What artistic sparks emerge when Haiyan’s stunning sunrise meets Jingdezhen’s renowned porcelain art? During the Dragon Boat Festival, Beidajie Street in Wuyuan Sub-district hosted the inaugural Haiyan-Jingdezhen Intangible Cultural Heritage Exchange. Esteemed inheritors of Jingdezhen’s cultural heritage, Chen Cheng and Zheng Yiqing, joined Zhao Shengbo, a provincial-level representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage of “Jiaxing Kitchen Range Painting” from Haiyan, for an artistic dialogue. Inspired by Haiyan’s romantic sunrise, Chen Cheng crafted a unique “Sunrise” porcelain plate, capturing and preserving the beauty of the sunrise in porcelain form.

At the event, a beautifully crafted porcelain plate depicted the orange glow of dawn blending seamlessly with the pale blue sky, capturing the sunrise’s brilliance with natural and delicate transitions.

Chen Cheng, a leading figure in Jingdezhen’s high-skilled talent pool and a representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, possesses profound artistic attainments, with many of her works featured in national and provincial museum collections.

Her expertise lies in the intricate process of color matching and layering. She explained the precision required in mixing orange hues, balancing red and yellow to create a gradient effect. The firing process presents its own challenges, as pigments fade with each firing.

According to Chen, the “Sunrise” porcelain piece undergoes three firings. The first firing establishes the color base, while the second and third firings focus on enhancing details and enriching hues. Due to the characteristics of the oil and pigments, the color lightens after each firing. Therefore, further painting is required before each subsequent firing, with this process repeated three times to achieve the desired outcome.

Zheng Yiqing, who also participated in the event, is celebrated for her unique style and technique in blue-and-white porcelain painting, making her a distinguished figure in Jingdezhen’s porcelain art community.

Zhao Shengbo, renowned for his vibrant “Jiaxing Kitchen Range Paintings,” brings a rich rural charm to the gathering. He has a profound foundation in the traditional folk art of stove painting, with his works characterized by bright colors, diverse themes, and a strong sense of rural flavor.

This assembly of cultural heritage inheritors shared the history, craftsmanship, and cultural significance of their arts, providing a visual and cultural feast for attendees.