Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1528 Unparalleled

At noon that day, Mr. Wang took Zhou Zhi to have a "big meal" in the working cafeteria of the National Expo. When they returned to the institute in the afternoon, the experimental results had come out.

The result obtained by carbon-14 dating method is between 500 and 600 AD.

Lead isotope dating results in a date between AD 450 and AD 630.

These two results are within everyone's expectations. In fact, as long as the clear record of the seven years of natural protection behind the statue is within this range, it can already prove its authenticity. The seven years of natural protection can be confirmed as the time of the statue.

However, the third result is a bit strange. The primary date of thermoluminescence dating is much earlier, between 200 AD and 380 AD.

This era was two hundred to one hundred years before the seventh year of Tianbao. Qi Lao and Wang Lao couldn't help but feel a little confused when they took the inspection form.

Zhou Zhi said: "Is this easy to understand? Because the thermoluminescence dating method measures the ash content of the bricks and tiles in the statue. In my impression, all craftsmen like to use old bricks. The so-called Qin bricks and Han tiles eliminate the fire."

"That's the truth!" Mr. Wang slapped his forehead: "When building the main hall of the Forbidden City, the mortar must be hundreds of years old brick powder. If the craftsmen who were born seven years ago used old bricks, wouldn't it be the same in two or three hundred AD? It’s burned in the year!”

"You can confirm it now." Mr. Qi said with a smile: "This set of statues is authentic and a national treasure. It was made by Yang Min, the consort and prime minister of the Gaoyang period of the Northern Qi Dynasty, in order to pray for the royal family and the family. Dry lacquer and ramie painted with three sacred images.”

This is the naming of the cultural relics, which are basically the three holy statues of the Northern Qi Dynasty with dry lacquer and ramie.

"This is the earliest known creation of dry lacquer and ramie sculptures in the world. Its style is in the key transitional period from the Northern Wei Dynasty sculptures to the Northern Qi sculptures. It also represents the artistic pinnacle of ancient Chinese Buddhist sculptures, regardless of the degree of preservation and the exquisiteness of the sculptures. , the artistic value and the age of creation are all known to the best, and it is a well-deserved national treasure. "

"It is said that India has the tradition of 'walking statues'. 'Walking statues' means to welcome Buddha statues during religious celebrations. The Buddha statues must be taken out of the temple, similar to the current circumambulation." Jin Shen, as an expert on Buddhist statues, began to give advice to those around him Students and young staff explained: "We can still see the 'walking image' ceremony appearing in countries such as India and Sri Lanka."

"The statue made of a piece of paper is light and easy to carry. If the walking statue is carved in stone, its weight can be known. After Buddhism was introduced to China, the tradition of walking statues also became popular in China."

"On the other hand, the scale of temples in China became larger and larger, and the production of Buddha statues became taller and taller. It was difficult to obtain stone or wood. Therefore, the method of making statues with binders was widely used, and lacquer statues with binders were very popular for a while."

"The earliest written records about the ramie statues come from "The Collection of Tripitaka" and "Bian Zheng Lun". It is mentioned that in the fourth century AD, Dai Andao, a regular servant of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, first used the ramie technique to build five statues when building Zhaoyin Temple. "Buddha statue."

"The subsequent "Guanghong Ming Collection" mentioned that Emperor Wen of Liang Dynasty made a thin gold statue with eight layers of ramie. "Bian Zheng Lu" records that Chen Shangshu Yuan Xian made ten districts of ramie statues, and "Luoyang Jialan Ji" records that the Northern Wei Dynasty Meng Zhonghui made Chinese figures with ramie sticks in them, and they were very magical. "This shows that the use of ramie sticks to create statues was a common phenomenon at that time, both in the north and the south."

"The Sui Dynasty's "Extended Biography of Eminent Monks" records that 'there is the abandoned Ningguan Temple in the northwest of the capital, and there is a Sakyamuni Buddha with a piece of paper, holding it six feet high, with extraordinary appearance, and repeatedly shining brightly'. There is also Shi Zhilin of Renxiao Temple in Runzhou "There are five human figures in the front and the back, and one body is made of silk." "Bian Zheng Lun" records that Shangshu's right servant shot the Duke of Lu, Yu Qingze, in Xiangzhou built a statue of Lu Shena with a silk cloth, which was even "one hundred and twenty feet high." "The appearance is strange and the spirit is extraordinary', which started the history of using the ramie technique to build giant Buddha statues."

