Chen Liling · 陳麗玲
Dehua · Third-generation porcelain artist
A life observed. A gesture held in porcelain.
For Chen Liling, porcelain is a way of looking closely at people. A tilt of the head, a fold of clothing, a flower tucked into the hair: small observations become the presence of a figure.
Born in Dehua in 1975, she grew up in the Chen family’s porcelain-sculpting tradition. Her grandfather Chen Qitai and father Chen Deqing preceded her at the workbench. Since beginning her practice as a teenager, she has developed a distinctive body of figurative work, with women’s lives and the culture of southern Fujian at its centre.
Fujian Provincial Master of Arts and Crafts
Fujian Provincial Master of Ceramic Art
Representative inheritor of Dehua porcelain-firing heritage at Quanzhou municipal level · Senior arts-and-crafts professional · National Grade 1 technician.
Three works in the collection of the National Museum of China: Guanyin Standing on Clouds, Xunpu Woman and Hui’an Women.
Selected works
From classical figures to women encountered in everyday life, her sculptures give the softness of cloth and the intimacy of a gesture a lasting form. Select an image to view the original.
Image: National Museum of China
Image: XIANSU studio filming, 2026
Image: Boyuan Dehua Ceramics
Image: XIANSU studio filming, 2026
Image: supplied photograph.
Image: XIANSU studio filming, 2026.
Hui’an Women: awards, collections and exhibitions
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2010 · Bronze Award
First China Historic Famous Porcelain Firing Techniques Competition. -
2014 · Silver Award
China Craft Excellence Awards at the seventh Cross-Strait Cultural Industries Fair. -
2016 · Fujian Museum collection
Entered the Fujian Museum’s permanent collection, as recorded in the artist’s archive. -
2017 · Xiamen BRICS meeting and public collection
Selected in the gift-development programme for the BRICS Xiamen meeting; collected by the Xiamen International Conference Center. -
2023 · National Museum of China collection
Hui’an Women and Xunpu Woman joined the museum’s collection, following Guanyin Standing on Clouds in 2017. -
2024 · National Art Museum of China exhibition
Hui’an Women, dated 2006, was listed in “Blanc de Chine: Dehua Porcelain Art”. The catalogue records 19 × 14 × 32.5 cm. This is an exhibition record.
Selected honours and collections
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2007 · Offering a Flower · 獻花一朵
Silver Award, “A Dialogue with History: Dehua Ceramics Past and Present”; collection of the Fujian Museum, as recorded in the artist’s archive. -
2008–2009 · A developing language of figures
Gold awards for Sisters, Three Sisters and Wang Xifeng at the respective cross-strait women’s art, Fujian copyright creativity, and provincial ceramic design exhibitions. -
2012 · Provincial master recognition
Named Fujian Provincial Master of Arts and Crafts and Fujian Provincial Master of Ceramic Art. -
2016 · Dress and movement
Three Sisters in Qipao: Special Gold Award, “Fudiao” Awards at the third Cross-Strait Sculpture Art Competition. -
2017 · Museums and public collections
Guanyin Standing on Clouds is recorded as collected by the National Museum of China. Sisters and Hui’an Women were selected in the gift-development programme for the Xiamen BRICS meeting and collected by the Xiamen International Conference Center.