Baolu Tianxing

If the words are rough, the reasoning is not rough, Da Ya has hit the point, good jobs are hard to come by, and good materials are even harder to find!A master like Gu Gu who has been immersed in sculpture all his life naturally knows this truth. In recent years, although he is getting old and his hands and eyes are not as sharp as when he was young, he hardly does it himself, but for The interest in good materials has not diminished in the slightest.

The older a person is, the more he cherishes his reputation. Before that, he still had some concerns about being named in Zhongfu Jewelry. He still didn't know what kind of foundation this little-known company was.

It was because old brother Liu was famous as an endorsement that he felt that it was still reliable. After meeting him today, he felt that these children were pretty good. Needless to say, Wu Chen was young, but he had a personality. He is wise and stable, and his words are watertight. As for this boy named Da Ya, although he looks a little edgy, he is also a smart person with a good heart!

Of course, we can't rely entirely on what they say, and we have to investigate it later.

"Well, come with me and take you to the workshop." Seeing that everyone was almost done drinking tea, Gu stood up and said to them with a smile.

Although the matter hadn't been settled yet, Wu Chen and the others felt a little relieved when they saw the old look, and they all stood up when they heard the words, and happened to go to see the jade carving workshop in Yangzhou.

As one of the birthplaces of jade in China, Yangzhou has a long history of jade carving. According to historical records, it has a history of 300 years. It is known as "Jade in the World, Yangzhou Craftsman".

Gu Gu led them to Di'er. Unlike the factory Wu Chen and the others had imagined, it was a compound with high walls and blue tiles, red pillars and rich gates. There were two big stone lions standing at the entrance. Which dignitary's mansion.

When you get closer, you can feel the majesty of the facade. There is a plaque above the gate, which says "Yugongfang" in three large gold characters, and a pair of wooden couplets are engraved on the large pillars on both sides, which are: Jade" and "Jade Passing the Spirit".

"Old man, is this your workshop?" Da Ya saw the scale, and his heart skipped a beat. If the old man had his own property, why would he bother to make a name for himself?

"Hehe, it's all the younger generations who are doing it." Gu Gu nodded, with a kind of pride in his tone, as if he was still very satisfied with these younger generations.

But Da Ya was thinking in his heart, this old man is quite good at fooling people, yesterday he said that he was a lonely family, and today he is a granddaughter and a junior, judging by the scale, the old man's "juniors" are probably not old or young !

Entering inside, it was indeed very lively, with people coming and going, many of them hurried over to say hello when they saw Gu Gu coming, Gu Gu laughed and responded one by one, let them go their own way, and led Wu Chen and the others. Go to the backyard.

The entire compound is divided into two entrances, the front and the back, each with a left and right wing. The front yard should be an exhibition area, and the central patio is filled with various large-scale jade carvings.In the backyard, it is the real processing area. Except for the raw material warehouse, every room is full of workers who are processing.

The older ones had already heard the sound, and ran out from various rooms to meet Gu, but it was his relatives and apprentices who embraced them and sat in a place that looked like a living room.

Wu Chen glanced slightly, and saw that most of these people were between forty and fifty years old, but they didn't have any ancient "sons", nor were their so-called granddaughters.Although he was strange, he was afraid that there would be some privacy in it, so he didn't ask random questions. After listening to the introduction of this imperial workshop, he realized that it was still so famous. In addition to the ancient works, the works produced by the workshop It is also award-winning, with more than 30 top awards in the industry, which can be described as proud of the crowd!

"Okay, let's go, don't brag here! Hehe."

It can be seen that being ancient is quite proud. Over the past few decades, not only have the works received numerous honors, but what is even more rare is that there are many peaches and plums in the south of the Yangtze River, many of whom are already famous.

"Renkui, stay here for a while." Gu Gu shouted, and a middle-aged man turned back from the crowd going out and answered.

"Come here, let's get acquainted." Gu Gu waved him in with a smile, and introduced him to Wu Chen and the others.Although this is one of his most proud disciples, he followed him as an apprentice in his teens. For more than 30 years, he has become a national first-class master of jade carving. His representative works "Taibai Inviting the Moon" have also won national-level awards. gold medal.

Wu Chen and the others saw that Feng Renkui was swarthy, with a sad face, and he seemed to be a man who was not good at words. Hearing Gu Gu's praise, they just responded with a smile, without any special expression.

Gu Gu didn't say much, just let them get to know each other, and told Feng Renkui to take them to various factories.

"Yes." After Feng Renkui responded, he took Wu Chen and the others out, strolled from room to room, and explained it to them.

