On July 19, in the exhibition hall of Yanjing Baju Museum on Shijingshan Shijingshan Street in Beijing, there are gold lacquer inlaid flowers and birds holding boxes, filigree inlaid flowers handbags, carved lacquer longevity peach holding boxes, ivory carving eighteen bachelors, and Beijing embroidered dragons. Robes and other exquisite intangible cultural heritage crafts.
In the master studio behind the exhibition hall, Haiyan, a third-level arts and crafts lacquer master in Beijing, is making a custom-made "carved lacquer dragon chair".
In the Qing Dynasty, there were workshops under the Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which formed a court art with the characteristics of "Beijing".
After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, court craftsmen flowed into the people, and gradually formed eight traditional handicraft skills, namely jade carving, cloisonne, ivory carving, lacquer carving, gold lacquer inlay, filigree inlay, palace carpet and Beijing embroidery, which are known as "Eight Wonders of Yanjing".
At present, all "Yanjing Eight Wonders" have been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list.
Traditional techniques are advancing with the times.
In the past, Yanjing Bajue, which was only used to make "royal" supplies, has now innovatively produced handicrafts with a sense of the times.
At the same time, the lack of inheritors is also an unavoidable problem.
Bai Qun, curator of Yanjing Bajue Museum, hopes to reduce the price of intangible cultural heritage craftsmanship, benefit the public, and make profits, so as to feed back traditional intangible cultural heritage craftsmanship. What the inheritors of Jing Baju are thinking now is how to innovate, let these intangible cultural heritage crafts enter the homes of ordinary people, and let the excellent traditional crafts be passed on.
"Royal" Craft
The 36-year-old Haiyan traced the designed dragon pattern on the drawing paper - a diluted yellow powder, used to transfer the designed pattern from the drawing to the lacquer tire, and then determined the pattern by whitening. , and then engrave.
Haiyan said that the design of the pattern refers to the works of the Qianlong period, but the shape of the dragon has been slightly changed.
The dragons of the Qianlong period had short faces and straight claws. The newly designed dragons looked more elegant after slight changes.
According to the data, in ancient times, it was difficult to complete lacquer carving among the people, and its production was roughly divided into eight major processes and more than 70 small processes.
As far as the production of "lacquer" is concerned, it is necessary to add a certain proportion of cooked tung oil to the large lacquer collected from the tree, and reconcile it into "paint", and then through the "gloss paint" process, paint layer by layer.
The paint tire that Haiyan is using is 70mm thick and needs to be painted 140 times. It takes 1-2 days for each paint to be applied. After the previous layer of paint is dry, the next layer can be applied.
The production of the soleplate alone takes about four months.
The environment for painting requires a temperature of 25°C-30°C and a humidity of 80%-85%. "Now, basically, people in their 50s and 60s are doing this, and there are very few young people."
Carved lacquer is also known as tick red. According to research by scholars, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty had a soft spot for carving lacquer.
Among the lacquerware collected by the Palace Museum, there are barrel-shaped boxes with dragon patterns in the sea, pen holders with patterns of narcissus, sweet-scented osmanthus, plum, chrysanthemum and orchids, and dozens of Ming Dynasty carved lacquers with poems made by Emperor Qianlong.
In his inscribed "Wong Yongle Lacquer Box", he praised, "The orchard is excellent in tick vermilion, and the sugarcane segment is especially rare in craftsmanship... After three hundred years of this complete jade, why is the study of the ancients so poor?"
And Qianlong's lacquered throne, the clear red dragon throne, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum of England.
In another room not far from Haiyan's studio, Hou Xue, a 36-year-old Beijing third-level arts and crafts gold lacquer inlay master, is making a cabinet door.
He used the "Flat Gold Open Black" process in the gold lacquer inlay technique - pasting gold foil on the lacquer.
