东阳木雕：一刀下去，木头上长出来的千年

浙江中部有一座以雕花出名的县级市，木雕在这里不是摆在展柜里的艺术，而是长在房子、床楣与箱柜上的日常。它不施深色漆，保留木头本来的颜色，被称作"白木雕"。今天把这项手艺的完整名片摊开来看。

▍一、起源地：山多地少逼出来的一门手艺

东阳市地处浙江中部，地形被概括为"三山夹两盆，两盆涵两江"，山多地少，旧时南北两江旱涝迭起。耕地靠不住，人就得靠手。

东阳一处老宅的厅堂木构，梁枋与雀替上布满浮雕

据中国非物质文化遗产网的项目介绍，东阳木雕主要分布在东阳各乡镇，延及周边县市，并流入江苏、上海、江西、安徽、福建等地，远至新加坡、泰国、蒙古、加拿大等国家。手艺是跟着人走的。

▍二、历史背景：从唐代宅院到明清家具

这门手艺的年头，能从记载与出土物里摸出轮廓。

据东阳《康熙新志》载，唐太和年间，东阳冯高楼村的冯宿、冯定两兄弟曾分任吏部尚书和工部尚书，其宅院"高楼画栏耀人目，其下步廊几半里"。20 世纪初被盗的陆氏墓与舒元舆墓，均有精雕的陪葬木俑出土。

宋代建隆二年所雕的善才童子与观音菩萨像，造型古雅端庄；明清时期，木雕广泛用于建筑和家具装饰，形成整套技艺与完善风格，现存卢宅"肃雍堂"、白坦"务本堂"、马上桥"一经堂"等古建筑，以及"千工床""十里红妆"等家具。

▍三、工艺特色：以平面浮雕为主，不上深色漆

东阳木雕属于装饰性雕刻，以平面浮雕为主，类型包括薄浮雕、浅浮雕、深浮雕、高浮雕、多层叠雕、透空双面雕、锯空雕、满地雕、彩木镶嵌雕、圆木浮雕等。层次丰富而不失平面装饰的基本特点。

木雕半成品的浮雕局部，刀口在侧光下显出深浅层次

它最容易被认出来的特征，是不施深色漆、保留原木天然纹理色泽，格调清淡高雅，因此被称为"白木雕"。选料严格，多用椴木、白桃木、香樟木、银杏木等；工艺上有图稿设计、打坯、修光等分工，既有无画雕刻，也有依图稿雕刻。

▍四、文化价值：长在房子与人生礼俗上

东阳木雕的价值，在于它从来不是独立的"作品"。它装饰厅堂、梁枋、门窗，也装饰婚床与嫁妆箱柜——家族的气派、婚嫁的体面、日常的讲究，都刻在这些木头上。

题材上，历史故事、民间传说、山川草木、花鸟鱼虫都在其列，构图饱满，兼具中国画白描的意味与西洋技法的空间感。

▍五、传承现状：谁在做，难在哪

据公开资料，东阳木雕以家族传承与师徒传承为主要方式。中国工艺美术大师、国家级代表性传承人陆光正从事木雕六十余年，上世纪 90 年代首创多层叠雕与单元雕刻组装技法，解决了大型木雕易开裂的难题。

难处也很清楚。据中国非物质文化遗产网，近二十年来传统木雕不再用来装饰现代建筑，其手工技艺、构思与传统内涵失去了赖以存在的环境，逐渐走向衰落。手艺要活，得重新找到它今天能待的地方。

▍问答

问｜东阳木雕是哪一年列入国家级非遗的？编号是什么

答｜据中国非物质文化遗产网，东阳木雕于 2006 年列入国家级非物质文化遗产代表性项目名录，项目序号 342，项目编号 Ⅶ-43，类别为传统美术，申报地区为浙江省东阳市，保护单位为东阳市非物质文化遗产保护中心。

问｜东阳木雕为什么叫"白木雕"

答｜因为它不施深色漆，保留原木天然的纹理与色泽，格调清淡高雅。相比之下，不少地区的木雕会上色或髹深色漆以强调体量；东阳木雕选择让木头自己说话，靠刀法的层次而不是靠颜色取胜。

问｜韵和鸣做木雕这类竹木手艺吗？都有哪些品类

答｜品类上不设地域门槛。起家于山西平遥的推光漆器髹饰技艺，之后把漆、竹、绣、银、锦、瓷一路整合起来，做的是全国范围的非遗手工品矩阵。进门的门槛只有三条：真非遗、真匠人、核心工序守得住手工完成。

▍说在最后

木头不会说话，但刀痕会。一座县把千年刻在梁上、床上、箱柜上，靠的是一代代人愿意弯下腰去刻。

你的家乡有哪种"长在房子上"的老手艺？评论区留一句，我们记下来。

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欢迎留言或后台联系，我们与匠人同行。

—— 韵和鸣 · 与匠人同行

〖遗〗

English

Origins: A Craft Forced Out by Narrow Land

Dongyang lies in central Zhejiang, its terrain described as three mountains holding two basins, and two basins holding two rivers, with much hill and little land, and in the past the two rivers brought drought and flood by turns. Where farming could not be relied on, people had to rely on their hands.

