Yangzhou lacquer craft

High-grade materials such as luminous snail, pearl oyster and concha Haliotidis with natural colors are selected and refined into spiral slices as thin as cicada wings, as small as needle tips and as fine as autumn colors. It is planted bit by bit on the flat and smooth lacquer blank with special tools. Through exquisite painting technology, the point-screw lacquer ware has the artistic characteristics of exquisite pattern, gorgeous color, changing with light and being as bright as a mirror. Its craft was lost in the late Qing Dynasty. 1978, after more than three years of research and trial production, Yangzhou Lacquerware Factory finally recovered this unique and precious lacquerware variety in Yangzhou, which was classified as a confidential technology by the state.

The masterpiece is "Splendid Spring", which is the first masterpiece after 1978 resumed snail-making technology. As a senior representative of that year, it participated in the national arts and crafts exhibition and was well received by people from all walks of life. 1979 was selected as a national gift by Vice Chairman Deng and presented to President Kim Il Sung of the DPRK. Later, a book was collected as a treasure by the state at 1985.

Scenery of Populus davidiana, the product is framed and boxed, 42 cm long, 30 cm wide and 10 cm high. There are 12 pictures in it, each picture is 36 cm long and 22 cm wide. It can be put and collected as an album, and put as a long scroll, 264 cm long, which can be watched. This product was conceived and designed by Zhang Yu, a master of arts and crafts in China, and Wang Xingtai, a master of arts and crafts in Jiangsu Province, presided over the development and participated in the design. The works are "beautiful in materials, exquisite in workmanship and high in art", bright and colorful, changing with the light, beautiful and elegant, and "new, refined, strange and special", which is a rare treasure in contemporary Yangzhou lacquerware.

The scroll painting of Luo Dian's Riverside Yingzhou Map is 120cm65cm, and the scroll painting is 2 10cm80cm. Since ancient times, lacquer art has been attached to hard embryos. How to improve the artistic taste with exquisite traditional craft is the long-term goal and direction pursued by paint industry peers. Xie Shiqiang, a craft artist of Yangzhou Lacquerware Factory, became a unique and precious lacquerware craft variety in Yangzhou in March 2005 based on Zhao Meng's thorium carving jade inlay after years of practice and development. Its technology is to paint nearly 100 to hundreds of layers of enamel on the objects made, and then carve them into various patterns and brocade patterns. The patterns are exquisite, vivid, rounded, pure in color and lifelike. Carving lacquer technology was created in the Tang Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, on the patterns of carving lacquer and brocade, it also created treasure inlay, that is, dozens of high-grade materials such as jade, agate, blue gold, white jade, coral, jasper, pearl-shell and ivory were carved into various relief patterns and inlaid in the carving lacquer technology, which became Yangzhou's original carved jade-inlaid high-grade lacquer ware and became a national gift given to foreign heads of state by the state today. His representative works are:

Nave created the Mid-Autumn Festival Picture based on the Mid-Autumn Festival Picture by Zhang Yanyan, a painter of the Academy of Painting during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Designed by Zhu Delong, the former arts and crafts artist of Yangzhou Lacquerware Factory, and made by Kong Yuqing, the techniques such as relief, bronzing, coloring, and light ball brocade are adopted. The combination of reality and reality, prominent focus, exquisite carving and elegant colors fully show the festive atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The couplets on both sides of the main hall are elegant and pertinent, and the calligraphy is vigorous and powerful, which can be described as a perfect combination and complement each other, especially with mahogany frames.

