作为物质产品，它反映着一定时代、一定社会的物质的和文化的生产水平；作为精神产品，它的视觉形象（造型、色彩、装饰）又体现了一定时代的审美观。一般分为两大类：一、日用工艺，即经过装饰加工的生活实用品，如一些染织工艺、陶瓷工艺、家具工艺等；二、陈设工艺，即专供欣赏的陈设品，如一些象牙雕刻、玉石雕刻、装饰绘画等。我国工艺美术品的制作较早，如新石器时代已有彩陶，商代以前已有刻纹白陶，商代已有玉器等，写实的造型和图案化的手法即表现出很强的实用性和艺术性。它们的生产，常因历史时期、地理环境、经济条件、文化技术水平、民族习尚和审美观点的不同而表现出不同的风格特色。

 定义

工艺美术是造型艺术之一。它是制造出来的艺术（craft）。工艺美术品是以手工艺技巧制成的与实用相结合并有欣赏价值的工艺品。随着时代的发展，工艺美术已不局限于手工艺，而是与机器工业，甚至与大工业相结合，把实用品艺术化，或艺术品实用化。

产生

它是因人们的实际生活要求而产生的，与人们的日常生活有极密切的关系。中国工艺美术的历史悠久，是我国文化宝库中一颗璀璨的明珠，在国际上素负盛名。工艺美术起源于人类开始制造工具的时代。工艺美术大多是劳动人民直接创造的，同人们的物质生活和精神生活密切相关。它的产生，常因历史时期、地理环境、经济条件、文化技术水平、民族风尚和审美观点不同而表现出不同的风格特色。马克思说：“工艺学会揭示出人对自然的能动关系，人的生活的直接生产过程，以及人的社会生活条件和由此产生的精神观念的直接生产过程。”由此我们可以看出，既然工艺学是人类起源的重要佐证，那么工艺美术的起源也就毫无疑问地可以追溯到人类起源的时候了。史前考古学的成就告诉我们：一种充分发展了的、复杂化的艺术在冰河时期就存在着。在这段时间内，人类学会了用符号来装饰自己、装饰工具、装饰坟墓以及居住的房屋。“冰河时期的艺术家们发展了几乎是艺术生产的各种加工技巧，包括石质的、骨质的、象牙的、泥土的圆雕、浮雕以及这些材料上各种刻画符号。”此外，从出土的石器时代的文物看，原始人的工具上常常有各种物形或几何形的装饰，因其加工的精美，我们很难分辨出它们究竟是工具还是工艺美术品。因此，我们认为工艺美术起源于人类开始制造工具的时代。“正是在几万年的工具制造中，人类获得了对形式感的巨大敏感，以及在此基础上积累起来的技巧，才使得某些艺术，尤其是造型艺术的产生成为可能”，工艺美术经历了一个极其漫长的过程，才逐渐形成。

工艺美术作品

 特种工艺

艺用陶瓷、金属工艺、玻璃工艺、艺用搪瓷、漆器工艺、雕刻工艺。

艺用纺织

提花纺织、织毯工艺、抽纱工艺、 绣织工艺。

工艺绘画

内画、羽毛画、麦秆画、贝壳画、烙画、丝绒画等。

民间工艺

灯笼、 剪纸、风筝、花灯、泥人、面人、糖人等。

编结工艺

竹编、草编、棕编、麦秆编、绳编。

图书装帧

旋风装、蝴蝶装、筒子装、线装、胶装、胶线装、硬壳装，护封、腰封，特装。

工艺篆刻

在玉石、印章、冻石、牛角、兽骨、黄金、青铜、紫铜等材质上，意向刻刀书法、世相组字。

应用艺术

是指用手工或机械的手段制造物质产品，而该产品既有物质生活的功能性，又有精神生活的审美性。应用艺术和手工艺的意思基本上是不同的，如要用一句简单的话来分别，可说是“极致的手工艺之美就是工艺美术”，手工艺的定义涵养了民间美术、一般手工制品，而且往往局限在手工制作的狭义上。但工艺美术一词却能包括机器制造出，具有手工质感的物品。而且工艺美术下的物质产品，多为量少质精，价高罕见。但手工艺下的物品，虽也有量少质精的部份，但价格多半较平价，也不难在地区的特产店看见。

