Cultural toys can be called cultural toys, but not all crafts can be called cultural toys. Many public collectors, without understanding the cultural roots behind the literary toys in the study, blindly follow the trend and buy a large number of things without literary atmosphere to decorate their personal living space or work space, which is actually a very serious misunderstanding.
In recent years, with the vigorous promotion of auction houses and some antique cities, and the publicity of media networks, the miscellaneous items of the study room have begun to move from niche collections to the popular, and the people's enthusiasm for the collection of miscellaneous items of the study has also become increasingly warm.
In fact, Chinese literati and doctors before the Tang and Song dynasties regarded the study as a space for private retreat, a world of self-liberation internally and a reception of supreme etiquette externally. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, this spirit of place was further developed, and eventually became an independent and huge ideological system. All handicrafts that deviate from this traditional aesthetic system of the study should arouse the vigilance of collectors.
In the past, the literary toys were not as popular collectibles as they are today. Although the auction records in the auction market have aroused the enthusiasm of a large number of public collectors for the miscellaneous section of the study, they have not led everyone to dig deeper into the cultural roots behind this niche collection section. It is very unwise to invest and collect a collection of a collection on a large scale without understanding the cultural roots behind it.
So, why collect the study room to play? It is necessary to first explore and understand the cultural roots of the study.
The reason is very simple, at present, whether in the investment collection world, or in the cultural world, almost all of the collections that can be called play in our cognitive domain are related to the study. For some mass collectors, when it comes to literary play, they will feel a little abrupt, and some people even think in their hearts: Isn't literary play a toy of ancient literati?
In fact, cultural play is a derivative of study culture. Before the Ming and Qing dynasties, pen, ink, paper, and inkstone were the most basic stationery utensils. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the category structure of stationery utensils has been further developed, resulting in the emergence of other stationery matching with the traditional "four treasures of the study", such as pen holders, pen washes, ink beds, inkstones, water presentations, arm rests, paperweights, printing boxes, seals and so on.
These stationery items come in a variety of materials and shapes, and are integrated with traditional Chinese painting, carving, and other decorative cultures. It is in this context that cultural toys that have both the functions of a study and the functions of appreciation and play have appeared one after another. Since then, no matter how the new stationery has developed and changed in terms of form extension, its connotation has never deviated from the study culture.
Therefore, without sorting out the roots of the study culture, it is obviously impossible to know and understand the lifestyle, spiritual pursuit and values of the literati and doctors of the past dynasties, let alone understand the whole set of aesthetic ideology established around the special place space of the study.
So, what is the core of the traditional scholar's aesthetic ideological system?
Simple. Since the Song Dynasty, the study has transcended the function of writing and has become a place for literati and doctors to think freely. Whether it is for the country, for the society, or for the individual, it is all done in this independent small space. Because thinking involves people's moods, and mood is inseparable from the environment at the time - whether it is quiet or noisy, it can be created through the design and arrangement of the environment. It is precisely on this basis that the simple literati aesthetic from the Song to the Ming Dynasty emerged - not verbose and clichéd, similar to the design concept of modern Europe.
Many people don't understand why it took hundreds of years for Britain to form a minimalist aesthetic after the Industrial Revolution, while Chinese scholars had already formed this aesthetic system in the Ming Dynasty. It is because when literati are thinking, they cannot tolerate the influence of those cumbersome and noisy factors around them. First of all, they began to advocate simplicity in the layout of their study, and even thought that the simpler the better, and tried to create a quiet atmosphere in the environment. Stillness is immobility, immobility is stopping, and stopping is Zen......
As a popular collection category in the miscellaneous section, the literary toys have increasingly become the best choice for contemporary people to cultivate their sentiments and purify their souls, and some collectors even do not understand the connotation behind these cultural toys, so they use it as a medium to make friends and appreciate leisure life. Whether it is a giant auction house such as China Guardian and Beijing Poly, or a century-old store such as Rong Bao Zhai and Duo Yun Xuan, it is the general mentality of "being vassal, elegant, and not seeking to understand" after the improvement of the material living standard of collectors.
The continuous attention of auction companies and the entry of private capital have made the collection of scholars' cultural toys, which was originally very niche in the Chinese cultural tradition, continue to become popular.
In the eyes of professional collectors, although the Four Treasures of the Scholar's Room originated very early, it was not until the Tang and Song dynasties, when the traditional art of calligraphy and painting tended to mature and perfected and the literati doctor group was formed, that they really found and realized their due status and value, and became an indispensable instrument for the desk of literati and even the emperor's official study. After all, these collections have an inseparable relationship with the traditional study culture, and they are not familiar playthings to ordinary people.
Although in contemporary times, cultural toys are popularly understood by some people as ornamental pieces or handles with traditional cultural flavors, but a utensil that does not carry the spirit of ancient literati cannot be called a real scholar's cultural play, because it does not conform to the aesthetic system of traditional scholars.
Emphasizing the literati spirit and elegant temperament behind the cultural toys is not intended to set up a barrier between the literary toys and the public collectors, but to highlight the traditional values of the cultural toys collection. Many public collectors put a few cultural toys in their offices or desks, often out of this consideration, one is to show that they have a unique cultivation through the cultural smell of cultural toys, and the other is to show their strength through these expensive utensils. When the guest is not there, these things have nothing to do with his personal work and life. This phenomenon can be seen as a microcosm of the current exposure of many mass collectors to cultural and toy items.
At present, the biggest drawback of cultural and entertainment collection is display. A true collector of literary toys collects things that must have a literate atmosphere and can make people quiet, rather than the accessories that we understand today that are only used for display and coolness.
When the function of a cultural play is too strong and the practicality is ignored, it will lose the "neutral" atmosphere. The so-called neutralization means coordination and harmony. Qi is the spirit, behind which is the aesthetic left by China for thousands of years, and the taste inherited by scholars. From a piece of literary play, you can see the spiritual world of a literati.