Lao Feng Xiang Filigree Making Technique
Address ： Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Co., Ltd.
Address ： Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Co., Ltd.
Protecting Organization：
Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Co., Ltd.
Introduction：
The head office of Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry Shop at No. 432 East Nanjing Road in Shanghai is China’s oldest yinlou (traditional establishments in China combining gold and silver craftsmanship, jewelry retail, and sometimes gold and silver exchange) still operating at its original location.
Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry Shop ushered in its heyday in the 1930s, with tens of thousands of taels of gold stored in its vault. It once sold one thousand taels of gold in one day.
Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry is the inheritor of the oldest filigree making technique extant in Shanghai.
Details：
The filigree making technique is a traditional craft of making silver and gold objects which are primarily intended for interior display and appreciation, while also serving practical functions.
China’s filigree making technique has a long history dating back more than 3,000 years to the Shang and Zhou dynasties. A complete set of gold and silver making crafts had formed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The techniques peaked and matured in such areas as gold melting, casting, gilding and decorative design during the Tang Dynasty, giving rise to a diversity of novel shapes and superb craftsmanship. Gem inlaying was popular during the Ming Dynasty. Extremely gorgeous masterpieces kept emerging during the Qing Dynasty. All these developments reflected superb artistic attainment and sophisticated craftsmanship, as well as the basic features of aesthetics and joy of life in different periods.
In the 1830s, Shanghai had seen the rise of the Gems Exchange Market (zhuyu huishi), becoming the center of China’s jewelry and jade ware sector back then. After Shanghai became a treaty port, many firms and craftsmen in the sector flooded into the city, bringing with them techniques from other places. Such traditional techniques were combined with Western craftsmanship, giving rise to unique Shanghai-style filigree making techniques.
Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Co., Ltd. originated from Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry Shop, a yinlou founded in 1848 and a well-known China Time-honored Brand. Passed down by generations from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period and the People’s Republic of China, the firm has comprehensively inherited China’s superb filigree techniques for making a wide range of objects, from gold and silver jewelry to jadeite and diamond jewelry, utensils, gold-plated enamels, badges, shield ornaments and miniature architecture, almost covering all traditional Chinese filigree making techniques. Among these techniques, raise-pressing, gilding, platework, filament twisting, inlaying and engraving are still in use today and are vivid living examples of China’s filigree history.
The Lao Feng Xiang Filigree Making Technique is primarily characterized by its gold and silver ornaments. The general process of making such ornaments includes seven steps: incoming materials, molding, casting and pressing, welding, trimming, plating and polishing, and finished products. This process also involves a variety of techniques, such as clay sculpture, platework, filament twisting, inlaying and carving, which may be used accordingly. Semi-relief repoussé is one of the important techniques. It is also known as yanghua repoussé, a technique that uses steel chisels to raise patterns with 3D effects on a surface, resembling relief sculpture. The motifs presented are wide-ranging, including flowers, grasses, birds, fish, landscape, human figures and buildings. The general yanghua repoussé process includes the following steps: preparation of gold and silver sheets, glue board mounting, proofing, outline engraving, raising, presenting 3D effects, gluing and shaping, engraving patterns (kaise), generating translucent effects (qijiao) and finished products. All the techniques involved in the Lao Feng Xiang Filigree Making Technique are traditional ones. Its superb craftsmanship and ingenious creative shapes are much sought-after by consumers.
Since the 1980s, Lao Feng Xiang has been exporting gold ornaments worth more than USD three million every year, reaching more than USD eight million at its peak. A few excellent works have won such awards as the Southeast Asia Best Jewelry Design Award, the Honourable Mention Award of Hong Kong Chuk Kam Jewellery Design Competition and the First Prize of the China Arts and Crafts Award. Such award-winning works include Hundred Dragons Playing with a Ball, the Monument to the August 1st Nanchang Uprising Monument and the Monument to Martyrs in Huaihai Campaign. The accessories and ornaments made using the Lao Feng Xiang Filigree Making Technique are nationally or locally recognized as the “Choicest Works of Arts and Crafts” or “Arts and Crafts Treasures” and included in museum collections.