"The place where the paint has been painted is sticky. The ancients in China said that glue is like paint. Lacquer and glue are the same, and they are a kind of bonding material." Hou Xue said, "Ping Jin" should be smooth and smooth, and "open black" should be Using black lacquer as ink, the texture is drawn, and then "smudged" to create a sense of light and shadow, making the whole painting three-dimensional and layered.
Hou Xue's studio has a cabinet that has already been formed.
On the black cabinet, black and gold alternate, making the mountains in the distance, buildings looming, solemn atmosphere, vigorous and simple.
The technique of gold lacquer inlay decoration is to form a wooden body, paint lacquer, and then use inlay, engraving, color filling, stacking ancient lacquer, engraving ash, flat gold, broken pattern, engraving lacquer, gold and silver on the lacquer base. Decorative techniques such as varnish.
This technique was also used to make chairs for ancient emperors.
In the Hall of Supreme Harmony of the Palace Museum (commonly known as the Hall of Golden Thrones), the dragon chairs that tourists cannot see through the dim light in the hall through the front railings are made of gold lacquer inlay technology.
Also using this process, there is also a plaque of "Zhengdaguangguang" hanging in the Qianqing Palace.
In 2014, Hou Xue went to the Forbidden City to repair cultural relics, and found the beds, bookcases, painting cases, dressing boxes, etc. used in the palace. "Many of them use gold lacquer inlay technology."
The studios of Haiyan and Hou Xue, together with the Yanjing Eight Wonders Museum, are located in Cheng'en Temple on Shijingshan District, Beijing.
The Daxiong Hall of the ancient temple is the exhibition hall of the museum, where there are Beijing embroidered dragon robes, palace carpets "Flower Beds", imitation Qing palace cloisonne "Longevity Without Borders" bowls, ivory carvings "Elegant Boat" ornaments, gold lacquer inlaid treasures inlaid flowers and birds holding boxes, carved lacquer birthday peach holding boxes and other intangible cultural heritage arts and crafts.
To the north of the main exhibition hall, the ancient temples and halls and several wing rooms are the theme exhibition halls of Yanjing Baju. On the table of huanghuali are filigree inlaid crafts, and on the cabinet of golden nanmu are cloisonne.
Instead of being housed in glass enclosures, these crafts are placed on tables so that visitors can view them up close.
In addition, tourists can also go to the studios of Haiyan and Hou Xue to listen to them explain the production process of intangible cultural heritage.
"We hope that people can experience the quintessence of the country up close, understand this culture and skills, and plan to allow tourists to experience the production by themselves in the future," said Bai Qun, curator of Beijing Yanjing Bajue Museum.
"Skills cannot be lost in the hands of our generation"
On July 21, Hu Xin, a first-class master of arts and crafts in Beijing, was using the technique of "golden paint and light color" inlaid with gold lacquer to draw a screen of "Sea House Adds Chips".
Together with the apprentice, she has been painting for half a year, and the painting is generally finished, and the details of the rocks and buildings need to be supplemented and perfected.
"Sea House Addition" was used to wish people longevity in ancient times.
After the Song Dynasty, people often used mountains and seas, pavilions, cranes, and old men to form the theme of "Sea House Adds Funds".
"The inheritance of gold lacquer inlays has been broken for at least 2-3 generations." Hu Xin is 65 years old this year. According to her understanding, there should be inheritors in their fifties and forties.
But now, there are only a group of inheritors in their 20s and 30s under her, and she is still taking apprentices.
Hu Xin's hearing has deteriorated, and she needs to wear glasses while working.
With a small stature, she couldn't sit and paint like the apprentice next to her. She could only stand, bent over the desk, holding a paintbrush in one hand and paint in the other, drawing landscapes.
Hu Xin retired at the beginning of this century.
In 2010, Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd. established a master studio, and she was rehired for more than ten years.
Bai Deyuan, a first-class master of arts and crafts in Beijing and the late chairman of Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd., said in an interview before his death that the lack of successors was his biggest concern.
According to his recollection, at that time, many skilled masters in the factory had entered their twilight years, but there were very few young people.
