The climate in Guangzhou is hot and humid, and ivory is not easy to crisp. In the past, people here regarded ivory as an auspicious thing and thought it could "ward off evil spirits and get rid of filth", so the development of tooth carving has a unique advantage. Through the research and innovation of artisans from generation to generation, ivory carving has gradually become a famous specialty in Guangzhou by virtue of three techniques: inlay, carving and weaving.
Xiangya steet
Ivory Street, built in Ming Dynasty, is the earliest historical witness of ivory production in Guangzhou. In the Ming Dynasty, the area of Ivory Street in Yuexiu District of Guangzhou was still by the river. As a famous trading port, ships from south to north stop here, and ivory sculptors buy African ivory from overseas and process it into works of art for export or tribute here, gradually forming a special market for ivory raw materials trade and processing handicrafts-Ivory Street.
At the end of Qing Dynasty, a group of independent artists set up "Ocean Tour", which was located in Xiao Xin Street on Daxin Road and was called "Ivory Club". Since then, the center of tooth carving has gradually shifted to Daxin Road. Judging from the current street distribution, it was not small at that time. In addition to a main road running through it, there are many main roads, such as Ivory Lane 1 4 and Ivory North Street.
In the Republic of China 14, Guangzhou demolished the city to clear the way, and the ivory merchants in Xiao Xin Street moved to the newly opened Daxin Road to operate, forming a world-famous ivory craft street. Today, Daxin Road Guangzhou Ivory Craft Factory is still one of the well-known ivory carving manufacturers at home and abroad.
Xiangyayi lane
A newly discovered cultural relic in Yuexiu District, Ivory Street, Ivory Lane 1, was exposed due to house demolition. Ivory street complex was originally a wealthy and educated middle-class residence, but now most of the old buildings have been demolished, only Ivory Lane 1 is still intact. In Ivory Street and nearby streets, emerging leather and footwear industries are replacing ivory carving. Address: Inner Street on the east side of Zoumu Street, Dade Road, Yuexiu District.
Wengjiadan
Exquisite multilayer ivory balls are representative works of ivory carving. According to Ge Guyao's theory, as early as the Song Dynasty, Guangzhou craftsmen had been able to make three-layer and layer-by-layer rotating ivory balls, which were named "ghost balls".
An ivory ball with the largest number of layers, the largest volume and the heaviest weight appeared in Guangzhou ivory sculpture exhibition, with a volume of 18.8cm and 60 layers. Through the hollowing-out carving as thin as cicada wings, the overlapping and closed inner layers will magically rotate automatically with a single finger, which can be described as ingenuity.
This is the unique skill of Weng's family of Guangzhou tooth carving. The "ghost ball" of Weng's generation is called "Weng egg".
During Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, Weng Wuzhang, the ancestor of Weng family, carved multi-layer rotatable ivory balls and became the founder of modern ivory ball carving technology in Guangzhou. At the beginning of last century, Weng Zhang Wu's exquisite tooth carving skills had spread to the third generation in Weng Zhao. 19 14, Weng Zhao made the first 25-story ivory ball for Hong Kong Liansheng ivory shop, which was recommended by the industry as a masterpiece for Panama Games. At that time, some Japanese also participated in the competition with 30 layers of ivory balls. The surface relief and internal carving of the two dental balls have their own national characteristics. Because Japanese works are multi-layered and difficult to make, they will take the first prize. But I found that the Japanese players looked flustered. In order to identify the authenticity, the tournament decided to put two ivory balls in water and heat them for verification. As a result, Japanese ivory balls were scattered layer by layer when the water was boiling, while China's ivory balls were intact, and "Wengjia Egg" won gold in one fell swoop and became famous all over the world.
