National Tide 1980.

Chapter 744 The Seven Hundredth Chapter 44
In addition to porcelain, this day also shined brilliantly, and people couldn't help but applaud the exhibits, as well as a set of palace lanterns made by the Palace Lantern Factory and the Jingcheng Craft Woodcarving Factory-mahogany inlaid with emeralds and nine dragons spit beads.

The main material of the lamp can be fully reflected only from the name.

It is made of precious mahogany as the column and inlaid with emeralds as the decoration.

There are four lamps in this group, each of which is 1.2 meters high, which is a large-scale work among palace lanterns.

But despite its large size, its structure is extremely delicate.

The main body of the lamp passes through the shaft up and down, and is divided into three layers.

The upper layer is a gourd-shaped hanging button carved from a whole piece of red jadeite, and there are four dragons below it.

The dragon's head is high, and the dragon's body is twisted.

The middle layer is an octagonal and octagonal lamp body, of which four sides are glass lamp paintings.

The other four sides are carved green emeralds with traditional auspicious patterns and flower shapes.

There are five dragons at the bottom.

Among them, four dragons have their heads upward and their bodies are in the shape of a "swastika", which can turn, stretch and bend.

They have one more thing in common with the four dragons on the top floor, that is, there is a spherical glazed lamp on the heads of all the dragons.

As for the last dragon on the lower floor, the dragon's body is coiled on the main axis, and it can even turn around.

But because the dragon's head is facing down, there is no spherical light, but a big ball exquisitely carved with red emeralds.

It is combined with the other eight dragons with spherical lights, which means to spit beads for Nine Dragons.

Of course, apart from the dragon head spitting out the big red jade ball, the mouths of the other eight dragon heads are not empty.

A fringed wreath with auspicious miscellaneous treasures hangs down from the mouth.

In this way, looking at the whole device, not only the craftsmanship is exquisite and ingenious, but also the structure and shape are unique, combining movement and stillness.

The red emerald green inlaid on and sprinkled on the lamp and various gorgeous gem accessories make it even more magnificent.

These are four exquisite woodcarving crafts that are not only luxurious and elaborate, but also practical and beautiful.

Whether it is material texture, craftsmanship, or artistic level, it is the top work of the existing palace lanterns.

It can even be said that it is a masterpiece that can only be achieved by exerting the existing technical strength of the palace lantern factory and woodcut craft factory at a super level.

To a large extent, it is impossible to reproduce in the future.

This is really true.

The reason why I say this is because all the illustrations and materials of these four lamps come from the original copies left by the Construction Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It was after Puyi left the palace that year, the Beiyang government established the "Clear House Rehabilitation Committee" to take over the Forbidden City, and after many well-known experts worked together to reorganize, it was possible to maintain the complete and precious documents.

Especially when the antiquities moved to the south, this manuscript was left in Beijing and was almost lost.

So after going through wind and rain, it is not easy to preserve it until now. It is really a treasure at the bottom of the box of the Palace Lantern Factory.

At the same time, precisely because the structure of this kind of palace lantern is really complicated, the financial resources and manpower required are extremely high.

For so many years, the palace lantern factory has never dared to try to make one.

Their situation is actually similar to that of Liu Yongqing who wants to burn a hundred flowers without revealing pastel porcelain, they are all clenching empty fists because of their will and powerlessness.

Now all kinds of coincidences and chances have come together, and this is the objective condition that these four palace lanterns can be created, and finally these four lanterns are successfully made to appear in the world like a miracle.

First of all, in terms of financial resources, it was thanks to the existence of Ning Weimin that the financial problem that was originally impossible to be solved was solved.

You must know that making these four lamps is not only costly, but also has a lot of possibility of failure.

It is impossible for the superior unit of the Palace Lantern Factory to approve and allocate funds to support this project.

As for the money that the Palace Lantern Factory earned from the renovation project of the altar palace, they had no right to control it as they wished.

In addition to improving the income of employees, increasing bonuses, and reimbursement of medical expenses, the rest still has to be handed over.

There are even big obstacles for ordering and ordering by Tangong.

Because everyone has been poor for too long, the Temple of Heaven and the Service Bureau are eager to get real benefits.

Now the altars and palaces are filled with places where lamps should be hung, and the level of decoration is already at the top of the industry. There is no shortage of such things that can add icing on the cake.

Who would want to do such a thankless thing?
Ning Weimin had difficulty persuading everyone, so he had to personally fund it to support the Palace Lantern Factory.

Other than that, there is no other way.

But having said that, it is also thanks to the fact that the domestic economic environment has just started.

No matter mahogany or large pieces of jadeite, these raw materials are abundant and inexpensive.

