Gourd Carving

Gourd Carving

　　Gourd carving is a traditional specialty handicraft of Lanzhou, which involves carving figures, buildings, landscapes, animals, and text onto gourds. The most common gourd carvings depict landscape scenes or opera character masks, often sold as children’s toys. During the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, a poor scholar named Li Wenzhai made a living by carving gourds. His gourds were often themed on historical stories and mythological legends, such as "The Peach Blossom Spring," "Ode to the Red Cliff," and "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion." His carving technique was masterful—just a few strokes to capture the essence and spirit of the figures; the landscapes and floral designs were understated yet vivid, perfectly balancing form and spirit, and emphasizing elegance. The inscriptions were as fine as mosquito feet, arranged in neat rows, fluid and unrestrained. Li Wenzhai’s gourd artworks were hailed as “masterpieces” among China’s handicrafts, gaining fame both domestically and internationally. In the early 1940s, carver Ruan Guangyu skillfully arranged characters and stories from works such as "The Romance of the Western Chamber," "Dream of the Red Chamber," and "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" onto the surfaces of gourds, complementing them with poems, texts, and landscape scenery. Ruan’s carving skills were refined, his work meticulous, and his craft reached new heights of perfection.

Gourd carving artisans often set up stalls and carved within the corridors of the Fucheng Temple, enduring many hardships. Veteran artisans such as Ruan Guangyu, Wang Deshan, and Wang Yunshan possessed exceptional skills, producing many exquisitely crafted gourds that were sold both domestically and abroad. After Ruan Guangyu’s passing, his son Ruan Wenhui inherited the craft, drawing on the strengths of others while introducing innovations. He used both needles and knives, and employed carving, scooping, scraping, and polishing techniques to replicate the brushwork of traditional Chinese painting—including outlines, dabs, textures—and even emulated the splash-ink landscapes and painting styles of Xu Beihong and Qi Baishi.

Lanzhou’s gourd carving piece "Dongpo’s Night Tour of the Red Cliff," carved on a gourd just 7 square centimeters in size, features a small boat with six people aboard, each with distinct expressions, lifelike and vivid. Outside the boat, distant mountains and nearby trees are rendered with balanced density. On the other side is an inscription of 537 characters from "Ode to the Red Cliff (First)," written in delicate, neat, and elegant calligraphy. Another masterpiece, "Children at Play," depicts over 120 children engrossed in playful activities, with diverse and ingenious poses, and is considered an extraordinary masterpiece of Lanzhou gourd carving.