Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-03-11
Chinese Tea root Carvings


( Edward Beslior. l.. s. Consul at Anov
in Conssilor Report for December
For more than hundred generations
there has been guild of artists in the pro-
vince Of Fo-Kien whose life work is the
carving and modifying of the gnarled and
mterlaced roots of the tea tree into things
of beauty, that Is, beauty from Celestial
point of view. The herb whose leaves
gladden. western palates in the form of
Ooloug, Tyson and Souctong is hardy
plant and takes a firm hold on mother earth.
Its roots seem to have no regular
law Of growth. Sometimes they de-
velop very much as a beard sprouts from
the chin; Mt others they separate anil move
along IN parallel lines rs if they were lig-
nose centipede. In general it may be said
that they make large, clumsy mass from
which shoot out anywhere from three to
thirty rootlets. Their surface is never
smooth, but always irregularly corrugated.
The value OF root depends upon its size,
its outline, its freedom from decay, and its
suggestiveness of some everyday object. 1t
is rare that main root or root mass is more
than six inches in diameter. Sucli belong
to trees ranging in age from thirty years to
a century. Infrequently they attain TO ~
and | 5 inches and are then said by Chinese
experts to be four and five hundred years
old.
The roots are dug from the soil and al
lowed to thoroughly dry in the open air
under shed or else in a moderately warm
room. The loose earth is carefully re-
moved. as il the loose bark and all pieces
decayed, cracked, or worm-eaten. The
la, Jata hat - -. h.
favorite types arc dragons, buffaloes, cows,
carnivores, bears, maudarins, priests, howl
ing dervishes, dancers, or mythical heroes
If the root can not be worked into one of
these shapes, it is converted into pedestal
or platform for a figure piece. The primary
operation consists in saving it into rough
shape. This is done with fine crosscut
and the clean edges removed by rubbing
them on tiles or bricks. Sometimes a root
is bent by softeDing it with steam or boiling
water and then twisting it in any desired
direction. Now comes the hardest task of
all. The most valuable piece is that which
shows no art and seems perfectly natural.
The carver goes over the block, removing
here fibre and there set of roots, here
thinning out one on the under side and
orcing il down anil there
burning another and expanding it
at the burned point. | have one in my
drawing room which is capital figure of a
dragon, rearing and opening his jaws as if
to spring upon his prey. Careful examina-
ton shows that nothing has been added to
the mass, but that hundreds of fibers, knots,
and corrugations have been skillfully re-
moved.
In nearly every instance human figure
made in the same manner, or carved from
wood of the same color, or else made
partly from tea roots and partly from
carved wood, is added to the first
piece. The designs are endless
in this field. Learned men lccturing
biris, mandarins standing on dragons, boys
riding cows and other ridiculous quatlru-
peds, dancing beggars, and men fighting
each other are the commonest groups, hut
of the more uncommon there are thousands.
One famous artist in Fuchau claims to have
produced, with the aid of his apprentices
over fifty thousand different designs, and,
Judging from his stock on hand, his claim
seems reasonable prJOuph