Historical origin of stone carving

Has a long history in China. During the long Old and New Stone Age, stone working was a means of livelihood for the primitive ancestors in Lingnan. In the mouth of the Pearl River in Hong Kong, Macao, Zhuhai found a number of rock carvings, to complex abstract patterns, using chiseling techniques, especially in Zhuhai, South Water Town, Gaolan Island rock carvings for the giant, the largest one is 3 meters high, 5 meters long, Mingwen chiseling, clear lines, from the complex lines can also be recognized figures and boat carvings.

According to research, the rock carvings age of about 1000 BC, is the work of the Bronze Age. The ruins of the Palace Office of the King of South Vietnam were found to have a number of octagonal prismatic stone railings with quadrilateral bases, which are the earliest known stone railing elements in the history of Chinese architecture. The ruins of the Royal Court of the State of South Vietnam, stone pools paved with stone slabs with ice cracks, winding stone canals, stone chambers erected with huge stone slabs, and a variety of stone components were the first of their kind in China's Qin and Han Dynasty ruins.

The Tomb of Zhao Mai, King of South Vietnam, is the largest stone chamber tomb known to date in Lingnan, with a huge stone chamber weighing 2.6 tons. The 244 pieces (sets) of jade artifacts unearthed in the tomb, including 71 pieces of jade walls, as well as two pieces of celadon jade round carving of dancers, one piece of celadon and white jade carving of corner cups with relief cloud motifs, as well as silk skeleton jade clothes, dragons and tigers and body jade belt hooks, dragons and phoenixes, heavy rings of jade pendants, and animal heads on the wall, can be described as exquisite treasures, reflecting the superb craftsmanship of the processing of jade at that time, and it can be seen that the state of South Yue has mastered the methods of material opening, modeling, drilling, cutting, polishing, altering, and inlaying, which are the best ways to make the stone. It can be seen that the South Vietnamese had mastered the techniques of material opening, modeling, drilling, carving, polishing, remodeling and inlaying. In the tomb of the King of South Vietnam, also found talc oven, ear cups, pigs, pillows, as well as stone inkstone, research stone. Sharpened stone and finely ground stone axe, etc.. It shows that stone carving was also a valued craft.

From the origin of human art began the history of stone carving. It can be said that, so far, mankind's all-encompassing art forms, there is no one can be more ancient than the stone carving, there is no one art form can craftsmen it is more popular, the ages will never die.

The history of stone carving can be traced back to one or two hundred thousand years ago in the middle of the Paleolithic era. From that time, stone carving has been passed down to the present day. During this long history, the creation of stone sculpture art has been constantly updated and advanced. Different periods, stone carving in the type and style style have great changes; different needs, different aesthetic pursuit, different social environment and social system, are constraints on the development and evolution of stone carving creation. The history of stone carving is the history of art, but also the history of rich cultural connotation, but also the image of vivid and real human history.

Pre-Qin period of stone carving

10,000 years ago, the primitive ancestors said goodbye to the collection, hunting economy, the end of the life of the displaced into the settlement of the Neolithic era, people began to engage in farming and animal husbandry based on the life of the colony. When the primitive people said goodbye to the gathering and hunting environment in the mountains and forests, and moved to the riverbanks and hills in the plains, the vivid hunting art in the past also did not come back. People found that the Neolithic pottery patterns, often are concise, generalized abstract deformation and even geometric forms of animal decoration, and thus in the Neolithic Revolution flourished in the region, rock carvings and rock paintings have been relegated to secondary or even extinct.

Chinese Neolithic ancestors, about 10,000 years ago, already knew how to burn pottery, but in about 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, only began to enter the era of colored pottery. In contrast, the ancient Chinese invented the technology of grinding stone tools, which was used in the late Paleolithic period, and the caveman's stone decorations, which were perforated by faceting, were milestones in the history of ancient Chinese carving because, only with the invention of the grinding technology, stone became an invincible carving material for mankind.

Peiligang, Yangshao culture period, the Chinese land of the end of the glacial period, is very suitable for human survival and development of the warm climate period. The sedentary farming people, who were happy and contented with each other's lives, wove peaceful chants. They made a variety of pottery, like to use abstract concise, generalized sphinx and various geometric patterns for decoration, people's understanding of the beauty of the form greatly expanded, the plastic arts have also expanded into various areas of sculpture.

