This post was last edited by voidshaper at 2025-8-21 13:37
Wood carving is an indispensable part of ancient architecture. Carving on the surface of wood to form various patterns, designs or shapes achieves decorative purposes and enhances the cultural connotation and characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture. Compared with stone carving and brick carving, wood carving is relatively easier, so there is more room for variation in creation. What are the common techniques of wood carving in ancient architecture?
1、Relief Carving
Relief carving is a form of carving where the carved image is higher than the base, and it is a semi-three-dimensional sculpture. According to the depth of the carved image protruding from the base, it can be divided into two types: low relief and high relief.
Low relief is a single-layered statue with relatively simple pattern content. It only protrudes from the surface of the carving material and does not use hollow openwork, with a strong sense of flatness, and its technique is relatively close to the form of painting. High relief is a multi-layered statue with more complex pattern content and a strong sense of three-dimensionality. Some parts adopt openwork techniques to hollow out, making the shaped image more realistic and appreciative.
2、Openwork Carving
Openwork carving is a carving method that hollows out the background part on the basis of relief to show the overall image of the carved object. Openwork carving is also often combined with different carving techniques. Adding a little openwork outside or between the relief patterns has strong craft appreciation. It is a sculpture form between round carving and relief.
3、Pierced Carving
Pierced carving, also known as "hollowed-out carving", is a method of hollowing out the part outside the pattern and then carving. The hollowing method can use a wire saw to pull out the hollow, or "half-pierced and half-carved", that is, part of it is pulled out with a wire saw and part is hollowed out with a chisel to enhance the three-dimensional sense of the carving. If both sides of the carving are carved after hollowing out, it is called "double-sided carving".
4、Round Carving
Round carving, also known as three-dimensional carving, is the overall expression of art on the carving. It conforms to a certain proportion with the length, width and height of the real object. Viewers can see all sides of the object from different angles. Therefore, each side of the carving requires processing. It is a three-dimensional sculpture art work that exists as a single entity, with realistic, vivid, lifelike and vivid artistic effects.
5、Intaglio Carving
Intaglio carving is a technique of carving images by sinking them, which is opposite to relief carving but similar to line carving. However, line carving is a single-line depiction, while intaglio carving is to sink the image as a whole, so it is also called "sunken carving". This carving technique is especially suitable for engraving celebrity calligraphy or paintings. After painting and coloring, it can maintain the charm of the original work to the greatest extent. There are many such examples in Suzhou gardens.
6、Line Carving
Line carving is a method of making阴线 on a plane with a V-shaped triangular knife, so it is also called "line engraving" or "negative engraving". The specific method is to carve patterns on a plane with a carving knife, which is used for single-line outlining in patterns. The lines are clear and lively, full of expressiveness, just like line drawing.
The inheritance of wood carving craftsmen's skills is either passed down from master to apprentice or from father to son, and a large number of "patterns" are also left as "models" for carving. Experienced and highly skilled craftsmen will use various techniques according to the owner's preferences to carry out innovative designs, making the carvings more reasonable and the images more vivid.
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Posted an update: 2025-8-21 12:10:34 39