The pieces, he says, are precious not only for their beauty but because they tell the story of life in the ancient town of Jiading.
Some items in the museum are comparable to those in a state-level museum. A bamboo-carving work titled “Prosperity” from the Qing Dynasty is one of a pair, the other of which is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Before an ordinary piece of bamboo can be turned into a piece of art, it first must be washed and steamed. Some types of bamboo need to be dried and cured in the sun for a year or two to keep it from cracking.
But in Zhou’s eyes, the difficulty in bamboo carving lies in its use of a knife on bamboo — the skill in the hands demands years of practice.
“Try it yourself,” Zhou says with a smile. “The natural trait of bamboo being in a round shape is a challenge for every carver. It’s never a easy job, and today the work from some of the veteran bamboo carving artists are highly coveted in the market.”
Famous bamboo-carving artist Zhang Weizhong sold one of his pieces for nearly 200,000 yuan (US$32,939) at an auction in Beijing two years ago. It takes Zhang at least a month to finish a piece, thus only a handful of his works are available.
“Today more and more people realize the value of Jiading bamboo carving, and the price of the works has surged,” he says. “The past few years have shown that bamboo handicrafts have large potential to appreciate in value.”
The best antique carvings can go for as high as tens of millions of yuan on the auction block at Christie’s or Sotheby’s.
While the price of bamboo carving has risen, there still are concerns about the future of the art because it takes so long to become masterful at it, Zhou says.
Yang Fuying, secretary-general of the Jiading Bamboo Carving Association, says the association has launched a training course that has attracted art teachers and even artists from other provinces. It seeks to teach people how to develop and sustain their bamboo carving business.
It wasn’t the first such effort. The Jiading government organized bamboo-carving cooperatives in 1955. Jiading Art and Craft Company established a bamboo-carving division in 1981 that still operates. In 2005, Jiading District established the association of bamboo carvers.
“Today, artists are not sure whether it’s better to make bamboo carving more popular and produce more works, or keep the handicraft more sophisticated and produce fewer works only for collection,” Zhou says.
In recent years, many bamboo-carving pieces have been ordered by companies, which give them to client as gifts, Zhou says.
Renowned bamboo-carving artist Wang Wei sells carvings at his workshop mostly as souvenirs. Most of those pieces are made by people who work for him.
Collectors need to knock on Wang’s door if they want to purchase one of his own works.
“It is lucky for me that I thought of collecting Jiading bamboo carving much earlier than the market realized its value,” Zhou says.