"In the Tang Dynasty, colossal statues and group portraits were written all over the place. "The Continuing Biography of Eminent Monks" said that in the early Tang Dynasty, Shamen Zhizhou of Nanwu Prefecture made Maitreya's six-foot-long band and all the guards. "The Biography of Master Ci'en" said that in the 23rd year of Zhenguan, Since then, Xuanzang has built more than 200 statues decorated with treasures in Daci'en Temple."

"Old Tang Book" records that Wu Zetian destroyed the Qianyuan Hall in the Eastern Capital in the third year of Chui Gong and built it in the Ming and Tang Dynasties. It was 294 feet high, 300 feet east, west, south and three hundred feet each. It was divided into three floors, carved with wood and made of tiles. "Zuqi"

"He also built a thousand-foot-high Merit Hall and a large statue on the same site. "Chao Ye Qian Zai" records that this statue is "nine hundred feet high, with a nose like a ten-hand ship" and a "little finger" with a size of dozens "People are sitting side by side with a piece of paper wrapped around it. It is an unprecedented large image. Its construction method and technique are difficult for us to imagine and restore today."

"Because all these statues have disappeared in the long river of history, the earliest statues that exist today can only date back to the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty."

"This method of statue making has also affected the surrounding areas. For example, Master Xuanzang recorded in "The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" that he saw a standing Buddha statue with a scroll more than ten miles southwest of the royal city of Khotan, which was passed down from the Kingdom of Qiuci. In terms of direction, At that time, the Western Regions used clips to make statues, and the manufacturing technology should have been passed down from China. Later, Song Zanning's "Sengshi Luo" volume also said: "On February 8th every year in Xiaotai and Lingwu, monks wear Buddhist statues with clips." , surrounded by attendants, singing and dancing, it is called patrolling the city. It can be seen that in Gansu, Su, and northern Xinjiang areas, the use of bandanas for walking portraits was still very popular in the tenth century. "

"When Yangzhou's Dayun Temple Jianzhen lawyer and his disciples Rubao, Situo and others went to the island country to popularize it in the eighth century, they also brought this sculpture technology with them and created the main statue of Zhangliu Lu Shena at Tangzhaoti Temple in Nara. The construction techniques of Buddha, Jōroku Yakushi, Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, etc. are so exquisite that they are still regarded as national treasures by the island nation. Later, many exquisite statues were developed in the island nation, such as the Hokado of Nara Todaiji Temple, which was built in Nara. The main figure of the era is the Fu Kong Suo Guanyin standing statue, which is a dry lacquer statue with nine bodies, three eyes and eight arms. The main arms are held together and hold a crystal orb. On the head is a silver curly grass openwork crown, inlaid with more than 26,000 jewels. This is the original statue of the island country. The pinnacle.”

"However, in terms of artistic achievements, the luxurious statue of Guanyin is a bit far behind compared to these three simple and unpretentious Northern Qi statues." Jin Shen looked at the three saint statues and marveled: "The face One point more is too fat, one point less is too thin; one point more smile is close to charming, one point less is close to arrogance; one point more body is too plump, one point less is too skinny... Now, it's really true Everything is just right! The craftsmanship of the statue craftsmen is really amazing, this is a masterpiece!”

"Only lacquerware statues can be so perfect, right?" Mr. Wang admired the statues: "Think about it, whether it is gold, copper or stone or wood, you will not be given a chance to repair it, but lacquerware is different, right?"

"There are also wax tires before the lost wax method, which can also be made perfect." Mr. Qi said: "But once it is cast and molded, it is also impossible to make larger additions. It is not as convenient as clamping the ramie statue, which allows the craftsmen to Finely crafted.”

After speaking, he sighed again: "But preservation has become a big problem, so that except for this set of Huayan Three Saints from the Northern Qi Dynasty, no further statues have been found."

(End of this chapter)