The largest wood carving in the world (has exquisite details)

Chinese art is famous for it's profound attention to details, especially in arts like wood carving. One of the world famous masters of this art is Zheng Chunhui, recently added to the Guinness World Records for the largest wood carving in the world.

This huge masterpiece is called "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and is inspided by an ancient painting with the same name. The painting, known as "The Chinese Mona Lisa" is valued both as art and as a historic document, depicting the everyday life of chinese people from 900 years ago. The original was painted on a scroll, designed to be slowly unfolded right to left, one arms lengt at a time - revealing a story, an ancient comic book of sorts.


The intricate carving is made of a single wood trunk, 12 meters long and more than 3 meters high at it's highest point. The huge scene has boats, bridges, a variety of buildings and 550 people, each individually carved and with it's own features.


Looking closely you can see that even the smallest details are perfect - the balconies, the gardens, even the river's waves... All this work took Zheng four years and he considers this piece the meaning of his life.

