Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1498 Jade Sword

This is Yang Honghui's first time here. The path of Sui Huaxuan is not the splendid and resplendent that is popular today, but a low-key and restrained path. However, good things speak for themselves, and many things are valuable at first glance.

Now there is a small jade exhibition hall in the underground exhibition room, which displays several sets of award-winning jades that Zhou Zhi bought in Beijiang before, as well as the first batch of finished products customized by the Suzhou Jade Carving Company.

"It's so beautiful." Liang Hong couldn't take her eyes away from the Han sword in the showroom: "Is this a new one or an old one?"

"New." Zhou Zhi opened the cabinet and took out the sword from inside: "You can pull it away and take a look."

This is the work of Zhu Qinghong, a female master of antique carving from the Suzhou Jade Carving Company. At that time, Zhou Zhi bought a set of Han sword jade equipment with the animal-faced waist buckle and ringed pepper picture.

This thing really existed in history, but because of the age, except for the jade equipment, the gems on the sword, and the gold and silver accessories, the rest, such as the sword strips, ropes, and wooden lacquer scabbards, have all decayed and become useless. Restoration view.

Zhou Zhi had previously customized several swords with craftsmen from Longquan through an arts and crafts company, and gave them to Li Qiyan and Mr. Gu. He was also blackmailed by Liang Hong and gave one to Yang Honghui.

Yang Honghui once thought it was the pinnacle of swordsmanship, and he couldn't put it down for a long time.

"Can't put it down" is usually an adjective, but in his case it became a realism.

But now that sword is no longer fragrant, and the one in front of me is the real pinnacle.

"Actually, jade armor has no actual combat value. It is mainly for ceremonial purposes." Zhou Zhi explained: "The jade ornaments inlaid on the hilt and scabbard are called jade sword ornaments; a sword decorated with jade is In ancient books, it is called jade sword."

"A complete jade sword is composed of four jade ornaments, which are the sword head, the sword grid, the sword ring, and the sword ring."

The jade sword head is actually the circular ornament at the bottom of the sword hilt. The earliest physical object was unearthed from a tomb in the late Spring and Autumn Period. During the Warring States Period, the sword's head was round and thin, with a scroll pattern in the center and string patterns, cloud patterns, lying silkworm patterns and other decorations on the outer edge. The sword head of the Han Dynasty is thinner than that of the Warring States Period. The front is concave and there is a ring groove on the back. There are two or three oblique perforations in the ring. It is plain and smooth. The front is slightly larger in diameter than the back, forming a slope shape.

The sword grid is a jade ornament inlaid at the junction of the hilt and the sword body. It is slightly rectangular when viewed from the front, with a gradually convex ridge in the middle. It has a rhombus cross-section when viewed from the side, and the perforations are rectangular, oval and rhombus-shaped.

Both sides of the sword grid are decorated with patterns, usually animal face patterns, curling cloud patterns, geometric patterns, relief chi patterns, etc. On this set of equipment, the masters imitated the chi patterns.

The sword is inlaid on the scabbard and is used for wearing and wearing. It is commonly known as Wendai.

Juan accounts for the largest proportion among several types of sword ornaments, with the largest number unearthed and handed down from generation to generation in the Han Dynasty. The jade is embedded in the center of the scabbard and is rectangular when viewed from the front. It is engraved with cloud patterns, animal face patterns, chi tiger patterns and other patterns. There is a frame at the bottom for the leather belt to pass through and to fix the sword on the belt.

The Jianjuan of the Han Dynasty was larger than that of the Warring States Period, the hole below was larger than that of the previous generation, and the upper wall of the hole was thicker than the lower wall. The surface of the jianjuan is carved out with a frame using the hook and pull method, which is delicately made and polished smoothly.

The sword is a jade product attached to the end of the scabbard. It was popular in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties. The Warring States period swords were straight, round, and thick. In the early period, they were plain and without lines. In the later period, swords with animal face patterns and cirrus patterns appeared.

