One by one, Chen Wenzhe looked carefully at the six stone carvings in front of him. After just a moment's thought, Chen Wenzhe knew that these were indeed made from the antique craftsmanship of the Song Dynasty.
At that time, technology was not developed, and people really relied on their craftsmanship to make a living.
The antique style was already very popular in the Song Dynasty, but not many people did it at that time.
Among the antique period, Buddha statues are the most popular ones.
Anyone who has seen Buddhist statues made in the Song Dynasty in an antique style will know that there is no comparison between "modern imitations" and "Song imitations"!
Therefore, many Buddhist statues that have been passed down to modern times were eventually found after research to be from the Song Dynasty and imitated the Tang Dynasty.
For example, in the book "Era and Style of Buddhist Statues in Han Dynasty", the two Guanyin Bodhisattvas emerging from the pagoda at Lingyan Temple in Sioux City were dated to the Song Dynasty and imitated the Tang Dynasty.
At the same time, the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva from the first year of Baoding in the Northern Zhou Dynasty collected by the Capital Museum was designated as a Song imitation of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
This has allowed many people to learn about the Song Dynasty’s antique bronze ritual vessels, jades and other artifacts, and also expand a new research horizon, that is, the Song Dynasty’s “antiquated” Buddhist statues.
"Boss, aren't these imitations amazing?"
It felt like Chen Wenzhe had finished reading, before Li Jinli came over.
Li Jinli is also very proud of being able to collect such a set of Zhaoling Six Horses.
The biggest gimmick of this set of stone carvings is that you know they are imitation carvings, but you just can't see the traces of imitation.
Regardless of the artistry or the old-fashioned methods, this set of Zhaoling Six Horses is top-notch.
Before Chen Wenzhe returned, Li Jinli had already found many experts to come and evaluate it.
Later, because of its reputation, it attracted a large number of experts to come and watch.
There are so many experts, but no one can tell where there is an obvious fallacy.
What everyone saw were exquisite stone carvings, and they were all from the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Now that Li Jinli sees Chen Wenzhe's satisfied look, it's possible that he didn't find the flaw either!
Of course Chen Wenzhe didn't find any flaws, because the craftsmanship of this set of stone carvings was really good.
He couldn't find any flaws, but he knew how to do it.
He has craftsmanship and technology. If he is willing to put in the effort, he should be able to carve works of this level.
Unfortunately, he doesn't have the patience.
"Boss, isn't this set of Zhaoling Six Horses good? I bought it from an antique craft store in Yangluo."
"Antique craft factory? Just bought a set of stone carvings like this?" Chen Wenzhe asked strangely.
"Definitely not. When I went there, the small items were almost sold out. In the end, I could only choose some big items, such as this set of Zhaoling Six Horses, and some were Buddha statues. By the way, there is another one here It’s a relatively small one, please show it.”
Looking at Li Jinli who was in high spirits, Chen Wenzhe was speechless.
Now that it is real, since we have the means to carve such a good set of Zhaoling Six Horses, how can we imitate some ancient Buddhist statues without using the skills of Song Dynasty imitators?
Chen Wenzhe's gaze followed Li Jinli's movement, and he soon saw an eleven-faced Guanyin statue.
He knows this kind of Buddha statue, and it is now collected in major museums.
Of course, there are not many in number, and many are controversial.
Here we need to remind you that the dispute is mainly about dating.
Because many of these Buddha statues have obvious Tang Dynasty style, some people believe that they are imitations of Song Dynasty.
At that time, two eleven-faced Guanyin Bodhisattva statues were unearthed from the Huqiu Mountain Temple Pagoda, but the two Buddha statues had a clear age range.
Therefore, these two eleven-faced Guanyin statues have become standard samples for studying the artistic trend of "antiquing".
Yunyan Temple Pagoda is located on Huqiu Mountain in Sioux City, also known as Huqiu Pagoda.
