I.Shape of ware(Charm of ware/Tolerance of ware)

Ware is the carrier of the classical spirit of lacquer art,and shape is thefoundation of modernism of lacquer art.Two categories of works areselected elaborately in this unit：one is functional lacquer wares for dailyuse,and the other is solid sculpts of lacquer,which represent doubledimensions of language construction of lacquer education,namely,stateof handicrafts and vision of artifacts.The former is an intuitive dimensionof language practice of lacquer art,and the latter is a rational dimension oflanguage study on lacquer art.

As an intangible cultural heritage,lacquer art is an important part of China'screation history.In Chinese Etymology Dictionary,the word"creation",originated from the sentence"How great the creator is"which was said bygreat master Zhuang Zi,refers to creation of heaven and earth in general,and later expands to the handmade wares and creations.Therefore,handicraft is the concept of creation in the context of Chinese culture.

Compared with ceramics,lacquer is a kind of viscous liquid which cannot beshaped directly.Even lacquer can be coiled and piled up,which is similar tothe shaping technique of pottery,it can be shaped after being stirred withother powders into mud.The adhesion of lacquer liquid is the very natureof lacquer art.The body molding of lacquer ware,including wooden body,bamboo body,pottery body,metal body and other bodies,is a pure kind oflacquer art.Or to be more accurately,wooden art,bamboo art,pottery artand metal processing should be the language foundation of lacquer art tobe studied in the first place.In the language of lacquer creation,a history oflacquer art should firstly be a history of body molding of various materials.

Therefore,the inheritance of handicrafts not only requires studies on thelacquer-painted techniques,but also requires learning of shaping techniquesof various materials which are used to mold bodies.We should pay more attention to the lifestyle of Chinese people which is carried behind theevolution history of creation,and observe the oriental temperamentpresented in the creation.Creation is always the inexhaustible spiritualresources and cultural genes of producing lacquer art.

Corresponding to the concept of oriental concept of handicraft,thewestern artifact is a kind of artificial product from the perspective ofphilosophy of technology.With human beings'wills,knowledge,capabilitiesand values,it is the second natural object produced by human beings withuse of technology through manual labor.Artifact is a design concept inthe language context of western culture.Solid sculpt of lacquer is theextension of the training of three-dimensional constitution,which is thefoundation of modern education of lacquer art.With people-oriented goals,it is a comprehensive understanding of objects of lacquer art creation,including their material element attributes,physical structure attributes,intention function attributes and symbolic information attributes.Italso fully conducts deduction and innovation of design possibilities,andthen comprehensively thinks and makes its choice in works or in involvedmaterials,moldings,shapes,crafts,symmetry,rhythm,balance,colors,functions and other factors of artifacts design.Although the solid sculptof lacquer reflects the inspiration of sensible intuition,it presents thinkingcharacteristics of rationality and carefulness as a whole,which runsthroughout the whole creation process of works.The solid sculpt of lacquer,led by the eight Institutes of Fine Arts,represents the latest achievementsin this direction.Li Mingqian,Guo Xiaoyi,Hu Xiushu and Tan Dali are thepersistent language researchers in this field.

Chinese lacquer art in modern and contemporary times is developedin the cultural fault produced by social upheaval.Therefore,retrospectof traditions has become a performance of cultural consciousness andconfidence of lacquer artists,and a research trend of ancient artifacts inthe field of lacquer art in recent years.The reproduction of Chinese zither inTang and Song Dynasty by Liang Yuan and Wang Yaxiong,the explorationof ancient furniture by Chen Jie,the extensive collection and exploration ofancient artifacts by Zheng Lei and Zhao Jianwei,the experience of ZhangCheng's carved lacquer ware by Chen Qinli,the attempt of integration ofceramics and lacquer art by Xiao Chuanbin,the study of ancient artifactsby Li Zhouwu and other researches all present enough respect and cognitionof China's creation tradition,and reflect due manner of a contemporarylacquer artist to his ethnic culture.There are two important cases deservedto be mentioned.One is Zhong Sheng.He starts from Kintsukuroi to contacttradition,and dialog with predecessors and show respect to traditionin the process of repair and restoration.He subtly influences the repairof Kintsukuroi of full ceramic and the repair of half-porcelain and half-lacquer wares,and finally achieves reconstruction of pure lacquer wares.His worship of tradition is like imitating calligraphy everyday,which is stepby step but more and more profound as time goes on.The other is GanErke,who is away from the hustle and bustle of lacquer field to practicelacquer art.His worship and inheritance of traditional wares is rigorous andelaborate.From single petal,several petals to dozens of petals,his petalshapedboxes are covered with adequate seal from any directions.Everyprocess,including body molding,ashes brushing and polish,is conductedalmost perfectly,and is figured out and learned from artifacts of variousdynasties.In terms of lacquer-painted decoration,he gilds several layersof gold foils in the traditional pineapple lacquer of Tunxi,which makes thetraditional pineapple lacquer more noble and exquisite.

The construction of the mother tongue of China's lacquer art is a creationprocess full of Buddhist mood towards passing on techniques,teachingartistry and realizing the philosophic theory.The techniques,artistry andphilosophic theory are special observation of Chinese people on creation,which is felt from the intuitive dimension of oriental handicrafts：eyes andhands,heart and articles,style and character,wares and theory and othertraditional essence.On the basis of being familiar with the ware conceptof the creation,we should cultivate the spirit of the ware.We should notonly transcend the beautiful,flowery and exquisite style which is popular inthe field of Japanese lacquer art,but also seek forceful,ancient,bold,wild,peculiar,extraordinary,bleak,vigorous,and rich cultural traits and profoundspiritual resources of China's traditions,thus making China's own voicein the field of lacquer art which is occupied with Japanese and westernlacquer wares and brands.

Promoting the language construction of China's lacquer art from thedouble dimensions of handicrafts and artifacts makes it possible to realizethe modernity of China's lacquer art.