Bamboo carving, also known as bamboo carving, is mainly carved on bamboo utensils with a variety of decorative patterns and words, or carved into various furnishings with bamboo roots. Bamboo carving is an art that has been gradually recognized since the Six Dynasties until the Tang Dynasty, and is quite popular among literati and rioters. China is the first country in the world to use bamboo products, so bamboo carving has a long history in China. Bamboo carving is unique in the history of Chinese arts and crafts, and is also a valuable artistic wealth of the Chinese nation.
China's bamboo carving art has a long history, and the earliest bamboo carving in China was far before the invention of paper, ink and pencil. The most primitive bamboo carvings should be earlier than the oracle bones. According to ancient documents, the source of Chinese bamboo carving art appeared as early as before the Shang Dynasty. But the era of really counting bamboo carving as a work of art should be the Song and Yuan dynasties, Zhao Ruzhen's "Antique Guide" said: "Bamboo carvers, carved bamboo also." His works are the same as calligraphy and painting, but they are written with knives and bamboo as paper ears. The difficulty of calligraphy and painting is well known, and now it is easy to use knives and bamboo, and its difficulty is even more than calligraphy and painting! According to the ancients, the ancients cut the simplicity into books, the rule of bamboo for a long time for the strengths of the people, carved bamboo for cultural relics, perhaps in ancient times there were also practitioners, only to cure the unfinished, for the nameless, is the past has not been passed down! This passage is mainly about the bamboo carving situation before the Song Dynasty.
By the time of the Song Dynasty, there had been a major change in the art of bamboo carving in China. It is also a period when bamboo carving became a work of art. First, the Song Dynasty was one of the most developed periods of culture in ancient history, a large and culturally cultivated class of literati and doctors, their artistic aesthetic ideas and requirements, led to the development of carving techniques including jade carving, bamboo carving and other fields. Bamboo is regarded by the literati as a symbol of purity and integrity, and often appears in poetry and literary works, such as Su Shi's "It is better to eat without meat than to live without bamboo". It is precisely because bamboo has such a lofty status in the minds of the literati that bamboo carving technology is highly valued. Second, bamboo carving has a tendency to be artistic, and bamboo carving products and bamboo carving artists are widely praised. According to the Yuan Dynasty Tao Zongyi's "Record of Quitting Farming", during the Southern Song Dynasty, there was an entertainer Zhan Cheng, and the bamboo bird cage he carved was "flowered on all sides, carved into palaces, figures, landscapes, flowers, trees, birds and birds on the bamboo pieces, delicate and delicate.". It can be seen that his bamboo carving skills are high and his works are exquisite. Therefore, Tao Zongyi couldn't help but praise Zhan Cheng: "For more than two hundred years, there is no one who has been here again." ”
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the art of bamboo carving had reached its peak, and there was a scene of a hundred schools of thought. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, literati wrote bamboo, painted bamboo, planted bamboo, and carved bamboo became popular, and the cultural content of bamboo carving also rose rapidly. At this time, the flourishing of cultural painting promoted the combination of bamboo carving, calligraphy, painting and sculpture art, leading to the unprecedented development of bamboo carving art. The sculptors of this period, their bamboo carving works are creative, full of books and no craftsmanship; they use the natural form of bamboo, delete the complex and simplify, set off the essential characteristics and cultural meaning of bamboo, and the works have been accepted by literati and doctors, and have been passed down to this day, becoming a valuable artistic wealth of the Chinese nation.
From a collection point of view, bamboo carving is a relatively niche collection category. This alone does not affect its value, the following we share some of the bamboo carvings at the auction, we have the opportunity to encounter good quality bamboo carvings in the later stage, remember to start in time.
Qianlong Imperial court bamboo root carving imitation bronze gluttony pattern beast foot ding
Beijing Dongzheng Auction Co., Ltd., 2017 Spring Art Auction, sold for 24.15 million yuan.
The Ding instrument type takes the ancient artifacts such as Shang Zhou bronze Yi ware as the prototype, one takes its type, the other takes its decoration, and skillfully integrates it, becoming a rigorous and regular and innovative antique instrument. In addition, the shape and ornamentation of the Ding are homologous to the old collection of the Qing Palace, and the delicate cloud thunder pattern and the tense animal foot can be compared with the antique double-eared three-legged small ding of bamboo carvings collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing. Interestingly, the bamboo root carving antique Yi in the Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing is generally complete, but such a ding is missing, and the craftsmanship and decoration techniques of this ding are the same as those of bamboo carving antiques, so it is determined to be the old collection of the Qing Palace. Its transaction price is also the highest price in the history of bamboo carving auctions.