The representative works are "Beautiful Scenery Floor Screen" with a length of 800cm and a height of 243cm. The picture of the work reflects the important cultural landscape of the capital of Jiangsu Province and 12 provincial cities, and is refined by combining mother-of-pearl grinding with traditional techniques such as snail-dropping, painting and gilding. It is the largest flat mother-of-pearl lacquerware product in Yangzhou Lacquerware Factory so far. The work is grand and carefully arranged. The work uses the method of "scattered perspective", taking the Yangtze River as the central axis, from south to north, from near to far, and establishes a unique perspective, which includes all the key cultural landscapes of 13 cities in Jiangsu Province. As an important gift from Jiangsu Provincial People's Government to Kunming World Horticultural Exposition, this work was exhibited in the "Liang Antique Painting Exhibition" held in the lobby of China Pavilion. Antique, antique paint, these characters, full of flavor and carefree feelings, were engraved with gold on the signboard of "Liang", which existed for 80 years from the seventh year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1868) to the thirty-seventh year of the Republic of China (1948). 80 years old is probably the age of a long-lived person.

As for Liang, in my memory, I only occasionally heard the older generation talk about Yangzhou's old shop. It is said that there are lacquerware in some gardens in Yangzhou, but unless the lacquerware is specially marked with words, it is impossible for ordinary tourists to know. There should be its collection in the museum, but among thousands of collections, only a few people with a heart have noticed it. Most young people in Yangzhou have heard of Yangzhou lacquerware, but they have never heard that A Liang Fusheng lacquerware won the first prize in Panama Expo. Folk history, if not recorded, is easily forgotten.

For a long time, my understanding of Liang was limited to a passage in Zheng Liuzhong's Reading the Records of Jiangdu County compiled in the 14th year of the Republic of China (1925): "Lacquerware has been a Yangzhou specialty since Lu Kui was born, and it has been widely sold by pyramid schemes. Its imitation is the best. Near beam. Each county sells about 30 thousand silver coins every year, and Liang is half of them! " Besides, I know almost nothing about Liang.

Moreover, I read the History of Yangzhou Lacquerware written by my friend Ms. zhangyan, and found that she described the evolution of Yangzhou Lacquerware from the Han Dynasty to the present, and there was a special section about Liang in the book. Only then did I fully understand Liang, and I felt more and more urgent to rescue and study folk art and its history.

It turns out that Liang's paint shop is in the north section of Yuanmen Bridge on National Day Road, which I often pass by. It has an ancient carved gatehouse and two sidewalks facing west and east. Between the eaves of the shop and the counter, there is a big signboard painted in dark black, and the betel nut pattern is embedded with thick mother-of-pearl to form the three shining Yang characters of "Liang". There is a gold horizontal plaque hanging on the beam, engraved with the seven characters "Liang plays with ancient paint". On the left and right are a pair of carved lacquer couplets: "Fu, my family, national friendship, connecting China and foreign countries;" Sheng Xing's inheritance is famous, and the word "Fu Sheng" is embedded in the couplet. The storefront is on Yuanmenqiao Street, behind which is the workshop, which is now Dashengping Lane in Shenfu Street.

Liang's entrepreneur is Liang, who started this industry in the stormy Yangzhou market in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, the salt industry in Yangzhou had already declined, and all industries were dying. Liang Youhao chose lacquerware that seems to have nothing to do with the national economy and people's livelihood, and openly used "antiques" and "lacquer drama" to attract customers. Facts have proved that Liang Youhao's planning is very successful. For an ancient city like Yangzhou, what can better meet people's psychological needs than remembering the past and rubbing cultural relics? What can kill the boring time at the end of the century more than enjoying hanging screens and playing with inkstone boxes?

During Guangxu period, Yangzhou was still quiet, although domestic reform and revolutionary thoughts were surging. Liang's most prosperous day was at this time. The annual output of lacquerware is 1 10,000 pieces, which is the same as Fujian Shenshaoan lacquerware. It was founded in Qianlong period and spread to the five dynasties. The flower-and-bird screen presented by the Governor of Liangjiang to congratulate Cixi on her 60th birthday was made in Liang Fusheng, Yangzhou. It is said that this screen was carefully made by more than 60 painters for more than two years, and it is worth 22,000 silver!