*The above information is subject to the official release by the venue, and this platform is for reference only.
Protecting Organization
Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Co., Ltd.
Introduction
The head office of Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry Shop at No. 432 East Nanjing Road in Shanghai is China’s oldest yinlou (traditional establishments in China combining gold and silver craftsmanship, jewelry retail, and sometimes gold and silver exchange) still operating at its original location.
Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry Shop ushered in its heyday in the 1930s, with tens of thousands of taels of gold stored in its vault. It once sold one thousand taels of gold in one day.
Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry is the inheritor of the oldest filigree making technique extant in Shanghai.
Details
The filigree making technique is a traditional craft of making silver and gold objects which are primarily intended for interior display and appreciation, while also serving practical functions.
China’s filigree making technique has a long history dating back more than 3,000 years to the Shang and Zhou dynasties. A complete set of gold and silver making crafts had formed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The techniques peaked and matured in such areas as gold melting, casting, gilding and decorative design during the Tang Dynasty, giving rise to a diversity of novel shapes and superb craftsmanship. Gem inlaying was popular during the Ming Dynasty. Extremely gorgeous masterpieces kept emerging during the Qing Dynasty. All these developments reflected superb artistic attainment and sophisticated craftsmanship, as well as the basic features of aesthetics and joy of life in different periods.
In the 1830s, Shanghai had seen the rise of the Gems Exchange Market (zhuyu huishi), becoming the center of China’s jewelry and jade ware sector back then. After Shanghai became a treaty port, many firms and craftsmen in the sector flooded into the city, bringing with them techniques from other places. Such traditional techniques were combined with Western craftsmanship, giving rise to unique Shanghai-style filigree making techniques.
Shanghai Lao Feng Xiang Co., Ltd. originated from Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry Shop, a yinlou founded in 1848 and a well-known China Time-honored Brand. Passed down by generations from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period and the People’s Republic of China, the firm has comprehensively inherited China’s superb filigree techniques for making a wide range of objects, from gold and silver jewelry to jadeite and diamond jewelry, utensils, gold-plated enamels, badges, shield ornaments and miniature architecture, almost covering all traditional Chinese filigree making techniques. Among these techniques, raise-pressing, gilding, platework, filament twisting, inlaying and engraving are still in use today and are vivid living examples of China’s filigree history.
The Lao Feng Xiang Filigree Making Technique is primarily characterized by its gold and silver ornaments. The general process of making such ornaments includes seven steps: incoming materials, molding, casting and pressing, welding, trimming, plating and polishing, and finished products. This process also involves a variety of techniques, such as clay sculpture, platework, filament twisting, inlaying and carving, which may be used accordingly. Semi-relief repoussé is one of the important techniques. It is also known as yanghua repoussé, a technique that uses steel chisels to raise patterns with 3D effects on a surface, resembling relief sculpture. The motifs presented are wide-ranging, including flowers, grasses, birds, fish, landscape, human figures and buildings. The general yanghua repoussé process includes the following steps: preparation of gold and silver sheets, glue board mounting, proofing, outline engraving, raising, presenting 3D effects, gluing and shaping, engraving patterns (kaise), generating translucent effects (qijiao) and finished products. All the techniques involved in the Lao Feng Xiang Filigree Making Technique are traditional ones. Its superb craftsmanship and ingenious creative shapes are much sought-after by consumers.
Since the 1980s, Lao Feng Xiang has been exporting gold ornaments worth more than USD three million every year, reaching more than USD eight million at its peak. A few excellent works have won such awards as the Southeast Asia Best Jewelry Design Award, the Honourable Mention Award of Hong Kong Chuk Kam Jewellery Design Competition and the First Prize of the China Arts and Crafts Award. Such award-winning works include Hundred Dragons Playing with a Ball, the Monument to the August 1st Nanchang Uprising Monument and the Monument to Martyrs in Huaihai Campaign. The accessories and ornaments made using the Lao Feng Xiang Filigree Making Technique are nationally or locally recognized as the “Choicest Works of Arts and Crafts” or “Arts and Crafts Treasures” and included in museum collections.
*The above information is subject to the official release by the venue, and this platform is for reference only.
