Text | Yang Ziqiang
In ancient society, the level of handicraft industry often represented the level of economic development of a city, and exquisite handicrafts have both technical content and cultural connotation, just like today's creative cultural industry. Jiaxing has a developed culture and a prosperous economy, and the emergence of master craftsmen is also a natural thing.
Therefore, Zhu Yizun said: "There are many wonderful things in my hometown, and there are no ancient losing classes in KitKat." In the Song and Yuan dynasties, Jiaxing produced four craftsmen comparable to Lu Ban, they were Shen Qi who made ink, Zhu Bishan, a silversmith, and Zhang Cheng and Yang Mao, who were lacquerers.
From the web
Paper, ink, pen and inkstone are the "four treasures of the study" of the ancient literati, and their importance is as important as today's computers and mobile phones, so ink making has become a handicraft industry. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Jiaxing produced an ink-making expert Shen Qi.
Shen Qi (year of birth and death unknown), a native of Jiaxing. A master craftsman like Shen Qi can be said to be the current non-genetic inheritor, but in feudal society, the status is very low, and Shen Qi's life is much unknown, and even his name is not clear - Shen Qi is the name he changed after engaging in ink making. In the fifth dynasty, there was a famous ink-making artist named Li Tingqi, and Shen Jue took the name of "Qi" to express his respect for the predecessors of ink-making. He also named his son Shen Yan, because Li Tingjue's son was called Li Chengyan.
In the Northern Song Dynasty He Lian's notebook "Chunzhu Chronicles", it is said that "Gengzi is in turmoil, and the rest of the land is Jiahe, and he lives with the wall of Qi". There were two Gengzi years in the Northern Song Dynasty, one was the fifth year of Song Renzong Jiayou (1060) and the other was the second year of Song Huizong Xuanhe (1120). In October of the second year of Xuanhe, Jiangnan rebelled and invaded Hangzhou in December of this year.
Shen Qi was a small silk merchant in the early days, traveling between Jiaxing and Huangshan, where there were many ink-making families, and Shen Jue learned to make ink in Huangshan, so he made a career out there. Shen Jue is very talented in ink making, "using glue with intention, and there will be claims as soon as it comes out", which can be said to be the peak of his debut. He burned the smoke with pine coal and miscellaneous grease paint, and the ink essence made of it glowed black, which was called "lacquer smoke". But Shen Jue felt that he had not learned the "right glue method" of Li Tingqi in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and he often regretted it.
Once, Shen Jue made ink at Juyan Shi's house, but due to the premature release of the ink from the ash pool, the ink ingot broke and became a waste product. Ju Yanshi was reluctant to throw away the fine materials, so he steamed and soaked the broken ink, and added the separated old glue to the new glue to remake the ink. Shen Jue suddenly enlightened and realized the mystery of Li Tingjue's "glue method", and reached the highest level at that time in terms of technology. Shen Jue was also quite proud of this, and wrote Mo Mingyun: "Shen Jue is like a stone for ten years, and a little like lacquer." ”
At that time, there was an official named Teng Lingyi, who was very fond of collecting ancient ink, and when he was the Jiahe Wine Supervisor (in charge of the liquor monopoly), he appreciated Shen Jue very much, and often asked Shen Jue to make ink for him. Once, after making a batch of ink, a pill was lost. Two years later, when I accidentally dredged a small pond in the garden, I found it in the pool, and the ink pill that had been soaked in the pond water for two years turned out to be "as strong as ever". Teng Lingyi was greatly admired, and said to Shen Qi: "Although the second Li is resurrected, it can't be far away." It is believed that Shen Jue's ink-making technology has caught up with predecessors such as Li Chao and Li Tingjue father and son.
Perhaps because of the ink-making, Shen Ju made friends with many literati and bachelors, the famous scholar Cheng Ju of the Northern Song Dynasty, who was the governor of Xiuzhou, he thought that "Shen Ju paint smoke is the best", one day, Shen took a poem by Ye Hanlin and asked Cheng Ju to write a poem for him. Cheng Ju happily wrote a seven-word song, appreciating Shen Jue's exquisite ink-making skills, and hundreds of years later, Jiaxing's great poet Zhu Yizun did not forget to write a poem for this master craftsman in his "Song of Mandarin Duck Lake": "The thrush ink is Shen Jue pill, the water droplet toad inkstone has not dried, and the hatred of the picture is less than the mountains, and Lang looks at the distant peaks all day long." ”
In ancient times, the shops that produced and traded gold and silver jewelry and utensils were called "silver houses", which shows the universal importance of silver products in ancient times. On behalf of the highest level of silver technology in the Yuan Dynasty, it is Zhu Bishan in Jiaxing.
