China · Lacquerware / Metalwork / Inlay
成都错漆嵌金银丝 (Chéngdū Cuò Qī Qiàn Jīn Yín Sī)
Chengdu gold and silver inlay (错漆嵌金银丝) is an extraordinary hybrid technique combining Sichuan lacquerware and metalwork into a single object: fine gold and silver wires are pressed into channels cut in a lacquered wooden surface, then the surface is flooded with black lacquer and polished flat — revealing the metal wires as glittering lines of gold and silver flush with the lacquer surface. The procedural knowledge encompasses channel-cutting with a V-gouge (channels must match wire diameter precisely — too wide and wire rocks; too narrow and wire cannot be pressed in without distortion), wire pressing technique (wire must be pressed to the full channel depth without surface distortion using a bone or ivory pressing tool), and the lacquer flooding and polishing sequence that reveals the metal without scratching it. This is among the rarest techniques in the CRAFT database — fewer than 5 practitioners can execute the full process.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · China National ICH List (2008)
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