Shrine with Pattern of Bogu and Figures

This solemn Shrine with Pattern of Antiques and Figures presents beautiful decoration and ingenious craftsmanship, which is a folk woodcarving masterpiece in Chaozhou, Guangdong. The front and back of two doors see fifi ve decorative sections from top to bottom. The base sees a small decorative section. These decorative sections are respectively embedded with gold openwork carvings of fifi gures, birds and flfl owers, aquatic animals, auspicious beast, Bogu (refers to artifact graphics) and other models, supplemented with a variety of fences lined with patterns. They are almost all multilayer hollow, which appear very ornate. The border of shrine is painted with a refifi ned colored lacquer painting.

In the internal decoration painting, a courtyard stands between landscape and trees. In front of the courtyard gate, there is a small bridge. A towering pagoda stands on the plain between mountains. In the courtyard, people are busy sweeping and cleaning up the courtyard. Two persons stand on the bridge, and they seem to wait for the visiting guests.

The shrine bar is carved with pattern of magpie and plum flfl ower. A door-shaped frame stands under the shrine bar, which is carved with pattern of squirrel and grape. Frame is embedded with a gold lacquer decoration painting.

Gan Luo

Gan Luo was a native of Qin Kingdom during the Warring States Period. He was clever since childhood. He was skilled in debate. At the age of 12, he became a retainer of Lv Buwei (Prime Minister of Qin Kingdom). Once he was ordered to envoy in Zhao Kingdom. His eloquence persuaded King of Zhao Kingdom to send troops to attack Yan Kingdom, and Qin Kingdom got 16 cities without any efforts. After returning to Qin Kingdom, King of Qin Kingdom spoke highly of Gan Luo, and immediately conferred the title of “Shangqing” (the highest rank in feudal kingdoms in the Warring States Period, which was equivalent to the rank of prime minister).

Shrine

Shrine is a small niche for worshipping the god or ancestral tablet. Its facade is mostly divided into 3-6 decorative surfaces. Each of such surface is inlaid with 3-4 layer openwork gold lacquer carvings. Inside the shrine, it often follows the hall style, in which a small screen is placed engraved with the text, ancestor’s name, birth and death dates and lifetime achievements. Sometimes small screen sees lacquer painting. When ancestor is worshipped, a shrine door should be opened, in front of which small candle holder, gift box and offering fruit should be placed. And then incense should be burned for worshipping.

Chaozhou Wood Carving

Chaozhou Wood Carving refers to the art of wood carving in Chaoan, Jieyang, Chaoyang, Puning, Raoping and Chenghai in the east Guangdong. These counties were within the jurisdiction of Chaozhou Prefecture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, where wood carving is mainly used for building, furniture and decorative ceremonial objects. Their subjects are abundant, which cover fifi sh, insects, flfl owers, birds, fruits of four seasons, aquatic animals, rare birds, auspicious animals, folk myths and legends, ancient dramas, etc. Expression techniques include immersed carving (i.e., incised carving), relief carving, openwork carving and round carving. After fifi nishing, the patterns should be coated with gold lacquer so that the artworks are not only brilliant, but also can resist to moisture, moth, cracking, deformation or decay over the years.

hancheng

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