From the early 20th century to the 1930s, Liang's paint number was passed down to the second generation Liang Sports Lottery. Liang Ticai, whose word is Zi Ren, is an entrepreneur who is good at sizing up the situation and grasping business opportunities. At that time, the Jin-Pu Railway was just completed, Shanghai became a metropolis in the southeast, and Yangzhou was forgotten by modern society because it missed the railway. Liang Ticai is good at taking advantage of Shanghai's traffic advantages, an upstart. On average, every ten days to half a month, a boat of lacquerware is shipped to Shanghai, and then sold from Shanghai to home and abroad, with an annual sales volume of 20,000 to 30,000 pieces. At this time, Liang has more than 200 employees, most of whom are skilled craftsmen. Liang Ticai himself is good at painting and management. He once invested in training his brother-in-law to be proficient in English, living in Shanghai and trading directly with foreign businessmen. Liang's lacquerware, with the help of Shanghai's waterways and railways, is well-informed and convenient to sell, which is really beyond the reach of those businessmen who live in Yangcheng and watch the sky. Among the shopkeepers in modern Yangzhou, Liang Ti is a rare operator with modern business philosophy. At the beginning of the 20th century, he turned his attention to overseas business and dared to deal with foreign businessmen directly, which made it hard to believe that he was originally a Yangzhou businessman-a Yangzhou businessman in the late Qing Dynasty. However, Liang Ticai became famous and rich, and donated money to buy an empty "alternate five-product tongzhi title" for the crumbling Qing government! In this representative of Yangzhou modern national bourgeoisie, we found the brand of feudalism.

However, Liang Ticai was still a rare pioneer in Yangzhou business circles in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. In China, he and Fujian Shen Shaoan are also called "South Shen Beiliang"; Abroad, he spread Liang's lacquer art to Western Europe and North America. How many businessmen in Yangzhou can compare with him in the same period? Strangely, Yangzhou people seldom pay attention to Liang's talent and his management thought. If there was no introduction of Ms. Zhang Yan in the history of Yangzhou lacquerware, how many people would know his name today?

After Liang Ticai's death, his son Guoqing Liang should have inherited the family business. Guoqing Liang named Shao Ren is mentally ill and unable to run a business, so his mother Gao Dong set up a family business. At this time, the scale of Liang's workshops was gradually reduced from a few hundred to dozens, and his family began to decline.

There are hanging screens, enclosing screens, table screens, couplets, plaques, signboards, Cambodia boxes, holding boxes, book boxes, mahjong boxes, assorted suitcases, fruit bowls, hat boxes, pen containers, inkstone boxes, inkpad boxes, and decorative furniture such as kang tables, piano tables and plush chairs. Commonly used decorative themes include historical stories, eight strange paintings, ancient paintings, happy pictures and some simple flowers. The craft decoration of lacquerware includes mother-of-pearl, aggregate, precious stones, jade materials and babao ash. There is a special process, that is, grinding the original snail shell into strips, embedding words or blackening the surface. The texture formed by caulking is similar to the betel nut pattern on the wall base, and Yangzhou lacquer industry calls it "mother of pearl with betel nut pattern" or "betel nut box".

The reason why Liang lacquerware has maintained the reputation of famous brand for a long time, and its price is higher than other lacquerware workshops in Yangzhou, and it sells well at home and abroad because it abides by strict production technology. It pays attention to material selection, careful division of labor and elaborate production. For example, if the new paint is antique, cover the fixed color with rubber alum. After drying, brush it again with blood material water, and then slowly wipe it with very fine incense ash, but the incense ash is not applied to the male tattoo, indicating that it is naturally weathered rather than artificial. These craft stunts are gradually explored by generations of craftsmen in practice.

There are many craftsmen in Liang, and most of their names disappeared without a trace in the passage of time. But there are two people, because they are mentioned in the history of Yangzhou lacquerware, and their deeds are still circulating today.

