Chapter 1891: Natural Beauty, Full of Nobility, Xi Shi Stone
Quyang Dog Tower has 13 floors and is about 50 meters high. It is made of Huangshan white marble and bricks.
The stone walls on the first to fourth floors of the tower are engraved with relief murals, with rigorous composition, well-proportioned layout, and high artistic quality, which represent the artistic level of Quyang stone carving artists at that time.
The "Dog Tower" in Quyang is one of the earliest monumental large-scale stone sculpture buildings in my country, and it is also a building with high achievements in stone sculpture art during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Then in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism became popular. Temples were built all over the country, and caves were dug into mountains. The scale was huge and the event was unprecedented.
Quyang stone carving also developed rapidly. During this period, Quyang stone carving artists spread their footprints all over the country.
They gave full play to their carving talents and carved numerous Buddhist statues.
The reason why Quyang stone carvings are mentioned in particular is because the production process of stone carvings here is still different from those before.
The production method of Quyang stone carvings is divided into five steps: "selecting materials, large waste, second waste, determining fineness, and polishing".
The first thing is to select materials, because before all stone sculptures are made, materials must be selected first.
Material selection is an important step that cannot be ignored in the stone carving process.
The nature, hardness, density, and texture of the stone will directly affect the success or failure of the work.
The production of Quyang stone carvings, after selecting the materials, is the first step.
Dahuang is also called "clearing waste" and "stripping waste", which means removing waste materials to determine the size and dynamics of the statue.
Then there is Erhuang, which is a further modeling process that requires clear details such as the image and posture of the statue.
At this stage, attention should be paid to observing whether the physical relationships are accurate and coordinated, as well as the connectivity of various parts of the statue, in order to achieve the perfection of the local shape and the whole.
The fourth step is to determine the details, also called "knife work", which is to carve out the details of each part of the statue.
The fine-setting process should ensure smooth lines, clear edges and corners, flat surfaces, neat roots and feet, and no chiseling marks;
Artists are required to turn their wrists flexibly, order the weights and weights, and apply moderate force according to the softness, hardness, and brittleness of the stones.
The engraving is completed, followed by polishing.
Polishing is grinding, which is the last process of stone carving.
At this stage, the artist can control the position and degree of polishing according to the artistic effect.
It can be polished completely or partially to produce different artistic effects of fineness and roughness on the statue.
Of course, all stone carving works are inseparable from good raw materials.
Just like the Quyang stone carvings, the largest type of stone he used was white marble.
White marble is a kind of crystal white marble, we all know this.
Today's white marble refers specifically to the white marble produced in Gaozhuang Village, Dashiwo Town, Fangshan, Shendu, with a hard and white texture.
White marble is pure white and is also used to carve Buddha statues, etc.
In the West, white marble has been used as a material for portrait carvings since ancient Greece.
Since ancient times in our country, this stone has been used to make stone steps and guardrails in palaces. The so-called "jade-built vermilion railings" are as gorgeous as jade, so they are called white marble.
From the perspective of historical data, the excavation and mining of marble can be traced back to at least the Nanzhao period of the Tang Dynasty.
The three pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali, built in the Tang Dynasty more than a thousand years ago, have been built with exquisite marble carvings and have a high level of craftsmanship.
Imperial palace tombs in history, such as the Forbidden City in Shendu and the Ming Tombs, all used Nanyun marble in large quantities.
The more famous white marble works generally come from Dashiwo stone carvings.
Dashiwo Town, Shendu FS District, has extremely rich stone resources with excellent quality and many varieties.
The development of stone can be traced back to the Yan Dynasty of the Warring States Period, with a history of more than 2,000 years.
White marble, which is clean in color and easy to carve, is a national treasure among architectural stones.
Therefore, the price of white marble is also very expensive. Of course, the main reason is that white marble has a wide range of applications.
Even now, there are many white marble products.
White marble blocks, boards, engineering boards, railings, railings, flower pots, fountains, fireplaces, Roman columns, archways, pavilions, etc., can all be made of white marble.
Of course, it is not limited to these, such as natural drawing boards, landscape stones, marble coffee tables, dining tables, high-quality screens, special-shaped stones, white marble TV background walls, garden sculptures, character sculptures, animal sculptures, urban sculptures, reliefs, etc.
Make.
In short, there are many, but there are good and bad white marbles.
Among them, white marble is mainly pure white, which is divided into first, second and third grades.
The first-grade material is the best white marble, the second-grade material is the second-grade material, and the third-grade material is the third-grade grade.
Among them, the price of white marble also varies greatly. The price of first-grade material less than one meter is about 15,000 per cubic meter.
White marble of more than one meter is very expensive.
The second and third level prices are much cheaper, but can also reach 8,000 to 10,000.
There is no regulation on the price of white marble. The accurate price of white marble can be determined based on different grades, products, and specifications.
This is white marble. It can be said that if you want to build a good building, your first choice must be white marble.
Of course, there are also stones that are more precious than white marble, such as the chrysanthemum stone mentioned before.
But it would be a pity to use such stone as building materials.
Raw materials like chrysanthemum stone are not unavailable in China. For example, Puli in Taiwan produces one.
Puli Town, Nantou, Taiwan, is located in the middle of the island. Stone sculptures, water quality, fine wine, and beautiful women are the four most famous places in Puli Town.
The iron pill stone sculpture, one of the top ten elegant stones in Taiwan, is produced in the beautiful Puli.
Puli Shaoxing wine is also famous all over the world, thanks to the excellent water quality.
The unique natural conditions make the town rich in products and everyone is prosperous.
Attracted by Puli’s pure, beautiful and peaceful life, more and more artists have settled here.
This has created a strong local cultural temperament, and various handicrafts are flourishing.
Stone carvings are particularly popular in the area, and Tiewan stone carvings are one of the most important ones.
The best iron pellets are formed on the seabed at 4,000 meters or deeper, and their density, gloss, and iron content are among the best.
Due to the special formation conditions, this type of high-quality iron shot stone is particularly precious.
Iron pellet stone carvings are carefully carved from the finest iron pellet stone. The quality of the stone can be said to be genuine and red.
Iron pill stones were formed approximately 2 million to more than 20 million years ago and are very rare and precious.
Because the core of the stone is dark gray and the skin is as dark as iron, it is called "Iron Pill Stone".
Iron shot stone has a higher density and texture than ordinary stone. The stone is ultra-fine and warm and moist.
It is as naturally beautiful and noble as the ancient beauty Xi Shi, and is also called "Xi Shi Stone".
In Taiwan, most iron pill stones are made into stone pots or other works of art, and only a small amount are made into inkstones.
Strange stones like iron pill stones are not uncommon in Taiwan.
This island has been called a treasure island since ancient times, and it definitely deserves its reputation.