Basketwork on Porcelain

This is national art with a tradition of barely 100 years. It is very fine basketwork woven with thread-like bamboo strips round a porcelain vessel as the body. If the latter is compared to a beauty, the basket will be her elegant and close-fitting dress; it not only protects the vessel but also enhances its appeal.

To weave such a basket involves a process of a dozen steps or more. The bamboo must be flawless on the surface and at least 2/3 of a meter long between the joints. Thread-thin strips are drawn from it, averaging about one kilogram from every 100 kilograms of bamboo. Then the handicraftsman weaves the strips, next to the surface of the porcelain, into a basket of close-knit and even-arranged warp and weft without showing any ends or joints. The basket, in some cases, is woven with pictures of various figures, bringing the art to an even higher level of ingenuity. Even if the porcelain inside should be broken, the basket itself would still remain a fine piece of art worth keeping.