From the web
Zhu Bishan (year of birth and death unknown), name Huayu, word Bishan, Jiaxing Weitang (now belonging to Jiashan County) people. Judging from his travels, he is roughly in the same era as Wu Zhen and Sheng Mao. Like Shen Qi, there are very few records about Zhu Bishan. Yuan Tao Zongyi's "Dropout Record" cloud: "The silversmith is good at craftsmanship, and the people who express the table have a voice, including Zhu Bishan, Xie Junyu, and Xie Junhe." ”
Zhu Bishan and the Wuxian Xie brothers were the most famous silversmiths at that time, and "watch" was an outstanding and prominent meaning. Wang Shizhen, a great literati of the Ming Dynasty, said more interestingly: "I Wu Zhonglu Zigang governs jade, Bao Tiancheng governs rhino, and Zhu Bishan governs silver····· are more than double the usual price, and there are people who sit with the gentry. Wang Shizhen's tone was quite disdainful, like Zhu Bishan was just a folk craftsman who was not popular, and he could actually sit on an equal footing with the scholars and squires. Wang Shizhen is accusing the world of being ancient, but on the contrary, it can show that Zhu Bishan's status is high and his influence is great.
The silverware made by Zhu Bishan is the most exquisite wine vessel. The silverware he made was not welded, but was all spliced and inlaid, which can be described as a daring artist. Zhu Bishan made shrimp cup, crab cup, rat rodent four-claw cup, etc., the image is vivid, the idea is ingenious, Zhu Bishan did a painter in the early years, he used the skills of painting to the silverware, like "Zhaojun out of the plug", "Dharma silver statue" and other wine vessels, the characters are lifelike, the eyebrows are clearly visible, the shape is vivid, the production is fine, has reached the realm of ingenuity, out of the realm, it can be said that the silverware carved by Zhu Bishan is no longer a product, but an art.
Among Zhu Bishan's hand-me-down works, the most famous is the chacha cup. The so-called chariot refers to a raft made of bamboo and wood, and the story of someone who took the chariot to Tianhe to meet the cowherd and weaver girl in Jin Zhanghua's "Naturalist Chronicles" of Jin Zhanghua. Zhu Bishan's wine and cup is made based on this. There are only four pieces of the "Zhubishan Silver Cup" that have been handed down, and the body of the Longcha Cup is an old tree with a bent weight, and the stomach is empty for wine storage. The bottom of the upper abdomen is engraved with "100 cups of crazy Li Bai, a drunk old Liu Ling, in order to get the wine in the fun, Fang left the world's name "a guarantee", the old man's posture and wind god, the simplicity and vigor of the trunk, are visible.
Like Shen Qi, Zhu Bishan also had a lot of contacts with literati and bachelors, and at that time, Ji, Jiehousi, who was among the "Four Masters" of Yuan poems, and the famous literati Ke Jiusi were all his friends, and Zhu Bishan also made birthday wine glasses for them. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Wang Shizhen, Zhu Yizun, Shi Yanzhang, Cao Zhenji, Huang Zunwan and other famous literati all had poems and texts about Zhu Bishan's cup, such as Zhu Yizun's "Zhu Bishan Yincha Song Sun Shaozai Xishangfu", Huang Zunxian's "Yuan Zhu Bishan Yincha Song", Li Ju's "Zhu Bishan Yincha Song for Qiu Yufu", all of which are long poems of hundreds of words, and even Emperor Qianlong also had a seven-character rhythm of "Zhu Bishan Yincha Song". It is rare in history for so many celebrities to write poems for a craftsman. This may confirm Zhang Dai's sentence in "Tao'an Dream Memories of Zhugong": "What is not enough in the world to be noble, and special people are self-desplicing." ”
In Japan, there is a word called "pile of Zhu", and the Japanese authoritative dictionary "Kojien" explains that "the process of repeatedly painting a certain thickness with red lacquer and carving paintings on it", and the craftsman who is engaged in "pile Zhu" is "Pile Zhu Yangcheng". This "field into the field", two famous carving names from Jiaxing: Yang Mao and Zhang Cheng.
Yang Mao and Zhang Chengdu were from the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, and they were both from Xitang, Jiaxing (now Jiashan County). A water town group has produced two international craft masters at the same time, which is also a good story.