Even the embellishment of famous painters is at the bottom of the valley, and well-known craftsmen are not valued by the world.

Only in this way can the production cost be reduced to an uneconomical level.

In the end, all the labor and material costs were shared equally, which was about 1 yuan per lamp.

This unbelievable cost performance is the real reason why Ning Weimin is willing to spend this money.

As for the technical requirements required for making lamps, it is said that it is more difficult to solve than financial resources.

Because woodworking and palace lanterns are actually two industries.

These four lamps need to be made by skilled craftsmen who are proficient in these two crafts at the same time.

Now almost all the old people in the Palace Lantern Factory have left, some are dying, some are retreating, where else can I find such a "two-door hug" person?

The reality is that none of the carpenters in the Palace Lantern Factory has such a level of carpentry.

Although the master craftsman of the Jingcheng Woodware Factory is good enough, they don't understand the structure of palace lanterns.

So it is also thanks to the fact that the Jingcheng Craft Woodcut Factory was originally a company that was separated from the Palace Lantern Factory.

Finally, there is Li Baoshan, a 61-year-old carpenter who still refuses to accept his old age and refuses to go home to take care of his grandson.

This is the only old craftsman in the current capital who is proficient in woodwork and also understands the structure of palace lanterns.

The spherical glazed lamp on the dragon head is composed of several different spherical surfaces, which requires skilled technology to make.

Wu Yukuan, an apprentice of Qiudeng Han, an old worker who retired from the Palace Lantern Factory the year before, has not yet reached the age of seventy and cannot move.

The technology he has passed down is making spherical lights.

As soon as he heard that the factory was going to make such high-quality palace lanterns, the old man happily accepted the re-employment of the palace lantern factory and came back to help.

To put it bluntly, it was the luckiest of luck that this matter could be accomplished, and every inch was just right everywhere.

If it was even that small, the matter would be out of the question.

For example, if you really have to wait two more years, not to mention that raw materials will skyrocket if they are not handled well.

It is Li Baoshan, the old master, can you find him again?

I found it, can people still do it?
It's hard to say, there are too many variables.

So, as soon as these four palace lanterns are made, the ceiling of the wooden palace lanterns may come to an end, and I am afraid that it will really not be surpassed by future generations in the future.

Looking at the entire country right now, there are probably only two Kowloon Palace Lanterns bestowed by the Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qiao Family Courtyard, which are similar in shape.

But those two palace lanterns are still far from being comparable to these four palace lanterns in all aspects, and there is a big gap.

First of all, it lost in size.

Although the two palace lanterns of Qiao's family were the real gifts from the imperial court back then.

But the total height of the lantern is only [-] centimeters, which is [-] centimeters shorter than the four palace lanterns newly made by the Palace Lantern Factory.

In terms of volume, it is not a level at all.

Secondly, the selection of materials and accessories are not the same level.

The two lamps of Qiao's house are only made of ebony and made of mercury glass, which is not comparable to the precious mahogany inlaid with emeralds used in these four lamps.

In 20 years, it would be a world of difference.

Because by then, even a piece of greenery the size of a lantern painting will be worth several million.

These four lamps have four gourd-shaped hanging buttons of red emerald, four exquisite balls of red emerald, and green emerald material of 16 yuan, all of which are large-scale and high-quality materials.

If they are all added together, not counting labor but only materials, they are probably worth at least [-] million.

Even the fringe tassels are short of temper.

The lamps of Qiao's house are only made of ordinary auspicious knots with red long tassels and tassels.

The four lamps produced by the Palace Lantern Factory are made of real pearl emerald turquoise, pearl agate.

To put it bluntly, such tassel tassels are similar to the past court beads.

Turquoise, agate, amber, aquamarine, tourmaline, coral, pearl...

I don't know how much it is used, it has to be calculated by bucket.

Although the texture is definitely not comparable to the top-grade gemstones inlaid on Liu Yongqing's two pairs of big reward bottles.

But the problem is that the amount used is too much, and it is also very wasteful.

Finally, there is also the artistic level, which is even more incomparable.

The two lamps of Qiao's house, the glass lamp paintings are just landscapes painted by ordinary painters in Ruyi Pavilion, and they don't even have a signature.

The four lamps from the Palace Lantern Factory all came from well-known painters.

And with the theme of "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter", one person and one season were drawn by four professors from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Lou Shibai, Sun Qifeng, Wei Zixian, and Fang Zengyuan.

Even jade craftsmen were not casually entrusted to jade factories and handed over to ordinary workers.

Kang Shude played a relatively important role in it, introducing two master craftsmen who had won awards from the jade factory to Ning Weimin, and then asked the factory director to name and let these two master craftsmen help.