During rescue construction in 1957, several precious cultural relics were discovered.
Through textual research and research on the cultural relics from the pagoda, it was finally determined that the pagoda was built in the sixth year of Zhou Xiande after the Five Dynasties.
The cultural relics in the pagoda should have been put into the pagoda for worship when the pagoda was completed in the second year of Jianlong's reign in the Song Dynasty.
The artifacts found in the pagoda are extremely rich, including Buddhist statues, scriptures, porcelain, coins, etc.
The two eleven-faced Guanyin Bodhisattva statues among the cultural relics left in the pagoda have now become the main reference items for studying "antique customs."
In terms of statue style, the two eleven-faced Guanyin statues both present the "S"-shaped stance that was common during the Tang Dynasty.
These two eleven-faced Guanyin statues have celestial robes floating down, plump figures, and double-layered waist-style rosettes.
These typical elements unique to Tang Dynasty statues appear unabashedly on the two Guanyin statues from Song Pagodas, causing future generations to have considerable doubts about their dating.
Fortunately, the Dahai Museum has an eleven-faced Guanyin statue from the Tang Dynasty, which allows future generations to compare with these two eleven-faced Guanyin statues.
First of all, judging from the arrangement of the eleven sides of Guanyin, these three statues are all composed of one side on the top, four sides in the middle, five sides on the bottom, and one side of the main statue.
The arrangement of the eleven-faced Guanyin statues in the Tang Dynasty was not static.
For example, there is an eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statue from the late Tang Dynasty in the collection of Shoubo, which is arranged with three sides on the top, seven sides on the bottom, and one main side.
Looking at the overall shape, the three Guanyin statues all have an "S" shape.
The styles of necklaces, earrings and wrist bracelets worn all over the body are basically the same.
A bead chain hangs from the neck to the legs, and heavenly clothes fall from both sides of the body.
The left hand hangs down naturally to hold the vase, and the right hand bends the elbow and raises it to hold the willow branch.
The Guanyin in the Dahai Museum is decorated with a backlight, and the Guanyin in the Yunyan Temple pagoda originally had a small hole for a backlight, but the backlight was no longer visible when it was unearthed.
Therefore, it can be judged that the two eleven-faced Avalokitesvara in Yunyan Temple and the eleven-faced Avalokitesvara in Shangbo should be from the same powder edition.
This pink version also influenced many stone sculptures, such as the eleven-faced stone statue of Guanyin in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the original eleven-faced Guanyin statue in Baoqing Temple in Xi'an in the Phillier Museum of Art.
Whether it is the arrangement of the eleven sides, or the standing posture and holding objects, they are consistent with the Guanyin statues in the Dahai Museum and Yunyan Temple.
However, after more detailed comparison, the difference between the two Avalokitesvara from the Song Pagoda and the Shangbo Avalokitesvara from the Tang Dynasty can still be clearly discovered.
The most significant difference is the celestial garment. The celestial garment of Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty is more flexible. It uses almost five twists and turns to express the elegance of the celestial garment, and then naturally droops and floats on both sides of the body.
The Guanyin in the Song Pagoda has few twists and turns, giving people a heavy feeling.
Similarly, in terms of the depiction of the long skirt on the lower body, Songta's Guanyin is more conservative and traditional, with the long skirt almost covering the top of the feet.
The long skirt of Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty only covered her ankles.
Secondly, from the carving point of view, the Guanyin of the Tang Dynasty was more delicate.
From the perspective of muscle expression, although the three statues in the Dahai Museum and the Song Pagoda do not have the exaggerated "S" shape of the Tang Dynasty.
However, in order to reflect the graceful features of Guanyin women, the waist is still twisted.
However, the bulging muscles in the waist and abdomen of Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty reflect a sense of muscular movement.
On the other hand, the abdomen of Song Pagoda Guanyin shows a bloated and rich feeling.
Through a series of comparisons, the difference can be clearly seen.