Stone Carving

Ⅶ-56Traditional Fine ArtsFangcheng, HenanBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

According to legend, Fangcheng stone monkeys originated in the Song dynasty, and the documented history can be traced back to the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty. Representative Fangcheng stone-monkey craftsmen of the late Qing included Wang Jiankui, and their skills have continued to the present through family transmission.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

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. Fangcheng stone monkeys are a folk stone-carving art that uses talc as its raw material, transmitted mainly in Fangcheng County, Henan Province, and named for their carving principally of images of monkeys. Talc is popularly called "flower stone" (huashi) in the Fangcheng area; it is soft and loose in texture, white in colour and smooth-surfaced, and the pale-yellow veins running through it have a natural beauty all their own, making the stone suitable for carving. After a Fangcheng stone monkey is carved into shape, it must be coloured or decorated with four pigments — red, yellow, green and black — prepared by a traditional method, and finally coated with a layer of tung oil. Fangcheng stone-monkey works have a plain and archaic modelling; within their roughness and childlike simplicity one discerns an honest straightforwardness, revealing a plain, unsophisticated local character and a strong rustic flavour.

Flower stone and traditional pigments

Fangcheng stone monkeys are carved from soft local flower stone and coloured with four traditional pigments before being coated in tung oil.

Single, paired and mother-and-child monkeys

Forms include single monkeys, pairs, mother-and-child and monkey-carrying-monkey, all regarded locally as auspicious keepsakes.

Wang Guoqing and the three-no monkeys

The inheritor Wang Guoqing, born in 1959, carves without models and created the three-no monkeys.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Fangcheng stone-monkey works come in a variety of styles, including single monkey, double monkey, mother-and-child monkey and monkey-on-monkey, all of which accord with local folk custom and express auspicious meanings. In the Fangcheng area, stone monkeys are regarded as mascots, often worn or kept as treasures and given as gifts, so their significance in folk custom is highly prominent. Fangcheng stone monkeys use talc, popularly called "flower stone" (huashi) in the locality, as their material; the stone is soft and loose, white and smooth-surfaced, with pale-yellow veins running through it. Once carved into shape, they must be coloured and outlined with four pigments — red, yellow, green and black — prepared by a traditional method, and finally coated with a layer of tung oil. The works come in styles such as single monkey, double monkey, mother-and-child monkey and monkey-on-monkey, most of which accord with local folk custom and carry auspicious meanings.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Wang Guoqing (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in April 1959, native of Fangcheng County, Henan Province. He comes from a family of stone-monkey carvers and has loved the art of stone carving since childhood. His carved works are completed at a stroke of the hand, without the need for design drawings or samples, following the direct and spontaneous creative manner of folk craftsmen. The stone monkeys he carves are mostly in a crouching posture and vary in form and style: a large monkey holding a small monkey, a monkey on a monkey's back, a wealth-delivering monkey, a fortune-inviting monkey, an auspicious-ruyi monkey and a small monkey riding a horse, among others; they have much of the vitality and spirit of the birds and animals on the Nanyang Han-dynasty pictorial stones. While inheriting the skills of his father's generation, he originated the "Three-Not Monkey", which is vivid, lively and inventive. Representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage project Stone Carving (Fangcheng Stone Monkeys), fifth national batch.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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