Makers › Master Craftsmen
Zhang Cheng
Late Yuan lacquer carver from Yanghui in Xitang, Jiaxing, whose carved red and guri lacquers bear a needle-cut 'Zhang Cheng zao' mark
A craft workshop centres on a potter's wheel holding a tall celadon vase, amid racks of red lacquer boxes, an embroidery frame with a floral design, shelves of celadon ware, carved wooden panels and stacked logs, while one craftsman works at a table and another stands at a glowing kiln.
Also known as Signed 'Zhang Cheng zao'
- Roles
- Master Craftsmen
Zhang Cheng was a lacquer worker from Yanghui in Xitang, Jiaxing prefecture, at the end of the Yuan; the Ming gazetteer of Jiaxing names him and Yang Mao as the best-known makers of carved red lacquer. His pieces have a thick lacquer build and softly rounded carving, and few survive, most of them abroad. The Palace Museum in Beijing holds his carved red dish with gardenia and a guri dish with cloud scrolls, both needle-inscribed 'made by Zhang Cheng' near the foot; a guri box in the Anhui Museum and a carved red dish with children at play in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum are also reference pieces for Yuan carved lacquer.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the late Yuan