It seems that the business of Yugongfang is doing well, with a look of enthusiasm, and the master workers who are working all raise their heads to say hello when they see them pass by.

Wu Chen paid special attention to it. It really is very different from the south. Among the materials being processed, Hetian jade is still the main material, and white jade, sapphire, and jasper account for about [-]%. Emerald, but not many, and the texture is relatively poor.In addition, many other stone materials can be seen, such as agate, topaz, crystal, green seedlings, turquoise, etc., and even lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, jasper from Canada and coral from Japan.

Wu Chen and Kong Si were amazed when they saw it. It really is a big business, and no matter how the craftsmanship is, these materials alone are enough to be called the encyclopedia of the jade world!In comparison, Zhongfu Jewelry really lacks heritage!

"What kind of jade is this? It's so big?" Da Ya and Xu Jing didn't quite understand it, they just looked at it strangely, and saw a guy named Feng Renkui as a senior in a room, leading a few apprentices I am carving a piece of jade that is as tall as a person.

"This is Xinjiang Qingbaiyu." Seeing them coming in, several people who were working stopped.

"Excellent craftsmanship!" Kong Si praised loudly, and Wu Chen couldn't help but laugh. The masters in this imperial workshop are really good at craftsmanship. The carvings they saw just now include furnace bottles, figures, flowers and birds, animals, antiques, Shanzidiao, etc., have a complete range of varieties and colors.Either thick and round, or elegant and elegant, all are good, but Kong Siming has a special liking for this kind of big material.

The jade carving in front of me is nearly two meters high, and it is less than half carved. Judging from the scene, it should be a picture of a mountain dwelling, covered with small bridges, flowing water, pine trees and cranes, and many other elements.

When everyone present heard Kong Si's praise, although they were a little polite, their expressions and tone were somewhat proud. This piece of "Songshan Layman" was led by an ancient disciple. Various techniques such as round carving and hollow carving are integrated, and the pursuit is novel composition, beautiful shape and exquisite workmanship, which well demonstrates the technical characteristics of "Shanzi carving" and "Lianzihuo".

The so-called "Shanzi carving" refers to the conception of shape, color, luster, crackle, and shape, to remove flaws, cover its cracks, follow the color, and achieve the perfect unity of quality, color, and shape. According to the principle of "dividing people by inch and horse", carry out relief or deep carving, so that the composition of landscapes, trees, birds, towers, figures, images, etc., alternately changes from far or near."Lianzihuo" refers to the craft with chains.

These were the main features of Yangzhou sculptures, but now they are included in this large-scale sculpture. No wonder that although only a part has been completed, and it has not been refined, Wu Chen and the others are amazed by its complexity.

"It's made with these things?" Da Ya saw that there were tools of all sizes around the standing jade. This method is too primitive.In addition to a large cutting machine and a machine that looks like a water spray, the others are small tools: files, saw blades and other cutting tools, line carving tools for bottoming, and grinding stones of various shapes and specifications , as well as soft and hard brushes, bamboo sticks, leather strips; polishing powder, sandpaper, polishing wax and other polishing materials; it is a bit like a decoration site, and it looks like there is nothing modern!

"Just relying on these tools, when will we get it?"

"It has been three years since the composition of the painting. If it goes well, it will take another four or five years to complete." Feng Renkui seems to be very clear about this work of his senior.

"..." Although the old saying goes that slow work leads to careful work, Wu Chen and the others knew that this jade article must take a lot of time, but they didn't expect it to take so long. Eight or nine years of hard work, it still has to be "smooth". How many decades can there be?It seems that I still think of jade carving too simply!

In fact, it's not their fault, they are still noobs about real "carving". Even Wu Chen and Kong Si, in Zhongfu Jewelry's workshop, have seen the masters process those jade pieces, but they Those are small pieces such as bracelets or pendants, which are basically fixed patterns, without composition, and the materials used are relatively low-end, so those skilled masters can naturally carve quickly, and one piece can be produced in two or three days.

But this large-scale jade carving is not the same thing at all. The so-called art based on materials, the most important thing is imagination and composition, starting from the material, color, shape, etc., to maximize the use of jade materials, especially in figures, flowers and birds, and flowers. , In the creation of animals, the design is based on materials, and a unique approach is created.

Because large and good materials are not easy to obtain, each piece is a treasure in the eyes of these carvers, so they are naturally very cautious. The initial composition often takes a long time, and it takes a long time to change it again and again, even because the design cannot always satisfy their own ideas. There are those who have kept the material in their hands for decades.

If you don't have the ability to make it a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation, you would rather keep it in the form created by hundreds of millions of years without destroying its original beauty.

This is the morality of jade workers!