Forged by fire, sustained by inheritance

A pivotal moment in the career of Zhu Bingren, a seasoned copper artist, came after a fire in 2006 that took place at a project he was involved in, in Jiangsu province. The blaze consumed the eaves of the first floor of a pagoda inside the Tianning Temple of Changzhou, when the construction work was nearing completion.

Zhu, who was in charge of the pagoda's copper decorations and tiles, rushed to the site. In shock and surprise, Zhu, a national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, found the melting copper dripping onto the ground and assuming a distinctively carefree quality in form.

The incident inspired him to develop a signature technique and aesthetic, showing the free-flowing texture of copper on the surface of the wares, sculptures and paintings, an aesthetic which has since become a trademark of his copper art.

Recently, Zhu donated 10 such works to the National Museum of China in Beijing where he held a major show in 2024.

Zhu was born in 1944 when the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) forced the closure of his family's generations-old copper workshop in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province.

But the craft survived the war and decades later, Zhu resumed the business.

He had bold ideas. He wanted to imbue the craft he had inherited with a strong artistic sense of modernism, not only creating decorative items but embodying an aesthetic vision that would appeal to audiences both at home and abroad. The molten copper method became the crux of this goal.

"It seems that when unbound by molds, copper is set free, and the true nature of this material turns it into forms that are even more expressive, conveying a feeling of artistry never seen before,"Zhu says.

Wave, by Zhu Bingren, depicts the crest of a huge ocean breaker. The color gradation from dark blue to pale white gives life to the imposing wave. CHINA DAILY

Among his donations to the National Museum of China is Wave, which depicts the crest of a huge ocean breaker, reminiscent of Katsushika Hokusai's iconic woodblock print, The Great Wave. The uneven surface of molten copper, together with the color gradation from dark blue to pale white, gives life to the imposing wave.

While Zhu has infused a modern sensibility into his copper art, to open a dialogue between traditional Chinese handicrafts and the world, his son Zhu Junmin, born in 1969, also a national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor, has blazed a different trail for copper art.

The son has found inspiration in the unique qinggong (elegant offerings) tradition. The term originally referred to the ritual tributes used in Buddhist practice and the worship of deities.

Over time, its meaning broadened to include objects for aesthetic appreciation in everyday spaces, including porcelain vessels, incense burners and vases, as well as flowers and fruits that were valued for their fragrance or auspicious symbolism.

Zhu Junmin has donated four such qinggong-themed copper sculptures to the National Museum of China. "The qinggong art embodies scholarly aesthetic preferences — it derives from potted flower arrangements and painted hangings, which were popular leisurely activities among elite intellectuals in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). As a citizen of Hangzhou, the imperial capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279),I owe my work as a tribute to Song aesthetics."

He says that today, qinggong motifs reflect the wishes for prosperity and peace of ordinary people.

The father and son have sourced methods from many fine arts and crafts in history, such as the techniques of cobalt blue-and-white (qinghua) porcelain and painted enamel. They have integrated these into their work, turning objects into manifestations of not only copper art but also the entirety of Chinese culture.

Zhu Bingren says that when learning from their predecessors, "people today also need to learn from the world, to innovate, and to leave some wisdom for the following generations".