Xiangya Carving
01 · Historical Records
The modern genealogy of Beijing ivory carving can be traced back to the master-apprentice workshop relationships of the late Qing: from 1950 onward Sun Sen apprenticed successively in the ivory workshops of Chen Xiu and Deng Wenli, taking as his masters the ivory-carving artists Chen Xiu and Deng Wenli, the latter known as Beauty Deng; the lineage of Yang Shihui, for its part, revived this ancient craft from its decline in the late Qing.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Ivory carving refers to the carving craft that uses ivory as its material, and the finished products made from it. The ivory carving of Beijing and Guangzhou has different artistic styles. Beijing ivory carving, that is, ivory carving in Beijing, has a documented history traceable at least two thousand years. In the course of its later development, outstanding craftsmen who migrated or were recruited to the capital from other regions constantly exchanged skills with local Beijing craftsmen; after several hundred years of practice, Beijing ivory carving acquired an elegant and sumptuous courtly artistic character and formed distinctive craft characteristics. Beijing ivory carving once declined in the late Qing, but through the efforts of Yang Shihui and his successors this ancient craft was revived. Owing to the inherent qualities of the ivory material, ivory carving possesses a noble and refined beauty and has become part of China's special craft art. Beijing ivory carving is a complex and demanding craft with a wide range of subjects, and its techniques are transmitted orally from master to apprentice. Since the 1980s, out of consideration for protecting elephant populations, the international community at one time banned the ivory trade, which plunged Beijing ivory carving, an industry entirely dependent on imported ivory raw material, into difficulties, facing a situation with neither raw materials nor young successors. Guangzhou ivory carving, that is, ivory carving in Guangzhou: openwork-carved ivory balls, flower boats, and micro-engraved calligraphy and painting are all representative of Guangdong ivory carving. Guangdong ivory-carving products fall into three main categories. The first is appreciation pieces, including ivory balls, flower boats, crab baskets, flower pagodas, vases, birds and beasts, human figures, and miniature mountain landscapes. The second is utilitarian articles, including folding fans, desk lamps, cigarette holders, cigarette tips, brush pots, powder boxes, seals, comb sets, chopsticks, toothpicks, bookmarks, paper knives, and Chinese chess pieces. The third is ornaments, including bracelets, necklaces, earrings, rings, and brooches. Guangzhou ivory carving places emphasis on carving work and is world-renowned for its openwork and deep-relief carving techniques; through long craft practice it has gradually formed a complete and superb set of carving techniques. Guangzhou ivory carving is delicate and exquisite, intricately wrought, and lays stress on the bleaching of ivory stock and colored decoration, suiting both refined and popular tastes. The works are distinguished by lustrous ivory texture and fine, detailed openwork carving; their overall composition is dense and lively, leaving no blank space. Ivory carving is ingeniously inlaid with various other materials such as red sandalwood, rhinoceros horn, tortoiseshell, and kingfisher feathers on a single object, giving the patterns greater depth; at the same time, the knife work is sharply angled, splendid and beautiful. Guangzhou ivory carving has a long history: it had already developed to a certain degree in the Qin and Han periods; in the Ming and Qing dynasties its craft and scale of production reached a historical peak; since the Republican era its level of craftsmanship has grown ever more refined, and it stands alone in the national ivory-carving trade. Located at the southern gateway of China, Guangzhou has close economic and trade exchanges with overseas regions, and the market for handicrafts with ethnic characteristics has considerable prospects for development. At present, however, there are no longer any family-style workshops in the Guangzhou ivory-carving trade, master-apprentice relations have changed greatly, and manual skills are imperceptibly being lost or altered, while the meticulous craft process has also come under pressure. Nobody is willing, or able, to make a living solely by traditional ivory-carving techniques, which has greatly affected the development of the Guangzhou ivory-carving industry and the transmission of its traditional skills; plans must be drawn up as soon as possible to change this unfavorable situation.
