A traditional craft enters the new era
Gold-painted lacquerware regains popularity due to artisans’ efforts
In ancient China, and especially in Jiangnan — the region south of the Yangtze River — a woman’s dowry, including wooden furniture, jewelry and ornaments, was often considered a reflection of her parents’ love.
Parents prepared the most exquisite and precious objects for their betrothed daughters to show their love and to support them in husbands’ families. A woman’s dowry, which typically featured gold and red color schemes, usually required skilled and arduous work.
In the past, rich families in Ninghai, a coastal county in Ningbo in East China’s Zhejiang province, would prepare a large number of red dowries for their daughters.
There’s an old saying — using exaggeration for the purpose of illustration — that the team carrying these and accompanying the bride on her way to the groom’s family would stretch for about 5 kilometers.
These somewhat extravagant wedding customs have bred a time-honored handicraft in Ninghai — goldpainted lacquerware, which was widely used in weddings and was recognized as a form of national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2011.
Such lacquerware originated in Hemudu Culture 7,000 years ago and became popular in the Ming (13681644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties for its magnificent appearance and auspicious colors, stereoscopic patterns with rich themes and resistance to erosion.
Its creation requires over 20 steps, including pasting such patterns as landscapes, flowers and figures on wooden roughcasts, and decorating them with gold foil.
Due to the complicated production and decreasing market demand, the handicraft gradually lost its following in modern times.
But the skills used to create it have survived, thanks to the persistence of a small group of craftspeople in Ninghai. It has even returned to public attention in recent years.
Although modern weddings do not require such lacquer furnishings, they’re still popular gifts for newlyweds.
Huang Cailiang is an officially recognized inheritor of the time-honored craft he has practiced for more than four decades. He promotes the craft among the public.
The 63-year-old began to learn about gold-painted lacquerware production at age 18, when he made it his living. He spent the next few years practicing woodcarving. In 1986, Huang furthered his studies of modern sculpture at East China Normal University in Shanghai.
Afterward, he returned to Ninghai and set up a factory to produce lacquerware and undecorated woodcarvings, a form of provincial-level intangible cultural heritage.
The factory helped popularize both crafts and generated significant profits. In 2002, the artisan cooperated with a local vocational school in Ninghai and trained hundreds of students on how to produce gold-painted lacquerware to cultivate more young inheritors. Nine trainees were selected
as new-generation inheritors.
In 2005, Huang realized lacquerware’s market potential and started to further explore its market value. He innovated on the recipe for the paste used to depict decorative patterns and made the red color less shiny to cater to modern tastes.
Huang spent the following years building an art museum to display the history, production process and exquisite pieces of gold-painted lacquerware and undecorated woodcarvings.
The 23,000-square-meter museum he designed and invested in opened to the public in December 2016. It also enables visitors to closely observe the manufacturing process and even try making an item.
Today, the art form has become a cultural icon of Ninghai and a laureate of over 30 awards from home and abroad.
Products at Huang’s museum are priced from 2,000 to 6,000 yuan ($290-$870). People often buy them as wedding gifts.
“Organizing exhibitions of intangible cultural heritage is far from enough for inheritance and promotion,” Huang says.
“It’s better to take them out of the exhibition halls and workshops, and let people touch them and closely observe them.”