One day three hundred years ago, the Kangxi Emperor, dressed in civilian clothes and holding a brush, sat down at his beloved black lacquered screw desk and asked the court painter to paint a portrait of him. Among them, the gorgeous spiral lacquerware square table makes people admire the exquisite use of imperial utensils in the early Qing Dynasty. Later, his fourth son, Prince Yong, drew a group of beautiful pictures of the Deep Palace in his own handwriting and pasted them on the screen of the Deep Willow Reading Hall in the Yuanmingyuan. In one of them, the beauty sits in front of the candle and threads the needle, relying on the black lacquer screw square table decorated with Juan Xiu, and the palace lamp above the back is also a black lacquer screw lamp stand. The appearance of two exquisite pieces of screw furniture in a painting shows how much it was loved by the court and has always been owned by the nobility. Nowadays, collectors' favor for screw objects is increasing. So, what kind of stunning performance do the screw utensils that appear on the shooting scene have?
2011 Christie's Hong Kong Spring Auction
Qing Kangxi Black lacquer inlaid with snail incense, a 70 cm high Kangxi imperial incense table, can be described as a masterpiece, for 14.1 million Hong Kong dollars. This exquisite incense table is not small, and the style is recognized as the "Great Qing Kangxi Decay Ugly Year System". It is said that chinese furniture rarely has a clear year on the signature, and this piece of incense originally belonged to a set of 9 pieces of imperial black lacquer furniture, of which 7 pieces are now stored in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
2012 Beijing Poly Autumn Auction
In the late Ming Dynasty, the black lacquer inlaid spiral flower butterfly bright lattice cabinet, derived from the old collection of Japanese collectors, was sold for RMB 1,150,000.
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2013
Ming Jia Jing Wanli Black lacquer inlaid screw "Potted Flower Diagram" article case was sold for HK$1.96 million.
2014 China Guardian Four Seasons Auction
In the eighth year of Qing Guangxu (1882), Cheng Men's wooden inlaid screw flower pattern frame light color landscape poetry interstitial screen was sold for RMB 897,000 yuan.
Behind the special craftsmanship of intricately carved inlays
The exquisite screw process has conquered the love of the discerning buyer, and what kind of special process is this? When is the origin of the trace traced back? What about the screw process in different periods?
First, let's explain what "screw" is. The snail is made of snail shell and sea shells made of thin sheets, made of figures, flowers, plants, birds and animals and other images embedded in the pre-carved concave pattern, and then a layer of light paint (xiu), and then smoothed and polished to expose the thin sheets, thus forming a colorful inlaid screw ware. So, why choose a shell to inlay? This stems from the values of the early ancients. The most primitive form of Chinese money is shell coins, that is, shells (think of those Chinese characters about money such as cai, goods, capital, etc.). The shell as a currency is embedded in the utensils, which represents the ancestors' pursuit of wealth and also reflects the value of the local tycoons.
As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, 3,000 years ago, there was a screw process. At that time, the polishing and inlaying techniques of screw lacquerware were very exquisite and of great artistic value. In the Western Han Dynasty, there were new developments in the craft, and painting and inlaid gold leaf and silver foil began to appear. Tang Dynasty craftsmen constantly introduced new ones, decorating the screws with bronze mirrors, which was chic and novel. The Yuan Dynasty pioneered the thin screw tungsten lacquer process, and the technique was also quite skilled. Thin snail tungsten, also known as soft screw tungsten, is the use of more colorful abalone shell processing to make soft and elastic flakes, generally blue, purple, pink, etc., with colorful pearl luster. Thin screws are generally not embedded in lacquerware like thick screws, but when the lacquer is not dry, take tweezers to clamp the shell and stick to the lacquerware a little bit, this method is called "point snail".
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the process of screw and gold and silver flakes began to prevail. During this period, the refinement and variety of screw technology far exceeded that of the previous dynasties. For example, the thin screw tungsten craft, which is difficult and costly, can be said to be the division between court and folk crafts, and was respected by the court and the upper class in the Early Ming And Early Qing Dynasties.
After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, there were no screws embedded but hundred treasures. Pure screw inlay process has been rare, replaced by the screw tungsten mixed in the middle of other inlays, such as jade, ivory, colored stone, coral, etc., which is commonly referred to as "hundred treasure inlay". So, which hundred treasures is the hundred treasures?
Baibao inlay, which is based on the screw inlay process, adds gemstones, ivory, coral and jade and other materials to form a mosaic process. The pattern pattern embedded with baibao will change with the angle of illumination, emitting a variety of brilliance, mainly on classical Chinese furniture and arts and crafts.
Inventory of traditional Chinese mosaic techniques
Traditional Chinese mosaic craftsmanship not only has a long history, but its craftsmanship is even more wonderful. Compared with the inlay and treasure inlay introduced above, there are various deformations in the inlay process in history, which is also breathtaking.
A beginner exploration of mosaic craftsmanship in ancient times
In ancient times, the use of inlaying techniques was still in its infancy, and only the parts of the artifacts were inlayed. In the late Neolithic Hongshan cultural sites that have been excavated, the eye parts of the ceramic sculptures are inlaid with blue jade pieces, and during the Erlitou culture, turquoise inlays also appeared on bronzes.
The Tang and Song dynasties developed the mosaic craft
Entering the Tang and Song dynasties, the inlaid screw process developed greatly. The so-called "snail" refers to a thin piece made of snail shell or sea shell grinding, which can be made into shapes such as figures, flowers and birds, geometric figures or words according to needs, because of its exquisite appearance, the ancients embedded it on the surface of the utensils as decoration. "Tin" refers to the gold and silver jewelry used in the setting. Inlaid snails are shell inlays, and common inlaid shells include luminous snails, sea shells and shells.
Yuan Dynasty screw lacquerware became the protagonist
In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a paint bureau, which was subordinate to the Ministry of Works, and was equipped with a deputy envoy, who was in charge of the work of lacquer with the seven pinyin. The main varieties of Yuan Dynasty lacquerware are painted, carved and filled, screw inlay, carving paint, etc., and the characteristics of Yuan Dynasty screw lacquerware are that the screw piece is thick to thin, creating a new process of "soft screw", so it is more colorful.
Ming Dynasty Zhou system mosaic
Compared with the inlaid screw, the birth time of the Baibao inlay process is much later. It appeared in the late Ming Dynasty, and its main features are rich in inlay materials and magnificent patterns. After entering the Qing Dynasty, Baibao inlay developed into one of the important inlay techniques for furniture production. Zhou Yi of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Guochen of the Qing Dynasty, Lu Yingzhi, Lu Kuisheng, etc. were all famous artists of the Hundred Treasures Embedded Art at that time.
Qing Dynasty filigree inlaid into tribute
Filigree inlay, also known as "fine gold craftsmanship". It is made of gold, silver and other materials, inlaid with various gemstones, pearls, or by weaving techniques. Filigree inlay is divided into two categories: filigree, which is to draw gold and silver into filaments, and use stacking and weaving techniques to make handicrafts; inlay is to hammer gold and silver flakes into utensils, and then hammer out the pattern and set with gemstones. Filigree inlay has taken shape as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, and reached a superb artistic level in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, with greater development, famous products continued to pour into regulations, and many became court tributes.
Looking back at the miraculous works of these ancient craftsmen, I have to marvel at their skillful hands and wisdom. If you want to see more classic and interesting overseas lots, you can log on to our website www.epailive.com!
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