The shortage of raw material for dental carvings hinders the development of new tooth carvings

“Bone carving inherits the carving techniques of ** carving. More importantly, the price is moderate. A few hundred yuan can buy good works, allowing the art of tooth carving to enter millions of households.” Yesterday, the Ministry of Culture Arts Service The "2011 Art and Crafts Masters New Works Joint Exhibition" organized by the Central Art Appraisal Work Committee in Guangdong Station was held at the Ernan Island Lingnan Exhibition Hall. The mammoth tooth carving of the Chinese art and crafts master Zhang Minhui was "Ruyi Lucky" and the bone carving "Fu Rudonghai "Technical surprise four seats, the audience watch the audience, Zhang Minhui said, compared to the tooth carving hundreds of thousands of dollars and even millions of dollars of high prices, the price of bone carving is obviously more "civilian", the collection value is no less inferior tooth carving.

The public was amazed at the master craftsmanship at the exhibition yesterday. The exhibition showcased hundreds of new works by Chinese master craftsmen such as Li Yu and Zhang Minhui.

Among them, the famous sculptor Zhang Minhui brought three pieces of mammoth tooth carvings like “Ji Xing Gao Zhao”, bone carving “Fu Ru Dong Hai”, and bone carving “Fu Shou Both”. The three pieces are magnificent scenes with many characters. The unique appearance and immediate appearance became the focus of the audience. What is different is that the bone carving "Fu Shou both" has a large body, the theme of the group cents birthday, bone carving on the clouds, Xianshan pavilions, dragons and phoenixes, playing the piano music, lively and numerous, one school of good luck. What is more special is that the meticulous carvings are exquisitely crafted with more than a dozen characters, but they are of different demeanor. The various birthdays are portrayed vividly and kindly, and they are smiling and smiling. Even the scenes around the baby playing around are vividly portrayed. .

The crowds of people who came to watch the works are endless, and they are even more admired for their masterly craftsmanship. Many people asked about the price on the spot, but the organizers said that the work was included in the non-sale goods, only for display, no valuation.

The tooth carving team has succeeded in the following: “The price of tooth carving is not as unimaginable as imagined, especially because bone carving is lower in material cost and the price is lower than tooth carving. A few hundred dollars can also buy good works.” Zhang Minhui said The price span of the bone carving ranges from a few hundred to several hundred thousand RMB, but the bone carving inherits the carving techniques of the ** carving. The difficulty, size, and artistic sense of the painting are not lower than those of the eagle carving. The bone carving also has the same High collection value. “Because the price threshold for collections has been reduced, bone carving has entered millions of households as a collection of art. As long as the people are interested, they can also collect their own bone carving works.”

Due to the influence of trade restrictions since the late 1980s, domestic ** raw materials have gradually become scarce in the past two decades, and tooth carving works have been limited, and the tooth carving market is gradually shrinking. Zhang Minhui said that the scarcity of raw materials does have an impact on the development of the art of tooth carving, which restricts the development of craftsmanship. However, many tooth carving masters are still insisting on creating and taking the fine line, so in recent years there has been a continuous emergence of new works.

At the same time, there was no obvious loss of talents for tooth carving technicians because of the shortage of raw materials. “The overall talents of the art talents are relatively stable, and successive talents have also emerged. The tooth carving techniques have also been well passed down.” Zhang Minhui said that because there are not many raw materials, there is no Little eagle carving talents concentrate more on quality products, so the tooth carving works still show a higher level. “Now more emphasis is placed on exquisite quality, emphasis on the inheritance of craftsmanship, and improvement of skills, and the overall health and stability of the tooth carving industry.”

The arrival of new raw materials to the collection of tooth carvings is expected to change from old to new. However, some collectors have pointed out that at present, the degree of marketization of dental carvings is still very low, and most of them only circulate in the art auction market, and are mainly based on “old”. "In recent years, auctions of tooth carvings on the auction market, many of them were tooth carvings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In December 2010, a Ming Dynasty ** Guanyin in Beijing was sold for 17.92 million yuan, setting a record for Chinese art auctions. Chen Xingzhang, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Collectors’ Association, said that because of the lack of raw materials, the collection of most teeth carving collectors is Ming and Qing carvings, but there are also some low quality imitation tooth carvings on the market, affecting to a certain degree. The transaction price of tooth carvings has not fully reflected the value of tooth carvings.

It is reported that the latest batch of raw materials in China was delivered around April this year, and the Guangdong market also received some quotas. Chen Xing Zhang said that although the supply is not too much, but it will also bring a turning point for the tooth carving market, "the raw material 'out of stock' years of tooth carving market is expected to resume prosperity in a year or two, after three years the collection trend is expected from the collection of the old The carving of tooth carvings to new tooth carvings will greatly expand the market for tooth carvings.” Chen Xingzhang stated that the price threshold for new tooth carvings is low and will become a collector’s target. New tooth carvings have a good chance of becoming a new round of hot spots in the collection market.