QingQianlong Imperial Bamboo Yellow Imperial Poem "Nine Ru Lingzhi" Round Ruyi
Sotheby's Hong Kong Auctions Limited, Spring 2010 Auction, sold for $13.8864 million.
Qing Yongzheng Shi Tianzhang carved a hundred gong diagram pen holder
Shanghai Jiahe Auction Co., Ltd., 2017 Autumn Art Auction, 11.73 million yuan.
This product is rounded from the material, exquisitely carved hundreds of work, vivid character portrayal, bamboo and stone pavilions, the composition is complex and complex, messy but not chaotic, a busy life atmosphere is vivid. The utensils are of the highest quality, the texture is mild, the pulp is lustrous, the color is bright, the Qoros is exquisite and elegant, and the aroma of books and literature comes to the face. Fall of the "ChentianZhang Gong System". This object is exquisitely crafted, gorgeous and rich, and should be a fine work of palace literary decoration.
The author Shi Tianzhang (1702-1774), a native of Jiading. The character Huan Wen, the work of painting, the carving of stone with bamboo, the craftsmanship of the gods, the yongzheng weaving messenger carved into it, and the order was enshrined in the Ruyi Pavilion.
Christie's Hong Kong Limited, Spring 2005 Art Auction, Price: $11,405,600.
This is a superbly carved piece. The author Gu Jue is famous for his fine carving and weaving. The use of rosewood as the edge and bottom of the pen holder, always from the end of the seventeenth century. This main method with wood edges and bottoms was probably used only in the beginning for incense sticks and other utensils that did not require a solid bottom, and there were also teeth instead of wood. This practice was also used later with pen holders. The Seattle Museum of Fine Arts now houses a similar work by Gu Jue, see Chinese Bamboo Carving Art, vol. 1, plate 19.
Gu Jue, Zi Zongyu, a native of Jiading, Jiangsu. Active during the Kangxi Dynasty. The portrayal is deep, the fine hair is fine, and a tool must be completed after one or two years. It can be independent of the court without attacking the ancestors. Parody lingbi Yingzhou stone, with sandalwood, boxwood as the peak, really have the mountain high moon small water falling stone out of the cause. Shrinking li zhaodao diagram pen bucket, old tree dangerous bridge, cliffs and streams, dozens of layers, turning and looking at it, it is deep and deep, especially amazing.
Qingqianlong Bamboo sticker yellow carved Yunlong royal inscription poetry rectangular box (2 pieces)
Beijing Hanhai Auction Co., Ltd., the 15th anniversary celebration auction, the transaction price of 9.856 million yuan.
The yellow boxes are a pair, 11.6 cm high, 34.5 cm long and 18 cm wide. There are drawers inside the cassette. The surface of the box is carved with two vertical dragons stepping on the cliffs of the sea, fighting and churning in the sea of clouds, stretching their posture and being strong and majestic. The dragon is a symbol of imperial power and emperor in feudal society, and it is a decorative pattern often used in various utensils in the Qianlong period, with a typical royal style. There is a rectangular blank "inscription" in the middle of the two dragons, which is generally used for the name of the book, hand scroll or album placed in the inscription box, such as: the red "Royal Pen Ring Detang" box, the black lacquer depiction gold "Leshan Tang Wen Order" suitcase, the filigree enamel "Royal Pen Yangzheng Picture Poem" box, the rosewood "Imperial Pen Ten Treasure of the Old Man Said" rectangular box, etc., built-in books or albums with the same title, they are only different from the outer packaging box material, and the decorative patterns are the same. The yellow box is not inscribed at the "inscription", leaving a blank space. We found that there are also bookcases with similar situations in the Qing Palace collection.
Qing bamboo carving weaving pen holder
Beijing Hanhai Auction Co., Ltd., 2012 Autumn Auction, sold for 9.2 million.
This piece of pen holder is taken from a section of natural giant bamboo, the flesh is thick, suitable for deep digging and shallow carving, the outer wall of the pen holder and the fine knife method to carve the weaving map, far away from the mountains and near the water, a total of more than 80 people are carved, and the village community is hidden between the green mountains and green waters. The characters inscribed are vivid and breathtaking, and a corner is engraved with the "ChentianZhang GongZhi" letter. It is the work of Shi Tianzhang, a bamboo master carved in the inner court of the Yongzheng Dynasty in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, which is very rare.
Qing bamboo carving birthday star ornaments
Shanghai Volkswagen Auction Co., Ltd., 2012 large-scale artwork, transaction price: 8.05 million.