Due to the limited caliber of natural ivory, it is difficult to improve the level of dental balls according to traditional techniques. In Weng Rongbiao's generation, after several reforms, efforts were made to reduce the thickness of the dental ball shell, so that the original 15-20 layer dental material could be engraved with three more layers, and the original 2 1 layer dental material could be engraved with four more layers, creating a new variety of "thin-skinned dental ball". In 1976, Weng Rongbiao improved the cutter and tried to thin the inner layer of the dental ball, so that the original 26-layer dental material was changed from 14 to 16. Finally, he successfully carved 40-layer and 42-layer dental balls, the former won the National Science Conference Award, and the latter was praised as the "world champion" by Romanian guests at the National Arts and Crafts Exhibition. In the field of tooth carving, Weng Rongbiao deserves it? The king of the ball is supreme
Weng Yaoxiang, the eldest son of Weng Rongbiao, is also "shine on you is better than blue". He can divide an ivory ball into 57 layers at most. So far, only he can do it in the world.
Xiguan jingyiguan
Xiguan Art Museum, located at No.28, Lizhiwan Road, Guangzhou (diagonally opposite to the south gate of Liwan Lake Park), is a boutique exhibition hall focusing on Guangdong traditional arts and crafts (jade carving, ivory carving, bone carving, wood carving, shell carving, crystal carving, palace lanterns, painted porcelain and embroidery), which has gathered all previous exhibitions of Guangzhou Daxin Ivory Factory, China Bone Debris Factory, Guangzhou Gem Factory and Yihua Wood Carving Factory. It is also the only open place to visit, where exquisite techniques such as three sculptures, one color and one embroidery are concentrated for on-site production and performance.
"Eye of God" Feng Hongxia
Guangzhou's ivory carving technology, as well as a kind of micro-carving works, is world-renowned, and its founder is Feng Gongxia, who is known as the "eye of God".
In his youth, Feng Gongxia studied under China painter Xu Yannong and made a living by copying students (that is, portraits of the dead). After World War I, Feng suffered from cataract and was blind in his right eye, but he was not discouraged. He heard that Chen Qiyuan, the founder of Nanhai Changlong Silk Reeling Factory and nicknamed "Ghost Eye Seven", was able to write more than 40,000 words of Kangxi dictionary on a fan, and was inspired to engrave words on ivory. After many hardships, we finally created a prismatic micro-carving tool, which pioneered the micro-carving of ivory in Guangdong.
1925, Feng Gongxia carved two Tang poems with the word 120 on a grain of ivory rice. Feng Gongxia was praised as "the eye of God" after this work was exhibited in the Eternal Ivory Shop in Daxin Street. At the beginning of 1926, Feng Gongxia carved the full text of Sun Yat-sen's will on ivory rice with the inscription *** 154. He also carved a 25,000-word producer's party manifesto on a 64-page ivory piece.
After breaking through the difficulties of micro-carving, Feng Hongxia explored masterpieces. After eight years of hard work, the giant micro-sculpture "Four Books" appeared on the screen, with more than 60,000 words. After the publication of this work, Feng changed his name to. His son Feng is also a master of micro-carving. Feng inherited his father's skill and carved eighteen lifelike arhats in a grain of ivory rice. These exquisite micro-carving works represent the highest level of ivory micro-carving in Guangzhou, which is amazing.
Guangzhou literature and history research institute
Guangzhou Literature and History Research Institute was established at 1953, located on the second floor of Minzhu Building, No.59 Guangzhou Avenue Central. Feng Hongxia's Manifesto of Producers' Party is a treasure in the museum.
The material of tooth carving-ivory itself is very precious. Since 1989, the United Nations has completely banned international trade in ivory and its products. This paper ban has severely hit the ivory carving industry in Guangzhou. Many tooth carvings have become unprecedented art treasures, but they have also made ivory appreciate all the way. Guangzhou tooth carving is more expensive.
Qushi ancestral hall
Xinting Village, Hualong Town, Panyu District, Guangzhou is a secluded village near the Pearl River, not far from the entrance to the village. This is a typical ancestral hall in Ming Dynasty, and it is a famous ancestral hall of Qu family, which has a history of more than 500 years. As the ancestral hall of Qu Dajun, a famous poet in Guangdong in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the restored Qu Dajun ancestral hall also has an exhibition hall of Lingnan culture, where the works of China arts and crafts masters who were active in the creation of the first line in the past dynasties are gathered, with colorful colors, colorful tides and bright spears. Among them, ivory carving is the most striking one.
jade carving
Guangzhou people think that jade, like ivory, can ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters, so they regard jade as a treasure. Men, women and children wearing jade articles can be seen everywhere on the streets of Guangzhou.
