The history of wood carving in China can be traced back to the late Neolithic Age 7,000 years ago.The wood-carved birds unearthed in Xinle of Liaoning Province and the wood-carved fish unearthed in the ruins of Hemudu,Yuyao County,Zhejiang Province,are the earliest wood carvings discovered to date.
In China,wood carvings are divided into many varieties.According to the wood used,they can be grouped into hard-wood car vings,corkwood car vings,longan-wood car vings,Chinese little-leaf box car vings and camphor wood car vings.Besides,they can be divided into gold lacquer wood carvings,color drawing wood carvings and true color wood carvings in line with their external decorations.
At present,of the various kinds of traditional folk wood carvings of China,the best known and most influential are the wood carvings of Dongyang County,Zhejiang Province.
In the middle of Zhejiang Province, Dongyang County is surrounded by mountains. It has a temperate climate and plentiful wood.Its geographic environment is self-enclosed and the customs are simple,honest and unspoiled.Many skilled craftsmen can be found here.It has the reputation of being“home to many craftsmen.”
The wood carving of Dongyang County has already had a history of more than 1,300 years.It came into being in the Tang Dynasty,was developed in the Song Dynasty and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties.The earliest material object of Dongyang wood carving we have today is a statue of Sudhana,a Buddha known in China as the Child of Fortune(pronounced as“shancai tongzi”),which was made in the second year of the reign of Jianlong of the Northern Song Dynasty(961).The Child of Fortune standing on the seat of lotus flowers is handsome and vivid.It is of great artistic attainment in
its design,shape and carving.
By the Ming Dynasty,a complete set of decorative methods and artistic style had been formed for the wood carvings of Dongyang County.The forms included deep relief,shallow relief and circular engraving.Meanwhile,the subjects were wide-ranging, including human figures, landscapes, beasts, flowers, birds, insects and fish.Decorative wood carvings with historical stories as subject-matter were also applied.Suyongtang,a private residence in the Ming Dynasty,has a history of more than 500 years.With carved beams and painted rafters,the entire building complex is magnificent.A memorial archway in the complex is completely wooden;
its wood-carving decorations in the tile eaves and the brackets inserted between the top of the columns and crossbeams are extremely fine.
An overall improvement was made in the workmanship of the wood carvings of Dongyang County by the Qing Dynasty(1644–1911).The most salient feature of the works from this period was the transition from simple to complex and rough to fine.There was a great improvement in the subject-matter.
Some drew material from Chinese literary classics,such as T h e Romance of the Three Kingdoms,and poems of the Tang and
Song dynasties.Some found subjects from fairy tales,such as Story of the White Snake and some draw material from historical stories,such as Hua Mulan Joins the Army.Some of the works reflect the local customs of Dongyang,such as“The Woodman,”“Playing the
Swing,”“Setting off a Firecracker,”“Playing Dragon Lanterns,”“Woman Pig Raiser”and“The Story of a Peasant and a Cowboy.”
By the middle of the Qing Dynasty,more than 400 wood-carving artists from Dongyang were working in Beijing to decorate the imperial palace.
After the 1911 Revolution in China,gradually some artworks and decorative wood carvings were exported to the United States and Southeast Asia.In 1953,a statue of Sakyamuni,19.6 meters high and weighing 26 tons,carved by Dongyang wood-carving masters,was erected in the main hall of Linying Monastery in Hangzhou.In the Great Hall of the People in Beijing over 100 pieces of Dongyang wood carvings are displayed.The 24 huge,long pieces of wood carvings at Donggong Restaurant in Singapore is a great pioneering work in the history of Dongyang wood carving.
From designing and drawing material,Dongyang wood carving goes through the five stages:carving rough base, carving of fine base, polishing, line carving and assembly.Carving consists mainly of the workmanship of relief carving and high relief carving of multi-layers with a strong supple effect—detailed and complicated but not unorganized.In a period of over 1,000 years of practice,more than a dozen carving skills,such as relief carving,circular engraving,semi-circular engraving,saw-hollowed engraving,through double-faced engraving,semi engraving,intaglio and inlaid engraving have been developed in Dongyang wood carving.The various carving knives needed to complete a piece of artwork account can number as high as 50.
Dongyang wood carving falls into large,medium and small forms:the large ones are mainly used in temples,large halls and buildings,vaults of stages and pillars and beams.The medium-sized ones are mainly used in the surfaces of beds,wardrobes,cupboards,tables and chairs and screens.The small ones are mostly display items,including boxes,pans,hanging screens,confectionary,as well as circular carvings of human figures,flowers,birds and animals.Most of the products are both practical and artistic.
In the wood carvings of China,those of Dongyang are known in the whole world for their long history,many varieties and vast substance,and are made with consummate skill.