Chapter 1863: All things give way to time, only culture is immortal
In modern society, stone lions are everywhere, but not many can do them well.
Just like the stone carving factory in front of Chen Wenzhe, he must be a master at carving stone lions.
It can be said that the stone lion is a model for the stonemasons here to give "life" to stubborn stones.
With its upright chest, head pointing upward and a majestic expression, a stone sculpture in the factory known as the "Stone Lion" is particularly eye-catching.
This is a stone sculpture known as "Roaring toward the sky", which dates from the Song and Yuan dynasties.
In fact, every stone sculpture handed down from ancient times embodies the wisdom of the craftsmen and the aesthetics of the era in which they lived.
Whether it is the depiction of secular characters or animals, flowers and plants in nature, they all pay great attention to the perfect fit between form, content and theme.
The ancients tried to express their views and feelings about things in the world by giving life to stubborn stones, so as to gain spiritual calmness and open-mindedness.
This sculpture roaring towards the sky illustrates this point.
Take a closer look at this "Howl to the Sky", you can see that the carved lines follow the texture of the stone.
The hair on Chaotianhou's back and tail have golden lines, which are as bright as blond hair. The convolutions of the stone sculpture are more like curly hair. The entire stone sculpture shows the thickness of Chaotianhou's hair.
In addition, the circular stone pattern on Chaotianhou's chest is like a breastplate that shows his identity, and the flame pattern carved on the side further shows Chaotianhou's status and momentum.
In ancient times, Chaotianhou was basically made in pairs, with one head looking out, which means "looking forward to the king's return", and the other head facing the harem, meaning "looking forward to the king's departure".
The "Chaotian Roar" actually has the meaning of keeping watch. The "Chaotian Roar" on the top of the Huabiao Pillar is also regarded as conveying God's will and conveying the sentiments of the people. It is a symbol of auspiciousness, beauty, power and majesty.
And this one roaring towards the sky has been separated from the other one after years of vicissitudes.
Although it is slightly incomplete, its momentum is still the same. As shown in the picture, it seems to have been given life. Its exquisiteness is breathtaking and its collection value is extremely high.
It turns out that Chen Wenzhe had encountered rubbings of the Six Horses of Zhaoling. Unexpectedly, this time he walked into a stone carving factory and saw so many precious ancient stone carvings.
Chen Wenzhe likes collecting. As long as it has a certain artistic quality or a certain technical level, he likes it.
Collecting is not only a nostalgic feeling, but also a continuation of the passing of Chinese culture from generation to generation.
Chen Wenzhe carefully tastes every piece of his stone sculpture collection. From small to large, from high to low, each work reveals the craftsmanship spirit in Chinese culture and reflects the unique love and persistence of a collector.
From this, Chen Wenzhe could see that the boss of this factory was very capable.
Because collecting ancient stone carvings is not only to get a glimpse of the solemn grandeur and majesty of history, but also because the ancient majesty of stone carvings is a flowing epic, a protected collection of culture, and passed down side by side.
This is a stone carving factory, so there must be no shortage of heritage.
Just now, Chen Wenzhe admired the precious ancient stone carvings, also saw the modern courtyard stone carvings, and even saw the popular stone lions.
Now, he has seen some imitations, such as the famous Six Horses of Zhaoling.
"Six Horses of Zhaoling" is a treasure in the history of Chinese sculpture, not only because of its superb artistic techniques, but also because it is a rare realistic-themed work among the stone carvings of the Tang Dynasty.
At the beginning of the century, Master Lu gave a lecture in Chang'an and talked about the "Six Horses of Zhaoling" and said: "Most of the stone animals in front of Han people's tombs are sheep, tigers, and Tianlu to ward off evil spirits. However, on the Zhaoling in Chang'an, there are steeds with arrows carved on them.
His approach is simply unprecedented.”
So in addition to the six horses, there are other lions, tigers, leopards, etc.
For example, a piece of stone to ward off evil spirits should be an imitation of an Eastern Han Dynasty work. This is a mythical beast in ancient Chinese legends, resembling a lion and carrying wings.
There is also stone tiger relief. Relief is a type of sculpture. The sculptor carves the image he wants to create on a flat plate, making it separate from the plane of the original material.
Relief is the product of the combination of sculpture and painting. It uses compression to process objects, relies on factors such as perspective to express three-dimensional space, and is only available for viewing from one or two sides.
Of course, if it were just these things, Chen Wenzhe would not be amazed.
The main reason is that people really have artistic skills, so how can you tell it by looking at the imitation stone carvings of the Wei and Jin Dynasties?
In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, epitaphs were used as a medium to express daily life.
The main artistic value is definitely the fonts, which are available in various celebrity fonts. Among the stone carvings and inscriptions that Chen Wenzhe saw before, there are many exquisite ones.
But here, there are not only stone carvings, but also brick carvings.
For example, the rice pounding bricks of the Eastern Han Dynasty are decorative images in the tomb interior.
This Han brick is 1cm high and 1cm wide.
In the Han Dynasty, there was a new development in grain processing. In addition to the pestle and mortar that existed in the pre-Qin Dynasty, foot-operated pestles ("practicing pestles"), animal-powered pestles and water-powered pestles appeared successively.
With the help of these tools, labor intensity is gradually reduced, while rice pounding efficiency is greatly improved.
Foot-operated treadmills were widely used in the Han Dynasty.
Of course, the main sculptures here are stone sculptures, and a large relief sculpture once again amazed Chen Wenzhe.
Just by taking a closer look, Chen Wenzhe knew that it was an imitation of the stone railings of the Sui-Anji Bridge.
This thing was unearthed at the Anji Bridge site in Zhao County, Hebei Province in 2011. It is 1.5cm long and 1.cm high.
This object is a railing component of the Anji Bridge, rectangular in shape, with dragons carved on both sides.
On the front, the two dragons are covered in scales, their bodies facing each other as if they were drilling through the railings, their heads facing away from each other, and their front paws pushing against each other.
On the back, the two dragons are galloping toward each other, their bodies entangled, and their hind limbs resting on the ground.
There are many more moments like this when one grows more than two meters tall, such as a relief sculpture of a warrior.
This is an imitation of the painted relief warrior stone carvings on the back beam, which is a decorative image in the tomb.
It is tall in centimeters, wide in centimeters, and thick in centimeters.
This painted warrior statue is carved in high relief on a rectangular white marble.
He is dressed in armor, holding a sword, standing on an elk, with a dragon on his shoulders. He should be the image of the heavenly king of the Buddhist protector.
Its artistic style inherits the legacy of the Tang Dynasty and sets the precedent of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and has high artistic value.
The brick carvings just now and this warrior statue came from ancient tombs.
There are some things like this here, such as imitations of tomb lintels from the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
This is a stone gate, which consists of five parts: an arched lintel, door pillars, threshold, tiger head pier, and stone gate.
The door has no shaft, does not open or close, and is embedded in the lintel.
Both ends of the lintel are embossed with an exquisite boy holding lotus buds, and the upper part of the doorpost is embossed with a peacock.
This should be the Yonggu Mausoleum Stone Gate, a masterpiece of stone carving art in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Stone carvings like this will definitely still be passed down after thousands of years.
These stone carvings tell an ancient story in the simple and regular alternation of night and day.
When everything gives way to time, a culture is immortal, and the inscriptions on the stone carvings dazzle the long river of history and are immortal in different ways.