Artistic Features of Brick Carving

Brick carvings are mostly used as building components or decorations for gates, screens and walls. Due to the strict quality requirements in the process of material selection, molding and firing, blue bricks are solid and delicate and suitable for carving.

In art, brick carvings can be admired from far and near, with complete effect. In terms of themes, the brick carvings are mainly composed of dragon and phoenix showing auspiciousness, Sanyang Kaitai, unicorn sending children, lion rolling hydrangea, pine and cypress, orchid, bamboo, camellia, chrysanthemum, lotus, carp, etc. In terms of carving techniques, there are mainly negative carvings, bas-relief carvings that are hidden from the ground, deep-relief carvings, round carvings, openwork carvings, and flat carvings (the shadow lines describe the outline of the image, and they are cut low and leveled in the open space beyond the outline of the image).

From the perspective of practicality and viewing, folk brick carvings are concise in image and rich in style, and do not blindly pursue sophistication and slenderness, so as to maintain the sturdiness of building components and withstand the sun and rain. The content can be divided into: auspicious patterns, pavilions, myths, folklore, secular life, flowers, birds and animals, classical novels, words and patterns, etc. The themes and contents of brick carvings vary according to where they are placed.