造型美

工艺美术的造型是设计者艺术构思借以表现的具体形象，是审美观念得以表现的物质条件，对工艺美术造型美的鉴赏一般有如下要领： [2] 

基本原则

西欧雕刻家享利·摩尔谈他的“形体”造型时说，要“表现人或动物的特点和个性的”，“这些形体本身的意义和重要性就在于它们是人类实践的经验所赋予的，是基于人类的感觉习惯之上的。”人们对形体的认识和感觉——设计师自己的“心理内容”——决定了形体的意义，正是“心理内容”决定了设计造型的性质。如人们常说“三角形”代表稳定性，但三角形如用在人物的面部表情上，“三角眼”就和狡诈、阴险的性格行为相联系了。所以说，内容决定形式是造型设计的基本原则，我们只有对工艺品各种形态、线条、布局、层次进行观察、体验，去了解艺术家所要表现的意蕴，才能鉴赏工艺造型的美丑优劣。

造型风格与造型美

工艺美术造型手法的风格特点直接影响造型，使造型呈现出不同的格调和态势。一般说来，工艺造型手法有“简法洗练”与“纷繁复杂”两大类型，这两者对立统一，在工艺美术造型中都有各自的表现范畴。传统的泥塑、瓷雕人物及大量日用器皿等的造型常以“洗练”为主，有时几根简单的线条就能使人物顾盼生辉。而在精美雕刻、镂空漆雕、花丝工艺等方面，常显出“纷繁复杂”的“特异功能”。

基本类型

韵律美。“在自然界有着无限多样的形状和韵律。”正是这些形状和韵律，为工艺造型发现和表现各种审美体验时，提供了可供创作借鉴的契机。一匹马、一只猫、一朵花、一株草，经过工艺师的加工再现，都可能成为美不胜收的工艺品。湖南根雕艺术家刘元印有一组题为《牧歌》的根雕作品，中心位置上是一个牧童在吹短笛，“一条根须”向前伸去，酷似劳动后休息时那伸展的腿；牧童周围错落有致地安放着匍匐的猎狗、嬉戏的角鹿、吃草的羊儿，一派悠然自得的气韵。这组根雕整体布局疏密相间，有主有从，谐趣交融。深褐色的树根造型粗犷自然，加上变形造型手法的运用，使似又非似的形体恰当地表现了放牧生活的诗情画意，充分体现了工艺造型的韵律美。

气势美。“人对世界的征服和琳琅满目的对象，表现在具体形象、图景和意境上，则是力量、运动和速度”，它们构成了工艺造型中静与动的相对统一。这种造型把速度和力量用运动的形体凝固下来，去展现生活中的千姿百态。这种被凝固的形态产生一种欲动不能、欲静却动的审美效果，形成一种流动的气韵和力量，这就是气势美。甘肃武威出土的汉代著名铜器“马踏飞燕”，反映了我国工艺美术造型的高度成就。那四蹄飞扬的“铜马”，肌体骠健、气势昂扬，马尾在急速奔跑中高高扬起，“就在这种粗轮廓的整体形象的飞扬流动中，表现出力量、运动以及由之而形成的‘气势’的美。在汉代艺术中，运动、力量、‘气势’就是它的本质。”这种形神兼备的气势美，即便是绚丽的唐三彩和精细的宋画像砖也难以企及。被称为世界第八大奇观的“秦王兵马俑”，身高体大与真人相当，那矫健的体态、结实的筋肉感、富有弹性的造型曲线，蕴蓄着蓬勃的生命力。那数以千计的“特征”战士站在那里，向我们展示着一个民族的历史，引起鉴赏者的惊叹和反思，其造型的艺术魅力达到了惊心动魄的地步。

严谨美。工艺美术的适用与审美统一的原则，确立了工艺造型结构上严谨的特点。如长沙马王堆出土的随葬漆器中，有一套耳杯盒，其工艺造型达到了科学性与艺术性的完美结合，是工艺造型结构严谨的典范：“一个口径19×16.5 厘米，高12.2 厘米的椭圆形耳杯盒，盒内可以套装耳杯七件，盒盖和器身以子母口扣合；由于设计的巧妙，在使用上充分利用了盒体的有效空间，盒内七件耳杯叠放严密稳当，造型图案都很精美。”其工艺造型水平简直是鬼斧神工般丝丝入扣，无懈可击。

