China News Service, Yinchuan, October 11th, topic: Ningxia lacquer "artisan": inheriting oriental aesthetics and depicting "lacquer" colorful life
Chinanews reporter Yu Jing
The lines are delicate and smooth, and the colors are full of changes. The elegant and delicate lacquerware conveys the unique beauty of ancient techniques at the fingertips of the craftsman.
On October 11, the reporter walked into the studio of Xie Lixiong, a lacquer craftsman in Yinchuan, Ningxia. The fragrance was fragrant, and the exquisite lacquer works were neatly displayed, including gourds, tea sets, ornaments, pendants and other lacquer crafts.
The picture shows Xie Lixiong, a lacquer craftsman in Yinchuan, Ningxia, polishing lacquerware on October 10.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yu Jing
Xie Lixiong, wearing overalls, sat at the table and told reporters about the "past and present" of "large lacquer craftsmanship" from the history of lacquer art, the technological process, the inheritance method and mode of gold lacquer inlay craftsmanship, etc.
Lacquer is a natural material with the most oriental characteristics.
Xie Lixiong introduced that lacquer craftsmanship is one of the oldest ethnic traditional crafts in China. Since the vermilion lacquer wooden bowl excavated from the Hemudu site, the lacquer craftsmanship has been passed down for seven thousand years.
In history, lacquerware was once collected as a palace treasure. After the founding of New China, it was listed as a precious national gift for foreign guests, favored by people at home and abroad, and exported to more than 70 countries and regions.
Today, raw lacquer is still collected in the same way it was 7,000 years ago: using a special knife to cut through the bark of the lacquer tree and waiting for the sap to fall drop by drop.
"The production process of large lacquer handicrafts is also slow. The 'lacquer clothes' are ultra-thin, and they are dried in the shade and then painted with another color of lacquer. Repeatedly, 4 layers of lacquer are less than the thickness of a sheet of paper, while a piece of lacquer is almost as thick as a piece of paper. Apply more than 20 layers." Xie Lixiong said that grinding and polishing is the last step in the production of lacquerware, and the craftsman needs to rub the vegetable oil on it, and the palms and fingertips swim on the painted semi-finished products.
Repeated polishing in a millimeter is the most test of craftsmanship. If it is light, the layered texture may not come out; if it is heavy, the texture may be worn through. , After several months, sand dozens of times until the paint is smooth enough.
Lacquerware made by Xie Lixiong.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Large lacquer is longer than black, but shorter than color.
In order to enrich the color of lacquerware, craftsmen grind turquoise, cinnabar, etc. into powder into lacquer, showing colors such as green and red.
How many colors can a piece of lacquer have?
Taking a black and gold spot lacquer bowl handed over by Xie Lixiong, I saw that there were 50 textures in an area the size of a fingernail, each texture was different, and each color was gorgeous. , golden yellow, lavender... colorful cascading, patchwork.
On the road of lacquer, Xie Lixiong always regarded himself as a primary school student. He visited folk lacquer masters in Beijing, Fuzhou, Sichuan and other places many times, and devoted himself to studying the historical and cultural connotation of lacquer ware, as well as the development of source schools and craftsmanship characteristics. A generation of lacquer artists collided with ideas and inspired creative inspiration.
The picture shows that on October 10, Xie Lixiong, a lacquer craftsman in Yinchuan, Ningxia, checked the dryness and humidity of lacquerware in the drying room of his studio.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yu Jing
"There are more folks who like lacquer now, and ordinary people's understanding of lacquer has gradually improved." Xie Lixiong said that the development of traditional craftsmanship should not only focus on inheritance, but also inseparable from innovative research. A pomegranate and a lotus pod are all creative objects, and nothing can be "reborn". The "national lacquer" with a history of more than 7,000 years has been reborn through the integration with natural aesthetics.
In the eyes of friends, Xie Lixiong's work is boring, but he enjoys it.
When it comes to the future, Xie Lixiong talks with light in his eyes. The beauty of lacquer is firm in quality, and brilliance in text. The most beautiful thing is that it carries the soul of China's five thousand years of culture with a body of seven thousand years. .
He wants to promote this skill to more people through his own efforts, so that the lacquer craftsmanship can be "popularized" and truly enter thousands of households and people's hearts.
(Finish)