The swords of the Han Dynasty are irregular rectangular or trapezoidal in shape. The decorations are mainly chi patterns. They are carved using relief or openwork techniques. They are finely ground and extremely polished. The masters strictly recreated the jade armor of Han swords in accordance with the actual objects. In addition to the chi pattern on both sides of the sword grid, there is also a high-relief chi dragon entrenched on the sword and the sword. The lines are beautiful and the posture is agile. After a long time, it became like a living thing.

The scabbard is made of wood and ramie lacquer, using the typical Jingchu lacquer style.

First, make a wooden tire, then tie it with fine linen cloth, and then apply gray paint made of old tiles, clam shell ash, and lacquer on the wooden tire, and then polish it until it is smooth. Apply layer upon layer of paint to smooth out the finish.

After about ten layers of brushing, mother-of-pearl decoration was added to the surface of the scabbard, and beautiful lines were used to form the sun, moon, starry sky, and phoenix and bird cloud patterns.

After that, the surface was painted again, and from now on, every time it was painted, it was accompanied by a polishing process. After nine layers of paint, the height of the paint layer was flush with the mother-of-pearl, and the mother-of-pearl pattern seemed to grow in the scabbard. , the whole becomes extremely smooth, and the scabbard is completed.

Finally, a red silk rope is used to securely wrap the sword in the center of the scabbard, and also wrap it around the hilt for easy holding. Only then is the jade sword completely completed.

All the craftsmanship are based on the prototypes of cultural relics. The scabbard uses the lacquer art drum base and mother-of-pearl lacquer art bronze mirror craftsmanship of the Han Dynasty. The rope wrapping is imitated from the remaining sword ornaments in Chu tombs, restoring the jade tools to the greatest extent. What a sword should have looked like in ancient times.

The sword strip is made of iron, which is the "Songwen Ancient Sword" commonly seen in ancient classics. Patterns like the surface of pine trees can be clearly seen on the sword strip, which are features left by repeated folding and forging.

"So beautiful..." Liang Hong pulled out the sword, holding the scabbard in one hand and the sword in the other. She looked at it repeatedly and felt that the adjectives in her mind became extremely scarce.

"I also have records in "Old Stories from the East Palace": "The Prince's instrument was decorated with jade and a sword." "Historical Records: Biography of Uncle Tian" said: "The general wanted to choose the richest among the people, so he ordered him to wear a saddle, horse, crimson clothes, and a jade sword, and he wanted to play it. '"

"Judging from archaeological discoveries, in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, jade sword decorations with all four components gradually took shape. By the Han Dynasty, this trend became more popular. This kind of jade sword decoration became an important decoration on the swords of princes and nobles, and also became a At that time, it was a status symbol in society and became a gift given to each other and rewarded from above and below.”

"Even ethnic minorities such as the Xiongnu were affected by this. "Hanshu Biography of the Xiongnu" records: 'In the first month of the first month, the Shan Yu went to the Ganquan Palace of the emperor and gave him a jade sword.'"

"The Book of Han, Biography of Wang Mang also records: 'He presented his jade-handled sword to me as a treasure'. This shows that the Western Han Dynasty was still similar to the Warring States Period, when it was said that 'all rulers in the world treasured pearls, jade, spears and swords'."

"This trend still existed until the Eastern Han Dynasty. Emperor Guangwu once rewarded General Feng Yichengyu with a seven-foot jade sword. The pattern on the sword was a phoenix pattern, and ordered him to go and defeat the Red Eyebrow Army who rebelled against the Third Assistant."

"There is also a story recorded in "Shuoyuan·Quizhi", which also reflects the preciousness of jade swords from the side. The story is that Marquis Jing went to visit Wei State and paid a visit to the Crown Prince of Wei. Before going to see the Crown Prince, he dressed up and left his jade With a sword and a ring on his right side, the precious light on the left side illuminates the left side of his body, and the precious light on the right side illuminates the right side of his body.”

"Isn't that the whole person is a big lightbulb?" Liang Hong laughed so hard that everyone took two steps back in fright. The thing she was shaking in her hand was a real thing.

Zhou Zhi laughed and said, "The original text in the book says this: 'The Marquis of Jing passes the Crown Prince of Wei, wearing a jade sword on his left and a ring on his right. His left shines on the left, and his right shines on the right.'"

(End of this chapter)