Nut carving, also known as Hediao in Chinese, is a kind of traditional folk art exclusively owned by China. The delicate carving skills on the small fruit stones or walnuts make the art form of high value.
Net carving has a long history in China and its earliest record dates back to Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years ago. It attained great achievements in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and at that time, it was quite popular to wear a piece of nut carving for the upper class.
Limited by the differences in texture, density, rigidity and flexibility for each piece of the raw material, there is no established rules to follow when the artists do the carving. The artist should have a blueprint in his mind before he starts and when he meets problems while carving, such as hidden holes, he has to reconsider his plan and make adjustment.
Nowadays, this traditional art form is still gaining much attention and artists today give it a new luster.
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