The factory can only adopt the method of retiring and re-employment, so that the masters with unique skills can continue to stay in their posts after retirement, pass on their skills, and cultivate young people.
According to a reporter from the Beijing News, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a number of "Yanjing Eight Wonders" workshops were successively restored in Beijing, which were later merged into handicraft factories such as Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Factory and Beijing Enamel Factory.
Hu Xin remembered that at that time, he made screens, desks, and TV cabinets, mainly for exporting "to earn foreign exchange". At the peak of the factory, there were more than 2,000 employees.
In the 1990s, the foreign trade environment changed and orders plummeted.
At that time, Bai Deyuan had just become the director of the Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Factory. He recalled in an interview that the factory's total assets at that time were only 53 million yuan, and its liabilities were as high as 47 million yuan.
More than 800 employees in the whole factory have not been able to pay wages for several months, the company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and a large number of craftsmen are lost.
In 1997, Beijing Golden Lacquer Inlaid Factory decided to develop a series of products with both modern and classical charm, taking Ming and Qing classical solid wood furniture as a breakthrough.
The following year, Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Factory finally climbed back from the brink of life and death.
Bai Deyuan said that since then, he has deeply realized that in addition to the healthy development of the enterprise, the more important thing is to pass on the skill of gold lacquer inlay. Lost."
Later, the Beijing Golden Lacquer Inlay Factory was restructured into a joint-stock limited liability company.
In the last century, the carving and lacquer industry, which is also mainly based on export and foreign trade, has embarked on another development path.
Li Zhigang, a master of Chinese arts and crafts and inheritor of lacquer carving skills, recalled in an interview with the media that in 2003, the Beijing lacquer carving factory went bankrupt and the inheritors lost.
At present, carving lacquer mostly exists in the form of master studio.
"At present, there are only about 5 studios with more than 10 people who are directly engaged in lacquer carving in Beijing." According to his estimation, there are currently less than 100 practitioners in the lacquer carving industry.
Zhang Tonglu, a master of Chinese arts and crafts and a master of cloisonne, recalled in an oral article that he served as the technical deputy director of the Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory, which mainly produces handicrafts such as cloisonne, jade carving, ivory carving, lacquer carving, and filigree inlays. .
In 2001, the Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory filed for bankruptcy, and he and more than 1,500 employees in the factory were laid off and at home.
Later, in order to inherit the cloisonne technology, Zhang Tonglu set up a cloisonne studio with dozens of his colleagues.
Haiyan graduated from Beijing Arts and Crafts School more than ten years ago, where she studied lacquer art.
At that time, there were two master studios in the school, one was cloisonne and the other was lacquer carving. She and her senior brother Liu Nan chose the latter.
After graduation, she and Liu Nan wandered between the studios of various masters, learning different lacquer carving techniques in this way. "Some masters are good at carving landscapes, while others are good at characters."
Explore new training models
On the other side of Hu Xin's painting, Ding Shaoqi, born in 2000, is "refining" the peach blossoms on another screen.
At present, she is studying in Beijing Advanced Technical School of Arts and Crafts, and came to Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd. for an internship in her sixth year of study.
Now she can take charge of some paintings independently, the poems on the back of the screen and the landscapes on the left and right sides are all painted by her.
In the first year of school, Ding Shaoqi studied the basics of painting, and only in the second year did he choose a major. "There are many majors, such as lacquer carving, jade carving, filigree, and gold lacquer. I didn't understand anything at the time, and I felt that lacquerware was beautiful, so I chose this major. "
"The teacher broke apart and smashed them, and taught us these crafts step by step, including how to mix gray, how to paint, and even have a specific process for washing brushes." Six months later, Ding Shaoqi made a small tea by himself. Can.
Beijing Arts and Crafts Advanced Technical School was established in 1980.
Vice-principal Liu Jinfang recalled that at the beginning of the school, some intangible cultural heritage majors were opened, but at the end of the 1990s, it was stopped due to enrollment and other reasons.
