The son of Marquis Xian of Jin, Marquis Jin of Jin, also followed the King of Zhou or fought on the orders of the King of Zhou many times, and naturally he also had various achievements.
In this way, it was logical for him to make many bronze vessels to be buried with him, which also showed his status and achievements.
my country's rabbit culture has a long history. Rabbits have many children and grandchildren, which is a beautiful symbol of health and longevity.
Ancient people often incorporated the image of rabbits into their lives, hoping to bring them blessings.
This kind of utensil with beautiful meaning will be sought after no matter what era it is.
The two that Chen Wenzhe saw now were bought by Cao Qingchun in Xiangjiang.
When he was traveling to Xiangjiang, he happened to meet him in an antique shop.
Although the rabbit statue is no longer beautiful, a bright red rust spot has appeared on its fat and round buttocks.
Based on this, he simply proved that it was a Western Zhou artifact, and believed that it was probably a treasure lost in the ancient tomb on the Western Mountain.
Overjoyed, he spent a lot of money to buy them.
This bronze rabbit statue is 33 cm long and 11 cm high. The whole body is rubbed into yellow and red, which is bright and bright.
The rabbit was lying on its knees, as if someone could press it with your finger and the rabbit would jump.
There is a trumpet-shaped mouth on the back of the rabbit, but unfortunately the rabbit cover was lost.
The abdomen of the rabbit statue is hollow, with short legs underneath. There are three concentric circular patterns on both sides of the abdomen, and the circular patterns are circular swirls from the inside to the outside.
The image of this rabbit statue is lively and innocent, vividly showing the rabbit's smart and alert characteristics.
What is particularly interesting is that there are leaf-like objects stuck inside the rabbit statue.
Laboratory tests confirmed that the residue was related to wine, so experts concluded that the rabbit statue should be a wine vessel.
Although the reason why rabbit statues are rare among bronze statues remains to be explored, one thing is certain.
That is, the rabbit symbolizes wit, joy, vitality and vitality.
Look, the eager image of this Rabbit statue seems to express its good prospects for prosperity in the Year of the Rabbit!
Compared to the small Jade Rabbit, this bronze vessel was obviously made with more care.
It is vivid in shape and expressive in form.
The rabbit is in a crawling position, with its forelimbs touching the ground and its hind legs bent, just like the moment before jumping.
The ears are close together, and the rabbit's belly is hollow, connected to the trumpet-shaped protrusion on its back.
There is a low rectangular base at the foot, with a rounded rectangular opening on the back, and is covered with a cover that is integrated with the rabbit body, and has an oblate button on the cover.
The two sides of the rabbit's body are decorated with circular fire patterns, four identical thunder patterns and connecting thunder patterns.
The shape of a rabbit as a statue is even rarer among bronze vessels.
Previously, in 1992, two pieces were unearthed from Tomb No. 8 in the Jinhou Cemetery. They were both the same shape and decoration, only one was larger and the other was smaller.
"Such a cute bunny, I must make more of them!"
It turns out that Chen Wenzhe had seen the Ox Lord and the Tiger Lord, but he had never thought about the Rabbit Lord.
Now that I have encountered it, this must be one of their Yi Niantang flagship products.
Looking at the bronze rabbit statue in his hand, the entire systematic process of making traditional bronze ware appeared before his eyes.
Upon closer inspection, it doesn't seem to be particularly troublesome.
After all, Chen Wenzhe knows too many skills now, so he can learn by analogy or use them directly.
Making bronze ware is actually not too difficult. For example, you first use special clay to make a solid clay mold for the bronze ware to be cast.
Then, the outer molding is made in pieces on the clay mold, and then the outer molding is trimmed, detailed patterns are carved, and the small pieces of the outer building are spliced into larger pieces.
Next, it’s time to show off, which is to make the corresponding inscriptions on the bronze at the predetermined location.
After this phase is completed, the mud film needs to be trimmed.
That is to say, a layer of thickness is scraped off the clay mold, and this gap is the thickness of the bronze to be cast.
Once these are done, you need to make a cross-sectional model of the gate and riser.
After the clay mold is ready, it is time to start firing the clay mold.
At this time, the ceramic is baked at a temperature of about 600 degrees, and the synthetic integral mold is preheated and filled with copper liquid.
After completing this step, you need to break the clay mold and take out the bronze.
Looking at it this way, it is the copper material formula for the bronze ware, and then the production of the clay model.
For Chen Wenzhe, these are the simplest.
Of course, the lost wax method is indispensable for making ancient bronzes.
The lost wax method is actually simpler. First, mold the clay mold out of the inner mold of the smoker and let it dry in the shade.
Then there are wax sheets attached to the inner frame, which are withered and carved.
Use wax material to mold the wax pillars of the dragon and the mouth, make wax gates, exhaust channels, and weld the entire set of wax molds.
The sample material is diluted into a slurry and repeatedly applied to the outside of the wax mold to form a thickness that can withstand the casting of molten copper.
After drying in the shade, cover the mud layer with the drier mold material, and then dry in the shade to form an integral mud mold.
With the cup facing down, the baking mold material and wax material melt and flow out, and bake to 600-850 degrees Celsius to form a pottery mold.
Before pouring the bronze liquid, preheat the ceramic mold to the sintering temperature.
After the copper solidifies and cools, remove the inner and outer molds and cut off the gate.
Complete smoker of complex shape, properly polished.
Isn’t it very simple to break it down like this?
In fact, the best technology for making bronzes is modern.
The production process of modern antique bronzes is also lost wax casting.
Lost wax casting is a type of precision casting, and as the name implies, it has higher process requirements.
It is very different from the process method that most customers imagine. Some customers will mistakenly think: "Casting is just making a mold and pouring it out one by one. It is very simple." In fact, this is not the case.
The process of lost wax casting is really not simple for those who are not an expert.
Of course, any craft, no matter how simple it is, cannot be made by anyone who is not an expert, let alone done well.
However, for experts, there are also certain difficult techniques, which are really difficult.
The first step in the lost wax method is to make a wax pattern. Every time you make a bronze vessel, you must first make a wax pattern.
In other words, whatever the wax model looks like, the bronze ware will look like.
Making a wax model is divided into four parts, the first is shaping, that is, using wax to create the first wax model;
The second step is to make a mold for the first wax model. The mold is made of gypsum or silicone rubber.
The purpose is to reduce the need for plasticization every time, because many wax patterns that are exactly the same as the first wax pattern can be made through the mold;
The next step is to press the wax through the mold, that is, after the wax is melted, the wax is pressed into the prepared mold through pressure equipment to form it;
The pressed wax model needs to be modified, so the wax model must be refined.
Instant repair personnel use special tools to modify the wax model one stroke at a time.
The quality of the refined wax-up is an important factor affecting quality;
The last step is to assemble the model, which is to put the finely repaired wax models together for ease of casting.
The second step is crusting, dewaxing, roasting and casting. After the assembled wax model is assembled, it must first be hung with sand and crusted.
Dip the assembled wax model into the pre-prepared colloid solution, and then apply refractory quartz sand on the wax model from fine to coarse, over and over again, layer by layer.
In this way, the inside and outside of the wax mold wall are encrusted, so that the wax mold is wrapped in the quartz sand layer in the middle.