Bamboo root carving birthday star ornaments are more common in standing posture, and there are fewer sitting life stars. This bamboo root carving birthday star is taken from a large material, sitting on a rockery, the head is high and convex, the eyebrows are long, the look is kind, the smile is wide open, the left hand holds the ruyi, the right hand holds the peach, the long hair hangs down the chest, the lips and jaws and the cheeks are long and the long hair are connected into one piece, and the eyebrows, eyes and beard are depicted more thinly, the layers are clear, and the silk is recognizable. Wide sleeves, folds of the clothes hanging down, flowing and smooth, surrounded by nine children playing and playing, different forms, or holding peach or holding ruyi, the scene is funny, the atmosphere of life is extremely strong, forming a vivid scene that means "many children and many lives". The carved face is vivid, and the exaggerated facial expressions of the children and the kind demeanor of the birthday star form a strong visual contrast, making the overall carved comedic color more intense. Its carving knife method is mainly round carving, high relief carving, knife craftsmanship is familiar, exquisite technique, it can be said that it is one of the best works of Bamboo Carving, which should be the old collection of the court.
Qing Chibi Night Garden Bamboo Pen Holder
Beijing Poly International Auction Co., Ltd., the eighth anniversary spring auction, the transaction price of 5.865 million yuan.
Oval pen holder with rosewood mouth and bottom, four legs underneath. The outer wall is carved in the form of a general view of the chibi night tour of the eastern slope. The prospect is a small boat with the monks and the two guests of the Dao, with robes and long hair, and those who sit by a few are dongpo; those who are prostrate on a few are Buddha seals; and the Taoist priests sit on their backs and look up. Beside the boy was soaking wine into the altar, the old boatman and the two of them shook the bridge together, carving and conveying the gods. Boulders are inserted into the river, and the turbulence is turbulent. Horizontal clouds and smoke, stretching around, echoing up and down the waves of the river. Lush pines, frost leaves, etc. are draped over the cliffs, making them look magnificent. The red wall resembles a curtain curtain, and the right barrier is straight like a giant screen in the sky, which is imposing. The waterfall in the valley on the left is rushing in, and the rock walls are intertwined, which is as far-reaching and secluded as possible, just like a picture.
Zhou Kasa Bamboo carving pen holder
Jiangsu Jiude Auction Co., Ltd., a large-scale art auction in the autumn of 2014, with a transaction price of 5.75 million yuan.
Zhou Kasa (1695-1755) Zi Mushan, Qing Jia Dingren, nephew of Zhou Hao (Zi Zhiyan). Good at carving bamboo, with the same name as Zhou Hao, known as "Cha Nan Er Zhou". Zhou Kasa is good at painting, the landscape master FaYuan Si is very big, and the ink flower business is full of flowers. When Zhou Kasa was young, he painted with Zhou Hao's classmates and carved bamboo together, "but each has its own intentions, and does not attack each other", and Zhou Kasa carved bamboo is "the rule of Xizhong". Qing Ren commented on his works "business is far out, the connotation of divine qi, ten thousand points are virtual, thousands of layers are stacked, and the deep self-exposed beauty is beautiful", which makes people sigh at first sight, Kasa's strengths, all bodies have, Cang Xiong is deep, and the slightly exposed messy head is rough. Carving bamboo and painting are both exhaustive. Yin Wenduan heard his name, ordered the boat to enter the Luo River, and painted a map of the Yangtze River. He also tried to write a finger pavilion map for Zhu Yu Village. In the twenty-sixth year of Qianlong (1761), he made a reading autumn tree root map, containing the twelve landscape collections of the Qing Dynasty. Feng Jinbo, a Qing dynasty, said that his works were "well-studied in body rhyme and refined in temperament".
QingQianlong Imperial Bamboo Yellow Imperial System Poetry Fu Shou Ruyi
Beijing Poly International Auction Co., Ltd., the 5th anniversary autumn auction, the transaction price of 5.6 million yuan.
This lot is made of bamboo yellow carving, which has the meaning of taking the integrity of the bamboo tree and forming a ruyi shape. The whole instrument is shaped like a long-handled hook, the hook head is flat like a bay leaf, its body is thin and light, the lines are curved and clever, and the beauty of the curved curves is fully revealed under the precise and exquisite design. Ruyi head is carved with a shou character pattern in the center, flanked by bat patterns, and the handle is also carved with flying bats; on the back of Ruyi head, a Qianlong imperial poem is engraved with a yin line, and the whole poem is "Wen Xin De Yu Fu, Zen Jiaoran Poem." There are still natural nodes, and there are no lateral branches. Luo Gongshu is finally illusory, and the monk Shao gives Zhenyi. Du Xi Qing talks about the place, such as when the gentleman", the inscription "ancient incense" yin engraved seal book print. This Qianlong Imperial Inscription is included in the Second Collection of Qianlong Imperial Poetry, Volume 63, written between the tenth and twenty-eighth days of the first month of April in the year of Chengzi (1756).