Wooden Buddhist statues in Taiwan are usually made of camphor, birch, cedar, and yew wood. When choosing wood materials to make Buddhist statues, masters are said to choose the materials according to the gods’ will. According to the traditions, after the material is determined, the sculpting process is carried out on an auspicious day chosen accordingly from the Chinese lunar calendar. Regardless of the posture or ratio, the design of the statues are always determined and drawn out before the sculpting begins.
There are three reasons that Buddhist sculptures are usually carved from bottom to top. The first reason is that the grain of the wood is formed from bottom to top. Therefore, carving the sculpture along the grain from bottom to top allows the masters to shape the sculpture accordingly with the wood. Second, by sculpting from bottom to top, the masters can carve the wood with more ease since it's more convenient. Third, it is an act of respect to carve from the bottom to top in regards to the culture. The uncarved wood has a tetragon shape and sculpting from a lower edge can prevent collisions of the sculptures from hitting the table, causing disrespect towards the Buddist sculptures.
image source: Taiwan crafts developement center
Taiwan’s god sculpting technique is the result of two to three hundred years of history. Taiwan's carving technique originated from the traditional carvings of Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Fuzhou. During that time, the residents of those places crossed the ocean one by one to come to Taiwan. To help them face the danger and fears from the outer areas, those immigrants brought along small models of their god as a protection from the gods. Thus, the first batch of Minnan-style sculpting techniques was also passed to Taiwan. Later on, many other events also caused the introduction of Chinese sculpting techniques into Taiwan, for example, the Taiwanese army retreating to Taiwan, making Taiwan’s god sculpting culture more and more diverse. During that time, Taiwan’s god statue style can be called “localized culture.” Afterwards, the traditional Chinese sculpting technique gradually merged with other sculpting techniques’
image source：Tang San Furniture
advantages, creating a unique style called “foreignized culture.” Taiwan’s god statue sculpting is divided into different factions, mostly categorized by China’s regions, such as the Fuzhou and Quanzhou factions. The different factions in Taiwan developed a completely different style from China. In the end, under constant innovation, sculpting god statues became an art of Taiwan.
“An-Gin” (安金) is a type of traditional Chinese art with a long history. An-Gin is the action of laminating or covering the top of a piece of wood or stone with gold leaf. An-Gin includes the action of pasting a gold leaf and gold powder, and the professional craftsman of An-Gin will be named as the “An-Gin master.” In Taiwan, gold leaves have six different sizes and five different purities. An-Gin masters would
image source: Ho Feng crafts
choose the most suitable gold leaf for their artwork in order to present the greatest completion and perfection. The last four steps for making the Buddhist statue are whitening the body (Bai-Gin), Er-Du, drawing gold, and An-Gin. Among the different steps, An-Gin is the process of painting the entire Buddha statue and pasting gold leaves or gold foils on it. If the quality of the wood used to create the Buddhist statue is poor, then some masters will choose to perform the action of An-Gin directly to cover up the original appearance of the wood. Gold leaf can isolate artworks from air and moisture, so most wood artworks with gold leaf have a longer life and can be stored longer than other wood carvings. There’s a limited amount of gold, and it is quite worthy and valuable. Because of this, artworks after the process of An-Gin symbolizes elegance and nobility.
- Taoist information website. February 12, 2019, taken from http://www.ctcwri.idv.tw/
- Taiwan Encyclopedia of the Ministry of Culture. February 6, 2019, taken from http://nrch.culture.tw/
- National Palace Museum. February 14, 2019, taken from https://www.npm.gov.tw/
- Lin Xinfa's table Buddha statue. February 14, 2019, taken from https://linshinfa.pixnet.net/blog/
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