Button carving refers to the carving of the buttons on the upper part of the seal. It belongs to the category of round carving and has a rich three-dimensional sense. However, compared with round carving, it has three significant characteristics. First, the image is small, limited to the size of the seal, which is generally less than 10 cubic centimeters; The second is to show only the upper part of the object, rather than the round sculpture, which needs all-round performance; In addition, the performance content of button carving is mostly animals, especially animals in ancient legends, such as chi, lion, dragon, tiger, exorcism, taotie, etc. Therefore, button carving is also called "animal button". The history of button carving is linked with seals. Only seals can make buttons. According to relevant historical research, the earliest seal started in the Zhou Dynasty, more than 3000 years ago. The original seal is a symbol of power and status, and is a special item for princes, generals and ministers, and Dada dignitaries. The original seal button was also very simple and simple, just drilling a small hole on the top of the seal to wear strong ties for carrying, so the seal button is also called "seal nose". With the continuous development of history, a strict hierarchy has emerged in the materials and buttons of seals according to the different positions and official titles of users. For example, the official seal of the Qin Dynasty, in addition to using gold, silver, copper and other materials to distinguish the level of the official seal, also distinguishes the decoration of the button. In the Han Dynasty, the emperor used tiger buttons with jade seals, the crown prince, the lieutenants, the prime minister, the lieutenant, the sangong, and the left and right generals used gold seal tortoise buttons, and the officials of the two thousand stone Dai Lu used bronze seal elephant buttons Since then, the buttons used by all dynasties, from the monarch down to the officials of various products, were mostly chi, lion, dragon, phoenix, tiger, exorcism, taotie, unicorn, camel, bird, claw, bear, bat and other animals in the zodiac, depending on their positions.
At present, most of the most influential sculptures in China and the West are made of copper. For example, Rodin's The Thinker, The Bronze Age, and The Statue of Liberty are all made of copper, Changjiang EPS exterior wall The lines are suitable for sculpture because of the texture, plasticity, unlimited specifications, rich color texture and other reasons of the copper material, which is also an effect that jade, wood and stone carvings cannot achieve. Jade carvings can only do very small works because of the material restrictions, cost performance EPS exterior wall Due to the limitations of wood carving technology, there is no precedent for large-scale outdoor sculptures. The inheritor, whose bronze sculptures opened a new chapter in the 5000 year history of copper.
It is a three-dimensional plastic art to use certain material materials to produce works of art with solid image. Because the production methods are mainly sculpture and molding, it is called sculpture. According to the production process, sculpture can be divided into two categories: sculpture and sculpture. Subdivision is divided into carving, carving, molding, chiseling, carving, casting and other skills and techniques. According to genre, sculpture can be divided into memorial sculpture, urban garden sculpture, sculpture, tomb sculpture and exhibition sculpture. According to the style, sculptures can also be divided into head portrait, bust portrait, bust portrait, full body portrait, group portrait, etc. According to the technique and form of expression, sculpture can be divided into three categories: round sculpture, relief sculpture and openwork sculpture. Round sculpture, also known as "muddy sculpture", is a three-dimensional sculpture that is not attached to any background and can be viewed from all sides. The round sculpture is characterized by a solid image standing in space. When creating it, one must take into account its sense of volume and weight. When shaping the image, one must also take into account that people watch it from different angles. Relief, also known as "relief", is to carve a convex artistic image on the plane. According to the different degrees of surface relief, relief can be divided into high relief (high and low relief, deep relief) and low relief (low and low relief, shallow relief). The openwork is between the round sculpture and the relief sculpture. On the basis of the relief sculpture, it is made by hollowing out the background, but it does not leave the plane, just like a round sculpture attached to the plane background.
Sculpture art is a kind of plastic arts, also called sculpture, which is the general name of three creation methods of sculpture, carving and sculpture. It refers to the art of using various plastic materials (such as gypsum, resin, clay, etc.) or hard materials (such as wood, stone, metal, jade, agate, etc.) that can be carved or carved to create a visual and touchable artistic image with a certain space to reflect social life and express artists' aesthetic feelings, emotions, and ideals. It is diverse, so the law of development has different ups and downs. For example, the bronze ware manufacturing and decorative carving in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties in China were unmatched by future generations. The themes of the Han Dynasty's stone reliefs fully reflect the real life at that time. The sculptures in the Tang and Song dynasties certainly exceeded those in the Han Dynasty, but the works of the Tang and Song dynasties never fully reflected the reality as the Han Dynasty stone reliefs did. The handicraft industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty were improved compared with those in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but few sculptures in the Ming Dynasty fully displayed the characteristics of each work as in the Song Dynasty. Although the sculpture of the Ming Dynasty is not as good as that of the Tang and Song Dynasties, other artistic achievements of the previous dynasties are naturally behind.