Riding the wind of rebirth

It should be said that Mr. Sun is very dedicated to the wealth of the factory. On each piece of jade, the number of the jade material is written in white paint, and the weight, density, origin and other information are also included.

Every time he walked to a piece of jade, Sun Gong could tell a story about that piece of jade.

The composition of Hetian jade is actually tremolite, which is a metamorphic rock formed by the mixed deposition of dolomite and quartz. The crystals are often arranged in radial or columnar shapes.

In nature, tremolite is produced in many places, but most of it contains impurities. Only very pure tremolite with a purity of 90.00% or above can have the most important "oiliness", which means that it will look and feel like Only when it has a feeling similar to contact with oil and has delicate and moist characteristics can it become the "jade" recognized in traditional Chinese aesthetics.

As alluvial and diluvial materials, Hetian jade seeds have experienced many years of weathering, erosion and water impact in the river bed, and the surface will become smooth and round.Generally in the shape of pebbles, most of them are relatively small in size. Most of them are stained by minerals in the environment, forming a layer of "jade skin".

The skin color characteristics of this layer of jade skin and Hetian jade seed material are the beauty of the skin color given to Hetian jade seed material by nature.

The jade-cutting artists named these distinctive skin colors with various nice names, such as autumn pear skin, tiger skin, jujube skin, gold-sprinkled skin, Qinhuang skin, black skin, blue and white skin and so on.

The "Jade King" weighing more than 300 kilograms is sprinkled with gold skin. When the pure white jade material from the mountain rolls into the river, it sometimes encounters the abundant iron ions in the environment.

The iron ions soak into the jade flesh and the river water washes it away, eventually forming a kind of bright yellow golden dots on the jade skin, which is as beautiful as gold powder sprinkled on the surface of white jade, so it is called "sprinkled gold skin".

If the infection of the jade skin continues, the area of ​​the bright yellow dots will gradually expand. The speed at which the jade flesh is washed and polished by the river water cannot keep up with the speed of iron ions penetrating into the jade flesh. Finally, the entire jade skin will turn yellow and the sprinkling The golden skin became "Qinhuang skin".

If the infection continues, the entire jade flesh will turn yellow, and the Hetian jade seed material will become topaz seed material.

In ancient times, this kind of yellow Hetian jade was the most precious jade in the world. No one except the royal family was allowed to use it.
Until now, the price of ancient jade in the auction market has been very low, so that in a few years, the price of new jade will be on par with ancient jade.

However, there is only one exception, which has repeatedly achieved good results in the auction market, and that is Hetian topaz.

However, in modern people's aesthetics, white jade has returned to its peak, while topaz is no longer popular in the market.

Therefore, even if you stock up in advance, if you don’t grasp the accurate varieties, you still won’t be able to make a lot of money.

Sun Gong introduced all the way, and Zhou Zhi occasionally added a few words. Hetian jade has a long tradition of use in Chinese history. Zhou Zhi had historical allusions at his fingertips. Zhou Zhi also came into contact with many specific cultural relics. He was stunned to pick up any words and communicated with Sun Gong. It didn't look timid, and Director Qin, Father Xu and Director Zhang all felt that they had benefited a lot.

For example, now, Zhou Zhi stood in front of a black leather material and discussed the Qiao Se Diao with Sun Gong.

"The beautiful jade duck is a traditional theme in my country. As far back as the Shang Dynasty, there was a beautiful jade duck with black eyes and wings and a white body."

"The Shanghai Museum has a jade pendant from the Jin Dynasty. The theme reflects the 'Nabo' activities of the nomadic people in the spring and autumn. It is called the 'Spring Water' pendant." "Whenever the spring water freezes and the swans return, the Jin people will release Haidong. Qing, hunt the 'goose' and present it to the emperor as the most important gift." Zhou Zhi said: "The jade material of that jade pendant is divided into three layers, the outer two layers are black skin, and the middle layer is white jade flesh. Skilled craftsmen They carved it into a picture of Hai Dongqing hunting a white swan in the dark clouds. The little swan grabbed the neck of the huge swan and pecked the swan's eyes with its sharp beak. The whole fighting scene is full of dramatic tension and artistic beauty."

"In the Qing Dynasty, it became a common phenomenon to use the skin color of jade materials to make exquisitely carved handicrafts. In particular, a kind of jade material called 'Heaven and Earth Materials', which is a jade material with two colors, is very popular. .”

"There is a small piece hidden in the National Palace Museum in Taipei called the Pretty Jade Man and the Bear. It is a piece of heaven and earth material. The piece of material is half black and half white. The master carved the black part into a black bear and the white part into a jade man. .”

"The craftsmen used wisdom and ingenuity to carve out the moment of wrestling between the man and the bear. But that moment was not a tense physical fight, but more like dancing hand in hand, because the expressions of the beauty and the bear were both smiling." Zhou Zhi recalled. I didn't even notice the jade carving and smiled: "The jade carving is very small, but both humans and bears are naive and very interesting. It is stored together with other small antiques in a box called 'Baishi Pieces'. It is obviously the product of all the emperors of the past dynasties." Something cherished.”

As the exchange with Zhou Zhi deepened, Sun Gong felt a lot more comfortable.

Although they are all the property of the factory, but such precious jade materials have to be sold, Sun Gong naturally hopes that these treasures that he personally put into the warehouse and have been with him for many years can "entrust people".

This little Zhou may not know the origin, texture and other details of jade, but he is very familiar with jade cultural relics. When he introduces the skin color and texture of jade meat, this child can often tell which museum it is and what age it is. The utensils are carved from similar jade materials.

If it was a very famous jade, such as the famous Queen Lu's Seal, he would naturally know about it, but he had never heard of the pretty jade man and bear, and spring water pendant he just mentioned.

At this point, I couldn’t help but admire: “Xiao Zhou is very knowledgeable about the historical relics of Hetian jade.”

"No, no, it's just my interest. I'm still far away from wheel knowledge." Zhou Zhi quickly waved his hand: "The main reason is that I had the opportunity to consult with the teachers from the National Museum and the Forbidden City, and they taught me some things."

Having said this, Zhou Zhi turned to Director Qin and asked: "Director Qin, you are very familiar with the carvers in Suzhou and Hangzhou. Are there such masters in our country who are good at conceiving and ingenious carvings?"

"There is now a national jade carving award - the Hundred Flowers Award, which is the highest award in our country's arts and crafts community." Director Qin said: "Some of the outstanding works selected by the Hundred Flowers Award will be collected in the China Arts and Crafts Treasures Museum. Xiao Zhou, I have been lucky enough to see a few of the works you mentioned, mainly made of agate, and they are indeed very beautiful."

"Then if I want to carve something in the future, I would like to ask Director Qin to help recommend a few people?"

"That's no problem." Factory Director Qin took over everything: "I don't dare to say those in the capital. The big workers in Suzhou and Hangzhou basically get their materials from our factory. I'm familiar with them all."

The jade carving factory has a lot of aniseed materials, which are marked very carefully without weighing and checking. Zhou Zhi trusts people like Sun Gong and directly asks him to pick out all the first-grade white materials.

In addition to the jade king weighing more than 300 kilograms, there are several first-grade white pieces weighing [-] kilograms. Among them is an [-]-kilogram "giant red leather" material. Although it is not the largest, it is But the most conspicuous. (End of chapter)