Ningbo Cinnabar and Gold Lacquer Woodcarving

Ningbo cinnabar and gold lacquer woodcarving is an ancient architectural decorative art featuring wood carvings ground with red paint and decorated with goldleaf and is magnificent and dazzling. This craft originated in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, and has spread to the surrounding areas.

The history of Ningbo cinnabar and gold lacquer woodcarving can be traced back to the Hemudu Culture of the Neolithic Era. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), a kind of decorative woodcarving ground with red paint and decorated with goldleaf emerged. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), these carving skills were popularly used on articles used in daily life such as home furnishings, statues of Buddha, indoor decorations, engraved wooden boats, pavilions and even wedding beds and sedans. The representative works were the Qian Gong Bed and the Wan Gong Sedan-Chair. The latter was kept by the Zhejiang Museum, exquisitely carved with more than 400 figures and an uncountable number of flowers and birds. The figures in this carving art mainly derive from opera stories.

Excellent materials like camphor wood, bass wood, and Chinese ginkgo are selected for Ningbo cinnabar and gold lacquer woodcarving, which utilizes both carving and painting skills.

The main techniques used are relief carving, circular carving and openwork carving. Making a piece involves a series of steps, including base carving, fine carving, polishing, paint rubbing and patching gold, to make it elegant, brilliant and resistant to erosion.