Fauteuil racine Chine Quianlong musee arts asiatiques Nice

Root carving is a traditional

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...

form. It consists of carving and polishing tree

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

s into various artistic creations.

History

Carving of roots has been practiced since very early times; like many other artistic crafts, root carvings were originally produced in a primitive manner. The earliest root carvings are “辟邪” and “角形器”, showing up in the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, root carving works not only prevailed in folk, but they were also cherished by the governing class. In the Tang dynasty, people laid emphasis on the natural forms of roots, cleverly taking advantage of the effect of corrosion and moth-eaten. In the

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

and Yuan dynasties, art of root carving not only developed in the court and folk, but also appeared in grottoes and temples. Roots were used to carve the statues of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

, always comparing favorably with the clay.

Features

Root carving is widely said to preserve natural beauties present in the roots already. Ancient and modern artists alike create lifelike, vivid works with a special technique using expression based on the roots' natural forms. Root carving is different from

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

, as it combines peculiarity with ingeniousness. Although its aesthetic principals share common ground with engraving, at the same time they are applied uniquely. The common ground is that they share expressive techniques of

wood carving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

, stone carving and so on, overcoming weaknesses by acquiring others strong points. The difference lies in the natural shape of roots. During the creative process, root carving mostly maintains the natural form of the root, adding some artificial polishing. In other words, root carving is guided by the inherent qualities of the root, rather than by strictly carving images.

Necessities

Creative effect achieved from the same material can vary from artist to artist. Within the field, three factors are generally considered of major importance. *Uniqueness of the root - To some degree, root carving is an act of discovery. Finding and working with a unique root is half of the task and requires experience and a keen aesthetic vision. *Cultural foundation - Rich cultural foundation, referring to the overall creative process, highlights the natural beauty of the root. *Craftsmanship - The natural beauty of roots can be realized from a fertile imagination and a high degree of composition.

References

{{Woodworking Arts in China Sculpture techniques Woodworking