A Study on the Decorative Installations of Dehua Blue-and-White Porcelain and Ceramic Mosaic Sculpture from the Perspective of Li Shutong's Aesthetic Education of Personality

Abstract

As a key heritage site within the "Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China" complex, the Dehua Kiln produced vast quantities of blue-and-white porcelain during the Qing Dynasty. Large numbers of discarded fragments from everyday wares found their way into the community, serving as vital mosaic materials for the Minnan jianciqiao (cut-and-paste porcelain sculpture) craft, thereby giving rise to a unique aesthetic of creation from fragments-a progression from "World Heritage kiln product" to "discarded fragment" to "architectural decoration." Li Shutong's philosophy of aesthetic education-which prioritizes the cultivation of character and broad insight (qishi) over mere artistic technique-gave rise to the practical concept of "forging insight through objects." This approach entails, on one hand, that creators cultivate deep cultural insight and ensure their technical expression remains subordinate to their character and scholarship; on the other, it uses objects as a medium to influence the public's character, offering a localized theoretical perspective for the contemporary creation of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Current creative practices involving Dehua blue-and-white jianciqiao often suffer from a lack of understanding regarding the material lineage of this World Heritage ware, a tendency to merely replicate decorative symbols, a weakening of the narrative potential inherent in the fragments, and an absence of aesthetic educational value. Grounded in the bidirectional logic of "forging insight through objects" and drawing on field research, this paper examines the localized evolution of Dehua blue-and-white fragments within the context of Quanzhou's World Heritage status and analyzes the practical challenges of their contemporary transformation. It explores creative pathways for mixed-media jianciqiao installations across three dimensions: the construction of the creator's insight, the reconstruction of the narrative surrounding the fragments, and the realization of aesthetic education through decorative installations. The study concludes that the contemporary creation of installations using Dehua blue-and-white fragments is not merely a matter of re-engineering craft and form; rather, it leverages World Heritage material remains to translate the cultural memory of the Maritime Silk Road. It achieves a synthesis of the object as a carrier, the creator's personal cultivation, and the moral edification of the public, thereby providing a practical paradigm-rooted in character-building aesthetic education-for the living transmission of Quanzhou's handicraft-based Intangible Cultural Heritage.