Chen Wenzhe only saw three brick sculptures just now. Unexpectedly, behind the stone sculpture of a dog holding a mouse, there were eight more.
These brick sculptures are not small in size, and there are actually a lot of them piled behind them.
At this time, he wanted to hide these brick carvings, but he had no place to hide them.
He didn't take a second look just now, not because he didn't pay attention to these brick carvings, but also because he was afraid of arousing suspicion.
I originally thought I would get one set and two brick carvings, but unexpectedly, I ended up with two sets.
These brick carvings are larger than ordinary Han bricks, and the carvings on them are more exquisite.
There was no one watching at this time, so he naturally wanted to study it.
He just took a quick look and recognized a picture of a carp jumping over a dragon's gate.
This kind of brick carving should be combined into two pieces to form a complete carving.
After searching for a while, he found another piece. At this time, he also saw that the other nine pieces could definitely form a picture.
"Sure enough, it's a carp jumping over the dragon's gate!"
I opened my backpack, took out the tape measure inside, measured it, and found that it was really not small.
This brick sculpture of "Carp Jumping over the Dragon Gate" is composed of two bricks, each of which is 33 cm long, 21.5 cm wide and 17 cm thick.
There are allusions to this brick sculpture. The one on the left depicts a carp preparing to jump into the dragon gate.
In the waves, a big carp jumped out of the water and took the main position, while two small carps also jumped towards the dragon gate with their heads held high.
On the second floor is the Dragon Palace with raised eaves and horns, wind chimes hanging from the corners, and breast nails on the door. It is solemn, majestic, and magnificent.
The door is slightly open, and through the gap, a 3 cm thick inner space can be seen.
Below the bricks are five groups of highly decorative waves, surrounded by carps and dragon gates, and a spectacular scene of the Dragon King's Palace in the sea appears on the bricks.
On a brick on the right, there is a "fish" jumping out of the gantry. Its image will feel familiar to anyone who sees it: its horns are like a deer, its eyes are like a cow, and its mouth is like a horse...
Obviously, this is a "dragon" transformed from an ordinary carp.
It looks back at the dragon gate with a smile on its face, showing the carp's joy and pride as it jumps over the dragon gate.
The meaning and expectation of this group of brick carvings are very obvious.
Use fish to pray that people will have the opportunity to jump over the dragon gate and rise to higher levels.
In ancient times, "Dragon Gate" was used as a metaphor to rise high and climb high.
For example, Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty said in "Book on Jingzhou of Han Dynasty": "Once you climb the Dragon Gate, your worth will be a hundred times greater."
Folks often regard the carp jumping over the dragon gate as a symbol of winning the imperial examination.
This group of brick carvings should be used for the decoration of the gatehouse, and its meaning is more unique.
What is particularly worth mentioning is that the upper, lower, left and right sides of these two bricks, as well as the upper left corner of the front of the left half brick and the upper right corner of the front of the right brick, are interspersed with honeysuckle patterns.
Without looking carefully, I would have thought it was also a wavy pattern, because it is very similar to the wavy pattern.
But when I took a closer look, I discovered that it was a honeysuckle pattern. The two patterns were combined together, and there was no messy feeling at all.
The sculptor added honeysuckle patterns to the theme of "Carp Jumping over the Dragon Gate", which seemed to be two unrelated themes. However, Chen Wenzhe, who is very knowledgeable about bricks, knew that there was something else in it.
Honeysuckle is a twining plant, commonly known as "honeysuckle" or "honeysuckle". Its flowers are long and drooping, yellow and white, hence the name honeysuckle.
It does not wither in the cold winter, so it is called honeysuckle.
Honeysuckle patterns are mostly used as Buddhist decorations, which may have the auspicious meaning of "prolonging life".
In addition to the carp jumping over the dragon's gate, this brick sculpture represents the wish to advance in the imperial examination, and the honeysuckle pattern represents the blessing of longevity, which further reflects the creator's idea of ​​strengthening the auspicious meaning.
This kind of random addition of rich associations with or without fetters is also common in ancient craft patterns, especially in Dunhuang patterns.
This group of brick carvings has an outstanding high-relief style. The entire brick is 17 cm thick. Except for the 6 cm solid layer of the ground, the 11 cm thickness is all high-relief and hollow carvings.
From the carp in the front, to the carp in the middle and long shot, from the nearby waves to the disappearing waves in the distance, from the front to the middle of the gantry, from the foreground to the background, the levels are very rich.
Especially the Dragon Palace Gate and the Mending Building break through the category of relief sculptures.
It uses a combination of hollow carving and round carving to express a three-dimensional space.
When this set of brick carvings is placed on the wall, the 11cm carving layer protrudes from the wall, giving it a more three-dimensional effect.
The whole set of brick carvings is a combination of round carvings, relief carvings, hollow carvings, and deep and shallow carvings. It is also a representative work that uses points, lines, and surfaces to set off each other.
"There was no imperial examination in the Han Dynasty. This brick carving doesn't look like it came from the Han Dynasty. Why does it look like it came from the Qing Dynasty?"
After reading it, Chen Wenzhe looked confused.
He was certain that those bricks were Han bricks and came from ancient tombs.
Those tiles should also be from the Han Dynasty, but these brick carvings should not be.
This is interesting. Is there an ancient tomb from the Han Dynasty near a mansion from the Qing Dynasty?
Or maybe it was simply a wealthy family in the Qing Dynasty who bought these things from the Han Dynasty and decorated them in their mansions?
Chen Wenzhe looked at the other nine brick carvings. Sure enough, this thing was not from the tomb, but was used in the mansion. It was a brick carving of "Ten Deers on a Spring Tour".
It should also be from the Qing Dynasty, and it is a masterpiece from the south of the Qing Dynasty.
This set of "Ten Deer Touring in Spring" brick carvings is a rare treasure.
It is composed of nine rectangular bricks, each brick is 32.5 cm long, 24.5 cm high, 5 cm thick, and the total length is 292.5 cm.
The first and ninth bricks are carved with Ruyi patterns, and trees, landscapes and two deer are cleverly placed. Eight deer are arranged in the middle seven bricks.
The theme of this brick carving implies auspiciousness. The word "deer" is a homophonic word for "lu", the word "ten" is for "whole", and the word "spring" is for "everything is renewed and full of vitality".
The composition of the nine bricks adopts the method of opening and closing. The bricks are divided in a planned way and organically combined into a complete group painting. This is very rare in the magnificent southern gardens.
of.
This brick sculpture is a continuous picture with a scattered composition. There are six pine, cypress, and elm trees carved in the close-up. The leaves are long or round, with lines and faces, and are varied and each has its own characteristics.
The mid-ground sculpture shows ten deer of different shapes, trekking through mountains and rivers for an outing in the countryside. From left to right, they are looking back, rolling around, scratching around a tree, licking their calves, drinking water, and eating grass.
The solid and thick rocks in the distant view are lined with light and flowing streams, with movement and stillness, a harmonious contrast.
The entire set of brick carvings are carved in a 2 cm thick carving layer, with mountains, water, trees, deer and lawns divided into several layers.
There are various techniques of high relief, relief, round carving, openwork, and deep and shallow carving, all of which are used together.
It can be said that this one is more complex, and the sword techniques are changeable, the sword playing is concise, and the layers are rich.
Such things, regardless of how much they are worth, are priceless just because of their artistic value.
It's just a pity that it was discovered by a group of people who don't know anything, and they don't know how many good things they will destroy!