Jianbao life

Chapter 1019 Woodblock Watermark
Next, Zheng Qiuda took out a few ancestral items and asked Chu Chen to comment on them, but these items were relatively ordinary, and there was only one Qianlong Mountain Watercolor Porcelain Vase, which was not bad.

It is a pity that this piece of porcelain is not an official kiln, but a folk kiln work with relatively exquisite workmanship. Wan, this can be regarded as a bit of sadness in folk kilns.

Although his own items are not high-quality antiques, to Zheng Qiuda, even if they are not even antiques, they are still objects passed down from his ancestors. witness.

At this moment, Zheng Qiuda took out a box. After opening it, Chu Chen saw a small glass-covered box inside. The inside of the box showed the scene of the old city wells and alleys in Beijing.

The simple and elegant handmade courtyard walls with fine workmanship quietly separate the lively market from the quiet courtyard. Outside the courtyard, there are foreign cars, candied haws, knife sharpeners, porters, chess players, bird walkers, diabolos, etc. You know and don’t know Beijing folklore.

Although the whole scene is small, it is worth pondering from any angle, especially the "artists" are all living little monkeys, which adds to the fun of the work.And this is the traditional handicraft "hair monkey" in the capital.

Speaking of the hairy monkey, not many people know about it now. This kind of folk art unique to the capital is said to have appeared during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.

At that time, a clerk in a pharmacy in Beijing was bullied by the accountant. He accidentally discovered that the cicada had some image characteristics, so he couldn't help but decided to use Chinese medicinal materials to create a "Mr. accountant".

He chose Magnolia magnolii as the torso, and cut off the nose of the cicada as the head, the front legs as the lower limbs, and the hind legs as the upper limbs. Once he glued it with bletilla striata, an image of a person without a human and a monkey without a monkey appeared. The first hairy monkey was born.After spreading to the society, it was perfected by caring people, and gradually formed the current handicraft that is loved by people.

The little monkeys in the glass boxes in front of us are covered with dense brown or white fluff, and the whole body is slightly transparent. At first glance, they thought they were specimens of real hairy monkeys. Both alertness and liveliness are shown, and it also reflects the author's very superb craftsmanship.

Seeing these miniature monkeys, Chu Chen smiled and said, "Master, your set of monkeys is very well made, and the framing design and other aspects are well grasped. It is the best I have seen in these years. Well, this is the most flavorful monkey work, and it is very valuable for collection.”

Uncle Chen was taken aback when he heard the words. Originally, he took out this hairy monkey work just to amuse everyone, but he didn’t expect it to be a collection. He scratched his head and said, "This work was created by me five years ago. I bought it from an old artist who made hairy monkeys, and when I have nothing to do, I take it out to watch music, I really didn’t expect that it is also valuable for collection.”

Chu Chen said with a smile: "As long as a thing has artistic value, of course it can be collected, not to mention that your hairy monkey work has such characteristics and charm, so it is of course more worthy of collection. To be honest, I also want to collect it now." thinking about buying."

Uncle Chen said with some regret: "That's really unfortunate. That old artist died of a stroke last summer. Since you like it, Mr. Chu, how about I give it to you?"

"How embarrassing is that!" Chu Chen waved his hands again and again, expressing that he couldn't win someone's favor.

Uncle Chen said these words in a flash of enthusiasm before, and he regretted them as soon as he said them. Now that he saw what Chu Chen said, he said a few more polite words, and stopped persuading him.

On the topic of the hairy monkey, we chatted a few interesting things, then Uncle Chen called his wife, and prepared to take back the things he took out just now and put them away.

Seeing this situation, Chu Chen pointed to a scroll on the table that should be made of silk in a strange way, and said:
"Master, I haven't seen this one yet!"

Uncle Chen waved his hand: "Hey! This is a fake of Zhao Ji's "The Picture of Willow Crows and Reed Wild Goose". It was collected by the Lushi Museum, and it cost thousands of dollars to buy it, and after showing it to a friend, I realized that I had been fooled."

After hearing this, Chu Chen frowned, and said, "I think it should be an imitation, shouldn't it be a fake?"

Uncle Chen chuckled and said, "It's really a fake. I went to the Shanghai Museum to see the real one. This one is exactly the same as that one. It's impossible to be a fake."

"Exactly the same?" Chu Chen became a little puzzled after hearing this.

At this moment, Zheng Qiuda asked, "Xiao Chu, you obviously haven't seen this painting just now, so why did you say it was a fake?"

Uncle Chen and his wife were taken aback when they heard the words, that's right, Chu Chen didn't even look at it just now, how could it be an imitation?

"Because of the material."

As he said that, Chu Chen took the scroll in his hand and said: "Look, this silk book looks very sparse and the finish is poor, which means that it was woven by the operation method of one thread at a time and one thread at a time. How about it? How many people are willing to use handmade silk as a fake?"

