Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1876 — Chinese Carvings. [ARTICLE]

Chinese Carvings.

The wood and ivory carvings in the Chinese section of the main bunding win the admiration of ail who see them. In . the amount of patient labor required for ■ their execution there are no carvings at the Exhibition that approach them, and some of them can scarcely be excelled in ■ beauty by any in the world. The ivory carvings'merit special attention, and they receive it, for their location is more visit- « ed than any other sj>ot in the section. They t form part'of a collection of carvings - and jewelry exhibited by Lee Ching, Wao Ching and Tut Ching, of Canton. In a gia&s show-case will be noticed an elephant's tusk two and a half feet in length, standing with the convex side of the tapering end embedded in a solid mass of ebony carved into a representation of a rocky eminence rising out of a bamboo plantation, through which Chinese laborers are miking their way. pushing aside, as well ms Yht-y can, the tall and elastic canes. Beginning at the apex of tli£ tusk and extending up the concave side to the thicker ■end is an ivory city on a mountain side, wonderfully well executed. There are tbe joss-houses and the palaces, shaded by tall mulberry trees, military marching in the streets, pumpkin-head celestials, with half their bodies out through the windows to see what is going on, and, towering above all, the characteristic landmarks of a Chinese city—pagodas. In the joss-houses are seen, on their knees, or prostrated on their faces, jossmen and hundreds of women, but ' try few laymen, the jossmen having only indifferent success m their -endeavor to instill into the hearts of the males piety enough to attend worship. It required the labor of one mAn for over three years to execute this carving, and yet its price in China is only $330, and for that sum it has been sold to the Pgpnsylvania Museum of Art. Ivory carving is a prominent -industry in China, but it is confined chiefly to Canton. The work, men are paid fifteen cents a day and their food. This explains the reason why an article which, if made in America by .Americans could not be sold without sacrifice at less than SB,OOO, is offered by Chinamen at about one-tenth of that sum. All these carvings— in fact, all these articles in the Chinese section —were executed Shand, there being little machinery in ina, except that used by Europeans. The second ereat feature of tbe exhibit Is a perfect pagoda, or Chinese tower, in niainUire, four and a half feet high. It hat" stories, each story being capped Vgrmnr of those peculiar projecting roofs so wvdl known from tea-caddie art. Pagodas hare no U9e in China except as ornaments and observatories for cities. Thev are, as far as possible, located on eminences, and when suitable elevations are wot in a city, the pagodas are built on dulls outside the walls, the numbered pagodas in a city depends upon the size of ' the latter. Chinese cities are of four Abuses. In a city of the fourth class there nine five pagodas; in one of the third class, l*«V' in one of the second class, fifteen, xtmUm one of the first class, twenty. The - jteiglx of these towers is generally from *3fiOioJo<r feet. The joss-houses are used V for arorehip, but tbe custodians of tbe v towers are jossmen, to whom a small fee tisftaid fer visitors. The pagoda stands on center of an ivory base representing a ■plot of ground inclosed by a fence of jaorjr posts, supporting can ed ivory panels that murit.be scrutinized closely to be ■distinguished from the finest flowered

lace. Within this area is the portal, which would pass as a miniature of the one at the western entrance to tlie. Chinese j section. In tlie plot about the tower are , four trees heavily laden with fruit, and in 1 their shade Celestials, young and old, l male and female, are scampering about j and having a jolly time. The Chinese manifest ih thefr pictures ami statues of tlie human form either their inability to I represent it or a delight in burlesquing j it after the most outlandish fashion. Tlie ! i tower is hcxhgonal and slightly pyramidal. | i At each edge is a round support running j from top to bottom. These six supports ! brace the main portion of the structure, which consists of sheets of carving, hav--1 ing the same similarity to elegunt Belgian lace as the panels of the fence. Each ! storv is encircled just above the capping : of tfic pext lower story by a railing simti lar in construction to the fence, and from the four corners of each of the ten cappings arc suspended as many bells. This pagoda docs not, like the c ity on the hillside, consist merely of one solid piece of Ivory, hut of many pieces cunningly joined together by tlie overlapping or dovetailing process, without nail, pin or cord. If Americans had the patience, and it may be added, the skill, to execute a work like tiiis, they could not sell it profitably for leas than $6,500. The Chinese. however, have marked it S6OO. But the most curious and to most people puzzling carvings of the lot are the ornamental ivory balls. One of these is five inches in diameter, and has fourteen circular perforations, each three fourths of an inch in diameter. Within a hollow sphere are twenty.three other smaller ones, each moving free of all the others. Superstitious people ask how tlie latter got in there, and look around them in a frightened manner, as though on the watch for witches. The operation is very simple; but it requires immense patience. Tlie solid sphere of ivory is taken and the fourteen or other number of holes bored until they have reached points, say half an inch from the center. A small, sharp can ing instrument, the cutter of which must be at a sharp angle with the handles, is introduced into each hole, and by careful cutting a small ball may be freed in the center of the mass. It will hardly, however, be jierfectly spherical. This process is repeated as often as is represented bv the number of spheres to be freed. But the more delicate part of the work is to follow, for the outside sphere of the ball in question has been transformed by the magic touch of the Oriental artist into forests, cities and groups of people, and each of the inside ones into ivory lace of the most flowery and delicate pattern. It requires the labor of one man for over a year and a half to carve this ball, and yet it is marked for sale at S2OO. There are dragon-boats, flower-boats, and numerous other articles of the same material and wonderful execution possessed by those described, and it is hardly possible that Europeans and Americans who examine these and tlie unexcelled woodcarving of the showcases and furniture will turn up their noses at John Chinaman again. —Philadelphia Times.