Jade carving in Guangzhou reached a high level in the Western Han Dynasty, and flourished in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, with a history of 1000 years. Guangzhou jade carving art inherited the tradition of colorful jade in Song Dynasty, created the stunt of "color preservation", and showed the true colors of the original jade, which was particularly exquisite. By Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou jade carving craft manufacturing industry had become a market, and there was a jade industry and commerce guild organization.
The main raw material of jade carving in Guangzhou comes from Xinyi, the province. The jade produced in Xinyi is called "South Jade". Most of them are grass green, translucent and naturally striped. After polishing, they are crystal clear and unique among jade.
Western Han Dynasty Nanyue King Mausoleum Museum
1983, the tomb of Zhao Mei, the king of South Vietnam in the Western Han Dynasty, was discovered in Xianggangshan, Guangzhou, and a large-scale tomb site museum was built on the original site. The exhibition comprehensively reflects the social, political, military, economic and cultural situation of Lingnan area during the South Vietnam period more than 2,000 years ago, and provides vivid and informative materials for the study of Lingnan area during the Qin and Han Dynasties.
A large number of jade articles have been unearthed in the museum, including jade walls, jade boxes, silk dresses, jade seals, Wang Pei, jade horn cups and 130 kinds of "treasures of Chinese jade". These exquisite works and decorations are exquisitely carved and wonderfully conceived. It shows that the jade carving technology in Guangzhou has reached a quite high level in the Western Han Dynasty.
woodcarving
Guangzhou woodcarving, Beijing woodcarving and Su woodcarving constitute three major schools of woodcarving art in China. Guangzhou woodcarving is famous for its combination of semi-stereoscopic through carving, full-screen carving and multi-level carving.
Guangzhou woodcarving mainly focuses on architectural decoration and furniture carving, and mahogany furniture carved with rosewood and rosewood is elegant, dignified and shiny; The architectural decoration carved from camphor wood and extracted wood has simple and vivid shape, smooth knife work, rough and deep rhyme, and elegant appearance, especially the screen door and flower cover in the hall. Guangzhou woodcarving has a wide range of themes. In addition to traditional auspicious patterns and characters' stories, it also takes the unique flower melon in Guangdong as the pattern, which has strong local artistic characteristics in Lingnan. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Pan Hao Street was a famous sour branch craft furniture street in Guangzhou. In the Qing Dynasty, Cantonese furniture was often paid tribute by the king for its exquisite craftsmanship and unique Lingnan characteristics, which made it famous in Kyoto.
It is worth mentioning that one branch of wood carving is olive carving, which is carved with black olive cores produced in Guangdong.
Guangdong Zengcheng, Panyu, Zhongshan and other places are rich in olives, and the olive pit in Xintang, Zengcheng District, Guangzhou is the best olive carving material, with small kernel, dense texture, dark color and high oil content. After being made, it is very smooth and easy to paint, from yellow to brown to dark red, and will eventually be painted in shiny rosewood color, which is suitable for carving olive-core boats.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, monks in monasteries sold olive carved boats to pilgrims to show the meaning of "Purdue". Olive carving is a tribute of Qing Dynasty, which has been circulated in Xintang for more than 300 years. In the fourth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, the painter Zhan Gusheng (also known as Jusheng) of Xintang Township created a He Lan boat named "Su Dongpo's Red Cliff Night Cruise". The craft is exquisite, and the carved figures have different artistic conception. What is vivid is that there is a table in the boat, and three people are sitting around the case, next to which a buddhist nun is making tea. There is a boatwoman at the helm, and there are eight flower windows on both sides of the boat that can be opened and closed: the one at the bow is small. This olive carving is still preserved in Zengcheng Cultural Center.
Guangdong Folk Craft Museum (Chenjiaci)
Guangdong Folk Arts and Crafts Museum is based on the Chen Academy in Guangzhou (commonly known as Chenjiaci). Chenjia Temple, built in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, concentrated the essence of woodcarving art, especially the golden lacquer woodcarving pavilion and incense burner cover in Qing Dynasty, which reflected the unique style of exquisite woodcarving technology in Guangzhou.