Silver filigree is the most distinctive traditional gold and silver handicraft of the Han nationality in Chengdu. This metal craft has a history of more than 1,700 years and has reached a very high artistic level during the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China. Together with Shu embroidery, bamboo weaving and lacquerware, it is also known as the "Four Famous Dans" of Chengdu. can make filigree jewelry and ornaments. Cultural relics passed down from generation to generation include filigree enamel phoenix and bird inlaid ruby agate earrings from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and silver filigree woven pine and crane pattern lid jars .
On June 7, 2008, silver filigree was approved by the State Council to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. As a national intangible cultural heritage, Chengdu's silver filigree production technique uses high-purity silver as raw material, and the works are unique in shape, exquisite and clear. The production of gold and silverware in Chengdu has a long history. As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, people had mastered the superb skills and techniques of making gold and silverware.
Because there are no successors, the technologies such as blue-burning, stacking, and tireless molding of silver filigree have been lost, and the technology of chisel (zàn) has been lost even more. According to Dao'an, the chiseling technology was originally only mastered by Zhang Yongchang of the former Chengdu Gold and Silver Factory. However, Master Zhang was unwilling to pass on this technology to others, and his son was unwilling to learn it. Therefore, the technology was completely lost after Zhang Yongchang's death. Daoan said helplessly that at present, only he can master the three major technologies of "silver-burning orchid, Duijing, and tireless molding".
- Craftsmanship inherited for thousands of years -
Chengdu has a long history of making gold and silverware. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, people had already mastered the superb craftsmanship of making gold and silverware. The real "Chengdu silver filigree" appeared in the 1960s and 1970s when the state-owned Chengdu Gold and Silver Products Factory was established. At that time, a large number of experienced senior silversmiths gathered together and continued research and development, eventually forming the Chengdu silver filigree technique with "flat filling" filament technology as the main feature.
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Lecture name: Introduction to "Silver Filigree"
Lecturer: Chengdu Library
Category: Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Hand-made masterpieces under strict conditions -
A pair of tweezers, a pair of scissors, a fire-resistant asbestos board , a design drawing and silver wire of varying thicknesses are all the tools and materials. In that era without advanced machines, all processes relied on the skills and experience of the masters, whether it was an exquisite hollow vase, a rooster that roared from its neck, or a relief that captured the sky. In every silver thread and between the hands, there is the master's devout hard work.
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Lecture name: "Silver Filigree" inheritance mission interview - Daoan
Lecturer: Chengdu Library
Category: Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Time grows old and filigree is hard to find -
Chengdu silver filigree's demanding craftsmanship and complicated procedures mean that this skill can only be operated on an assembly line. Most of the older generation of silver filigree artists who have worked in Chengdu gold and silver products factories are only proficient in some of the silver filigree production techniques, and are rarely involved in the design of finished silver filigree products. Complex skills and the loneliness of adhering to time have created these precious works, but in the end they cannot withstand the erosion of time, and they gradually fade away in the long river of history.
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Lecture name: "Silver Filigree" documentary
main Speak: Chengdu Library
Column: Intangible Cultural Heritage
Qualitative Cultural Heritage
Everyone says
Gold and silver are the coldest objects in the world
Not indulgent and unreasonable
A penny can break the waist of a hero
But in Chengdu After being kneaded and drawn by the skillful hands of many craftsmen
the silver filigree has become the most touching thing
A bunch of silver wire, a wisp of feelings
Read out the warmth and taste the treasure
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