Valuable wood carvings repeatedly shoot high prices

Chinese wood carvings are profound and far-reaching. They are large on palace floors and statues of totems. They are as small as bed beds and penholders, and they have the charm of wood carving art. Various types of wood carvings are scattered all over China. In recent years, the prices of luxury wood carvings have also been on the rise in various domestic auction sites. In Guangdong, Chaozhou woodcarvings and Guangfu woodcarvings, which are based on Cantonese furniture, are full of vitality and competitiveness.

The valuable wood carvings were auctioned out on the auction site as early as 7,000 years ago. At the Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang, wood carving fish appeared. In the Qin Dynasty, A Fanggong's "Ling-back, fangs, high-pitched sculpting" has become a swan song. The Tang Dynasty's white-faced Guanyin statue is still in Japan's Horyu-ji Temple. When the increasingly complex "Music Tables, Thousand Workers' Bed" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was still scattered in the auction market, a large number of contemporary wood carving crafts had already entered the homes of ordinary people.

Chinese woodcarvings are extremely widespread and this ebb and flow has begun to ebb and flow. Among the most famous are the Dongyang woodcarvings, the Yueqing boxwood carvings, the Chaozhou golden lacquer woodcarvings, and the Fujian longan woodcarvings. These four schools are known as the “four Chinese woodcarvings”.

In recent years, the prices of valuable wood carvings have been rising in various domestic auction sites. This reporter learned that as early as the 2010 auction, a good piece of Chaozhou woodcarving works had already captured hundreds of thousands of yuan, and individual masterpieces even amounted to as much as one million yuan. In October of the same year, the Dongyang Wood Carving double-sided landing screen “The Lotus Pond Moonlight” unveiled at the 5th “East Fair” was received by a Hong Kong company for a high price of RMB 2.08 million. In July 2012, at the first Shanghai Intangible Boutique auction, the Huanghuali wood carving “Damohashi” won the first prize in the field for 2.6 million yuan. In November 2012, Hainan Huanghua Pear Collection Hall in Hainan was a Hainan Huanghuali "Chinese Kung Fu" with a bid price of up to 12.8 million yuan.

It is undeniable that precious wood is an important factor in determining the price of wood carvings. With the soaring prices of raw materials such as yellow pears and rosewood, the price of wood carvings will surely rise. At the same time, the increasing innovation of fine and complicated carving, the joint promotion of corporate governments, the continuous expansion of industry scale, and the fine inheritance of artists, also make all kinds of wood carvings increasingly competitive in the market. Chaozhou wood carving and Guangfu wood carving are good examples.

The wood carving furniture prosperous area in Taishan, Zhongshan and other places, Chaozhou wood carving, also known as the gold-painted wood carving, known for the Tong carving technology, typical representative of the "shrimp crab", carved shrimp and crab life, from any side can enjoy their Lively gesture. Many masters emerged from Chaozhou woodcarving. Among them, the most famous ones were Chen Wei, Chen Peichen, Li Dejun, and Xi Liuxi.

Kong Zhaoming, secretary-general of the Guangdong Arts & Crafts Association, told reporters that in recent years the government has given a lot of support to the wood carving industry. Many masters have also rushed for the torch of the torch, and Liu Xixi even free recruits disciples, and also pays for living expenses every month. These measures are for Chaozhou woodcarving. The collection is a must for spring. Just as at the end of last year, the wood carving factory of Qi Liuxi also ushered in the crew of 7 sets of "Agri-City World" section of CCTV.

Guangfu wood carvings and Chaozhou wood carvings and Hakka wood carvings belong to Guangdong wood carvings. According to Kong Zhaoming, Guangfu woodcarving is the most representative of furniture carvings, and Cantonese-style furniture (also known as “Guangzuo”) is an important carrier. However, he admits that the booming production areas of Cantonese-style wood carving furniture are not in Guangzhou, but in places such as Taishan, Xinhui and Zhongshan. These cities have opened a large number of furniture factories in recent years and formed a relatively complete industrial chain. The output value has been rising year by year. Handicraftspeople from Fujian, Zhejiang and other places gather here, and every year a variety of high-, middle- and low-end furniture and other wood carving works continuously flow into the country and even the world market. Kong Zhaoming analyzed that there are two main developments in the future. One is high-end wood carving furniture made of rare wood such as huanghuali, and the other is represented by Xinhui Furniture, and it faces the public's fast-selling products.

