Description
The special arts and crafts of Beijing have been know to the world since long time ago, Mainly they are jade carving, ivory carving, lacquer ware carving, cloisonne, carpets, palace lanterns and so on. Handicraft art is a traditional art in China, The most popular ones should be cloisonne making and jade carving.
Cloisonne is one of most famous arts and crafts in Beijing. It is a kind of traditional handicraft of enamelware created more than 500 years ago in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). There is a great variety of cloisonne products, such as vases, jars, bowls, boxes, plate, ashtrays and even some bracelets…..
The cloisonne-making requires rather complicated processes, the skill and the workmanship of cloisonne-making have been handed down from the Ming Dynasty. Usually it contains seven steps: 1: Body making. 2: Copper wire cutting 3: Copper wire inlay. 4: Enamel filling. 5: Enamel firing 6:Polishing. 7: Gilding.
We can find all kind of jade in China located in different places, jade can be divide into many types according to its hardness and colors.
Chinese stone couture started with people using stones, owning them, then appreciating and becoming connoisseur, and also believed that these forces would multiply when jade was made into wares and ornamental pieces of various shapes. Discovery of jade deepened people’s understanding of stone, jade began to be used in sorcery and ancestral sacrifices because of it’s fine qualities. Gradually, people began to believe that jade had divine and supernatural forf various shapes. As the jade culture is very important for the Chinese people, so, jade carving is still popular in China. There is a Chinese saying goes like this: “Jade is no more than a stone before it is chiseled, ground to an ornament. “