I am a jade carver. I will use examples to illustrate how jade carving can achieve the goal of making the work meaningful and the meaning auspicious.

Jade must be crafted, the craftsmanship must have meaning, and the meaning must be auspicious!

A piece of jade will be carved into various different themes in the hands of different carving masters. But no matter what the subject matter is, when the jade carving master is conceiving it, the pattern combination is based on a foundation, and the design composed is also lawful and meaningful, rather than fabricated at random. This is what our carving masters often say, "The work must have meaning, and the meaning must be auspicious''!

This small piece of jade edge material, although not large in size, has bright green color, pure color, old and moist texture, and perfect without any cracks. From the perspective of jade quality alone, it is a good material that combines type, moisture, and color. Even if it is not large in size, the carved work will be very valuable!

For this jade material, the jade carving master did not choose conventional themes, such as Guanyin, Buddha, Ruyi, leaves, etc., although these themes are very suitable for this material and the works made will also be very marketable, but the theme finally chosen by the jade carving master was "Tang Horse".

Today we will briefly understand the origin of the "Tang Horse" theme!

Although the horse theme has beautiful meanings such as "immediate success" and "immediate promotion to nobility", it is a relatively niche theme among many jade themes. The "Tang Horse" image theme designed by the jade carving master is different from the traditional horse theme that emphasizes the agility of the horse. This pendant is carved with the fat image of Tang Dynasty horses as reference. This theme has been very popular in the jade circle in the past two years!

In the early Tang Dynasty, most of the horse themes in calligraphy and painting, as well as jade, were depicted as war horses, which praised the heroic image of those who were not afraid of hardships and founded the dynasty at that time; in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, with the prosperity of society and people living and working in peace and contentment, people's aesthetic taste gradually shifted to the image of plumpness and smoothness, and the theme of horses also began to shift to the image of plumpness and strength.

The inspiration for the jade carving master's Tang horse composition design comes from here. Through the Tang horse theme, he expresses his yearning for a better life and his inner pursuit of a happy life and a stable and prosperous life.

In addition to expressing the love of life, the design and carving of Tang Ma also fully reflect the ingenuity of the carving master. The composition and carving make full use of the characteristics of jade. The work is carved in the round, and the surface pattern lines are outlined with shallow carving, making the whole work mainly glossy. The treatment of these glossy surfaces fully demonstrates the natural water quality of jade, making the surface of the finished product look like it is wrapped in a layer of faint fluorescence, which is very charming!

“Jade must be crafted, the craftsmanship must have meaning, and the meaning must be auspicious.” We can understand it this way: Jade materials must be processed before they can be called jadeware, the processing of jadeware must have a basis and meaning, and the expression of meaning must be blessed and auspicious, full of positive energy!