Mudiao

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Mudiao is traditional Chinese wood carving, a kind of sculpture that is still made today. It is known for very detailed fretwork and is sometimes covered with gold foil. Mudiao work appears on chests, furniture, screens, and even buildings.

Chippendale furniture was influenced by mudiao. Carvers usually use hardwoods that are stable and dense, which makes them hard to carve. For some pieces, aromatic woods such as tung are used.

In classical mudiao, a whole block of wood is cut into a regular shape, then edged tools carve pictures in relief or in three dimensions. Burls, called Ying wood or Yingzi, from various trees, are used for figurines and sculptures. The most common burls come from Phoebe trees, which have bird’s-eye knots that look like a string of grapes and are often called “grape face.”