The Princeton union., 1892-06-30
CARVING THE TEA ROOT.

CARVING THE TEA ROOT.
Industry Which Furnishes Employment to
Many Celcstials.
For more than a hundred genera
tlons there has been guild of artists
in this popalous province OF Fo-kien
whose llfe-w is the convers on of
the gnarled and interlaced roots Of the
tea tree into things Of beauty that is,
beauty from a. celestial point of view.
says writer in the Collector The,
herb whose leaves gladden. western
palates in the form OF Colong Hyson
and Souchong, is a hardy plant and
takes a firm hold on mother earth.
Its roots seems TO have no regular
law of growth. Sometimes they de-
velop very much as beard sprouts.
from the chin; at others they separate
and move along parallel lines as if
they were a lignose centipede.. In
general it may beisaid that they make
one large. clumsy mass from VIII ch,
shoot out anywhere from three to.
thirty rootlets. Their surface is never
smooth, but always irregularly cor
rugated. The value of root depends.
upon its size. its outline its free
dom from decay and its suggest e.
ness OF some everyday OBJECT 1t is
rare that main root mass is more
than six inches in diameter. Such.
belonging to trees ranging in age from
thirty years 10 a century. Infre--
quently they attain to twelve and
fifteen inches. and are then said sby
Chinese experts to be 400 and 500
years old.
The roots are dug from the soil and
allowed to thoroughly dry in the open.
air under a shed or else in mod
erately warm room. The loose earth
is carefully removed as is the loose.
bark and all pieces decayed cracked
or wormeaten. The artist then.
determines what it is to be. The
favorlte types are dragons butfaloes
COWS, carnivores bears mandar;. 4
priests, bowling dervishes, dancer. or-
rDythlc heroes. If the root cannot be:
worked into one of these shapes il is
converted into a pedestal or platform,
Tor figure piece. The primary
operation consists in saving it into,
rough shape. This is done with a,
fine cross-cut and the clean edges
removed by rubbing them on tiles or
bricks Sometimes root is bent bv
softening it with steam or boiling
water and then twisting it in anv
desired direction.
Now comes the hardest task of all
The most valued piece is that which
shows no art and seems perfectly
natural The carver goes over the
block, removing here ber and there
set OF roots here thinning out one
on the under side and forcing itdown.
and there burning another and ex-
panding it at the burned point I
have one in my drawing room which
is capital figure of a dragon, rear
ing and opening his jaws as if to.
spring upon his prey. Careful en-
animation shows that nothing has BEEN
added to the mass, but that hundreds
OF tibers knots and corrugations have
been skillfully removed.
In nearly every instance a human
figure made in the same manner Or
carved from a. wood of the same color
or else partly made from tea roots and.
partly from carved wood is added
to the first piece The designs are
endless in the field Learned men,
lecturing birds mandarins standing on
dragons boys riding on COWS and other =
ridiculous quadrupeds dancing beg
gars men fighting each other are the =.
commonest groups, but of the more
uncommon there are thousands. One.
famous artist IN Foochow claims to,
have produced, with the aid of his
apprentices over fifty thousand diff
ferent designs and, Judging from his
stock on hand his claim seems reason
able enough.
The tea-root carvings are seldom
very costly. running from so cents to-
$1Ol. Nine-tenths bring less than 81:
each. A handsome set of dozen cam
be purchased for $50 which will dec.
crate drawing-room or hall better
than bric-a- brac many times more ex-
pensive. The figures are strong: dur
able and in no danger of fracture by
Bridget or All Sin. Outside of their
aesthetic value they are of interest in
showing the wonderful ingenuity and
economy Of our Chinese cousins.