In 2012, the newly appointed principal, Meng Fanmin, found that at that time, the school was mainly specialized in modern arts and crafts, and there was very little teaching of traditional skills.
He decided to take the jade carving major as a breakthrough and invited Wang Xiwei, a master of Chinese arts and crafts and inheritor of jade carving skills, to enter the school to carry out teaching and practical training. "In terms of technical level and market feedback, the jade carving major is relatively mature, and the talent gap is particularly serious. ." In 2019, Meng Fanmin said in an interview.
Since then, the school has successively resumed the majors of carved lacquer, cloisonne, filigree inlay, gold lacquer inlay, and palace carpet, etc., and adopted methods such as establishing master studios in the school and jointly running schools and enterprises.
However, there are still some problems in vocational school education.
When Ding Shaoqi was just divided into classes, there were 14 students in the class. By the sixth year, there were only 5 students left, and now only two are engaged in gold lacquer inlay craftsmanship.
"The degree of social recognition of the academic qualifications of technical college students is still relatively low, and the salary of students is generally low." Liu Jinfang said that they have been actively exploring for the past ten years. Interest in non-heritage craftsmanship.
After graduating from North China University of Technology in 2009, Hou Xue wanted to apply for an illustration job in a magazine, but she met Bai Qun by chance.
Bai Qun took him to Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlaid Co., Ltd. for a tour. The factory building was decorated with dragon chairs and screens inlaid with gems. It was "beautiful". He was attracted and stayed since then.
Hou Xue remembered that when he entered the industry, there were no schools in Beijing that offered gold lacquer inlay majors, and Beijing Golden Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd. began to recruit art-related students as apprentices from the society.
In the following years, twenty or thirty people were recruited one after another, but some persisted for three or four years, and some left in less than a year.
When Hou Xuegang entered the Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd. as an apprentice, "it only took a year to make lines", and drew white lines on the edge of the cabinet with paint.
The industry is also constantly exploring new training models. "Before, it was the master who taught me, but now it is the apprentice, you learn it."
steadfast
In April 2013, the "Peaceful Forbidden City" project was approved by the State Council, and many non-genetic inheritance units and arts and crafts masters were invited to "enter the palace" to repair treasures. Young Hou Xue entered the Forbidden City with the gold lacquer inlay master.
He remembered that the lacquerware in the warehouse four or five hundred years ago, after wiping off the sludge layer, was still golden. "It has a special beauty. Only the craftsmanship made with heart can carry the time and carry the memory of people."
At that time, a carriage had to be repaired, a hole was rotted on the bottom of the carriage, and the mat surface had to be darned. At that time, only a rehired master in his 60s had the skill of weaving.
The carriage was about 1.5 meters high, and it was out of reach when sitting on a chair. Standing on the chair, I had to bend my waist. The old master knelt on the chair, gritted his teeth, and knitted the mat.
"I think this is the spirit of the craftsman. Craftsmanship is about inheritance. Those things in the Forbidden City were made by our ancestors. After hundreds of years, we can repair them, and we can repair them well. This is a kind of consolation to the ancestors. The inheritance of Chinese culture is also the inheritance of our craftsmen. Thousands of years of technology have been passed down from generation to generation, and we can’t say that our generation has been defeated.”
Do craftsmanship, pay attention to peace of mind.
Every day from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon, Haiyan stayed in the innermost wing of the ancient temple.
She likes to be quiet, away from the noise of the block outside the door, and her mind is on the craftsmanship in her hands.
For the back copy of the dragon chair, it will take a day to draw the yellow, and the white should be more careful, it will take four days, and then it will take a few months to carve, and this does not include the early drawing design, and After baking, sanding, polishing, waxing.
At the beginning, Haiyan was attracted by the "charm of old objects", and after doing it for a long time, she never thought of leaving, "Carving lacquer is a unique skill in China, the craftsmanship of the ancestors, and the carved objects are resistant to acid and acid. Alkali, corrosion-resistant, that's what makes it unique."
