Mudiao
Mudiao is traditional Chinese wood-carving, a form of sculpture, and is still practiced today. Mudiao is characterised by detailed fretwork, and is sometimes covered with gold foil. Mudiao products include chests, furniture, screens and even buildings. Chippendale was strongly influenced by mudiao work. Woods used. Generally, hardwoods are chosen that are stable and moderately dense, and hence difficult to carve. However, for some carvings aromatic woods such as the tung tree are chosen. Typical woods include: Methodology. Classical mudiao is begun by selecting a whole block of wood, sawing it into a regular shape, such as a square  flat board, then using edged carving tools to sculpt pictures either in bas-relief or in three-dimensions. Burls, known as Ying wood or " Yingzi" from a variety of trees are used for carving figurines and standalone sculptures. While coming from any kind of wood, burls from "Phoebe" trees are the most common. The beautiful lines of bird's-eye knots that look like a string of grapes in "Phoebe" burls are often called "grape face".