Then, he took out a magnifying glass to observe carefully, and then said: "Moreover, the warp of the silk book is double-silk silk, and the weft thread is monofilament. The silk silk is uniform in thickness and tightly woven. This should be a feature of silk books in the Ming Dynasty. ...All in all, I think this should be a silk painting from the Ming Dynasty, and the quality of the silk is very high."

After hearing Chu Chen's explanation and conclusion, Uncle Chen and his wife couldn't help being dumbfounded.What do you mean, is this a fake, is it really an imitation like what Chu Chen said?
Zheng Qiuda also looked very surprised, and after a while, he said: "Xiao Chu, but the uncle said just now that it is exactly the same as the real one. If you say it is a second-layer painting, it is obviously a silk painting, and you can't reveal it even if you want to. ?”

Seeing everyone looking at him, Chu Chen laughed: "Old Zheng, have you forgotten the 'wooden watermark'?"

"That's right, how did I forget that there is such a craft!" Zheng Qiuda patted himself on the forehead.

Uncle Chen quickly asked: "Mr. Chu, what is a woodblock watermark?"

Chu Chen explained with a smile: "Woodblock watermark calligraphy and painting is a unique reproduction process in my country. It integrates painting, engraving and printing. Realistically reproduce all kinds of calligraphy and painting."

Speaking of which, woodblock watermark calligraphy and painting has a long history in our country.As far back as the Tang Dynasty, monochrome woodblock printing had reached a considerable level.At the end of Ming Dynasty, overprinting such as "饾ban" and "Gonghua" appeared, indicating that the technology had made greater progress.

Since this craft is always based on handwork, it is currently inherited and developed purely as a cultural heritage in our country.It was no expense spared from an economic standpoint, but the results achieved were huge.

Chu Chen went on to say: "The production of woodblock watermark calligraphy and painting is an extremely professional and creative process. It is divided into four steps: sketching, engraving, watermarking, and mounting. The first three steps are the most important. And Very labor-intensive and time-consuming.”

"It not only involves the quality of the production staff to grasp the original work, but also involves their drawing and engraving skills. In the process of color printing, it also involves the superb skills of the production staff, such as materials, pigments, moisture, and even temperature and humidity. It leads to wasted labor in the early stage.”

"Because of this, the success rate of making a woodblock watermarked calligraphy and painting is quite low. Taking Hu Zhengyan's "Shizhuzhai Calligraphy and Painting Manual" as an example, just one set of woodblocks took ten years of labor by dozens of professionals. The project is huge and the investment is expensive. In addition, the number of times a set of wooden blocks can be used is quite limited, and under normal circumstances, the entire set can only be used effectively for more than a hundred times."

Hearing this, Uncle Chen said: "That is to say, if my painting is a woodblock watermark calligraphy and painting, there are probably quite a few still in existence, but if it really existed, it would have been circulated long ago, right?"

Chu Chen said: "I mean it has been used no less than a hundred times, but it is possible to print it only once or a few times. You must know that although Zhao Ji's "The Picture of Willow Crows and Reed Wild Goose" is divided into upper and lower parts, but in In the Ming Dynasty, it was all collected by the inner court, not the emperor himself or the royal family, so how could it be possible to show the watermark?"

"And for these people, they don't hesitate to do many things. Even if the template is engraved, it is normal to throw it away after only one use. And you said that it is exactly the same as the one collected by the Shanghai Stock Exchange Museum, doesn't it just prove that Is the production level of the watermark template high? This can prove it from the side.”

After hearing Chu Chen's explanation, Uncle Chen rubbed his hands excitedly, nodded excitedly and said, "Yes! Yes! Why didn't I think of this!"

The old lady said: "Okay, your heart is not good, so don't get excited, let's see if it's right first."

"Just now Teacher Chu said that it was a silk painting from the Ming Dynasty, so it must be true!"

Uncle Chen laughed and cleaned the table carefully, then put on his gloves, and carefully unfolded the scroll.

It can be seen that the scene in the previous section shows the scene of Louya resting and playing on the willow tree. The willow and the crow use the boneless painting method, the color is light, and the composition is refined.The thick willow roots, the delicate branches, and the plump Lou Ya are all drawn neatly and neatly.Both Louya rested and played happily, in a relaxed and peaceful state.Finishing with raw lacquer, even more radiant.The picture has achieved great success in black and white contrast and density interspersed.

In the back part, four reed geese perched on the border of Polygonum reeds, and the coloring was done with light ochre, which enhanced the desolate atmosphere of autumn.Combined, it is the famous painting of willow crows and reed geese made by Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty.

Afterwards, Chu Chen hurriedly picked up the magnifying glass and observed carefully little by little. After more than 20 minutes, he breathed a sigh of relief, nodded with a smile on his face and said, "Yes, it is indeed made of 'woodblock watermark', and The level is very high, and at that time, it should not be able to be made by ordinary craftsmen."

(End of this chapter)