景泰藍 (Jingtai lan)
Jingtai lan (景泰藍 — 'Jingtai blue') is the Beijing court cloisonné tradition brought to Taiwan by mainland craftspeople in 1949 — now more actively practiced in Taiwan than in Beijing, where the Cultural Revolution severely disrupted the tradition. Cloisonné involves soldering fine copper wire (cloisons) onto a copper base in decorative patterns, filling the cells with powdered enamel, firing, grinding, and polishing to a flat surface. The defining Taiwan-specific knowledge is the enamel color mixing: Jingtai blue — the signature turquoise of the tradition — is produced by mixing copper oxide with a lead-boron glass base at a specific ratio that varies with each kiln's temperature profile. Each workshop calibrates its own ratio — the same powder mix fired in a different kiln produces a different color — and the workshop's blue formula is considered proprietary knowledge.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Taiwan national ICH list; China UNESCO inscription (2006) — Taiwan practices same tradition independently
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