Largest creative work


The largest creative work is the largest or longest item in different fields of creative works. Some pieces were created with the specific intention of holding the record while others have been recognised for their size after completion.

Literature

  • The largest known general encyclopedia is the Yongle Encyclopedia commissioned by the Yongle Emperor of China's Ming dynasty in 1403. It comprised 22,937 manuscript scrolls in 11,095 volumes, occupying.
  • The longest poem in any language is the Mahabharata, with more than 100,000 couplets.
  • The longest epic cycle is the Tibetan Epic of King Gesar, which contains over 20 million words in more than one million verses.
  • The longest love story and comedy may have been written by French novelist Honoré d’ Urfé. When it was first published, the story L’Astrée occupied 5,399 pages and published in 60 books.

    Performing arts

Film

Painting

  • The largest painting according to the International Guinness Book of World Records in 2019 was "Century Buddha" completed by Hung Chi-Sung. It measured and was created in Hualien, Taiwan, between 2001 and 2018. Previous record holders included Ðuka Siroglavic's "Wave," David Aberg's "Mother Earth," and Eric Waugh's, "Hero".
  • The largest professional oil painting by a single artist according to the International Guinness Book of World Records in 2024 was measued completed by Gérard Di-Maccio from Di-Maccio Art Museum, The Forest of Taiyo, Japan.

    Sculpture

  • The largest contemporary artwork and largest land art sculpture is "City" by Michael Heizer, located at 38.034°, -115.443° in rural Lincoln County in the U.S. state of Nevada. City measures approximately wide and long.

    Textiles

  • The world's largest hand woven carpet is a Persian carpet made in Iran and completed in 2007. It has 2.2 billion knots, measuring.

    Ceramics, single fired object

This category is reserved for a single object fired within a kiln:
  • Artist Frans Widerberg unveiled a 5.14 meter tall jar in 2001. His creation required 10 tons of clay. The jar is housed in Møllebyen the former city center of Moss, Norway.
  • Ceramist Kim Se-yong claims to have produced the world's largest celadon vase. It is 107 cm tall and weighs 157 kg. It reportedly took many attempts over a period of a decade to successfully fire the richly detailed Shipjangsaeng vase. It was created using traditional methods including hand/foot kneaded clay, foot driven potter's wheel and wood fired kiln.
  • Artist Mmala Oefile unveiled The Big Pot Africa in Molepolole, Gaborone, Botswana, on 12 December 2020. The 7.5 m tall ceramic piece was fired using cow-dung. The object appears to have been fired in place where it was formed rather than being moved into a kiln.
  • Ceramist Nguyen Hung and Huong Viet Ceramic Company unveiled the world's largest carved ceramic plate in 2018. The plate 137 cm diameter plate weighs 400 kg and required 2,500 man-hours. The plate features a complex design of cedar trees, a pair of peacocks and Feng Shui elements.

    Game

  • Taikyoku shogi, chess variant