Wood carving is a craft practiced worldwide — but if you really want to be impressed, you need to check out what wood carvers in the Dongyang region of China are doing.
Their intricate, detailed creations are so fluid and lifelike that it's almost hard to believe you're looking at a piece of wood — a single piece of wood.
This practice of wood carving dates back some 1,300 years to the Tang Dynasty, and the tradition is still carried out today by highly trained artists.
Obviously, carving wood like this takes some serious study and talent, and it's also considered a major point of cultural pride. These artists could certainly compare notes with the man who carves his stories onto eggshells!
Dongyang wood carving is used to embellish almost any wooden surface in homes and in public places alike. If you think these are impressive, let us know in the comments!
(h/t: Colossal, Michael Lai, XDYMD)
These carvings, which depict a Chinese tale, are found in the beautiful Leifeng Pagoda in Hangzhou, China.
These panels show "The Legend of White Snake," which tells the story of an immortal snake, who took the form of a young woman and fell in love with a scholar. The lovers were separated, though, and the snake spirit imprisoned under the Leifeng Pagoda. She could only be rescued when the pagoda collapsed and the lake dried up.
In the legend, the White Snake's son performed a sacrifice that allowed the pagoda to collapse and the family to be reunited. In real life, the pagoda really did collapse in 1924. It was rebuilt in 2002, complete with these traditional carvings.
Dongyang wood carving is characterized by its high relief, or the way the figures stand out in three dimensions. Careful attention is paid to every detail.
The tiniest and most delicate details are carved with precision.
It's amazing when you remember that this is, in fact, a solid piece of wood.
These carvings are use to decorate all kinds of surfaces in homes and public buildings. They can be found on walls, cabinets, desks, tables, and more.
The artists who create them use traditional carving tools and a lot of patience to achieve the fine details.
The illusion of a background is created by making flatter, shallower carvings. That way, it looks like the objects are farther away.
Today, Dongyang carving is considered one of China's finest crafts, and is a source of cultural pride.
The Kunming Green Lake Hotel has a huge collection of these carvings decorating many of the rooms.
Each one shows a complex, beautiful scene, all carved from a single piece of wood.
And the carvings can get very large, like this decorative wall panel.
On walls, they look like paintings, with the shadows of the craved forms creating different tones and colors in the wood.
Learn more about how this amazing art form is made and how conservationists are working to preserve the older pieces for future generations.
These amazing pieces of art look so lifelike, it's hard to imagine them being carved from a single block of wood. But with over a thousand years of technique, maybe it's not so strange after all!
Wow your friends with this artwork by SHARING!