They are all apprentices of the "Four Northern Jade Monsters", one from Liu Deying and the other from Wang Shusen.

There is no doubt that it is already a master of technology in today's jade factory.

In general, these four palace lanterns are equivalent to crossing four industries and completed by four craftsmen and four painters.

In my country's art industry, it is not only unprecedented, but also something that can only be facilitated by chance.

One can imagine how rare it is.

However, these are not all the large-scale special arts and crafts exhibited in the hall of the Sacrifice Pavilion.

It is almost equivalent to being completely bought out by Ning Weimin himself, and the Donghua Street Production Co., which he has been supporting, has not been idle this year.

At the beginning of the year, Master Jiang Sanchang was introduced by Master Zou Qingshan. The only condition he was willing to work in the production company was to have the freedom of creation and make large-scale high-quality utensils as he wanted.

Therefore, this year, not only the Donghua Street Production Co., Ltd. was successfully upgraded to the Donghua Street Material Equipment Factory, but as many as 82 workers were employed.

The "Jiangjiamen" and "Wangjiamen" among the four gates of Yuliuli in the capital also broke the sectarianism, and together with Putaochang's descendant Chang Yuling, they joined forces for the first time to create.

After repeated calculations by the three of them, it is believed that the best performance of the feeder is mainly concentrated on flowers, fruits, birds and animals.

For this reason, it was decided to use "Twelve Flower Gods" as the theme, and to make twelve large-scale feeders belonging to the same series.

The so-called "Twelve Flower Gods", also known as "December Flower God", is an allusion from folklore and one of the favorite traditional themes of literati.

In our country, each hundred flowers has its own flower god, and each has a beautiful story.

The literati of the past dynasties played with and chanted the flowers, and made many anecdotes, thus creating the Flower God Festival and the Flower God representing the twelve months of the year.

In related legends, there are both male and female flower gods.

However, the most widely known ones that have been handed down to this day are probably the legendary stories of twelve historically famous beauties who were reincarnated as flower gods.

The plum blossom in the first month, the goddess of flowers, Concubine Mei.

Apricot blossoms in February, concubine Yang Guifei, the god of flowers.

Peach blossoms in March, Mrs. Hua Shenxi.

April Peony, Lijuan, the god of flowers.

May pomegranate, flower god Gongsun.

June lotus, flower god Xi Shi.

Hollyhock in July, the goddess of flowers, Mrs. Li.

August osmanthus, flower god green pearl.

September chrysanthemum, flower god Liang Hongyu.

October tree hibiscus, flower god Diaochan.

November camellia, flower god Wang Zhaojun.

Narcissus in the twelfth lunar month, Zhen Mi, the god of flowers.

For example, Li Ruzhen's novel "Mirror of Flowers" in the Qing Dynasty, and Kunqu opera "The Peony Pavilion: A Dream in the Garden", both have wonderful interpretations of the December Flower God.

And the three feeder masters of Donghua City Material Factory also have great ambitions this time.

Especially Master Jiang Sanchang, he set out to break the record of the material equipment industry and create a work that can be used as a summary of what he has learned in his life.

Therefore, such a subtle metaphor and a theme with many allusions are set.

Needless to say, the biggest difficulty of this theme is how to accurately express the beauty of the twelve kinds of flowers, and it must be true to reality.

If it were in the past, Master Jiang and the others might only be able to take pictures of cats and tigers based on traditional art works.

That is to look for old picture albums to see if there are any suitable themes in ancient paintings and improve them.

The disadvantage of this is that it is difficult to make a breakthrough in the shape, and it can only guarantee the beauty of one or two angles.

Because no matter how beautiful the painting is, it is also two-dimensional. It is difficult to achieve perfection in three-dimensional state, and it is difficult to guarantee 360-degree viewing.

But this time, under the leadership of Ning Weimin, Master Jiang and the others, with the help of teachers and students from the Sculpture Department of the National Academy of Fine Arts, helped out with the modeling design, so it was naturally different.

I have to say, professional is really professional.

The twelve kinds of flowers given by the Department of Sculpture not only advocate retro, but also have the courage to innovate, and also pursue realism, and can be adjusted.

Therefore, the point that was difficult to achieve in the past has been achieved to the greatest extent-the aesthetic feeling from multiple angles and the extreme authenticity.

Its new appearance in plastic arts can be said to have written an extremely important page in the history of crafts, arts and crafts.

To put it bluntly, for Master Jiang and the others, it is like building a house that has been ironed in advance.

Since this time before starting to blow the material, someone has already created the final and perfect flower model.

Then they will naturally have a plan and will not go astray.

I can even imagine the approximate completion effect, which means that if the foundation is laid well, half of the success is already achieved.

(End of this chapter)