工艺造型除讲求韵律、气势、严谨外，还崇尚大方流畅、和谐稳定等，有待大家在鉴赏中发现和体会。这里附带提及一下我国民间工艺中造型的一些简要法则。如“站七、坐五、盘三、跪四”，“一手遮半睑，二手全不见”，是讲人体比例的；“男做胸、女做腰”，是讲人体姿态、造型要有特征；在人物面部造型上“若要笑，眼角吊，若要恶，眉眼鼻口齐一撮”，揭示了肌肉运动与内心情感外露的联系。这些法则道出了劳动人民的审美经验，启示我们：美的造型应该是有性格的、合比例的、体现特征的，是一个匀称、生动和谐的整体。 

 《考工记》

《考工记》是春秋（公元前770年～公元前476年）末年，齐国官府工匠所记有关工艺的典籍，它是中国最早的一部工艺专著，也称《周礼·考工记》。全书共7100余字，记述了木工、金工、皮革、染色、刮磨、陶瓷等六大类30个工种的内容，反映出当时中国所达到的科技及工艺水平。此外《考工记》还有数学、地理学、力学、声学、建筑学等多方面的知识和经验总结。

《古玉图谱》

《古玉图谱》是中国宋代（公元960～1279年）有关玉器工艺的专著，龙大渊著。此书是中国最早的一部玉器专著。全书共100卷，有图700幅，记载了南宋高宗时期（公元1127～1163年）皇宫中所藏玉器。内容分为国宝部、压胜部、舆服部、文房部、薰燎部、饮食部、彝器部、音乐部、陈设部九部分。书中所记古代玉器极为广泛，除礼仪典祭用的礼器外，更多的是有关日常生活的实用品，并配以附图，堪称玉器工艺的巨著，是研究中国古代玉器的重要典籍之一。

《蜀锦谱》

元代（公元1271～1368年）费著编。全书不分卷，叙述了四川（中国西部）古代锦院建立的历史、织锦的生产分工、产量及用途等，并详细描述了宋代成都转运司锦院和茶马司锦院所产织锦的各种花色、品种。对于研究蜀锦的历史和宋代蜀锦的装饰花纹，具有重要的参考价值。《髹饰录》　明代（公元1368～1644年）著名漆工黄成著。全书分乾、坤两集，共18章、186条。内容包括制漆设备和工具、制漆要点、漆器装饰方法、漆器胎骨等。《髹饰录》是一部总结中国古代髹漆工艺经验的巨著。

《天工开物》

《天工开物》为明代宋应星(公元1587～1661年)所著，成书于1637年。这是一部有关农业和手工业生产技术的百科全书，总结了当时中国各个生产领域的知识。全书共18卷，分别记述了种植、纺织、染色、粮食加工、熬盐、制糖、陶瓷、冶铸、车船制造、锤锻、烧制灰硫、榨油、造纸、采矿、兵器、颜料、酿酒等多方面内容。《天工开物》是中国科技史料中保留最为丰富的一部，它更多地着眼于手工业，反映了中国明代末年出现资本主义萌芽时期的生产力状况。

《绣谱》

《绣谱》是清代（公元1644～1911年）丁佩所著的刺绣工艺专著。全书分为择地、选样、取材、辨色、工程、论品等六章，总结论述出刺绣工艺"齐、光、直、匀、薄、顺、密"的七字要点。

 Arts and crafts refer to the plastic arts that beautify daily necessities and living environment. Its prominent feature is the combination of material production and aesthetic creation, with practical as the main purpose, and has aesthetic characteristics, as one of the plastic arts. It also refers to all kinds of Arts and crafts which are combined with practice and have appreciation value. They usually have dual nature: they are both material products and have different degrees of spiritual aesthetics.