A group of old artists in Guangdong quietly produced a boutique hole. Zhao Zhaoming said that in terms of the entire province of Guangdong, the representative types of wood carvings are mainly wood carvings in Chaozhou and sculptures in Guangduan. The extensive sculpture includes the large-scale furniture production of Xinhui Taishan and other places, as well as the furniture and small pieces of local wood carving masters in Guangzhou. Although the number of the latter's staff is not large, they are frequent.

In Guangzhou, traditional wood carving artists are watching silently. The 76-year-old Yang shrimp old man, who is the representative inheritor of Cantonese-style furniture production techniques, still insists on hand-drawing design drawings, uses the finest wood and carving craftsmanship, and refuses crude “fast” creation. The mahogany sculpture master Zhao Huihui never left Guangzhou woodcarving design for 46 years, and stated that “we must adhere to the artistic style of Cantonese style”. The lanterns produced by Luo Zhaoliang, the inheritor of Cantonese-style mahogany lanterns, have become “regular guests” in the annual Guangzhou flower market, and are collected by many cultural departments.

The "dragon and phoenix" on mahogany furniture, the "fish drama shrimp tour" in the golden lacquered wooden plaque, and the "parking dream" in the carved lantern, these are the gorgeous world that the wood carving brings to us. In the details, there is a handicraft. The deep feelings of the person are long, from the shape, full of well-known Cantonese flavor melodious.

Market visits such as small pieces of thuja are suitable. If the “root wrap stone” is of greater value, in addition to the well-known furniture carvings and architectural wood carvings, the root carvings, Buddhist statues, and instrument wood carvings are common types of wood carvings. The latter is favored by the market due to its small size, natural fit and price.

Yao Jiancai, the person in charge of the Foshan Nanhai Cui Yaxuan, introduced to the Collection Weekly reporter that at present, the fine quality of the statue carvings of the root carvings is good, the market is good, and the prospects are promising. It is a good time to start.

In the spacious showroom of Cui Yaxuan, there are various wood carving works such as Guan Gong, Guanyin, and Shengxing. The materials include yew, thuja, Jin Sinan and eucalyptus. Yao Jiancai said that Thuja has gained great popularity in recent years. It is a kind of rare cypresses that grow on cliffs. The shapes of its roots and trunks are varied, and they are carved into various animals and characters. And it has a faint scent, so it's very quiet and so the surface is usually not modified or painted.

Yao Jianqin said that the root carving type of wood carving crafts, the first thing is to see the carving and modeling, which is an important factor in determining the price. Moreover, due to the non-replicability of materials such as tree roots, it is determined that the finished product is also unique and more collectible. He said that the market in the past two years has been relatively stable, and the scarcity of wood has strengthened the resilience of the root carving works. In addition, there is not much bubble in the current market. A root carving handicraft with a height of about 80 cm and a length and width of about 30 cm is available. Thousands of dollars are traded. Located near Huadiwan in Fangcun, Guangzhou, it is a distributing center for wood carving products. The reporter saw on the scene that a large number of wood carving sales shops were distributed among them and customers lingered. A shop owner introduced that in recent years, the Yacai wood carving market has gradually warmed up, and the masters are mostly from Fujian. Processing costs alone will cost more than two thousand yuan. Finished products in accordance with the price and size of the process, mostly natural shape or with the type of sculpture, generally have transactions below 10,000 yuan. In addition, Suanzhimu, Jinshan, Jinsi, etc. are also commonly sold in wood carving materials.

How does this kind of woodcarving artwork judge its value? In Huadiwan, wood carving merchants told reporters that, in addition to the carving, the oil of Yapona’s twigs led to a smooth and shiny surface, the roots were covered with natural stones (commonly known as “root-wrapped stones”), and there were tumours. Will increase the value of Gendiao finished products.