Classification Of Architectural Stone Carvings

Architectural stone carvings are categorized by the type of stone used, including bluestone carvings, marble carvings, white marble carvings, talc carvings, black crystal carvings, colored stone carvings, and pebble carvings. Huian bluestone carvings in Fujian are renowned for their architectural decorations and stone lions, particularly those with rolling stone beads in their mouths, which are famous throughout Southeast Asia. Yunnan marble carvings use marble from the Diancang Mountains as their raw material; their patterns resemble colored landscapes, depicting towering peaks and deep ravines, or cascading waterfalls amidst clouds, making them unique for inlaying furniture.

Stone carving techniques include intaglio (carving outlines), shadow carving, relief carving, round carving (a completely three-dimensional carving method without any background), and openwork carving (also known as pierced carving). Shadow carving is a unique technique in Huian bluestone carving in Fujian, involving chiseling the bluestone with steel drills of varying sizes, depths, and densities to depict landscapes, birds and animals, figures, flowers, and other forms of life.