As a material product, it reflects the material and cultural production level of a certain era and society; as a spiritual product, its visual image (shape, color, decoration) also reflects the aesthetic view of a certain era. Generally divided into two categories: first, daily-use craft, that is, decorative and processed life utilities, such as some dyeing and weaving technology, ceramic technology, furniture technology; second, display technology, that is, exclusively for the appreciation of the display, such as some ivory carving, jade carving, decorative painting, and so on. The production of Arts and crafts in our country is early, such as colored pottery in Neolithic Age, engraved white pottery before Shang Dynasty, and jade ware in Shang Dynasty. The realistic modeling and patterning techniques show strong practicability and artistry. Their production often shows different styles and characteristics because of different historical periods, geographical environment, economic conditions, cultural and technological levels, national customs and aesthetic points.

Arts and crafts is one of the plastic arts. It's craft. Handicraft is a kind of handicraft which combines handicraft skills with practice and has appreciation value. With the development of the times, arts and crafts are no longer limited to handicraft, but combined with machine industry, even with large industry, to make practical works of art artistic or practical works of art.

It comes from people's actual life requirements and has a close relationship with people's daily life. China's arts and crafts have a long history, is a bright pearl in the treasure house of our culture, and is well-known in the world. Arts and crafts originated in the era when man began to make tools. Most arts and crafts are created directly by the working people and are closely related to people's material and spiritual life. Its emergence often shows different styles and characteristics because of different historical periods, geographical environment, economic conditions, cultural and technological levels, national customs and aesthetic points. Marx said, "The Institute of Technology reveals the dynamic relationship between man and nature, the direct production process of man's life, and the direct production process of man's social living conditions and the spiritual concepts resulting therefrom." From this we can see that since technology is an important evidence of human origin, the origin of Arts and crafts can undoubtedly be traced back to the time of human origin. The achievements of prehistoric archaeology tell us that a fully developed and complex art existed in the Ice Age. During this period, humans learned to decorate themselves, tools, graves and houses with symbols. "Artists in the Ice Age developed almost all kinds of processing techniques for artistic production, including stone, bone, ivory, clay sculptures, reliefs and various symbols on these materials." In addition, from the unearthed Stone Age cultural relics, primitive people's tools are often decorated with various shapes or geometries. Because of their exquisite processing, it is difficult to distinguish whether they are tools or arts and crafts. Therefore, we believe that arts and crafts originated in the era when man began to make tools. "It is in the millions of years of tool manufacturing that human beings have acquired tremendous sensitivity to form and the skills accumulated on this basis that make the production of some arts, especially plastic arts, possible." Arts and crafts have undergone a very long process before they gradually formed.

It refers to the manufacture of material products by manual or mechanical means, which has both the function of material life and the aesthetic quality of spiritual life. The meaning of Applied Art and handicraft is basically different. In a simple word, it can be said that "the beauty of extreme handicraft is handicraft art". The definition of handicraft contains folk art and general handicraft products, and is often confined to the narrow sense of handicraft production. However, the term "arts and crafts" can include objects made by machines with handmade texture. Moreover, the material products under the arts and crafts are mostly small in quantity, high in quality and rare in price. But under the handicraft goods, although there are small quantities of high-quality parts, but the price is mostly more affordable, it is not difficult to see in the local specialty stores.

The modelling of Arts and crafts is the concrete image that the designer's artistic conception expresses and the material condition for the expression of aesthetic ideas. Generally, the appreciation of the modelling beauty of Arts and crafts has the following essentials:

Henry Moore, a Western European sculptor, talked about his "body" modelling and said that it was necessary to "express the characteristics and individualities of human beings or animals." The significance and importance of these bodies themselves lie in that they are endowed by human practical experience and are based on human sensory habits. People's understanding and perception of the form, the designer's own "psychological content", determines the meaning of the form, and it is "psychological content" that determines the nature of the design model. As people often say, "triangle" represents stability, but when triangle is used in the facial expression of a character, "triangle eye" is associated with cunning and insidious personality behavior. So, content decides form is the basic principle of modelling design. Only by observing and experiencing various forms, lines, layouts and layers of handicraft and understanding the artist's connotation, can we appreciate the beauty and ugliness of handicraft modelling.

