Cedar root carving

What is the origin of root carving technology? According to archaeological findings, the ancients not only used wood, jade, bones, stones and shells as decorations, but also used tree roots or bamboo roots as decorations. 1982 root carving works of the Warring States period unearthed from No.1 Chu Tomb in Mashan, Jiangling, Hubei Province. As the root carving works of tomb animals, quadruped carving has snake, sparrow, frog, cicada and other patterns, which shows that the ancient root carving art in China has reached the level of ingenious combination of natural form and hand carving more than 2,300 years ago. During the Western Han Dynasty, descendants of Confucius made crutches by using Mu Kai's naturally curved shape. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there appeared many practical articles and furniture made of tree roots, such as club heads, pen containers, Buddha handles, scratching backs, pipes and so on. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, root carving was not only widely circulated among the people, but also favored by the royal family. According to "Biography of Li Mi in the New Tang Dynasty", "Those who taste pine branches and hide their backs are called' nourishing harmony', and later they become dragon-shaped. Because of Xian Di, they are contested by all sides." It is said that Li Bi, an official in the Tang Dynasty, made a dragon-shaped scratch for the emperor with natural roots. Han Yu wrote in "Timu Jushi" that "fire wears waves, regardless of spring, and the roots are as dry as heads. Occasionally, there is a poem entitled "A wooden householder must have infinite people seeking happiness". The "Muju Stone" in the poem is a root carving work of art and is regarded as the image of "God Buddha". During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the art of root carving not only developed in the court and the people, but also appeared in grottoes and temples. In some grottoes and temples in China, root carved Buddha statues are still preserved. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the skill of root carving was mature. In Ming Dynasty, there were Jinling School represented by Pu Zhongqian, who was good at bamboo root carving, and Jiading School represented by Zhu He. Root artists not only use wood roots and bamboo roots to create decorations for people to appreciate, but also carve furniture and other practical products with practical value. From the paintings of Chou Ying, a Suzhou painter in the Ming Dynasty, such as Jingutu, Tao Tu Liyuan and ZHENLANTING Pavilion, we can see a variety of root carving works of art such as fauteuil chairs and tree root crutches. Ming Metabolism's "Five Miscellanies" records: "Wuzhong used dead wood roots as a meditation chair and built it here. "This proves that the production level of Liang Wudi's root art has developed at that time. Suzhou Museum collects boxwood flowers and pen holders in the early Qing Dynasty, which are root carving works skillfully created by using the form of natural roots. In the early 1950s, Suzhou Cultural Management Association collected several pieces of tree-root furniture, among which a tree-root chair was a relic of four sons who ventured across the border in the late Ming Dynasty. Mr. Gu, an expert in Suzhou Kunqu Opera, has a "Yu Lang vase" in his home, which is also an exquisite root carving left over from the Ming Dynasty. During the Republic of China, the production and production of root carving art declined day by day, and many artists changed careers or jumped ship, so the root carving art was on the verge of extinction.