of the pen to drag lightly, and when you reach the end, drag back the pen to make the color of the entire line uniform. (4) Save noodles and tart flowers. On the flowers, birds, grass, and insects that have been filled in, you still need to use porcelain black to outline feathers, bones, petals, etc. This step is called "surface saving." Use a stroke of color to create layered and light-dark petals on the feathers and pile of flowers. This step is called "flower head tart". The requirements are: the flower head is pictographic, the petals are clear, and the color is accurate. Different types of flower heads must be distinguished. Flower heads cannot be the same and need to be handled flexibly according to different levels. These two steps are very detailed and require skilled operation. (5) Accumulate funds and fill in green. On the porcelain body that has been filled with color, it is also necessary to accumulate gold to fill it with green. Accumulating gold means filling in the blank space where gold is needed. During the operation, great attention must be paid to the material used for gold. It should not be too thick. If it is thick, it will cause waste, and if it is thin, the quality will be poor. Filling in green means adding large green color to the patterns that have already accumulated gold, as well as the branches and leaves of flowers and fruits. Sometimes it is necessary to add some second green color. Filling in green requires uniform color thickness, covering the drawn lines, leaving no spaces or crossing the lines. If left blank, the lines will easily fall off, and if they cross the lines, the image of the pattern will be damaged. If you are not careful, it will become a defective product. Therefore, this process is called "green ironing" in the industry, and it often requires people with higher skills to do it. (6) Edge sealing and color fighting. The last process of painting is edge sealing and doucai, that is, coating the edges of the utensils with gold, and then painting patterns or gold colors on the handles and ears of the utensils. This process is mostly completed by the person in charge of burning the furnace. Furnace loading and baking Furnace baking is the last step in Guangcai production, and it is also a very critical step. In the traditional era, oven technology was very conservative and was not easily taught to others. After the painted semi-finished products are delivered to the furnace room, they must first be checked for any lack of color or discoloration before they are officially installed in the furnace. Large and thick items are placed on the bottom of the furnace, and small and thin items are placed on top. When installing the furnace, pay attention to leaving a fire eye so that the inside of the furnace can be observed from the outside to control the temperature. After the semi-finished product enters the kiln, it must be gradually heated, and the temperature in the kiln must be kept uniform to avoid sudden cooling, sudden heating and uneven heating. After 5-6 hours, the temperature in the kiln will almost reach 700°C. At this time, the furnace burner needs to pay close attention to the situation in the kiln. When the temperature in the kiln reaches 700°C, he must stop heating in a timely manner based on experience. After stopping heating, a little charcoal tail needs to be left to allow the kiln to gradually cool down. After burning, you need to wait 3 hours before opening the furnace lid. When opening the lid, open it gradually. If you open the entire furnace lid at once, it will cause the porcelain to explode. When taking out the product, be careful to take it out layer by layer to prevent damage. Inheritance, protection and heritage value. The firing technique of Guangcai porcelain is the representative of overglaze painting and an important carrier of Lingnan culture. It has a long history. Its firing technique is rooted in the folk and reflects the fusion of Chinese and Western colored porcelain techniques, unique pigment production and Lingnan cultural characteristics. The four major characteristics of the painting are its richness, color painting techniques and rich subject matter, which have important cultural and historical research value. Guangzhou colored porcelain firing technology integrates Guangzhou colored porcelain and Jingde porcelain, integrates northern traditional porcelain painting and Lingnan school painting techniques, Chinese colored porcelain craftsmanship and Western porcelain art and painting techniques, with the combination of north and south and east and west. It is unique in its artistic style and is also unique in the technical characteristics of "piling gold and jade". It contains rich cultural connotations and strong Lingnan characteristics. Its unique pigment production, rich painting themes and unique artistic style show the Guangcai Porcelain firing technology has important value in culture, history, economy, practicality, science and technology. The current situation of inheritance The biggest problem facing the development of Guangcai is the lack of successors. Due to the relatively long maturity period and the hard work of learning, many young people are unwilling to learn this traditional craft. In addition, since Guangcai has long been producing and selling products for foreign markets, it has mainly faced the domestic market since the 21st century.

China's domestic market has low awareness of Guangcai and its acceptance of its style. As a result, Guangcai's market is still relatively narrow and its development potential is limited. It is necessary to attract more people to learn and engage in this craft. The difficulty is relatively great. Inherited figure Yu Peixi, male, born in November 1929. On May 26, 2009, Yu Peixi was selected as the third batch of representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage projects, and Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province applied. Project name: Guangcai Porcelain Firing Technology. Chen Wenmin, male, born in February 1961. On December 20, 2012, Chen Wenmin was selected as the fourth batch of representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage projects, and was declared by Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. Project name: Guangcai Porcelain Firing Technology. Tan Guanghui, male. On May 16, 2018, Tan Guanghui was selected as the fifth batch of representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage projects, and Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province applied. Project name: Guangcai Porcelain Firing Technology. Protection Measures On May 4, 2016, the popular training class on "Guangcai Porcelain Firing Techniques" was officially opened at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. On May 27, 2015, "Nanfang Daily·Huizhou Observation" launched a series of character reports on "Those Huizhou Craftsmen", and the firing techniques of Guangcai porcelain were reported. For more than sixty years, Yu Peixi has devoted himself to teaching apprentices and has brought out more than 500 apprentices. Many of them have become famous Guangcai masters, and Chen Wenmin is the leader among them. In 2004, the People's Government of Guangdong Province included Guangcai in the "Regulations on the Protection of Traditional Arts and Crafts in Guangdong Province" and promulgated the "Implementation Plan of the Regulations on the Protection of Traditional Arts and Crafts in Guangdong Province", which listed Guangcai as needing protection in the near future. , one of the key traditional arts and crafts varieties to be rescued. Social Impact Important Exhibition From March 16 to May 18, 2017, the "300 Years of Essence of Guangcai Porcelain Exhibition" co-organized by the Tianjin Museum and the Guangdong Provincial Museum *** was exhibited at the Tianjin Museum. On September 13, 2018, the 5th China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo opened in Jinan, Shandong Province, and Guangcai porcelain firing techniques were demonstrated during the exhibition. Honorary Commendation In 2012, the Guangcai porcelain wall screen "Splendid People Adding Longevity" won the gold medal at the Shenzhen Cultural Expo. Yu Peixi's works "Guangcai Window Figure·Straight Bottle" and "Guangcai Dragon Wind Pattern·Vase with Seat" are collected by the Guangdong Provincial Museum. Yu Peixi's works "Painted Kowloon Picture Plate" and "Painted Style Flower Pattern Bowl" are collected by the Guangdong Folk Craft Museum. International Exchange In 2006, Chen Wenmin's work "Gothenburg and Huangpu Ancient Port", a Guangcai tall wine bowl with a lotus mouth, was presented to the visiting King Carl XVI of Sweden.