Scrimshaw
贝雕
There are many types of shells, which are masterpieces of nature. The colours and textures are also beautiful, and some are even wonderful reflectors.
贝雕巧妙的将人与海结合起来，贝雕是海的绮丽与传统文化智慧的结晶，具有贝壳的自然美、雕塑的技法美和国画的格调美。自古而来记载着人与海的故事，传达着人们对美好向往和期待。Shell carving cleverly combines people with the sea. Shell carving is the crystallisation of the beauty of the sea and the wisdom of traditional culture, possessing the natural beauty of shells, the technique beauty of sculpture, and the style beauty of traditional Chinese painting. Since ancient times, it has recorded the story of people and the sea, conveying people's longing and expectations for beauty.
北海贝雕
The development history of shell carving (Beihai shell carving) can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. According to research from the Ming and Qing dynasties, shell-carving furniture and handicrafts were passed down from the folk in Hepu Beihai, and the shell-carving technique matured in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Hepu Lianzhou was the state, prefecture, and county government seat during the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. High-ranking officials, feudal landlords, and wealthy merchants gathered here. The tables, chairs, coffee tables, wardrobes, screens, and other items used in the homes of high-ranking officials and nobles were mostly made of sourwood and processed into various flower and bird patterns, character designs, and calligraphy fonts using pearl shells to embed furniture and create shell carvings with multiple patterns and shapes. This' mother of pearl 'craftsmanship has been passed down through generations.
Beihai shell carving painting is a traditional ethnic handicraft in Guangxi with a long history. It is a treasure in the treasure trove of Chinese culture, carrying ancient culture and reflecting modern civilisation. It is an important carrier for understanding and promoting Beihai and a "business card" of Beihai city. Shell carving is an elegant artwork created by artists who skillfully use the natural colour, texture, and shape of shells through careful design, carving, and stacking.
Beidiao's painting seamlessly integrates the charm of traditional Chinese painting, the ethereal spirit of embroidery, the texture of jade carving, and the lustre of pearls, creating a highly unique artistic appreciation. Because its material is the essence of the sun and the moon, it forms a shell with the spirit of light and treasure, which was used as currency in ancient times. The allegorical painting contains shells, and the room contains treasures. According to folk customs, it is believed to ward off evil and gather treasures and is the property of the town and its residents.
Beihai shell carving painting is a craft art product made from shells and seashells as raw materials, which are carved, ground, stacked and pasted. The composition of Beihai shell carvings draws on the style of traditional Chinese painting and strong Eastern artistic concepts. The themes are divided into three categories: characters, flowers and birds, and mountains and waters. There are 15 specifications and over 1600 varieties of products. Flower shell carving is the best, such as peonies, roses, chrysanthemums, and hibiscus.
大连贝雕
Dalian is the birthplace of shell carving in China, known as the "cradle of shell carving craftsmanship", and its products are exported to more than 50 countries and regions. Dalian's shell carving artists use local shells as raw materials and, based on the colour and shape characteristics of each shell, use traditional carving techniques and traditional Chinese painting composition forms to create relief paintings of flowers, birds, landscapes, figures, and other shell carvings, with realistic and lifelike images.
Dalian's shell carving artists use hundreds of types of shells, including pink river shells from Songhua River, clean white Buddha's ear shells from Changsha, golden yellow snails from Hainan Island, and green silver clams from the local coastal areas, as raw materials. Based on the colour and shape characteristics of each shell, they use traditional Chinese carving techniques and traditional Chinese painting composition forms to refine semi-three-dimensional relief shell carvings of flowers, birds, landscapes, figures, etc., with realistic and lifelike images.
The traditional shell decoration techniques, such as mother-of-pearl inlay, inspire Dalian shell carving artists. They found in their research that shells not only have the color of their skin but also various beautiful latent colours. In this way, the various natural colours and curvatures of shells can be used to carve and grind various landscapes, flowers and birds, and figure paintings. Because this type of shell carving is different from single shell inlay and shell carving composed of shell prototypes, it is called an emerging craft.
Summary
Beidiao is produced in many regions, including Xiantao City in Hubei, Dalian and Luda in Liaoning, Qingdao in Shandong, Beihai in Guangxi, Lufeng in Guangdong, and Lianyungang in Jiangsu.
The production of shell carving crafts is relatively complex. High-quality shell carving crafts are often mounted, and some even come with bases, which have high artistic appreciation value. Shell carving often requires a large amount of manpower and material resources. A shell carving painting weighing only a few tens of pounds sometimes requires one or two tons of production materials, and it takes two or three months of fine carving and chiselling to complete.
Shells once served as currency, playing a role of power and wealth in history. Nowadays, as an art form, it is a symbol of the vitality of the ocean. Whether it is characters or fish and birds, they are carefully constructed and carved by craftsmen based on their textures and colours. Its beauty does not fade with time but rather shines brightly.
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