Qian Gaochao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Qian Gaochao, Male, Unspecified, from Linan, Zhejiang, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Stone Carving (Ⅶ-56). The tradition is documented in Linan, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Stone Carving in Linan, Zhejiang: Chicken-blood stone carving uses chicken-blood stone quarried from Yuyan Mountain in Daxiagu Town, Lin'an City, Zhejiang Province as its raw material, and is transmitted with the support of bodies such as the Zhejiang Changhua Stone Carving Factory. Craftsmen match the workmanship to the stone and draw their ingenuity from the blood-red streaks, striving for a harmony of pattern and substance in which material and craft seem formed by nature itself, so that from conception and technique to modelling every trace of human effort is effaced, fully revealing the marvel of almost superhuman workmanship. Chicken-blood stone carving has continued from the Warring States period to the present, with a developmental history of more than two thousand years. In the mid-Qing dynasty, stone carvers settled in the area where chicken-blood stone was produced, and a distinctive artistic character and transmission lineage gradually took shape. Historically, chicken-blood stone carving products were once listed as tribute articles and used for imperial seals, and thereby became rare and precious craft works, held in esteem by literati and connoisseurs of successive dynasties.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1956, a native of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. A senior arts and crafts artist and a Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. He began carving Changhua stone and Changhua chicken-blood stone in 1973. In 1981 he was engaged by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Geology and Mineral Resources (mineral testing) as a technical instructor in carving, and studied sculpture at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. In 1985 he returned to his home town and founded the Zhejiang Changhua Stone Carving Factory, training apprentices and teaching the craft. For more than forty years he has absorbed the strengths of many schools and formed a distinctive style of stone carving. His representative work, The Meritorious Deeds of the King of Qian, was collected by the China Arts and Crafts Museum, while other works, including Seals with Thin-Relief Designs of Successive Emperors and Portrait Seals of Foreign Heads of State, have won awards or been presented to foreign guests as state gifts. Within the documented technical tradition of Stone Carving in Linan, Zhejiang: Stone carving, also known as "stone engraving" (shike), is a traditional manual carving art that uses stone as its raw material. China's stone-carving art has a long history and has been passed down in an unbroken line over thousands of years to the present day, displaying the consummate technique, ingenious conception and abundant creativity of traditional folk craftsmanship. Stone carving is generally carried out on natural stone materials such as marble, granite, bluestone and sandstone, and in the process the carver must employ a series of practised folk carving techniques, including round carving (yuandiao), relief carving (fudiao), openwork carving (toudiao) and line engraving (xianke). Because these stone materials are taken from nature and can be preserved for a long time, stone carving is mostly used to make large-scale sculptures and decorative sculptures. According to their use, stone-carving products fall mainly into three categories: first, architectural components and ornaments, such as pedestals, memorial archways and stone lions; second, images of deities and Buddhas, such as the statues in the Yungang Grottoes of Shanxi and the Longmen Grottoes of Henan; and third, everyday articles that are both decorative and practical, such as table ornaments and inkstones. Traditional stone carving uses tools such as axes, hammers and chisels; in modern times more advanced implements such as glycerine gunpowder and simple machinery began to be adopted. With the development of society, stone-carving craftsmanship has steadily improved, and related products circulate widely on the market as distinctive goods, possessing an artistic charm all their own. Chicken-blood stone carving is a traditional carving art popular in Daxiagu Town, Lin'an City, Zhejiang Province. It uses chicken-blood stone quarried from the local Yuyan Mountain as its raw material; this stone naturally has a brilliant, fresh red colour and crystal clarity, and its quality is precious — it is hailed as one of China's six great "national stones". From the Warring States period to the present, chicken-blood stone carving has a developmental history of more than two thousand years. In the mid-Qing dynasty, stone carvers settled in the area where chicken-blood stone was produced, and the distinctive artistic features and transmission lineage of chicken-blood stone carving gradually took shape. The natural blood-red colouring is the most precious quality of chicken-blood stone. Chicken-blood stone carving works from this characteristic of the material, matching the workmanship to the stone and drawing its ingenuity from the blood-red streaks, striving for a harmony of pattern and substance in which material and craft seem formed by nature itself, so that from conception and technique to final modelling every trace of human artifice is effaced, fully revealing the marvel of almost superhuman workmanship. Historically, chicken-blood stone carving products were once listed as tribute articles and used as imperial seals, which greatly raised the standing of chicken-blood stone carving, made its products rare and precious craft works, and won them the esteem of literati and connoisseurs of successive dynasties. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Matching the work to the stone": The natural blood vermilion is the stone's treasure, so carvers match the work to the stone and exploit the red patches, effacing all trace of the hand. "A national stone and imperial tribute": Bloodstone from Yuyan mountain is one of China's six national stones and was once presented as tribute and carved into imperial seals. "Qian Gaochao and Merits of the Kings of Qian": The inheritor Qian Gaochao, born in 1956, founded the Zhejiang Changhua stone-carving factory; his Merits of the Kings of Qian is in the China Craft Art Museum.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A national representative bearer of Stone Carving (Chicken-Blood Stone Carving), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Qian Gaochao · National Representative Bearer Archive