Precious jade is round and full, exquisitely carved, according to its shape, each jade carving is unique. "The beauty of stone is jade", Chinese has a special affection for jade since ancient times: self-cultivation, there is "gentleman's deudery in jade".
To carry forward righteousness, there are "rather for jade crumbling than for tiles".
Firm belief, there are "hardships and hardships, Yuru Yucheng".
People seek jade with gold, and jade looks for people by fate.
The jade carved from jade has a warm and smooth texture and unpredictable luster, which holds people's beautiful imagination. In order to process the hard jade into beautiful utensils, the craftsmen can be said to have racked their brains and developed a variety of carving techniques.
What are the common jade carving techniques? Let's take a look!
Flat sculpture Round carving
As the name suggests, flat carving is carved on the plane of jade, and round carving is a jade carver who has carved the whole work in all directions, so the viewer can appreciate its three-dimensional modeling and carving from various angles. This technique allows the viewer to appreciate the various aspects of the jade carving from different angles, which looks more real and vivid, like a physical object.
Tang Dynasty Jade Lamentations Tomb of Shi Siming in Fengtai District, Beijing Was Excavated
Whether it is flat carving or circular carving, in the process of carving, the following techniques may be used:
Yin line: a concave line is carved on the surface of the jade material, and the carved line is called a yin line (or yin carved line). This is one of the simplest techniques in jade carving.
Although the Yin Line Technique is simple, it can also be used to make tricks. The thick yin line on jade in the Shang Zhou And even earlier periods was often handled by the technique of "one side slope" (also known as the oblique knife). One side of the yin line remains perpendicular to the jade surface, while the other side is processed into a slope with a gentler gradient.
This kind of "one-sided slope" of the yin line comes with its own shadow effect, which can greatly enhance the three-dimensional sense of the pattern.
Shang Qingyu Dragon-shaped Seal Collection of Tianjin Art Museum
Another way to form a shadow with yin lines is to densely arrange many thin and shallow short yin lines together. This method is used on animals and characters carved in jade, and it can also highlight the texture of the hair very well.
Yang line: The yin line is concave, and the yang line is convex. The most common Yang line in jade carving is probably the Yang (Zhu Wen) Seal on the jade seal.
Modern Yangwen "Jian Zhai" jade seal Collection of Sichuan University Museum
Relief: is a kind of carving, according to all aspects of the jade to carve out the most perfect three-dimensional object, relief is the product of the combination of sculpture and painting, the use of compression methods to deal with the object, relying on perspective and other factors to express three-dimensional space.
The process of relief carving is used in jade carving a lot, and according to the professional classification of relief, it is divided into three types, namely thin relief, bas-relief and deep relief. Each engraving method has its own characteristics and the results presented are also different.
Relief figure pattern white jade belt plate Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)
In 1957, the tomb of Jianyan IV (1130) of Chashan Temple in Shangrao City was excavated
Thin relief
As the name suggests, the surface of the jade block protruding from the object is relatively small, with the line as the main and the surface as the supplement, the line and the surface are combined, thin and three-dimensional, and its depth does not exceed 2 mm.
Bas-relief
Between the thin relief and the deep relief, its level of undulation is small, which not only maintains an architectural flatness, but also has a certain sense of volume and undulation, and the depth generally does not exceed 2 to 5 mm. Part of it, dig out part of the jade to highlight the three-dimensional sense of the object, and the depth of the excavation also determines the three-dimensional effect of the object. Bas-reliefs are closer to the form of painting, using county balances like clouds to form a three-dimensional, perspective, abstract illusion.
Deep relief
The object image protrudes from the jade background, has a strong high and low undulating, hierarchical relationship, and a strong sense of three-dimensionality, but its object is connected to the background, and the back is a flat structure without any carving.
