Riding the wind of rebirth

"That's right. We are not without a keen eye for plates like these, but the bottoms are usually inscribed with six characters in regular script in a double circle, or with four characters in a square. Some of the halls fired for the inner palace in the later period occasionally have pictorial marks, but they are smooth simple blue and white or red characters. This is the limit of our cognition." Those who can sit here are basically all in the industry. Once they leave the industry, everyone has to respect their appraisal opinions. When it comes to this, they can only shake their heads and sigh.

"Then, I wonder which noble family this young man is from?" There were many capable people in the imperial city, and someone immediately thought that the person who could get this small disc in the antique market must be someone with knowledge of both systems. And since he was so young, he must be the disciple of some great master.

"He has been influenced by family learning since he was a child, but his knowledge is not about porcelain, but more about calligraphy and painting. The Nangong Yang School's mounting technique can be said to be unmatched in China. Even several old masters in Rongbaozhai are impressed by his skills."

"Two years ago, Rongbaozhai invited a capable person to use the lost method of burning lead to repair a painting of deer and monkeys by Yi Yuanji. It is said that he is also a Yanggong descendant in his early twenties..." Someone immediately thought of this: "Could it be..."

"Yes, it's him." Master Ma said with a smile, "This time he brought back a restoration of the Portrait of Lady Shexiang from the early Ming Dynasty, and he made a lot of money from our National Museum!"

"Him! I've seen the video comparing the before and after of the portrait. The craftsmanship is truly amazing!" Someone immediately gave a thumbs up.

This incident just made the news. The state publicized the discovery and restoration of the "Statue of Lady Shexiang" much more than the discovery of the "Longzang Sutra". After all, there is a layer of ethnic minority work involved here, so it is normal for the state to attach importance to it.

So quite a lot of people know about this.

"His strengths are not only in his craftsmanship," said Ma Ye. "In recent years, the restoration of paintings and calligraphy in the Palace Museum and the National Museum has made great progress, with the restoration work each year exceeding that of the past few years. The reason is that he has reproduced the silk and brocade used for Song Dynasty paintings and calligraphy, and several types of paper used for the restoration of ancient books, which are almost indistinguishable from the real ones. These can completely replace the Qing Dynasty stocks in the National Museum and the Palace Museum."

"The two old gentlemen no longer have to be as stingy as they were in the past. The inventory handed down from the Qing Palace is now being stored in accordance with the collection and preservation process for third-level cultural relics. The restoration materials mainly come from the special supply in Shuzhong. Although it is not yet to the point of being used freely, it is much more generous than before when you had to submit a report and queue up a year in advance to wait for the restoration materials to be approved!"

"No wonder they are so powerful, they are good at soft movies!" Someone in the room immediately found an excuse for not having good eyesight: "We are good at hard movies and can't beat them!"

People in the art business call calligraphy and paintings "soft pieces" and porcelain "hard pieces". In terms of artistic status, calligraphy and paintings have long been superior to porcelain. The reason lies in the difference in their creators.

The creator of calligraphy and painting is called an artist, and the maker of porcelain is called a craftsman.

The paintings on the colorful and pastel porcelains from the official kilns of the Qing Dynasty were first painted by court painters in the capital, and then sent to Jingdezhen for review and approval by the emperor. They were then transferred to the porcelain bodies by local craftsmen.

If it is enamel, it will be completed directly in Beijing. Jingde is only responsible for firing and carving the plain body, and the painting is handed over to the Neigongfang to complete. Sometimes, the painter will directly guide the work.

This is also the reason why enamel has the highest status among painted porcelains in the Qing Dynasty.

This problem was not solved until the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, when the porcelain plate paintings of the Eight Friends of Zhushan appeared. The artistic level of the two was barely equal. Even so, it is still debatable whether the Eight Friends of Zhushan were porcelain craftsmen or painters who used porcelain as the basis of their creations.

"Right, right, right..." People who normally would never give in to calligraphy and painting researchers immediately seized on this as an excuse: "So he's a soft film, that's normal!"

The National Art Gallery is located on Wusi Street, northeast of the Palace Museum. It takes an hour to drive from Daliushu.

This also shows that the flourishing of arts and crafts has not yet reached the grand occasion of the flourishing of arts and crafts in later generations, and the current arts and crafts exhibition is still qualified to be held in the National Art Gallery.

Later, there were more and more awards for various exhibits. For example, the exhibition held by the Ministry of Light Industry will be unified into an "Arts and Crafts Expo". The exhibits will also be extended from carvings of jade, bone, and ivory to more than a dozen major categories such as filigree, lacquerware, woodware, embroidery and textiles. The exhibition units will also be downgraded from national level to units such as the National Culture Palace, and even handed over to some provinces that have made great contributions to intangible cultural heritage and have relatively strong economic strength, such as Guangdong Province.

Correspondingly, the weight of the exhibits will also be different. Unlike now, only the Hundred Flowers Award works are qualified to enter the national hall.

An exhibition with the word "national" in its name can be simply referred to as a national exhibition. This is the best endorsement for the industry's leading products.

Last year, the material of Southern Sichuan Red had begun to show signs of rising, but the meticulous customization of products limited the imagination of craftsmen. Although the Southern Sichuan Red carvings that replicated the Qianlong Furong Stone Lid Stove amazed everyone with its material, it was seriously lacking in innovation. Apart from clearly expressing the role of the material of Southern Sichuan Red in highlighting the craftsmanship, it was not qualified for the Hundred Flowers Award in terms of subject matter or innovation.

Chu Qinghong simply didn't send it to the competition, but only exhibited it as an exhibit.

This year was different. After seeing the results of the combination of Southern Sichuan Red and Su carving techniques, Zhou Zhi allocated a large amount of high-quality cherry red stone to several masters for creation. He only made some suggestions on the subject matter and contributed an old red sandalwood root from Su Huaxuan's collection as a base that could be carved into overlapping waves. He did not intervene too much and allowed the masters to give full play to their creativity.

The resulting effect is naturally different. The Nanhong that Zhou Zhi had access to in his previous life was not up to the current level. He also did not expect that the top-grade cherry red material would have the same gummy texture as top-grade jadeite after polishing.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

This is an optical phenomenon. It is a visual phenomenon formed when light enters the material and is scattered by translucent molecules. It is called "glueing" in jargon.

Although Nanhong carvings are very "craftsmanship-oriented", that is to say, due to material limitations, many jade materials cannot show very subtle craftsmanship details, but they can be reflected on Nanhong, but without the added bonus of "precious light", the meaning is a bit lacking.

The high-grade cherry red makes up for this defect and also raises the quality of this set of "One Hundred and Eight Dragon Sons" to a higher level.

When Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao arrived at the exhibition hall, "Dragon Son" was placed in the most prominent position in the exhibition hall. Countless visitors were surrounding it, marveling at this breathtakingly beautiful work, its novel materials, superb craftsmanship, and the ideas of the exhibitor in combining materials. (End of this chapter)