五彩入瓷 · 色韵流转
Chromatic Passage
Colour as Material, Language and Heritage: The Journey of Liling Underglaze Wucai Porcelain
A Century of Liling Porcelain · International Collections · Contemporary Dialogue
Exhibition
16 – 19 October 2026
Daily, 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Opening Reception
Sat, 17 October 2026
2:30 – 8:00 PM · Opening ceremony, artist talk & afternoon tea · By invitation only
About the ExhibitionWhy this exhibition?
Traditional Chinese colour constitutes an aesthetic system rather than merely a decorative language, and Liling Underglaze Wucai Porcelain is one of the most significant material expressions of that system.
Can a traditional colour system continue to evolve without losing its cultural identity?
Chromatic Passage traces the journey of colour in Liling porcelain — from its material origins to its future within a global visual culture — and explores how a traditional colour system continues to generate new meanings as it enters different cultural contexts.
The exhibition unfolds in four chapters — Genesis, Practice, Continuum and Passage — tracing the evolution of Liling Underglaze Wucai from material experimentation to a mature ceramic language, and its continuing transformation through inheritance and cross-cultural dialogue.
Presented by Chen Yanglong Kiln of Liling, Hunan, and co-organised by the Asian Ceramic Society, the exhibition brings to Singapore the work of Master Chen Yanglong, creator of the “light painting and shallow infiltrating” technique (薄施淡染), together with Chen Li and Shen Bin, the fourth generation of the Chen family. Their works are held in the National Museum of China, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other institutions.
Exhibition poster
The Journey of ColourFrom material to global aesthetics
I · Genesis
Colour Becomes Material
色之生成
In the early 20th century, Liling craftspeople developed high-temperature colourants such as Agate Red, Sea Turquoise, Grass Green, Black and Brown — colours that stay stable in the kiln and create luminous, layered effects between body and glaze.
II · Practice
Colour Becomes Language
色之书写
Chen Yanglong’s original “light painting and shallow infiltrating” technique builds up many translucent layers that naturally diffuse and merge during firing — achieving complexity through simplicity and favouring delicate variation over bold expression.
III · Continuum
Colour Becomes Heritage
色之延续
Colour is never static. Through family and apprenticeship, Chen Yanglong Kiln preserves the technique, while fourth-generation inheritors Chen Li and Shen Bin expand its themes, spatial expression and palettes, bringing the family’s art to the world.
IV · Passage
Beyond Geography
色之流转
Every tradition begins in a place; every living tradition must eventually travel beyond it. An experimental porcelain colour-tile installation shows the palette in motion — not the final chapter of tradition, but the beginning of its next journey.
The ArtistsThe master and the fourth generation of the Chen family
Chen Yanglong
陈扬龙 · 1941 – 2013
Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts and National Representative Inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage. He developed the signature “light painting and shallow infiltrating” technique and refined the traditional four-stage firing process, establishing an elegant, translucent aesthetic that profoundly influenced contemporary Liling porcelain.
Chen Li
陈利 · b. 1968
National Representative Inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Senior Arts and Crafts Artist and a fourth-generation inheritor of the Chen family. She is a key inheritor of the “light painting and shallow infiltrating” technique. Six of her works are held in the National Museum of China, and A Flourishing Splendour entered the collection of the British Museum in 2025.
Shen Bin
申彬 · b. 1979
Provincial Representative Inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Senior Arts and Crafts Artist and a fourth-generation inheritor of the Chen family. She is a key inheritor of the “light painting and shallow infiltrating” technique. Her works are held in the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the National Museum of China, among other institutions.
Selected WorksLiling underglaze wucai porcelain
Artist: Chen Yanglong · Form design: Yang YongshanCollection: National Museum of China
Artist: Chen Li · Form design: Yang YongshanCollection: National Museum of China / The British Museum
Artist: Shen Bin · Form design: Zhang ShouzhiCollection: National Museum of China / The British Museum
More works from Chen Yanglong Kiln
Explore in 3DVase with pear blossoms · Chen Li
Turn the vase to follow the painting around its body: drag to rotate, pinch to zoom (or click the vase, then scroll), or use the buttons beside it to turn, zoom, pause and reset the view.
Pear blossoms and leaves are painted beneath the glaze in soft, translucent greens that melt into the white porcelain.
A digital reconstruction made from a single studio photograph: the form is recovered from the photograph’s outline and perspective, and the painting is mapped onto the glaze. The photograph shows only the front, so the back of the model repeats the front painting.
Public Lecture: Beneath the GlazeUnderstanding the colour system of Liling underglaze wucai porcelain
Through the history of Liling Underglaze Wucai Porcelain, this lecture explores how colour became a distinctive artistic language shaped by materials, technology, painting traditions and cross-cultural exchange.
- Date Friday, 9 October 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 PM
- Venue Prestige Gallery, 39 Keppel Road, #03-01, Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Singapore 089065
- Language Mandarin, with English subtitles
- Admission Open to everyone interested in art, ceramics, design and cultural history — no prior knowledge of ceramics required
Organisers
Presented by
Chen Yanglong Kiln
Liling, Hunan, China
Co-organised by
Asian Ceramic Society
亚洲陶瓷学会
Singapore
Supported by
Gosun Art Gallery
高晟艺术画廊Asia Chinese Culture and Art Association
亚洲中华文化艺术协会Yrellag Gallery, Hong KongLiling Museum, Hunan
Academic Researcher
Enya Huang
黄海瑛