The story of which dynasty and generation this legend was born is impossible to verify. However, Qingtian stone carving is a bright pearl in the treasure house of China traditional stone carving art with a long history. In the Zhejiang Museum, there are four carved piglets in Qingtian during the Six Dynasties, which were tomb supplies at that time. Although the shape of Xiaoshi pig is simple and rough, it records the historical traces of Qingtian stone carving more than 500 years ago. The works have concise lines, simple shapes, both form and spirit, and the Han and Wei styles can be seen in art.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Qingtian stone carving developed rapidly. From the Qingtian Stone Carvings and Buddha Statues discovered in the Twin Towers of Longquan in the Five Dynasties, it shows that the theme and techniques of Qingtian Stone Carvings in the Tang Dynasty have made a breakthrough. In the Song Dynasty, Qingtian stone carving absorbed the craft of skillful jade, and used the techniques of "modeling according to the situation" and "being clever because of color", giving full play to the advantages of Qingtian stone's own stone color, stone quality and carving ability, and creating a precedent of "multi-level carving" techniques. Multi-level carving is a major feature of Qingtian stone carving. Delicate description and complicated treatment are difficult for any jade carving.
In the Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China, Qingtian stone carving was selected as a tribute for many times as a famous product in the south of the Yangtze River. On the 80th birthday, ministers made a set (60 pieces) of "Baodian Fushou Seal" with Qingtian stone carvings as a birthday present (now in the Palace Museum in Beijing). With the opening of ocean trade, Qingtian stone carvings have been exported to Britain, the United States and France, participated in many international competitions, and won prizes at 1899 Paris Games, 1905 Belgium Games and 19 15 US Pacific World Expo. In the second year of Xuantong, Qingtian Stone Carving won the silver prize at the Nanyang Persuasion Meeting held in Nanjing.
Guangxu's Qingtian County Records recorded that "Zhao Ziang first took a lighting stone as a seal from my hometown, and stone seals prevailed in the Ming Dynasty". It is precisely because Zhao Ziang's paintings and calligraphy are so famous that his achievements in creating and utilizing the backlog of Qingtian stone carvings have long been forgotten. Wen Peng of the Ming Dynasty was a lucky man. He happened to meet an old man who was carrying Qingtian stone by Nanjing Xihongqiao, and bought four baskets of Qingtian frozen stone, which enabled him to display his self-styled artistic talent and become a master of seal cutting, thus creating a new era of China stone printing. In the Ming Dynasty, the moist and lovely Qingtian stone was worshipped all over the world and made an indelible and epoch-making contribution to the development of ancient seal cutting in China. In the Qing Dynasty, Qingtian stone carving works, "The Great Immortal Buddha is majestic, but there are a few small cases, with a fine jiaozi and a stubborn tiger, leopard, bear and lion", expanded from practical products to ornamental products.
According to historical records, Qingtian stone carving technology originated in the Six Dynasties. It pays attention to art, based on the application of materials and ingenious colors. There are processes such as stone carving, cogging, carving, wax sealing, polishing, etc., especially the carving technique, in which round carving, carving, high and low relief and line carving are used alternately. Qingtian stone carving has a wide range of themes, including fish, insects, flowers and birds, landscape figures and so on. They are exquisitely carved, both in form and spirit, realistic in technique, exquisite in atmosphere, standardized in technology and unique in style.
After the founding of New China, Qingtian stone carving developed rapidly. At present, there are more than 10,000 stone carving employees with an annual output value of several hundred million yuan. Their works have been exported to more than 40 countries and regions, enjoying a good reputation at home and abroad. Qingtian stone carving has created a number of fine works with new ideas of the times. In particular, the famous stone carving artist Zhang Shikuan's Grape Mountain enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad, which has a great influence on contemporary Qingtian stone carving creation. Under Zhang Shikuan's carving knife, a colorful frozen stone turned into a beautifully carved grape mountain. In the rocks, old vines are entangled, new vines are entangled, leaves are flying, and grapes are drooping. The string of round and crystal grapes is mouth-watering; A few lively squirrels, on vines, among leaves, under rocks, or cocking their heads, or chasing and playing, are really interesting. Stone carving artists also choose sorghum, millet, bamboo shoots, peppers, bayberry and other grains, fruits and vegetables as themes, and skillfully carve with the color of stones to create a piece of artistic treasures full of local flavor. Some of them won prizes in the Hundred Flowers Award Appraisal of National Arts and Crafts, and some of them were collected by China Arts and Crafts Museum.