History
This art form originated in 1914 in Xiyuan Village (eastern/northern suburbs of Fuzhou, Fujian Province). Fujian provincial official Xu Shiying brought back a simple German cork landscape card (similar to a Christmas card). Local woodcarvers at the Fuzhou Craft Institute—primarily Chen Chunrun, Wu Qiqi (a key founder, 1893–1957), and Zheng Lixi—adapted traditional Chinese woodcarving techniques to cork bark (imported from Mediterranean sources such as Spain and Portugal). They sliced the light, soft, elastic cork into thin sheets, carved miniature elements (pavilions, trees, bridges, birds, rocks), and assembled them into layered compositions.
Early works were simple greeting-card style. By the 1930s they evolved into multi-layer semi-relief framed pieces inspired by Song-dynasty landscape painting. After 1949, and especially from the 1950s–1980s, production expanded (including factories in Xiyuan), techniques advanced to fuller three-dimensional/round-cover dioramas, and the pieces became major export items (screens, hanging panels, table-top displays) sold across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. They were regarded as one of Fuzhou’s “three treasures” alongside Shoushan stone carving and bodiless lacquerware. Peak activity involved thousands of workers; the industry then declined sharply in the 1990s due to changing markets and fewer apprentices. Revival efforts continue, with fewer than 30–50 traditional practitioners remaining (mostly older).
This is a classic table-top/standing oval diorama of a traditional Chinese garden/landscape scene (pagodas/pavilions, arched bridge, trees, rocks, birds) under glass in a black lacquered frame with stand, housed in the original patterned box labeled “福建 软木画 / Fujian cork pictures,” size 30 × 39.5 (cm), produced by a Fuzhou workshop (box references a Fuzhou art factory). These oval glass-and-lacquer formats were popular mid-to-late 20th-century export items.
The craft itself is culturally significant and endangered (national ICH status, local protection regulations), so high-quality traditional work has heritage value.
This is about 12" tall by 12" wide and is mint in the original box.
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