Lacquer carving is to carve various patterns and decorations on the added utensils. This craft has appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and the appearance of the Yuan Dynasty prison field Mao, Zhang Cheng and reached its peak, the process of carving lacquer is very complex and trivial, roughly speaking, it is on the wooden tire (there are also gold tires, silver tires, copper treatment, etc.), painted one after another lacquer, less than dozens, more than 100 roads, forming a thick layer of lacquer, and then carved out of clouds and smoke, landscapes, flowers and trees, birds and beasts, pavilions, people, carved lacquer mostly with distinct vermilion lacquer, hence the name "red", also known as "carved red", called "pile of Zhu" after being a person in Japan 。
From the web
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the famous lacquer carving master left Dingzhou, Hebei, after the Song Dynasty crossed to the south, the economic center of gravity moved to the south of the Yangtze River, and Jiaxing gradually became the lacquerware production center, which was called the "Jiaxing School". Ming Huangcheng's "Bao Decoration Record" cloud: "After Jingkang, the group of workers crossed to the south, and the Jiaxing workers had the potential to replace Dingzhou. ”
Jiaxing workers are mainly concentrated in Yanghui (now near Yanghuitang, Xitang Town, Jiashan County), "Nancun Dropout Record" volume 30 "Gold and Silver Law" cloud: "Jiaxing Xietang (now Xitang) Yang Hui Gong gold, silver method, all utensils with anything, first with black lacquer for the ground, carved with needles, or landscapes, trees and stones, or flowers and bamboos gold thin or silver thin, according to the silversmith used paper paste shrouded, put gold and silver thin. Cut it carefully one by one, pave it with paint, and try the new cotton measures firmly. But the lacquer wearer naturally sticks, and the rest of the gold and silver are on the cotton, burning ash in the iron, and melting and forging in the gan pot, so that it will not be lost. Among them, the most famous are Yang Mao and Zhang Cheng, Ming Cao Zhao's "Gegu Yao" said: "Yang Hui, Xitang, Jiaxing Mansion in the Yuan Dynasty, has Zhang Cheng and Yang Mao are the most famous. ”
Yang Mao's best at removing red is his "gold and silver method". The so-called "gold and silver" is to embed a thin piece of gold or silver into the gap of the carved pattern, so that it is tightly seamed, ironed without traces, "carved embedded in the micro, hand wipe, if there is no trace". After this process, the lacquerware painting layer is rich, the three-dimensional sense is strong, more magnificent, Yang Mao has a hand-me-down boutique "red flower honor" (the Palace Museum collection), the mouth and exterior of the statue are carved with red lacquer, carved with chrysanthemum, camellia, okra, lily and other floral ornaments, the knife technique is delicate and delicate, does not show the blade, the decoration is smooth and smooth, showing the picture of flowers, competing for beauty.
Zhang Cheng carved lacquer, is the most famous for "rhino". The so-called "culling rhino" is to paint two or three different colors of lacquer layer by layer on the tire, after coating more than 100 layers, and then carve out different patterns such as back lines, cloud hooks, sword rings, and curly grass on the thick lacquer layer. In this way, "carving all the elephants, gathering in the middle, so that the layers are stacked up", the section reveals different color layers, just like the texture of rhinoceros horn, so it is called "ticking rhino", because the lacquer layer is thicker, "delete the rhino" generally carve the big flowers in full bloom, the branches and leaves are thick, the Shu roll is free, and it is very responsible.
Zhang Cheng's "rhino moire shaped box" (Anhui Provincial Museum), the lid and the box body are carved with ruyi patterns, the carved knife edge is up to one centimeter deep, thick and round, bright and warm, and the white lines of the lacquer pattern are smooth, such as flowing clouds and flowing water into the rhythm. This rhino lacquerware is considered to be the finest piece of rhino liquid ware in the entire Yuan Dynasty.
In addition to Yang Mao and Zhang Cheng, others such as Peng Junbao are also very famous. Ming Cao Zhao's "Gegu Yao" recorded: "To make gold, it is necessary to paint hard and get a good situation." At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, there was Peng Junbao in Xitang, Jiaxing Mansion, very famous, landscapes, characters, pavilions, flowers and trees, birds and beasts, all kinds of wonderful. ”
There is also Zhang Degang, the son of Zhang Cheng, who inherited his father's business and is also a famous lacquer carving. Qing Kangxi's "Jiaxing Mansion Chronicles": "Degang was able to succeed his father's business, and was summoned to Beijing for an interview with (Ming Chengzu), and called the decree, that is, to grant the deputy of the camp and restore his home. Zhang Degang worked in the Ministry of Industry because of his exquisite skills, which played a great role in the development of carved lacquer technology after Ming Yongle.
[From Jiaxing Literary and Historical Memory.Jiaxing Volume]
--to be continued