The stylistic features of Arts and crafts directly affect the modelling, and make the modelling present different styles and trends. Generally speaking, there are two types of craftsmanship: simple and complex. They are opposite and unified, and each has its own scope of expression in craftsmanship. Traditional clay sculptures, porcelain sculptures and a large number of daily utensils are often shaped by "washing" and sometimes a few simple lines can make the characters look forward to shining. In fine sculpture, hollow lacquer carving, filament technology and other aspects, often show the "complex" of the "special function.

Beautiful rhythm. "There are infinite shapes and rhythms in nature." It is these shapes and rhythms that provide opportunities for artistic creation to discover and express various aesthetic experiences. A horse, a cat, a flower, a grass, after the processing and reproduction of craftsmen, may become a beautiful handicraft. Hunan root sculpture artist Liu Yuanyin has a group of root sculptures entitled "Pastoral Songs". The central position is a shepherd boy playing the flute, "a root" stretches forward, like the stretched legs when he rests after work. The shepherd boy is surrounded by stolen hounds, playful horn deer and grass-eating sheep. Self-satisfied charm. The overall layout of this group of root carvings is dense and interesting. Dark brown tree roots are rough and natural in shape, and the application of deformation modeling techniques makes the seemingly unlike shape properly express the poetic and picturesque flavor of grazing life and fully reflect the rhythmic beauty of craft modeling.

Beautiful momentum. "Man's conquest of the world and the dazzling objects are strength, movement and speed, which are manifested in concrete images, pictures and artistic conceptions." They constitute the relative unity of static and dynamic in process modeling. This kind of shape solidifies the speed and strength with the moving body, to show the various postures in life. This solidified form produces an aesthetic effect of inability to move, quietness but movement, forming a flowing charm and strength, which is the beauty of momentum. The famous bronze wares of the Han Dynasty unearthed in Wuwei, Gansu Province, "Ma Ta Feiyan" reflects the high achievement of Arts and crafts modelling in China. The "bronze horse" with four hoofs flying, strong body and vigorous momentum, and the tail of the horse rising high in the rapid running, "shows strength, movement and the beauty of"momentum"formed by it in the flying flow of the overall image of the rough contour. In the art of Han Dynasty, movement, strength and momentum are its essence. Even the splendid tri-coloured Tang Dynasty and the delicate portrait bricks of Song Dynasty are hard to reach. The terracotta warriors and horses of the King of Qin, known as the eighth wonder of the world, are of the same height and stature as real people. The vigorous physique, strong muscular feeling and elastic shape curve contain vigorous vitality. Thousands of "characteristic" fighters stood there, showing us the history of a nation, arousing the amazement and reflection of the appreciators, whose artistic charm of shape reached a thrilling level.

Rigorous beauty. The principle of unification of the application and aesthetics of Arts and crafts establishes the rigorous structure of Arts and crafts. For example, among the burial lacquerware unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, there is a set of ear cup boxes, whose technological modelling achieves the perfect combination of science and art. It is a model of rigorous technological modelling structure: "An oval ear cup box with a diameter of 19 *16.5 cm and a height of 12.2 cm can be packed with seven ear cups in the box, and the cover and body of the box are in the mouth of the mother and son." Buckling; due to the ingenious design, the effective space of the box body is fully utilized in use. The seven earcups in the box are stacked tightly and steadily, and the shapes and patterns are exquisite.Its technological modelling level is absolutely supernatural and impeccable.

In addition to rhythm, momentum and rigor, process modeling also advocates generosity, fluency, harmony and stability, which need to be found and appreciated by everyone. Here, I will mention some simple rules of modelling in Chinese folk crafts. For example, "standing seven, sitting five, pansan, kneeling four", "covering half of the eyelid with one hand, no second hand", is about the proportion of the human body; "men do chest, women do waist", is about the human body posture, shape to have characteristics; in the figure's facial modeling, "if you want to laugh, eyes hang, if you want to be evil, eyebrows, nose and mouth together a pinch", reveals muscle movement and The connection of inner emotional exposure. These principles reveal the aesthetic experience of the working people, and inspire us that the aesthetic shape should have personality, proportionality and characteristics, and be a symmetrical, vivid and harmonious whole.