Jade Carving

Ⅶ-57Traditional Fine ArtsSuzhou, JiangsuBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Suzhou jade carving was famous throughout the country and was regarded as the leader of the trade. During the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, the imperial court established a dedicated jade-carving workshop within the Imperial Workshops (Zaobanchu) and on several occasions summoned Suzhou jade artisans to Beijing to make jade objects.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Archaeological excavations have shown that jade carvings already appeared in the Suzhou region six or seven thousand years ago. In the Spring and Autumn period, jade artisans of the state of Wu produced parrot-head arched jade ornaments and double-looped arched ridge-backed jade ornaments, demonstrating a high level of skill. Later these jade artisans settled in Beijing, and from then on the jade-making techniques of the "Suzhou school" (Subang) began to spread in the capital. In this period Suzhou produced jade artisans in quick succession: He Si, Liu Shen, Wang Xiaoxi and Lu Zigang, among others, all won fame in the capital and renown throughout the land through their jade-carving skill. Suzhou jade carving is dominated by small and medium-sized pieces, mostly table ornaments such as censers, vases, birds and animals, and hanging ornaments such as pendants, drops, rings, hairpins and bracelets. Production generally employs precious materials such as white jade and jadeite; the workmanship is exquisite, the technique practiced and economical, and the subject matter extremely rich. The making of jade carving generally passes through many process steps — selecting the material, cutting it open, designing, carving and polishing — with emphasis on shaping the design to suit the material, carving proceeding alongside design; the "clever carving" that takes ingenious advantage of the material's natural colors in particular depends entirely on the artisan's originality. The final polishing preserves the full flavor of the carving, makes the jade warmer and more pleasing, and renders the detail more refined and delicate. Suzhou jade carving has three stylistic qualities summed up as openness, flowing grace and fine detail. "Openness" means that void and solid are properly balanced and density and sparseness well judged, so that the piece feels not cumbersome but airy; "flowing grace" means the forms are vivid and the lines fluent, so that the piece feels not stiff but free and elegant; "fine detail" means the polishing and carving are meticulous and the conception ingenious, so that the piece feels not crude but a triumph of workmanship over nature. Modern Suzhou jade carving inherits the artistic style of the "Suzhou school" tradition: its patterns and lines are smooth and richly decorative, with careful attention to accents, density, transitions and line weight; on the whole it avoids excessive delicacy, and within fullness it shows a sense of solidity and plain substance. The conception of the hanging and pendant ornaments is especially distinctive: the jade artisans naturally embody in them rich perceptions of life and modern aesthetic sensibilities, so that ancient charm and present-day style combine to reveal their mastery all the more.

Archival Record of Process Steps

The making of jade carving generally passes through many process steps — selecting the material, cutting it open, designing, carving and polishing — with emphasis on shaping the design to suit the material, carving proceeding alongside design; the "clever carving" that takes ingenious advantage of the material's natural colors in particular depends entirely on the artisan's originality.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

According to historical records, in those days the sound of jade carving could be heard everywhere in the Zhuanzhu Lane district of Suzhou; it is for this reason that the Ming author Song Yingxing, in his work Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), wrote that "fine jade may be gathered in the capital, but exquisite workmanship belongs to Suzhou."

Other submitting regions for the same item: Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Yang Xi (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1964, a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Research-fellow-level senior arts and crafts master. In 1983 he graduated from the Suzhou Arts and Crafts Vocational School, then entered the Suzhou Jade Carving Factory, where he worked in design and carving. He can fully represent every category of jade carving — figures and mountain rockeries, flower-and-bird and insect-and-fish subjects, and animals — and handles round carving, relief and openwork carving with complete ease. In 2002 he pioneered a new line of jade carving, combining graphic design with a method of representing void and solid; this enriched the expressive techniques of jade carving, and his "combination of void and solid" method is particularly suited to depicting immortals, Buddhas, spirits and ghosts. His representative works include Bamboo, Ancient Charm, Buddha in the Heart, Silent Reflection, and Woman with Pigeons. He is a representative inheritor of jade carving (Suzhou jade carving), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. He has devoted himself to the study of jade-carving technique and to the training of successors, his principal pupils being young people with a foundation in fine art.

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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