Lantian jade carving(蓝田玉雕) is a special artificial handiwork in Shaanxi province, Xi’an Lantian County and it is an important part of Xi’an culture. Lantian jade carving pays attention to the choice of materials and its works are vivid and elegant. Lantian jade carving works, especially the jade bowl, jade bracelet, jade glass, etc. reached a very high artistic level.
In Qin and Han dynasty, Lantian jade carving has developed form simple and plain to bold and unconstrained. With the political unification and economic prosperity in Sui and Tang dynasty, Lantian jade carving reached its heyday in history. In that time, Lantian jade was not only the tribute to the central government, but also developed a whole process of mining, making and carving jade. In tang Dynasty, Lantian jade has various kinds, and it has reached to many fields.
Lantian jade is commonly known as "vegetable Jade". Together with Xinjiang "Hetian jade," Liaoning "xiuyan jade" and Henan "Dushan Jade" are known as China's "four famous jade." Lantian jade has rich color, white, black, yellow, green, blue, red jade six colors make it full, shiny and moist and rich in minerals, but jade carving market value is not high. There are historical records that the emperor's jade seal, Neolithic jade, jade and jade Yang's jade belt, they are made of Lantian jade.
Lantian jade carving has a long history. Truly, it is declared as non-material cultural heritage project in Shaanxi Province. But the contradictions in the status quo now of Lantian jade carving has a lot of old jade carving artists who are unable to make many jade carving works. But the jade carving market demand gradually becomes higher. Industry sources say that the lack of jade master and a weak market development constraints Lantian jade carving, perhaps we should take the road of industrialization and maybe it is the direction of future development of Lantian jade carving.
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