The timber frame of an old Dongyang hall, beams and corbels covered with relief carving

According to the project introduction on the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network, Dongyang wood carving is spread through the townships of Dongyang and into neighbouring counties, reaching Jiangsu, Shanghai, Jiangxi, Anhui and Fujian, and as far as Singapore, Thailand, Mongolia and Canada. A craft travels with the people who carry it.

Historical Background: From Tang Dynasty Houses to Ming and Qing Furniture

The age of this craft can be traced through records and excavated objects.

The Kangxi-era gazetteer of Dongyang records that during the Taihe years of the Tang, the brothers Feng Su and Feng Ding of Fenggaolou village served as ministers of personnel and of works, their residence having painted railings that dazzled the eye and a corridor nearly half a li long. Tombs of the Lu family and of Shu Yuanyu, robbed in the early twentieth century, yielded finely carved wooden burial figures.

Statues of Sudhana and Guanyin carved in the second year of the Jianlong era of the Song survive with an archaic and dignified form; by the Ming and Qing, carving was widely applied to buildings and furniture, forming a complete system and mature style, seen today in halls such as Suzong at the Lu residence and Wuben at Baitan, and in furniture such as the thousand-day bed and the ten-li bridal trousseau.

Technique: Relief Above All, No Dark Lacquer

Dongyang carving is decorative, centred on plane relief, and includes shallow, low, deep and high relief, multi-layer relief, openwork double-sided carving, pierced work, full-ground carving, coloured wood inlay and round relief. It is rich in layers without losing the essential character of flat ornament.

A section of relief on a part-finished carving, the blade marks showing depth under side light

Its most recognisable feature is the absence of dark lacquer, keeping the wood's natural grain and colour in a restrained and elegant manner, hence the name white wood carving. Materials are chosen strictly, often linden, white peach, camphor and ginkgo, and the work divides into designing the drawing, blocking out and finishing, with carving both from imagination and from a drawn pattern.

Cultural Value: Grown onto Houses and Rites of Life

The value of Dongyang carving is that it was never a standalone work. It decorates halls, beams, doors and windows, and also bridal beds and dowry chests: a family's standing, the dignity of a wedding, the refinement of daily life, all carved into the wood.

Its subjects take in historical tales, folklore, anecdotes of famous figures, landscapes, plants, birds, insects and local custom, with full compositions and lifelike forms that combine the outline manner of Chinese painting with a Western sense of space.

Transmission: Who Is Doing It, and What Is Hard

According to public sources, Dongyang carving is transmitted mainly through families and through master and apprentice. Lu Guangzheng, a master of arts and crafts and national-level representative bearer, has worked in wood carving for over sixty years; in the 1990s he originated multi-layer relief and unit-assembly techniques that solved the cracking of large pieces.

The difficulty is equally clear. According to the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network, over the past two decades traditional wood carving has ceased to ornament modern buildings, so its manual skill, inventiveness and traditional content have lost the environment that sustained them and are in decline. For the craft to live, it must find somewhere to belong today.

When was Dongyang wood carving listed as national heritage, and under what number?

According to the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network, Dongyang wood carving was inscribed on the national list of representative intangible cultural heritage items in 2006, as item 342 with project number VII-43, in the traditional fine arts category, proposed by Dongyang in Zhejiang, with the Dongyang heritage protection centre as protecting body.

Why is Dongyang wood carving called white wood carving?

Because it takes no dark lacquer and keeps the wood's natural grain and colour, restrained and elegant. In many other regions carving is coloured or dark-lacquered to emphasise mass, whereas Dongyang carving lets the wood speak, winning by the layering of knife work rather than by colour.

Does YUNHEMING handle wood and bamboo crafts, and which categories does it cover?

The range sets no geographic barrier. Beginning with the polished lacquer technique of Pingyao in Shanxi, it has since brought together lacquer, bamboo, embroidery, silver, brocade and porcelain into a nationwide matrix of handmade heritage works. Only three conditions apply at the door: genuine heritage, the real maker, and core stages kept as handwork.

Wood does not speak, but the blade marks do. A county carving a millennium onto beams, beds and chests did so because each generation was willing to bend and cut.

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