Before the Han and Tang Dynasties, the development of bamboo carving art was slow. After entering the prosperous period of Han and Tang Dynasties, bamboo carving began to be an initial stage as a technology. Guo Ruoxu, a connoisseur of calligraphy and painting in the Song Dynasty, recorded in his "Pictures and Experiences" that in the bamboo carving technique of the Han Dynasty, the engraving method of "staying green" appeared.
Bamboo carving with green leaves, also known as "flat carving" or "leather carving", is to use a thin layer of bamboo green on the surface of bamboo as the object of carving pattern, and shovel off the bamboo green outside the pattern to expose the bamboo muscles below the bamboo green.
The treasure of bamboo carving in Han Dynasty belongs to the painted bamboo spoon with dragon pattern found in the Western Han Tomb of Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan. This embossed dragon-painted bamboo spoon is .65 meters long. It is made of bamboo and painted in black and red.
The section near the top of the spoon handle is red, and a black dragon is embossed, which is vivid and simple. Bamboo spoon is decorated with dragon pattern and braided pattern, and it is exquisite and precious with two techniques of relief and through carving.
in the Jin dynasty, bamboo pen holders appeared. According to ancient records, the pen holder of spot bamboo used by calligrapher Wang Xianzhi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is very exquisite. This pen container in Wang Xianzhi looks like a round pot used to hold wine in ancient times, and it was called "Zhong" at that time. The surface of bamboo ware was striped, just like fur, which Wang Xianzhi called "Qiu Zhong", which also reflected that there was no artificial carving technology on the bamboo pen container made at that time.
In addition to the pen holder, there are also armrests, boxes, fan bones and other objects carved in Liuqing. The carving method is not only exquisite, but also the appearance of bamboo ware is bright and smooth, so you can often caress it. The longer the age, the deeper the color of bamboo muscle, the smoother it is like fat, the more moist it is like jade, the color is similar to amber, and the clearer and more prominent the pattern part is.
during the southern and northern dynasties, according to the biography of Ming monk Shao in the southern qi dynasty, Xiao Daocheng, emperor of qi dynasty, once gave a piece of "ruyi bamboo shoots and coconuts" carved from bamboo roots to Ming monk Shao, a great hermit at that time. Yu Xin, a writer in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, wrote a poem "Offering Zhao Wanghui Wine", in which "wild donkeys have leaves and mountain cups hold bamboo roots", and also mentioned a wine glass carved from bamboo roots. It shows that the art of root carving appeared in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
The bamboo carving technique began in the Tang Dynasty, and there were relatively many bamboo carvings in the Tang Dynasty. The famous wind instrument with the figure Hua Niaowen engraved on it was named after the length of the pipe, which was one foot and eight inches (6 cm). Its timbre was both ethereal and desolate. This piece of shakuhachi is carved in green, with shallow yinxian, engraved with patterns such as ladies, flowers and trees, birds and butterflies, which is extremely exquisite and has the style of Tang Dynasty.