Chinese ivory carving craft and prohibited intangible cultural heritage
A puzzle ball on display at the Overseas Museum, Bremen
A Chinese puzzle ball, sometimes known as a devil's work ball (Chinese: 鬼工球; pinyin: guǐ gōng qiú) or the Concentric Ball (Chinese: 同心球; pinyin: tóng xīn qiú), is a Chinese-made artifact that consists of a number of intricately carved concentric hollow spheres carved from a single solid block that fit within one another in a way that looks impossible.[1] often consisting of fourteen layers.[1]
They were traditionally made of ivory.[2] Ivory carving is a traditional art and folk craft in ancient China. On May 20, 2006, it was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China.[3]
Following the international ban on the ivory trade, manufacturers of puzzle balls have tried using other materials, including bone.[4] 3D imaging using computational tomography has been used to identify details of the manufacturing process.[5]
The name "Chinese puzzle ball" likely stems from the Chinese Daoist idiom "gui fu sheng gong" (Chinese: 鬼斧神工; pinyin: guǐ fǔ shén gōng), which translates as "the demon's axe paired with the deity's workmanship," emphasizing the craft's intricate and delicate nature with supernatural connotations.[6]
Originating from Guangdong province, particularly Guangzhou/Canton, these intricate balls were originally local tribute items and luxury export goods.[7]
^ abSchaumberg, Erica M. (30 October 2017). "Carved Ivory Puzzle Balls". Wonders of Nature and Artifice. Gettysburg College. Archived from the original on 2019-01-09. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
^Voon, Claire (May 3, 2019). "The Mind-Boggling Artistry of China's Ivory Puzzle Balls". Atlas Obscura. Archived from the original on 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
^"The Illustrious Puzzle Ball". Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
^van Liere, Robert (25 May 2018). "3D Imaging of Chinese Puzzle Balls: A Case Study in Technical Art History" (PDF). Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-06-18.
^Huang, Bing (2022-04-03). "From God's hand to the hand of the artisan: the turned ivory sphere and the polyhedron in Qing China". Studies in Chinese Religions. 8 (2): 202–237. doi:10.1080/23729988.2022.2091376. ISSN 2372-9988.
^Van Liere, Robert; Wang, Ching-Ling (2021-09-13). "Revealing the Secrets of Chinese Ivory Puzzle Balls: Quantifying the Crafting Process Using X-Ray Computed Tomography". The Rijksmuseum Bulletin. 69 (3): 244–263. doi:10.52476/trb.11050. ISSN 2772-6126.
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