Brick carving is an important art form in the carving of ancient buildings. It refers to the carving of figures, landscapes, flowers, allusions and other patterns on green bricks mainly for decorating the components and walls of temples, tombs, houses and other buildings. It also usually refers to sculptural crafts carved from green bricks.
The reason why the finished brick carving can withstand hundreds of years of sun and rain is because it is made through a complex process. Brick carving from the selection of raw materials to the completion of the whole process to go through more than 30 links.
The first is to burn green bricks. From the selection of raw materials to the kiln, to go through the selection of soil, mud making, mold making, blank removal, cool billet, into the kiln, watching the fire, water, out of the cellar nine processes, firing bricks of the cellar volume is very small, it is said that it is to "look good at the fire, easy to operate, good goods."
When burning bricks, "big fire" is generally not used, and the first pit uses a "small fire", which is called "hot cellar" in the jargon. The hot cellar turns to "medium fire" after one day, and the time to burn a brick in the cellar is generally three days and three nights.
Usually after burning, the pool water is drawn to the top of the cellar with a "willow pot" and poured on the soil layer covering the top of the bricks, so that the water can be infiltrated and filtered through the soil layer, and the bricks in the whole cellar are poured into degrees.
The color is best in blue-gray, the bricks are too brittle and hard to carve, and too gray and white are not durable. After the "bricks" are watered, open the "cellar door" and "cellar roof" to cool down for two days and two nights and then leave the cellar. When the bricks come out of the cellar, the coking bricks, cracked bricks and deformed bricks must be strictly removed. In a cellar into bricks, about 80% of the finished carved bricks can be screened.
Brick carving is a unique art of architectural carving in mainland China, which has a history of at least 2,000 years.
In terms of themes, brick carving has always been based on the auspicious content of dragon and phoenix Chengxiang, Hehe Erxian, Liu Hai playing golden toad, Sanyang Kaitai, Guo Ziyi Zuoshou, Qilin sending son, lion rolling hydrangeas, pine cypress, orchid, bamboo, camellia, chrysanthemum, lotus, carp and so on.
Brick carving, or realistic, or freehand, both. Written in real time, it uses a vivid shape to convey a certain life, culture and concept through the knife method of carving craftsmen;
When writing freehand, or animals or plants and flowers, every action, every leaf, every pattern, conveys a kind of expectation, blessing, emotion and spirit. Text brick carving, or family training, or philosophical sayings, "part-time work with writing", this is a special way of expression and artistic style of Chinese national culture.
