Today, the Shanghai Museum held a donation ceremony for Mr. Cai Shuikuang's paint line carving work. After the brief ceremony, Xiamen Chua's lacquer line carving boutique – the lacquered gold lacquer line “West Chu King” officially entered the Shanghai Museum. This is the first time since Shanghai Museum’s new building in the People’s Square was opened in 1995, it has accepted the works of famous contemporary craftsmen into the collection, and opened a new chapter in the collection of Shanghai Museum’s collection. Mr. Cai Shuikuang donated to the Shanghai Museum for his representative work. The work was completed in 1995. It is based on the image of Xiang Yu lifting tripod. It is 65 cm high, vivid in form, in color and exquisite in craftsmanship.

In Xiamen area spread more than 300 years of lacquer line carving which is the use of special "paint line" for the traditional process of stacking decoration.It uses flexibly the large paint, old brick ash, oil and other materials, and then mixed them with a variety of lacquer mud kneaded into the long paint line. In the character's clothing, armor, boots and other surface stacking coiled pile plastic, so that the decoration pattern embossed on the surface of the surface. The traditional process produces a strong three-dimensional linear effect, which had the craft characteristics in the southern region of folk.

Mr. Cai Shuikuang is familiar with the various processes of lacquer line carving, and is proficient in practical operation methods. In the new era of the situation of new change, he can be paint line carving process from the new thinking and positioning, directly stripped out the original paint line process from the original tire body. And he applied to other materials, shape of handicrafts above, which named "paint line carving", which realized the color line process from the god Buddha statue to the daily decoration crafts transformation into the contemporary life. Through the efforts of the master of Cai Shuikuang, this has been a slight painting line carving skills revitalised.

In 2006, Cai's lacquer line was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage, officially named "Xiamen lacquer line carving". In 2007, the Ministry of Culture awarded Mr. Cai Shuikuang the title of representative inheritor of the national non-legacy list project. During the ninth "BRIC" national leaders' meeting in Xiamen in 2017, the Chua's lacquer-line carving works were presented to the foreign leaders attending the meeting as national gifts.

Source: Shanghai Museum 

Time: 2019-10-18