Bai Qun, 48, originally worked in a media company.
In 2003, Bai Qun's father, Bai Deyuan, asked him, "Are you continuing to work in the media unit, or returning to the team as an inheritor?" Bai Deyuan hoped that he would use publicity knowledge to promote intangible cultural heritage skills.
Bai Qun said that he grew up watching various intangible cultural heritage crafts at the Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlay Factory. "I thought this thing was amazing, spectacular and exquisite since I was a child." In the end, he decided to "return to the team".
In 2010, Baiqun found the "second generation" of various crafts, and gathered together to discuss whether it was possible to integrate the scattered intangible cultural heritage techniques to form a large-scale platform.
"United together, it must be much better than everyone fighting alone, so the influence may increase faster."
In 2010, Beijing Yanjing Bajue Culture Development Co., Ltd. was established.
This year, Beijing Yanjing Bajue Art Museum settled in Cheng'en Temple.
In 2020, Beijing Yanjing Bajue Art Museum will be upgraded to Beijing Yanjing Bajue Museum, and will be officially opened to the public in July 2021.
"Flying into the homes of ordinary people"
On July 21st, Haiyan had completed the yellow and white drawing of the backrest of the dragon chair. She picked up a lacquered red bead next to her and wrote the word "shou" on it with a drawing pen, the traditional Chinese group longevity. pattern.
The senior brother Liu Nan on the side was carving, and in the lacquer box in front of Liu Nan were twenty or thirty beads that had already been carved.
Even these small beads have gone through all the process of carving and lacquering: the inner core is wood, and the outside is painted with 60 coats of paint - it takes about two months, and then whitening, carving, and baking half of it in a constant temperature oven months, and finally sanded, polished, and waxed.
"If you see carved lacquer products in some tourist attractions, you must be careful, it is likely to be fake." A customer asked Haiyan to buy carved lacquer and asked her why the price was so different from that of tourist attractions, Haiyan explained.
Making such small beads is Liu Nan's main job these days, "This one is less than 200 yuan, and the sales are the best."
After the death of his father, Bai Deyuan, Bai Qun became the chairman of Beijing Golden Lacquer Inlay Co., Ltd. He did not shy away from talking about traffic, building cultural industries, and brand awareness.
In recent years, Yanjing Bajue Museum has successively launched cultural and creative products: mass production of refrigerator magnets printed with the pattern of the Nine Dragon Wall, Yanjing Bajue Ice and Snow original watch, hand-made small table lamps and jewelry during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Boxes and other modern products.
"In this way, the price can be lowered, benefiting the public, making profits, and feeding back traditional intangible cultural heritage skills. It is necessary for the craftsmen to eat and build their own brands."
Talking about these things, Hu Xin thought about it and said, "There must still be some traditional elements, not all abstractions. There must be traditional, and there must be present, and there must be a combination of tradition and present."
Hu Xin remembered that when he first entered the factory, the old master was an apprentice, and he painted in traditional styles.
After their group of young people went, they integrated the sketching method they learned in school into their craftsmanship, which was very popular with customers. "At that time, we were young people. Compared with our masters, we were doing innovation. Now I have become a If you are a master, it is up to the younger generation to innovate. It must be in line with the requirements of the times.”
Baiqun hopes to build the Yanjing Bajue brand, "to have the most original and most extreme handicrafts, as well as inclusive products".
In the early years, they took non-heritage handicrafts to foreign exhibitions. People admired and marveled around the "Gold Lacquer Inlaid Hundred Treasures Intarsia Flowers and Birds Holding Box", "This is a kind of cultural self-confidence." should go to the world.
Some references:
Bo Deyuan narrated, Wang Yanna compiled "Oral History of Beijing Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance - Gold Lacquer Inlaid and Painted Decorative Techniques"
Li Yizhi's "Carved Lacquer"
"Beijing Gongmei Characters Series (First Series) Footprints" edited by Beijing Gongmei Group
Beijing News reporter Chen Yajie