China's early Neolithic stone carvings, can PeiLiGang culture of stone grinding wheel, grinding rod as a representative. It is processed from sandstone, the appearance was designed as a shoe sole-like geometric shape, neat and generous, stable center of gravity, its processing is very difficult, need to hammer, cut, faceted repair, involving a variety of stone carving processing of the basic techniques. Compared with various kinds of ground stone tools at the same time, it has more sense of form. It is not only a faithful record of primitive man's productive labor, but also embodies a high aesthetic value. This kind of stone tool, which unites the dual nature of labor, is often placed beside the dead as a burial object, and it is the religious appeal that can motivate the artist to create this kind of rare stone sculpture.

But during the Chalcolithic, pottery remained the dominant form of sculpture because of its ease of modeling and availability of materials. Until the invention of iron, stone sculpture remained a rare artifact, so our attention must also turn to stone petroglyphs.

Stone petroglyphs, in the appropriate conditions of the border area, is still the main form of the original line of artists, and enduring. For example, there are many Neolithic works in the rock paintings of Yinshan Mountain. Yinshan rock painting style of expression, its influence is very far-reaching and huge. As a matter of fact, the rock paintings created by ancient nomads in the north and northwest of China were mostly made by chiseling and carving stone, and their origin should be traced back to the rock paintings of Yinshan Mountain. In addition, the depiction of hunting and animals has always been an eternal theme. Shang and Zhou Jinwen in the picture of the word, the Warring States bronze realistic pattern, the Qin portrait bricks of the figure of the hunting map, are such an extension of the technique, only the latter is becoming more and more precise, formalized and rhythmic only. It can be seen that the black shadow technique of abstract generalization and exaggeration of the characteristics of the most can reflect the classical Chinese art does not emphasize the similarity, the pursuit of the aesthetic ideal of the rhyme and the vividness of the God.

In addition, another source of ancient Chinese stone carving techniques, line carving, also appeared in the Neolithic era. The stone carvings found at General Cliff in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, are believed to have been chiseled by primitive ancestors at the end of the Neolithic period. This kind of line carving stone carving form, in the successive generations of stone carving creation, is the most widely used.

Neolithic stone carvings, although not many have been unearthed, but its style is not simple, but also completely different from the rock carving petroglyphs of another world. Several pieces of talc carvings from Donggou Houwa in Liaoning province, all of which are small human heads carved in the round, appear rough and strange in their knife skills, and their images are rustic and vivid, suggesting that they are symbolic works.

Human head stone carving despite the expression of childish defective abstract, but does not mean that the carving technique is low. Such as the Daxi culture of relief carving of the human face on the use of carving and grinding techniques, and its image also has a kind of invisible religious power. Obviously, the carvers at that time were putting their main energy on creating jade carvings. Because we in the Hongshan culture and Liangzhu culture, has seen a lot of superb jade carvings as well as small stone artifacts.

The jade dragon of the Hongshan culture is a rare masterpiece, made of the harder Xiuyan jade, which is a proof of the application of stone carving techniques to the creation of jade carvings. It is well known that it is difficult to distinguish between jade and stone materials in ancient carvings, and there is only a relative view in the experts' classification criteria for connoisseurship. But one thing we can confirm is that in the Stone Age and Bronze Age, ancient carvers treated jade and stone equally, so we see fish-shaped stone pendants and rainbow stone decorations alongside the five carvings in the Hongshan and Beiyinyangying cultures.

On the other hand, primitive artists also applied their skills extensively in the field of working with utilitarian implements, making stone pestles, mortars, grinding disks, and all kinds of stone agricultural implements, as well as in carving stone chamber-type burial mounds and stone coffins. The latter, in particular, is of great importance in the history of ancient Chinese stone architecture. The Late Neolithic stone shed found in Haicheng, Liaoning Province, is one of the masterpieces.

In the Late Paleolithic, megalithic architecture was a simple combination of natural boulders without carving, which appeared to be calm and powerful, and was a product of the primitive megalithic worship that made people transcend the world. It was once prevalent in the Eurasian steppe, then spread to the East Asian continent, no country when into the civilized era, in the border area can still find its remains. Liaoning sea in the form of stone shed, its stone plate has been carved into a regular geometry, man-made forces have been strengthened, the natural forces and religious spirit is obviously weakened. It is the end of the megalithic architecture. This stone shed building is thought to be a burial. In the minds of prehistoric people, megaliths were often thought to be the abode of spirits or gods, and thus they were often used as boundary stones, coffins or objects of religious worship.