One is Wang Dongliang, who is good at mending old lacquerware. Wang Dongliang is not in a hurry to restore this antique, but he always studies it again and again. Then, I suddenly made up my mind to paint it immediately, rarely taking a sample first. The paint film is dry and solid, and the color slowly appears, which is integrated with the original equipment. After the owner Gao took over, he handed over all the affairs inside and outside the store. Every morning, Wang Dongliang assigned each worker's work one by one, then went into Fuchun Teahouse, made a pot of tea, called a plate of dried silk and some snacks, and spent a long time in it. Go back to the workshop, turn around, give directions, socialize and do business, and stop doing it yourself. Go to the bathhouse to rub your back, beat your waist and pinch your feet after work. Wang Dongliang lives a standard Yangzhou life, that is, "pack water in the morning and pack water at night". Teahouses and bathhouses don't need his money. They are all under Liang's account.

The other is Xiao Zhuping, who is called Xiao deaf. Xiao deaf-mute can draw and engrave, and has the knack of memorizing the four-body calligraphy of celebrities. He can write, engrave and imitate Sanxi Hall's calligraphy. Xiao's deaf-mute people often finish smoking several bags of dry cigarettes, meditate for half a ring, then pick up a pen and scribble on the screen quickly. Then shovel out the main strokes with a knife, and then apply the skills of hooking, engraving, picking and wiping. In a blink of an eye, I saw the interest in writing at the swimming place of the knife. The calligraphy posts carved by Xiao Deaf, even the moth-eaten and wrinkled fragments on the broken bamboo slips, can be displayed together, and the viewers are all amazed. Although she is stunted, she has no family and wanders all her life. Only when Liang asked him to draw on the lacquerware did people see him. No one knows the usual wandering of Xiao deaf-mute people. He was poor and inseparable, and no one knew when and where he died.

Pan, a famous worker of Liang, can stick out a nine-story carved lacquer pagoda with thin slices of Chinese fir. There is a red-faced king who can make precious lacquerware in a week. There is a pockmarked face fan who is a master painter. Some of them were called by nicknames when they were alive, and their real names have been forgotten. "History of Yangzhou Lacquerware" said: "It is such a craftsman who has been neglected from generation to generation and continues the lacquer culture in Yangzhou."

Liang's lacquerware works won the gold medal of Nanyang Christian Alliance (19 10) and the first prize of Panama Expo in San Francisco (19 15). When the Japanese invaded Yangzhou, they forced Liang Jia to hand over these medals, but failed. However, during the ten-year turmoil, Liang's medals were all copied and his whereabouts were unknown. All the award certificates were burned and reduced to ashes. An old brand with glory and pride has been erased, and its only aura in the world has also been erased.

Liang's name not only contains exquisite skills and excellent management, but also embodies the needs of the times and the vicissitudes of history. Its story should be written not only into the history of technology, but also into the history of culture in a broad sense. Lu Ying's grandson not only inherited his grandfather's exquisite skills, but also raised Yangzhou's Qi Diao, mother-of-pearl inlay, treasure inlay and lacquer sand inkstone to a new height, which made great contributions to the development of lacquer art in China in later generations. "Continued Records of Yangzhou Prefecture" records: "Lv Dong, whose real name is Kuisheng, was born in Jiangdu. He is good at making lacquerware, and lacquer sand inkstone is especially important. " Lu Kuisheng is also an expert in Qi Diao. In the Qing Dynasty's "Painting Forest New Songs", it was written: "Carving lacquer was also made in the Song Dynasty, and Yangzhou Lu Kuisheng made a wonderful fruit box." In addition, Lu Kuisheng also has high attainments in various decorative techniques, such as shallow carving (patent leather carving), eight-treasure gray carving, inlaid lacquer, gilding, gold painting, clay gold carving, needle carving and so on. He left a lot of masterpieces in his life. His works are collected by domestic museums and many museums, as well as many private collections at home and abroad. It can be said that Lu Kuisheng is an important representative in the history of China lacquer art and the pride in the history of Yangzhou lacquer culture. His art is the product of the combination of Yangzhou lacquer ware and literati culture. Many of his works were directly designed by famous painters at that time, such as Wang, Jin Nong, Qian Daxin and others, with high cultural level, which played a vital role in Yangzhou lacquerware culture.