The Liangzhu culture lacquer bird head unearthed in the middle section of the Zhongjiagang site of the ancient city of Liangzhu in Hangzhou, the painted relief snake lacquer of the Warring States period unearthed from the Chu tomb of Yutai Mountain in Jiangling, Hubei, the Qin painted phoenix-shaped lacquer spoon unearthed from the No. 9 tomb of the sleeping tiger in Beiyunmeng, and the painted three-fish pattern lacquer ear cup unearthed from the Phoenix Mountain Tomb in Jiangling, Hubei...... Today, sponsored by the Liangzhu Museum, the annual exhibition of "5,000 Years of Immortal Lacquer Art", which brings together nearly 100 pieces of fine lacquerware from 11 cultural and museum collection units in China, is open to the public.
Lacquer is a pure natural resin coating. It is mentioned in "Shuowen Jie Zi" that "wood juice can be used to make objects, pictograms, and paint like water droplets". China is the first country in the world to invent and use lacquer, and the archaeological discoveries at the Jingtou Mountain site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province prove that lacquer has a history of more than 8,000 years. After the origin of the Neolithic period, the glory of the Chu and Han dynasties, the decline of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the prosperity of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the revival of lacquer art and the rebirth of modern lacquer painting appeared after the founding of New China.
Lacquer art, in the long history of the perfect combination of practicality and art of the unique charm, conveying the oriental cultural texture and temperature, it is the same as tea, silk, porcelain, is an excellent representative of Chinese traditional culture, is a window for the world to understand China's unique culture.
The exhibits start with the lacquerware of Liangzhu culture, take the origin of lacquer art as a clue, start from the perspective of archaeology and art, compare the ancient and modern, and advance layer by layer through the three theme units of "why immortal, why immortal, and what is immortal", so as to highlight the inheritance and rheology, artistic texture and spiritual connotation of lacquer, a material material with unique oriental charm.
"The uniqueness, integrity, artistry, and rarity of lacquer make lacquer occupy an extremely important position in ancient Chinese material culture. Nowadays, very few people really know about urushi, and a material that was once so closely related to us has been almost forgotten today. Xu Tianjin, director of the Liangzhu Museum, said that he hoped that through the special exhibition of lacquer, everyone could understand this material and the extremely precious cultural heritage created based on this material. In the past, the most impressive thing about Liangzhu culture was jade, and with the deepening of archaeological discoveries, we realize that the lacquerware of Liangzhu culture is greatly enriched in terms of shape, craftsmanship, pattern and color, and at the same time has a correlation with the ritual system, which has an important impact on the lacquer art of later generations. It is hoped that through the exhibition, everyone will further understand the importance of lacquerware in the Liangzhu period.
Why do we say "5,000 years of lacquer art"? Instead of starting from 8,000 years? This exhibition takes the Liangzhu culture as the source and shows the lacquer bird's head of the Liangzhu culture, which uses red and black tones to flow the lines. Lin Yuanshun, curator of the Liangzhu Museum's exhibition education department, said: "The lacquerware excavated from the cross-lake bridge or Hemudu is mainly used for practical utensils, mostly for anti-corrosion or waterproofing, such as the lacquer bow unearthed for hunting across the lake-crossing bridge. From this lacquer bird head, it can be seen that the lacquerware of the ancestors of Liangzhu at that time had a relatively high level of development, and developed into the theme of decorative art, which is also the origin of lacquer art. ”
Each of the cultural relics and contemporary works on display in this exhibition is a fine product, and many of them are national treasures that are restricted from going abroad permanently. For example, the lacquer painting screen from the Shanxi Museum, from the tomb of Sima Jinlong, a nobleman of the Northern Wei Dynasty, is the first batch of 64 national treasure-level cultural relics that are permanently prohibited from leaving the country for exhibition, depicting a group of painted lacquer screens with character stories. Whether it is the content of the painting, the painting technique and the calligraphy creation of the inscription text, it exudes a strong cultural atmosphere of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and has far-reaching cultural and artistic value. Ma'anshan City Three Kingdoms Zhu Ran Family Cemetery Museum collection of the Three Kingdoms Wu aristocratic life map lacquer plate, mainly color black, red two colors, simple and elegant, the craftsman with a concise pen, with smooth lines to depict the leisure and comfort of aristocratic life.