Foshan Wood Carving
Foshan Wood Carving
Nominating Unit: City of Foshan
Wood carving in Foshan is a kind of folk carving art in the Pearl River Delta, mainly distributed in the Districts of Chancheng, Nanhai, and Sanshui nominated by City of Foshan, and by some cities in Guangzhou. It sprang up in the Ming Dynasty with its prime time reached in the mid-and late Qing Dynasty. According to The Foshan Record of Heroic Deeds, there were over ten stores such as Diaohuahang in Foshan wood carving industry in the Qing Dynasty. During the early reign of the Emperor Xianfeng (1851), Xinghuatang Wood Carving Craft Union was established. During the early reign of Emperor Guangxu (1875), Wood Carving Association was organized. That period of time witnessed a booming number of skilled craftsmen turning out enormous splendid works of wood carving.
Foshan boasts a great variety of wood carvings: the architectural decoration carvings that are widely applied in memorial temples, residential halls, roof plates of pavilion, entrance halls, decorated gateways, windows, and flowery eaves; the artifacts carvings of God, God Praying Desk, God attic; the decorative carvings of practical utensils such as Drums and Gongs cabinet, large sized bed, table and chair; as well as some decorative carvings of articles for display such as palace lantern, stele, and screen door, etc. The major themes painted revolve around colorful and eye-catching stories of historical figures, landscape, gardens, plants, auspicious animals, splendid calligraphies, etc.(https://www.daowen.com)
The main timbers of Foshan Wood Carving are teak, camphor wood and fir, with some padauk and rosewood in between. The technique of Wood carving includes piercing, line carving, thin engraving, basrelief, high relief, and multilayer high relief, etc coupled with mature, refined, and powerful knife skill; the carved articles have clear-cut layers, precise structures, balanced symmetry, and enriched images in a dignified, bold and straightforward style. Foshan Wood Carving is mainly characterized by piercing multilayer high relief. The existing camphor wood piercing multilayer high relief in main hall of Foshan ancestral temple named as “Magnificent gold decorated gateway” has three layers from top to bottom, piercing the stories of historical figures; the teak piercing multilayer high relief in main hall named as “Black Gold Sticking Grand God Praying Desk” is 9.4 chi (1 chi=1/3 metre) long and 3.4 chi high, with the story of “the emperor Qin and the assassin Jing Ke” and “Li Yuanba conquering dragon-like foal” carved on it. In Qionghua hall, there is a scene in which four foreigners are struck down by soldiers so that on both sides each foreigner kneels on the ground holding God Praying Desk over their heads. Also carved is the intricate structure of dragon palace where mountains and forest are intertwined, amid which there are 126 people with different costumes, facial expressions and actions. It has become a rare treasure of Foshan Wood carving, and been listed as the second class national cultural relic for protection. It was made elaborately 110 years ago by woodcarving craftsman Huang Guanghua, which sufficiently proved that there had been consummate wood-carving technique at that time.
Foshan Wood Carving is an important representative of the Lingnan (the south of the Five Ridges) wood carving art. It is also one of the symbols of Foshan as an ancient historical and cultural city. Foshan Wood Carving can be easily recognized in the architectural ornaments in the Cantonese Assembling place in Singapore, Vietnam, and Southeast Asian nations, and in Hong Kong and Macao SARs. However, with the rise of modern architecture, traditional wood carving gradually gives its way to newfashioned architectural ornament. Worse still, there are few youngsters well prepared to inherit this technique. The only inheritor He Yaohui has been 60 years old so far. Foshan Wood Carving is now on the verge of getting extinct, calling for urgent measures for effective protection from relevant departments.
