A Brief History of Chinese Sculpture

Author: Zhu Guorong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: Sculpture, literally speaking, can be understood as consisting of two parts: carving and shaping. Carving, also known as carving, is a creative method where unnecessary parts are removed from materials like stone, wood, etc., leaving the remaining shape as the artwork. Figuratively, it is a form of "subtraction." The ancients said, "In the art of carving, the nose should be larger than the eyes. Small cannot be made large; if the eyes are too large, the nose cannot be made small." This means that when carving, it is better to leave the desired parts slightly larger in volume to allow for further refinement during detailed work. If too much is carved away at once, it cannot be corrected, and the entire work may be ruined. Carving techniques include chiseling, hollowing, and engraving. Due to the lack of tools, early humans primarily used shaping. This was typically done with clay or earthenware, which can be called "addition." Because clay has strong plasticity, shaping techniques are more diverse. In addition to piling, pasting, kneading, squeezing, and pressing, carving techniques like hollowing, engraving, and scratching can also be used to remove excess material. For example, in primitive pottery sculptures, eyes are often created by hollowing, noses are made by pasting clay strips, and eyebrows are formed by scratching impressions. When it was discovered that fired clay is not easily damaged, pottery sculptures became the mainstream of early small-scale sculptures.
Sculpture, literally speaking, can be understood as consisting of two parts: carving and shaping. Carving, also known as carving, is a creative method where unnecessary parts are removed from materials like stone, wood, etc., leaving the remaining shape as the artwork. Figuratively, it is a form of "subtraction." The ancients said, "In the art of carving, the nose should be larger than the eyes. Small cannot be made large; if the eyes are too large, the nose cannot be made small." This means that when carving, it is better to leave the desired parts slightly larger in volume to allow for further refinement during detailed work. If too much is carved away at once, it cannot be corrected, and the entire work may be ruined. Carving techniques include chiseling, hollowing, and engraving. Due to the lack of tools, early humans primarily used shaping. This was typically done with clay or earthenware, which can be called "addition." Because clay has strong plasticity, shaping techniques are more diverse. In addition to piling, pasting, kneading, squeezing, and pressing, carving techniques like hollowing, engraving, and scratching can also be used to remove excess material. For example, in primitive pottery sculptures, eyes are often created by hollowing, noses are made by pasting clay strips, and eyebrows are formed by scratching impressions. When it was discovered that fired clay is not easily damaged, pottery sculptures became the mainstream of early small-scale sculptures.