The Shadow Puppet Play Is Chinese Traditional Folk Handicraft
The shadow puppet play with written records dated back to the Song Dynasty, and Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty had had the performance of shadow play yet. At that time, the shadow plays were divided into the shadow hand play, the shadow puppet play (including the shadow paper play), and the large shadow play. Many grand occasions of the performances had been recorded by the Song people. While in Yuan Dynasty, owning to the westward conquest by the Mongolia troops, the Chinese shadow plays were introduced into the Middle East, Arab, Turkey, Egypt, and other countries, and later brought to some East European countries. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, the contents and forms of the shadow plays had some new developments, thereby forming the various genres with local colors.
The principle and methods of shadow performance adopted by the shadow puppet played an important leading role in the invention of the modern movie and the development of the movies and cartoons. Nowadays, the Chinese shadow puppet plays have been collected by the museums of many countries in the world; meanwhile they are the best presents sent by the Chinese governmental leaders for their foreign counterparts.
Ladle Mask Has Become The Treasure Of Chinese Folk Art
Shehuo ladle mask is mainly painted on the wooden ladle – a utensil used to scoop water or grain in ancient China, so it is called ladle mask.The ladle was a daily utensil used by ancient Chinese to feed the horses; usually the round shaped was for scooping water, while the rectangular shaped for getting feedstuff.
To prevent their livestock from the injury of natural pest/disease and ensure their safe and peaceful life, the forefathers painted gods or amulets on the ladles, so the masks were the beautiful wishes for peaceful and happy life of ancient Chinese.The ladle, with wood as the raw material, is easy to make, and the mask can be painted either in a simple or sophisticated way. The ladle masks primarily use colors to embody the characteristics of the figures, usually black standing for strong, red loyal, white treacherous, yellow violent, blue imprudent, and green righteous.
As an object used to ward off evil spirit and expel desolation for the residential buildings, the ladle masks were usually hanged in the hall or bedroom to express the house owner’s wishes for good luck and plenty of wealth; and still some just used the masks as decorations. Special attention is paid on the eyebrows, eyes, and mouth when a mask is being painted and colored. Based on the temperament and facial features of the painted figure, the craftsman would paint the five organs and skin color in an exaggerated way, so as to highlight the innate character of various figures. Usually strong contrast of color is stressed, which is bold and unconstrained, and has strong symbolic meanings, for instance, red symbolizes loyal, white treacherous, black upright, grey brave, yellow vigorous, blue reckless, and so on. Thus the ladle mask is quite popular with the folks. Thanks to the inheritance and development of modern folk artists, the ladle mask has become the treasure of Chinese folk art.
Chinoiserie Collection Is A Beautiful Series Of Hand-Painted Wallpaper Designs
China was famous for the Silk Road. NSR handcrafts‘ artists develop the Chinese traditional paint to the wall paper, With the traditional craftsmanship—–Gongbi, landscapes, birds, flowers and legendary figures are painted vividly by hand on silk mounted rice pape, which material named Juan in Chinese, for peple hang it on the wall as wallpaper or frame it as picture. The history of Hand-painted Silk Wallpaper can date back to the 17th ~18th century, designed by European wallpaper designers by incorporating Chinese art elements from Chinese artists, which is a good example of the combination of Chinese and western arts. Attracted by its unique artistic value and charm, a large number of royal family and aristocrats in Europe selected hand-painted wallpaper for the decoration of their palaces and castles. Hand-painted wallpaper is now commonly seen in various ancient European buildings.
Chinoiserie Collection is a beautiful series of hand-painted wallpaper designs based on classical Chinese themes including floral and nature scenes which were traditionally used on screens and other decorative objects in China.The style of painting done today is in the same historical style that was used on the original wallpaper that was so popular in Europe starting in the late 17th Century, when these wallpapers were first exported from China. These wallpaper scenes created a mural effect that would cover the walls of an entire room without repeating the design. Today these designs are appropriate for most Dining Rooms, Bed Rooms, Living Rooms and Entryways of today’s interiors.
Chinese painting depicting either allegorical or historical scenes date from as far back as the Tang and Qing dynasty (1200-1900 BC). They are painted in a special technique which creates a feeling of antique quality and beauty. The designs are well known around the world and can still be seen in museums in China and elsewhere. The designs include scenes of village life and ceremonial settings populated with detailed figures, while others depict beautiful and serene landscapes. Chinese artists descend the art skill and apply it to the hand-painted silk wallpaper. NSR HANDCRAFTS have re-designed some of these scenes and captured not only a wonderful decorative effect but have retained the centuries-old Chinese cultural and artistic aspects of the original work. Our artists use the same traditional Chinese painting skills used for thousands of years to hand paint each design with precision to maintain the original art form and style. Each design of Antiquities Collection has at least 8 continuous panels with no design repetition.