Minggao relief dragon pattern white jade belt plate
Collection of Jiangxi Museum
Thin meaning: that is, a very shallow relief, because the carving layer is thin and full of painting, hence the name. It is a unique expression technique of the Shoushan Stone Seal. Because of its fluent carving technique, meticulous depiction, and blazing shadows, it is highly appreciated and respected by jinshi painters. Thin meaning is gradually derived from the relief technique, it is more "shallow" than bas-relief, because the carving layer is thin and rich in painting, so it is called "thin meaning". Boyi carving is known for its "heavy elegance, exquisite craftsmanship, and close painting theory", which integrates calligraphy, seal carving, and painting, and is a unique art between painting and carving, which is why excellent Boyi works often have otherworldly artistic charm and are particularly valuable for appreciation.
See-through carving
Through-carving, also known as hollowing, is the continuation and development of relief techniques.
Hollow out its background part, some are single-sided carvings, some are double-sided carvings. Skeleton carving is also known as hollow, through carving. It refers to a technique of carving various patterns and patterns on wood, stone, ivory, jade, ceramic bodies and other materials that can be used for carving. In the late Neolithic period, 5,000 years ago, the pottery has been decorated with carved round holes. From the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, all kinds of ceramic incense have penetrating carving ornaments. During the Qianlong Dynasty, works such as hollowing out the heart, turning the neck and hollowing out bottles made the level of this kind of craftsmanship reach its peak.
Skeletonized dragon wearing patterned jade incense tube Ming (1368-1644)
In 1982, the joint tomb of King Yiding and his wife in Nancheng County, Jiangxi Province was excavated
Imagine a high-relief jade work, the bulge of the ornamental part continues to increase and increase, and the thickness of the ground around the ornament continues to decline and decrease... In the end, the ground disappeared, leaving only the ornamentation and the nothingness around the ornamentation, and the relief work became a see-through work.
The through-carving process appeared very early, and there were transliterated jade in the Neolithic Age. It has been used in later generations. In the Ming Dynasty, there was also the technique of "embossing on flowers", which could be carved into two or even three layers of patterns on a piece of jade, and the transparent carving process was developed to the extreme.
Han Qingyu Valley pattern double mantis Bi
Collection of Tianjin Art Museum
The outgoing part adopts the skeleton carving technique, with the heads of the two ants facing each other, lying on the bi, separated by a pointed object in the middle. Round eyes, shrugged ears, unicorns, with fine yin line carved circle pattern and wool pattern decorated with scales, the body shape is curly and complex, flexible and beautiful lines.
Skeletonized Lingxiao flower blue jade pendant
In 2002, it was excavated from the Hongjiaozhou Police Academy in Nanchang City
The requirements of chain carving on jade are also very high, and jade should be fine and strong, pure and unqualified. When conceiving, it is necessary to arrange the position of the chain first, and try to avoid cracks and sand grids. In the process of making the chain carving, it is necessary to complete the repair before de-ringing.
Shang huo huan qu squatting feather people jade pendant ornament
Collection of Jiangxi Provincial Museum
Live ring chain carving requires a high level of craftsmanship, from design to carving, every step reveals rigor and precision.
Pretty
In the process of jade carving, it is good to encounter flawless jade, but more often: there are various flaws and variegated colors on the jade material.
In addition to digging out and polishing out imperfections and variegated colors, some skillful craftsmen will skillfully use the various colors of the jade itself to carve, forming an amazing artistic effect. This technique is called "pretty color".
What is "the use of various colors of the jade itself"? For example, if a piece of white jade has a red spot on it, the craftsman will carve this piece of white jade into a peach, and the red spot is just on the tip of the peach, which is very similar to a real peach. This is the clever use of the color of the jade to make a beautiful jade carving.
Shang Dynasty beautiful jade turtle, excavated from The Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan (Picture from the network)
The earliest jade artifact found in China so far is the Shang Dynasty jade turtle excavated from the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan. The turtle has a black back, a white head and limbs, and is cleverly conceived using the natural color of the jade.
However, a complete work does not only use a carving technique, but also a combination of two or more carving techniques to make the work outstanding and vivid.
Lu Guo Da Yu Bi
Collection of Shandong Museum
Song Qingyu Dragon Jewelry
Collection of Tianjin Art Museum
The whole adopts the carving technique of skeleton carving, bas-relief carving and fine yin line, and the production process is complex and delicate and precious jade is round and full, and the exquisite carving is carved according to its shape, and each jade carving work is unique.