Crystal Beauty–Stone Windows with Hollowed-out Carvings

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  Windows are to con- struction, what eyes are to humans. Windows, which have a close connection with people, have become an epicenter of designs and ornaments. Leoh Ming Pei, a famous international architect, praised Chinese windows, taking root in the Chinese culture as a combination of arts and function.
  Traditionally, windows are usually made of wood. In the Ming (1368 –1644) and the Qing (1644 – 1911) dynasties, stone windows with hollowedout carvings became popular in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
  Stone windows are aesthetic for their design and make internal spaces well lit and ventilated, manifesting a Chinese tradition of emphasizing beauty and function equally in architecture.
  Stone windows were indispensable parts for decoration in ancient construction, particularly during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Mainly applied in outdoor walls and sometimes for indoor walls, stone windows are usually mounted on walls as a whole or carved into walls.
  Stone windows combine functions of ventilation, illumination, security and aesthetics. With the concerted efforts of craftsmen from past dynasties, stone windows became art, evolving from simplicity to complexity and from practicality to decoration. Dull walls are enlivened with windows as one can see outside scenery through them.
  Various patterns including birds, beasts, flowers, people, inscriptions and geometrical patterns on stone windows implicate peoples’ wishes for happy lives.
  Stone windows are widely applied across China. However, it is in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (including Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian and Sichuan) where stone windows thrive with abundant heritages in residential yards and gardens.
  The art of stone windows, created by the people for their own benefit, are definitely “folk art”. The art, with various forms and patterns, shows lives, wishes, values and pursuits of the people who demand and create it, achieving the goal of “suiting tastes at all levels”.
  Stones for windows include red stone, grey stone, blue stone and white marbles. Red stone is fit for sculpting but prone to be weathered. Grey stone is better in terms of anti-weathering. Blue stone, which can survive weathering for centuries, are the best material for stone windows. White marble, firm and smooth, is also not easy to be weathered. However, it is seldom used in folk architecture for its high prices. Most stone windows made of white marble were craved in the period of the Republic of China.
   Implied Meaning
  Patterns in China are not only art for art’s sake, but a carrier of emotion, thoughts and culture. It is said “anything must be accompanied by patterns”, implying its ideological and cultural values.
  The most common way to express auspicious wishes is by using symbols. Long (the friendly Chinese dragon), a sacred beast in the Chinese culture, indicates peace in the world. Phoenix, regarded as a propitious bird, symbolizes five virtues (loyalty, benevolence, fidelity, abstinence and bravery), wealth, honor and good luck. The red-crowned crane implies longevity and magpie associates with happiness. Nobleness is represented by pine trees, bamboo and plum blossoms. Peony is a symbol of richness. People use preaches to express their wishes for long life. A wish for fertility is usually implied by a gourd, guava and grapes. These symbols usually intertwine with each other to express a more comprehensive and deeper meaning.
  Homophonic substitution is another method to express wishes. Bianfu (Bat), not popular for its appearance, indicates good luck and happiness for its sound. Fish is a symbol of abundance. Deer implies a promising official career. Bottle indicates safety. Sword and halberd has a similar sound with auspiciousness. A bottle with three swords or halberds in it means a promotion. A bottle with a Chinese rose in it carries a message of safety for the whole year”.
  Some patterns carry a dual feature of being both symbolic and homophonic. For example, a lion, the king of beasts, is compared to authority, power and richness. People also use two lions to express a wish that everything goes well as the lion is a homophonic word with event. A lion with a pattern of copper cash means great wealth and high position. The lotus, a sacred flower in Buddhism, is also a homophonic word with connection. A combination of fish and lotus indicates having a healthy harvest year after year. Copper cash indicates wealth. Meanwhile, it is also called “well” or “spring”, which is a homophonic word with wholeness. Two coins and ten coins are used to indicate perfection and integrity.
  
   Craftsmanship of Sculpturing
  Handicraftsmen, by using various methods including circular engraving, embossment and openwork, turn monotone stones into delicate and fantastic windows. Craftsmen have paid great attention to artistic comparison and the combination of different elements in sculpturing. They have applied various factors including size, height, thickness, density, symmetry, correspondence and comparisons between deficiency and excess, stagnation and dynamic with professional proficiency. In a traditional “two dragon chasing after a pearl”, patterns are arranged on two levels. The first level is engraved into shapes of dragons and pearls in flowing lines. The second level, on the dragons and pearl, is carved with patterns of geometric figures. The two dragons are lifelike for its fine arrangement and sculpturing techniques. Heads are delicately carved with two widely opened eyes, an open mouth, luxuriant beard and hair on each, while the bodies of the two dragons are roughly carved without too much ornament. The pearl, in the shadow of the clouds, floats between two dragons.
  Stone windows, which are always used as ornaments, usually have patterns abstracted from animals, plants and wares. They are unique and intertwine with each other. Vines and rattans are usually applied to stone windows, expressing peoples’ wishes for survival and growth from generation to generation. However, craftsmen draw from these concrete rattans to create abstract forms, using flowing lines to indicate the inner meaning.
  The stone window, not only functional but also aesthetic, is a representation for exquisite craftsmanship and a carrier of traditional morals and ethics, religious beliefs, lifestyles and customs, penetrating the quintessence of Chinese history and culture into it.
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