Lingnan Ivory Birdcage Exhibition

Venue: Lingnan Hui
Time: 2007-10-09~2007-10-24

A kind of Chinese traditional folk craftwork called Birdcage has a very long history. Since the Tang Dynasty, more than one thousand years ago, appreciating birds in a cage had become a nationwide recreation for the wealthly. Up until the Qing Dynasty, which was two hundred years ago, skills of manufacturing birdcages reached its peak. Artists would use combinations of bamboo and jade carvings. Birdcages developed from something just used to keep birds into a craftwork for the wealthy.

Compared with the large-sized birdcages of northern style, those of southern style tend to be more exquisite and complex. Featuring rare material, the birdcages made of ivory are most valuable.



A free exhibition of birdcages will be displayed from October 9th to 24th on Ersha Island. It will showcase 60 pieces of valuable exhibits. Among them, a set of birdcage hooks composed of three accessories will most likely attract your view. The hooks, made two hundred years ago, are said to belong to a wealthy man during the Qing Dynasty. Four poems are carefully carved into the shank and slight gold lines are embedded into the knife marks.

(By Jessie Hwang, Kimberly Barteau)

Source: www.lifeofguangzhou.com

Editor: Jessie Hwang