Enhancing the Stone: The Chinese Tradition Part II
Master Stone Carver Zhu Qing Cai at Work
By Thomas S. Elias, May, 2020
First: Mr. Zhu Qing Cai, master stone carver, Next: Zhu with Tom Elias.
Mr. Zhu, now 67 years old, worked with his father in a landscaping and garden construction business and became a highly skilled craftsman. He first learned how to carve high quality traditional wood bases for holding and displaying viewing stones, but switched from wood to stone carving. He explained that skillfully carving a stone is more difficult that making wood bases for stones. He learned how to carve stone, mainly limestones, that looked like natural Lingbi viewing stones from another stone carver, Xu Guo Dong, in Shanghai. After that, he began to buy stone from Anhui province in 1976 and 1977 and began making convincing viewing stones. This was at the same time that the resurgence of interest in stone appreciation began and spread rapidly throughout China. Approximately a decade later, the appeal of traditional and modern Chinese viewing stones spread to North America and Europe. The demand for attractive classical shaped stones exceeded the supply of natural stones. This was an opportunity that Zhu and a few other master stone carvers readily seized upon. His pieces of worked stone was in such demand that by the mid to late 1990s, he had 26 people working for him. They not only would carve stones, but they also had mastered the art of treating their pieces to darken them and give them an antique-like appearance. Now, he has only two students learning stone carving skills. Zhu provides room and board for his students. They are not paid for the first two or three months, but receive a small salary when they are able to make viewing stones that can be sold.
Zhu begins the process by selecting or creating a design of the form he wants to create. He knows in advance what the finished stone will look like. That determines the thickness of the rock slab needed to obtain the desired depth of the viewing stone. Using a large bore drill, he roughs out the outside shape. He then bores holes in this block leaving behind the rough shape of the mountain peaks. A grinder is used to further shape the stone and remove any traces of the holes created by the drill bit. At this point, he switches to different sizes and types of smaller cutting bits to create the ridges and furrows reminiscent of a rugged mountain peak. This is one of the critical stages that requires experience in stone carving to get a realistic appearing viewing stone. This stage quickly separates the skilled craftsmen from the sophomoric carvers.
Examples of completed viewing stones with quality bases.
Our conversations with other stone carvers revealed some of the ingredients in the process, but not all. Some use a concentration of black tea with lime. The lime is an oxidizing agent that can soften the surface of the stone, while the heat will cause the stone to expand slightly to facilitate the tannins penetrating the outer-most portions of the stone. Another person recommended we try black ink to achieve the desired color. Permanent black ink is not water soluble; however, it can be successfully mixed with natural oils such Tung oil. Our experiments have shown that the application of pure Tung oil will also darken the lighter to medium gray limestone rocks that form the Lingbi and Ying stones. Regardless of the composition that Zhu uses, it accomplishes the goal of creating a natural aged look to his manufactured stones.
According to Zhu, the 1990s and early 2000s were the peak years for shipping altered stones to the United States. He still sells his stones to foreign visitors but at a reduced rate. Now, many of his better carved stones go to major auction houses in Hong Kong on consignment. Zhu sells his stones simply as Lingbi stones. He does not try to promote them as older or antique stones. We found him to be an open, honest businessman who has supplied beautiful viewing stones to a wide range of customers. He has used the Plain Garden Catalog (Su Yuan Shipu) as a guide for his carved stones. It is his goal to make 100 stones patterned after the woodblock prints in this ancient publication. These stones should be labelled as Ming style viewing stones. There are distinct from the Lingbi stones that have dug, marketed from Lingbi country in Anhui province in China.
The growth in stone appreciation culture in China continued for several decades beginning in the 1980s and continuing through 2010 when the demand for stones plateaued and then began a slow decline. In the last five years, the viewing stone industry in China and worldwide has declined from its peak. During this time, major exhibitions of Chinese viewing stones were held in North America and Europe. The Richard Rosenblum and the Ian and Wilson collection of Chinese stones and related artifacts were exhibited in several of the major art museums in western countries. Other exhibitions were held in London, New York, and Paris. These exhibits and their corresponding catalogs sparked an interest in western collectors and the demand for quality Chinese stones expanded beyond the those interested in Chinese antiques to a boarder community of viewing stone collectors. The publication of several books on aspects of Chinese stone appreciation by Kemin Hu helped fill the desire to learn more about these stones.
When Zhu Qing Cai first began selling viewing stones, he sold some natural stones along with ones that were slightly modified. Later, he shifted his focus mainly to completely carved or manufactured stones. Zhu is a craftsman who has successfully crossed into the realm of artist. Even though he doesn’t consider himself to be an artist, he has designed and created scholar stones than are so convincing that most collectors cannot tell that his stones are not completely natural. He has been preserving and perpetuating an ancient Chinese tradition and should be recognized for his important contributions over the last four decades.