To date, archaeological discoveries of Neolithic stone carvings can be roughly divided into several categories. The first category for the traditional stone carving, including the traditional typical fine stone tools and small ornaments; the second category for the grinding utility, including daily necessities, utensils and production tools, weapons; the third category for the religious nature of the idol; the fourth category for the life of the animal stone carving, faceted stone rock. Among them to utensils and animal carvings represent the highest level of stone sculpture modeling at that time. We can later in the Shang Dynasty tomb of women, see the existence of many real animals and fantasy divine animal carvings, can not help but attribute to the Neolithic era of this keen to eulogize the natural life of the stone carving tradition.

In addition, we can also appreciate the beauty of the artistic language of geometric modeling from the practical implements created by the Neolithic ancestors.

Facts show that the Neolithic stone products, such as production tools and weapons have the ability to attract people's visual aesthetics of the points, lines and contours of the modern form of decoration, then constitute a system of geometric art language never seen before.

This is the most essential observation and experience of the ancients on the beauty of form. Therefore, the early Chinese hieroglyphic characters are delicate shapes made up of square and round lines combined with dots and scratches. This hieroglyphic writing was an artistic creation combining language and aesthetics. As a matter of fact, it is the same as the geometric modeling of primitive stone carvings.

Ancient mankind is in the creation of living tools at the same time, the creation of points, lines, squares, circles and other geometric images, we in the careful browsing of the late Neolithic typical stone products, can not help but marvel at the ancient ancestors how to have such a superb modeling skills. Although iron chiseling tools had not yet been invented, they were already able to use the most generalized points and lines to reflect the objective reality of the object. The shapes and lines of these objects are so beautiful, so symmetrical and precise. Ancient ancestors have fully understood that the most beautiful form is also the most convenient and practical shape.

Stone Carving in the Shang Dynasty

Following the Erlitou culture is the Erligang culture, representing the remains of the middle of the Shang dynasty. At this time the production of stone tools was still important, and various kinds of pottery and plastic products were prevalent at that time, but it was rare to see striking stone carvings. Until the Yinxu culture period, into China's Bronze Age heyday, the art of stone carving again blossomed into an eye-catching luster.

The famous figures of the late Shang Dynasty are the mortar and stone figures from the tomb of Houjiazhuang in Anyang, No. 1004, and No. 376 stone figures from the tomb of Wuhao in Yinxu. These figures are meticulously carved, with clearly recognizable clothing and hair styles, and are direct representations of social life by ancient sculptors, thus leaving a model for future generations to follow.

The Shang Dynasty society prevailed in the primitive religious view of the spirit of all things, animals are also worshipped by the people of the gods, and thus the stone carving artists are particularly good at showing the world of animals in all its forms and colors. Large animal stone carvings are mostly found in the royal capital of Anyang Yin. Houjiazhuang unearthed stone duck, the shape of the heavy, the circumference of the line carving decoration, is a kind of not stick to the original shape of the re-creation of the sharp beak and protruding eyes hook live the raptor's essential features and fierce personality, the rest of the details are omitted, the feet under the varying thickness, is to support the balance, but also to avoid a sense of monotony, and its body feathers and wings with the line carving pattern: this in the round carving modeling into a decorative design of the techniques, is the Shang dynasty Sculpture is different from prehistoric sculpture and the formation of a unique style of distinctive features.

Tang Dynasty stone carving

Tang Dynasty sculpture is the highest peak of the history of Chinese sculpture, is still divided into mausoleum stone carving and Buddhist stone carving two categories.

Tang Dynasty Buddhist sculpture, still mainly grotto statues, in addition to preserving a few plain Buddhist temple colorful sculpture and small Buddha. Tang Dynasty statues to Fengxian Temple statues as a representative of the majestic, full and rounded, a strong embodiment of the characteristics of the Tang style, but also Dunhuang colorful sculpture as the main body and essence of the large number of content is quite rich, the level of art to reach a very high degree, is incomparable to the statues of the past generations. Tang Dynasty statues have become independent of the round sculpture, mostly group statues, the center of the seated Buddha, on both sides of the disciples of the Bodhisattva. Heavenly Kings and Rexes echoed each other. Statues and real people are almost the same size, people feel that they personally communicate with the Buddha, friendly and close to people.

