For many of us, work is a matter of busting our backsides just to get by. But there are others for whom work is not only something they enjoy but a whole way of life. Banknote engraver Sun Wen-hsiung is one such lucky soul. After spending some 50 years working for the Central Engraving and Printing Plant, the skills he developed in the course of his career became more than just work for him, to the point that even in his retirement he continues to put them to creative use.
In ancient times, humanity developed money as a means of facilitating trade and commerce, with paper currency among its various forms.
Intaglio engraving and negotiable instruments
In the early days, banknotes were not necessarily issued by governments. However, in response to the growing incidence of counterfeiting and a corresponding need to maintain economic stability, they ultimately came under unified government control. At the same time, paper, ink, printing technology, and designs continued to develop in order to outmaneuver similarly evolving methods of counterfeiting.
Among the various techniques employed, intaglio engraving could be considered to have the highest artistic value. Fine lines and complex engraving and printing techniques are key features of intaglio printmaking. In 1661 the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco became the first to apply the art of platemaking to banknotes, marking the first time that intaglio engraving and negotiable instruments would come together. Today intaglio is used for banknotes, stock and bond certificates and postage stamps across the globe.
A modern-day court engraver
“Intaglio art may seem completely irrelevant to us, but banknotes are a different story,” says Sun Wen-hsiung.
Sun’s name may not ring a bell, but you’re definitely familiar with his work. Just open your wallet and take a look at a New Taiwan Dollar bill. The Chung-Shan Building on the NT$100, the young baseball players throwing their caps in the air on the NT$500, and even the Mikado pheasant on the NT$1000 and the two Formosan landlocked salmon on the NT$2000—all of these finely crafted images come from the hand of Sun Wen-hsiung. Like a court artist of old, he spent long years flying under the radar, only finally stepping into the spotlight after his retirement.
Born in Tongluo, Miaoli County in 1942, at just 16 years old Sun tested into a job with the Central Engraving and Printing Plant. He retired in 2007, and in the intervening decades he got career guidance not only from more experienced colleagues but also from well-known figures in the art like Japanese engraver Katsuzo Oshikiri and Chinese engraver Zhao Jun. He even traveled to Europe to study rotary printing. With a wealth of experience and a practically oriented approach to learning, Sun is one of a small number of true experts in intaglio engraving.
Sun Wen-hsiung has a lasting fondness for his former career and proudly displays his old “engraving section” office doorplate.
Needle-tip precision
The primary element of intaglio engraving is linework. Artists use tools to engrave images on steel or copper plates using strong, well-proportioned lines and dots. By varying their thickness and density, they can create richly textured images with subtle variations of light and shadow.
Throughout the process, patience and perseverance are essential. After engraving, the plate is inked and wiped, then sent through a special press that prints out crisp, clear images using pressures averaging 80 tons per square centimeter. Due to the pressure applied and the layering of ink, the resulting work feels textured to the touch, with minute bumps and ridges that give it a distinctive charm.
Having invested so much time and effort into completing them, Sun treasures each and every one of his works. Among them, he found the image of the Chung-Shan Building on the NT$100 bill the most challenging. To the naked eye, says Sun, images can look smooth and natural at just four lines per millimeter, but for banknotes that density needs to be up at five lines.
But the real challenge in depicting the Chung-Shan Building was not the necessary fineness of the lines, but rather the complex architectural details and their linear perspective. On top of that, once a line is cut, it cannot be taken back; if it was cut wrong, the whole piece just has to be thrown out.
Retired, but still working
Stepping into Sun Wen-hsiung’s studio in Yonghe, New Taipei City, one is struck by how the small space is divided into a workroom and an exhibition area. In addition to his finished prints, there are various tools and items of equipment, including gravers, a magnifier, a reducing machine, and a printing press. The furnishings look rather plain, but the focus and rigor of the artist shine through.
While he may be retired now, Sun’s days are just as busy and fulfilling as ever—each day he sets aside a fixed four-hour period for creative work, as though he were still working for a living. He is always investigating different media and techniques, experimenting and testing his limits. It is long, hard work, “but whenever I complete a new piece, I get a real sense of joy out of it.” When he starts talking about his creative work, Sun’s eyes light up with a passion that belies his nearly 80 years.
In 2012 he completed a transparent acrylic engraving, making use of the medium’s ability to be engraved on both sides, as well as its thickness, to create a work with a striking three-dimensional effect that stands out against a black backdrop.
He was also commissioned to engrave a portrait of the model Lin Chi-ling. For this four-by-three-centimeter piece, he worked at an incredibly fine 13 lines per millimeter, resulting in an exquisite portrait notable especially for the soft, floating appearance of the hair. This intricate piece of work took Sun a full year to complete.
A man who has lived much of his life working at the micro scale, Sun has even tried his hand at “miniature writing”; “It feels as if neither the pen nor my fingers are even moving,” he says. On a strand of hair, he wrote out Yue Fei’s “Man Jiang Hong” at seven or eight characters per square millimeter, and on a single sesame seed, at ten characters per square millimeter, he wrote out Li Qingzhao’s “Late Spring in Wuling.” With the latter, he set a new Guinness World Record, and the craftsmanship in the lettering is beyond amazing.
While technology may continue to advance in leaps and bounds, with even the production of banknotes gradually moving toward a more computerized process, human artistic skill and craftsmanship remain virtually irreplaceable. Having left his life in officialdom behind, Sun has turned in recent years to holding exhibitions and lectures, as well as generously passing on his skills and methods to younger generations, so that this once mysterious and hidden art can be more widely appreciated and kept alive.
