As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, my country's tooth carving craftsmanship was extremely developed. Later, through the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, the tooth carving craftsmanship became even more sophisticated.
The Qing Dynasty was the heyday of ivory carving craftsmanship. Like bamboo, wood, horn, gold and stone and other small carvings, ivory carvings became treasures for display on furniture.
Before the Qing Dynasty, ivory carving inherited the tradition of the Ming Dynasty and developed in both production technology and artistic creation.
After the middle period, the artistic creation of ivory carving moved towards complicated decoration.
At that time, ivory carvings were divided into two categories: palace handicrafts and folk handicrafts. The palace makers were meticulous in their workmanship, and the figures, flowers and birds were decorated in imitations of paintings, and there were certain rules for coloring and filling.
Even so, there is no absolute difference between the two. Many palace toothsmiths are directly recruited from the private sector.
Ivory carving in the Qing Dynasty has basically formed two major artistic schools: Jiangnan and Guangpai.
Chen Wenzhe is proficient in carving, and has now reached the master level. He can make tooth carvings of various styles without many problems.
Therefore, the first piece of work was completed very quickly.
Looking at this work, there are not many materials used. If they were all gem bonsai like this, he could make a large number of them very quickly.
Of course, Chen Wenzhe does these things not for profit, so he naturally does not pursue quantity.
Therefore, he will gradually increase the difficulty and slowly start to make more difficult works.
The most important thing is that he has all the materials at his disposal, so he can easily assemble each piece of treasure.
If you have the technology, materials, and time, the finished product will naturally come out soon.
After finishing one bonsai, he quickly selected jasper, coral and some special gemstones to make another bonsai, the Jasper Dieffenbachia bonsai.
This is a treasure made in the mid-Qing Dynasty and belongs to the old collection of the Qing Palace.
This gem bonsai is 51.5 cm tall, with a basin height of 16.5 cm, a diameter of 20 cm, and a bottom diameter of 16 cm.
The basin is in the shape of a cylinder and is painted with red paint. The mouth and bottom edges are each decorated with a golden curly grass pattern. The body of the basin is lightly engraved with thousands of characters on the brocade ground and the figures of the Eight Immortals and painted with gold paint.
Jasper Dieffenbachia is planted in the pot. Its leaves are broad and thick, tall and straight like swords, and green and lush.
There are green silk stems wrapped in the middle of the leaves. There are 3 clusters of dieffenbachia seeds made of dyed bone and red coral beads on the stems. The beads are bright red.
If there is a special craft here, it is gold painting.
Gold lacquer is a material, and even a craft, used in ancient furniture and home decoration using techniques such as lacquer painting, gold tracing, and inlay in my country's ancient handicraft industry.
Most of my country's gold lacquer furniture is beautifully carved, giving people a sense of splendor and splendor.
In addition to gold lacquer furniture, there are also gold lacquer wood carvings.
Lifelike wood carving craftsmanship can be seen everywhere in temple buildings.
These are often storytelling and contain thought-provoking meanings;
The statues of gods for people to worship are often carved from wood or even covered with gold foil to show their nobility.
In addition, there is also gold lacquer inlay, which is formed from a wooden body, painted, and then inlaid, withered, colored filled, ancient overcoat, carved ash, flat gold color, broken grain, and carved paint are used on the paint base. , gold, silver, varnish and other decorative techniques.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, this lacquerware craft, which originally mainly served the court, has been spread to the people.
Chen Wenzhe has never done this before, but as long as there is gold paint, this craft is not difficult at all for him.
Because when he was learning filigree inlay before, he had seen some of the eight unique craftsmanship of Yanjing, and this gold lacquer inlay was among them.
Little by little, Chen Wenzhe kept increasing the difficulty.
From the Chengcha Immortal bonsai that I was afraid of wasting materials on withered wood as the base at the beginning, and then to the slightly more difficult red coral bonsai, the next step will be a little more difficult.
This is a tourmaline peach tree bonsai "flat peach as a gift of auspiciousness", made by Su in the mid-Qing Dynasty.
The overall height is 56 cm, the basin height is 16.5 cm, and the diameter is 31.2 cm.
Painted enamel rhombus-style basin, with dark and light blue glaze as the ground and painted peony patterns on the outer wall of the basin.
Peach trees are planted in the pots as the main scenery, with wooden branches, jasper leaves, and peach fruits made of hibiscus, tourmaline, beeswax and other red and pink gemstones.
The tree is lined with lake rocks, camellias and brocade flowers.
This scene is well-proportioned and vivid, showing the refreshing and bright Jiangnan bonsai style.
Not to mention anything else, this piece is just the basin, which requires Chen Wenzhe to make it carefully.
Flower pots painted with enamel were not uncommon in the Qing palace during the Qing Dynasty.
For example, the wintersweet tree bonsai "Spring and Longevity" also comes from the mid-Qing Dynasty, but it was made in Guangzhou and belongs to the old collection of the Qing Palace.
The overall height is 42.5 cm, the basin height is 8.9 cm, and the basin diameter is 25-16.5 cm.
Painted enamel rectangular basin with angular corners, and the outer wall of the basin is painted with flowers and branches.
The wintersweet tree in the main scene has copper-dyed leaves and teeth-dyed petals.
The surrounding area is lined with dyed stone mountains, crystal crabapple flowers, milky white glass camellias, copper grasses, etc. The branches are vigorous, the flowers and plants are fresh, and the scenery is beautiful and elegant.
Painted enamel, one of the varieties of enamelware, generally refers to painted enamel on a copper body, also known as "foreign porcelain".
Painted enamel can also be made of other metals, such as gold painted enamel, silver painted enamel, etc.
The derivative varieties of painted enamel include: painted enamel on porcelain body (i.e. enamel colored porcelain), painted enamel on glass body, etc.
In addition, the production process of painted enamel is also called painted enamel.
Among the copper crafts, there are cloisonné enamel, painted enamel, and cloisonné. Many people are confused and confused.
Many people also think that cloisonné enamel is just painting enamel?
Also, is enamel not porcelain? How come it became cloisonné?
In fact, these three types are different, so what exactly is cloisonné enamel?
Also, what is painted enamel? What is cloisonné? What is the difference between the three?
Enamel, cloisonné enamel, and painted enamel should be the three basic special terms in the entire enamel art category today.
Because many people, including quite a few people engaged in enamel art, often confuse their respective concepts with each other, causing confusion in understanding.
In fact, it is very simple to say it.
Enamel is a new term that originated from the porcelain firing technique of Fo Lang and gradually evolved in the long history. It was not until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century that it appeared.
It is full of the complicated process of transformation from regional name to craft (or enamel) name.
Any "glazing on a metal body" is called "enamel" technology, and its products are called "enamel works of art" or "enamel ware".
Cloisonné enamel and painted enamel both belong to the category of enamel art, as does "foreign porcelain".
Please note that enamel artwork and "enamelware" are not synonymous
Painted enamel is a modern term derived from the ancient Persian porcelain firing technique.
The time when this term appeared should be regarded as the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it played a normative role in the enamel branch system of painted enamel.
Painted enamel can be divided into two categories.
First, the copper body painting enamel includes gold and silver body, which can also be called "filigree painting enamel" or "filament enamel";
The second is enamel painting on porcelain bodies, also known as "enamel color".