Mottled Bronze

Yunnan is known as the Kingdom of Nonferrous Metals. According to historical records, in the West Han Dynasty, Tanglang (today's Dongchuan) was famous for its bronze production. Mottled bronze products are peculiar handicrafts invented by folk craftsmen through their long - term practice. As early as the Ming Dynasty, mottled bronze was contributed to the royal court as a tribute. 

 Mottled bronze resembles ancient bronze in color but is a little reddish. Mottled bronze is so called because there are dark blue, vio­let, black and red mottles on it. Mottled bronze is classified into crude molded bronze and melted mottled bronze. The crude bronze is a natu­ral one. It is said that the craftsmen in Dongchuan happened to find a natural mottled bronze mixed with other metals. By using a cold forging technique, they directly made out of the mottled bronze such handicrafts as vases, incense burners and so on. However, there is only a small reserve of crude mottled bronze. Thus melted mottled bronze came into being. It is an artificial mottled bronze produced by melting bronze and other metals and adopting strict, complicated craftsman­ship.

From crude mottled bronze to melted mottled bronze, the design and presence of mottled bronze handicrafts have been greatly improved. The most wonderful thing about such a handicraft is the mottles, which impress people with a simple style. That is why it has become world -famous. In 19J4, at the exposition held in San Fransisco of the U.S. , of a large number of bronze handicrafts on show, Kunming' s "Nine Dragon Quadripod" made of mottled bronze appealed to many visitors and was finally sold at a high price of 80 liang of gold.

Since the founding of the People' s Republic of China, the crafts­manship of mottled bronze has been greatly developed. Factories pro­ducing mottled bronze handicrafts have been set up in Kunming, Huize and other places. This has changed the situation in which the skill was passed: on from the father to the son or from the master to the appren­tice. Technicians have made systematic studies and renovations of the craftsmanship. The products of Kunming Mottled Bronze Factory have won prizes at international expositions and all kinds of exhibitions in China. Statistics show that by the first half of 1997 the factory had won over 40 prizes at important world and domestic exhibitions. Among them, "the Statue of Buddha" and other four pieces rank among the state's artistic treasures. Recently, mottled bronze handicrafts have been presented as precious gifts to presidents of other countries and distinguished guests. In 1997, when the Chinese Government resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was set up, the gift presented by Yunnan Provincial Government was a huge mottled bronze peacock vase, which had a height of 1.86 meters and a weight of 638 kilograms.