China has a long history in woodcarving. Picturesque in contours, concise in intended meanings, exquisite in chiseling skills, Chinese woodcarving embodies harmony, in terms of the relationship between each component and the carving as a whole. Based on customs and myths, its themes in general are classified into the following four categories: auspicious designs, such as “excessive happiness”, “full crops harvest” “peaceful and hearts’ desire” “longevity” “good luck”; figures for enjoyment purpose, such as characters in operas, ancient heroes, historical novels, myths, fables; local people’s life style, such as farming, harvesting, sericulture, weaving, herding, hunting, sewing, commerce, love, etc.; fowls and beasts, plants, vegetables and fruits that people are familiar with. Beasts, such as chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, pig, cow, horse, deer, bat, fish and shrimp.
Woodcarving takes various forms: low relief, deep relief, transparent relief and full relief. Many hollowed-out deep relief are pieced together with full relief. Varied in chiseling techniques according to different materials, strengthened in sense of space, they constitute a kind of multiplayer deep relief similar to full relief, which is very pleasant to see.
Recent Comments