Archival Records of Process Steps
Located at the southern gateway of China, Guangzhou has close economic and trade exchanges with overseas regions, and the market for handicrafts with ethnic characteristics has considerable prospects for development. At present, however, there are no longer any family-style workshops in the Guangzhou ivory-carving trade, master-apprentice relations have changed greatly, and manual skills are imperceptibly being lost or altered, while the meticulous craft process has also come under pressure. Nobody is willing, or able, to make a living solely by traditional ivory-carving techniques, which has greatly affected the development of the Guangzhou ivory-carving industry and the transmission of its traditional skills; plans must be drawn up as soon as possible to change this unfavorable situation.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Beijing ivory carving excels in courtly character and its subject matter of ladies: in the mid-1970s Sun Sen undertook advanced study at the Central Academy of Craft Art, and he excelled at carving ivory figures of ladies, creating the wind-split-sash lady and reversed-pose lady forms as well as a block-positioning carving method; Wang Shuwen, for his part, combined traditional craft art with Western aesthetic tastes and carving techniques, and was thoroughly familiar with the properties of diverse materials such as ivory, jade, gems, gold, and silver.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Xiangya Carving · Xiangya Carving.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In recent years the international community has begun to abandon rigid trade bans, permitting trade in existing ivory stocks. Even so, this cannot solve the problem that Beijing ivory carving, as a special craft, has no one to transmit it; protection mechanisms should be established as soon as possible to excavate and rescue this ancient and distinctive craft. Guangzhou ivory carving is transmitted mainly through master-apprentice and family inheritance, adopting a handicraft-workshop mode of production. Famous inheritors include Chen Zuzhang, Weng Zhao, Weng Rongbiao, Feng Shaoxia, and Li Dingning. Sun Sen (from the official archive records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1936, from Beijing. Representative inheritor of Ivory Carving, an intangible cultural heritage item of the first national-level batch, and a Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. Beginning in 1950, he apprenticed successively in the ivory workshops of Chen Xiu and Deng Wenli, taking as his masters the ivory-carving artists Chen Xiu and Deng Wenli, the latter known as Beauty Deng. In the mid-1970s he pursued advanced study at the Central Academy of Craft Art and excelled at carving ivory figures of ladies. He organically combined traditional ivory-carving techniques with Chinese and foreign art theory, paying close attention to the proportions and structure of the human body; he created the wind-split-sash lady and reversed-pose lady forms as well as the block-positioning carving method, and produced a large number of artworks of strikingly individual character and consummate beauty. His achievements in the cause of ivory carving are there for all to see. His representative works include Ladies of the Jinci Shrine and Thinner Than the Yellow Flowers. At the same time, two representative inheritors he trained, Li Chunke and Chai Ciji, have also become Masters of Chinese Arts and Crafts. Wang Shuwen (from the official archive records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1943, from Beijing. Representative inheritor of Ivory Carving, an intangible cultural heritage item of the first national-level batch, and a Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. In 1959 Wang Shuwen entered the Craft Art School to study carving; after graduation he was assigned to the ivory workshop of the Beijing Craft Art Factory, where he took as his masters the famous veteran ivory-carving artists Yang Shizhong and Yang Shihui; he is a third-generation successor of the Yang school of Beijing ivory carving. He combined traditional craft art with Western aesthetic tastes and carving techniques, and was thoroughly familiar with the properties of diverse materials such as ivory, jade, gems, gold, and silver; he designed and produced various craft works in which different techniques and materials are ingeniously layered together. The refinement of his workmanship is astonishing: in 1974 he led the design and production of A Grand Vista of Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, a rare large-scale ivory-carving work in history, which was praised by national leaders and is permanently displayed in the hall of the United Nations. Wang Shuwen has taught numerous apprentices, but the great majority no longer practice this craft, and the Yang-school art lacks successors.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Sun Sen 01-0088
- Wang Shuwen 01-0089
- Chai Ciji 04-1776
- Li Chunke 04-1777
- Zhang Minhui 04-1778
- Xiao Jianbo
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。