Tang Dynasty grottoes and Tianlongshan Grottoes, Bingling Temple Grottoes, etc., statues of full-bodied, graceful, showing the Tang Dynasty Buddhist art of secularization.

Tang Dynasty plains Buddhist temple color sculpture survives less, there are Shanxi Wutai Mountain South Shan Temple Buddha Light Temple color sculpture, and Dunhuang Tang Dynasty color sculpture style is almost the same. Small statues are still mainly stone bronze casting, artistic style and grottoes statues consistent, are showing the Tang Dynasty style of grace and generosity, which is a very high level of stone carving art.

The tomb sculpture of the Tang dynasty is still divided into mausoleum statue and tomb small pottery Chung two categories. The large statues in front of the mausoleum are mainly distributed in the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province near the tombs of the Tang emperors. In front of the mausoleum on both sides of the Divine Path there are tall stone people, stone horse relative echo, magnificent, the most influential of which are: the dedication of the mausoleum stone carving, Zhaoling stone carving, Qianling stone carving, Shunling stone carving and so on.

Tang Dynasty sculpture fusion of Chinese and foreign, synthesize the characteristics of the North and South, reached the peak of maturity, for later generations of sculpture art set a shining example.

Ming and Qing architectural stone carvings

Ming and Qing dynasties is China's feudal society by the turmoil, recovery, prosperity and towards the collapse of the last round of the cycle of the cycle, the architectural art at that time, or along the classical art analyze the tradition of the development of the future, which formed the history of ancient China's architectural art of the last peak.

The scale of the Ming Dynasty's palaces, mausoleums and euphoniums are very grand, attached to the art of building stone carvings in which also made a lot of innovative achievements. Qing anus away from the palace garden, but also in the scale of quality over the Ming Dynasty.

Stone Huabiao ancient, but the Ming dynasty Tiananmen white stone Huabiao has its own era of characteristics and artistic achievements. It is shaped by a variety of carving techniques unprecedented architectural decorations, the main body of the Huabiao column dragon, to press the ground hidden up the shallow relief carving out of the coiled and on the dragon, between the cloud pattern between the ornaments, making the Huabiao magnificent and solemn, its column head full of colorful translucent carving of the clouds, lotus petals on the stone plate decorated with round carving of the lions. Under the magnificent octagonal seat, surrounded by exquisitely carved dragon pattern railings and carved with a lion looking post. Taking an overview of the overall shape of the Huabiao, it is a sublimation of the traditional form, and at the same time, we see that the Huabiao is also essentially a perfect symbol of the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures.

In fact, the main hall of the Forbidden City, the pedestal, steps, railings, walkways, atrium, stone bridges, all for a variety of stone carving art form organic combination. These stone carvings were ordered in the twenty-fifth year of the Qianlong chiseled off the original Ming Dynasty decorations after re-carving. However, from the existing stone railings border pattern, we can still see the Ming and Qing dynasty Palace stone carving or inherit the Song and Yuan since the decorative patterns and techniques. Overview of the Ming and Qing dynasty palace gardens, the extensive use of its architectural stone carvings, can be said to the extent that there is no limit. They eloquently reflect the fact that the world's best and greatest buildings are inseparable from the stone decorative components. In the Qing dynasty royal gardens, Yuanmingyuan is known as the "garden of the garden" of the great gardens, it is sad that it was burned in 1860 in the hands of the invading allied forces of eight countries. Now we are from the ruins of the garden remains of the stone building remains, can still be glimpsed in this great champion of the ancient and modern art of garden architecture of some of the style.

Ming and qing dynasty architecture widely used stone carving art form examples, can be said to be numerous. Such as the well-known Temple of Heaven in Beijing, that is the Ming and Qing emperors sacrificed to the heavens and pray for a good year of the place, the main building under the pedestal, white stone altar, stone components are carved on the very beautiful decorations. They are under the control of the imperial government, in order to adapt to the feudal rule as well as luxury and luxury life and other needs of the creation, which is also reflected in the mausoleum building is very prominent. Nowadays, a large number of stone carvings of mausoleums of the Ming and Qing dynasties are preserved in the Imperial Tomb in Fengyang, Anhui Province, Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing, Thirteen Mausoleums in Beijing, Qing Dongling Mausoleum in Zunhua, Hebei Province, and Qing Xiling Mausoleum in Yixian, Hebei Province, and other places.