Stone Carving
01 · Historical Records
Yuanzhou stone carving draws its material from Mingshan stone, which has been quarried and utilized since the Southern Song period, forming a considerable scale of production. Historically, Yuanzhou stone was once listed as a tribute item to the imperial court. Large pieces can serve as lintel and architectural elements, such as stone arches, stone walls, and stone screens, as seen in the stone memorial archway of the Tianhou Palace in Zhijiang; small pieces can be made into production and daily-life tools such as grinding mortars, stone rollers, and millstones, which have broad practical use, or into scholar's-desk objects such as inkstones, inkstone screens, seal boxes, and brush pots; these mainly employ principal relief carving, with complex, structured patterns such as two dragons playing with a pearl and a red phoenix facing the sun, and are strongly characteristic of Dong culture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yuanzhou stone carving is one of the forms of stone-carving expression that uses stone material abundantly produced at Mingshan and employs multiple techniques to carve finished works; it circulates in Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, Huaihua City, Hunan Province, and elsewhere. Because Zhijiang was anciently called Yuanzhou, Yuanzhou stone carving takes its name from this. Yuanzhou stone is rich in color and radiant, with a fine, smooth, jade-like texture and moderate hardness. In stone catalogues and treatises on stones, Yuanzhou stone is listed among the eight famous stones of Hunan (Huxiang) and is known as the "beautiful jade of the Dong people." According to the Zhijiang County Gazetteer, when the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) was built, Yuanzhou stone entered the ranks of jade-set carved balustrades as tribute stone. Yuanzhou stone carving fully employs multiple techniques such as line carving, relief carving, openwork carving, chain carving, and three-dimensional round carving. Its themes are rich, including auspicious patterns of flowers, birds, grass, and insects; mythological and historical allusions; and landscapes and auspicious beasts. Yuanzhou stone carving has numerous branches, and successive generations have produced large numbers of skilled craftsmen. Yuanzhou stone carving artisans make use of the color and layering of the stone, give full play to imagination, and design ingeniously, employing superb and exquisite carving skills to combine expressive content, stone material, form, and artistic aesthetic, giving the works high value for viewing, practical use, and collection. Yuanzhou stone carving is both an important category of Chinese stone carving and an important component part of Dong culture, with social and cultural value that cannot be ignored.
Mingshan stone among Hunan's eight famous stones
Richly coloured, fine and jade-like yet moderate in hardness, Yuanzhou stone is listed among Hunan's eight famous stones and called the “jade of the Dong”.
The stone archway of Zhijiang Tianhou Temple
The surviving representative of large-scale Yuanzhou work, kept as lintels, archways, walls and screens, the Tianhou Temple archway being the key witness.
Inkstones, inkstone screens, seal boxes and brush pots
Scholar's objects are mainly carved in relief with complex designs such as two dragons sporting with a pearl or the phoenix facing the sun.
Line, relief, openwork, chain and round carving
The craft employs line, relief, openwork, chain and three-dimensional round carving on themes of birds, flowers, myths, landscapes and auspicious beasts.
Yuanzhou stone as tribute for the Summer Palace
The Zhijiang county gazetteer records that Yuanzhou stone was sent as tribute and used in carved balustrades when the Summer Palace was built.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yuanzhou stone carving is centered on Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, drawing its material from Mingshan stone; practitioners are found in the urban area of Zhijiang and in the townships of Xindianping, Biyong, and Luoju, and it also spreads to neighboring Huaihua, Xinhuang, and Huitong, as well as the Tongren area of Guizhou Province. Large pieces such as stone arches, stone walls, and stone screens can be seen in the stone memorial archway of the Tianhou Palace in Zhijiang; small pieces such as grinding mortars, stone rollers, and millstones are production and daily-life tools in common local use; scholar's-desk objects such as inkstones, inkstone screens, seal boxes, and brush pots mainly employ principal relief carving, with complex, structured patterns that are strongly characteristic of Dong culture.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Judging from the verifiable transmission genealogies, transmission has on the whole followed the pattern of father to son and son to grandson, with masters mentoring apprentices and the apprentices' disciples in turn mentoring their own, bearing characteristics of being regional, kin-based, and extended through friends and relatives. Local authorities support the living transmission of Yuanzhou stone carving through multiple measures, including establishing a Yuanzhou stone nature reserve to protect the stone resource, properly preserving stone-carving cultural relics, and encouraging inheritors to carry out teaching and transmission activities.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Qian Gaochao 03-1272
- Gongbaocaidan 03-1273
- Wang Guoqing 05-2657
- Cao Mingzhu 05-2658
- Tang Jun 05-2659
- Shi Yongen 05-2660
- Yang Jianming 05-2661
- Bao Wuwen 05-2662
- Yuan Jiaqi
- Liu Nengfeng
- Wang Shilin
- Ye Meisan
- Yin Guoan
- Hu Yang
- Liangbinggong
- Caidanjia
- Chen Jiwu
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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