Chapter 1523 Buddha Statues
The Yuan Dynasty's "Painting and Sculpture Notes" contains many records about Liu Yuan's statues, including "On December 18, the first year of Zhizhi, the princes of various palaces were ordered to wait for the queen of the main hall. In the pagoda hall... there is a statue of Manjusri Bodhisattva to the west and a Maitreya statue to the east, which are wrapped in cloth and lacquered."
The earliest preserved dry lacquer and ramie statue in China is the dry lacquer and ramie statue of the Eighteenth Buddha from the Yuan Dynasty. It was first hidden in the Great Buddha Hall of Cining Palace in the Forbidden City and was transferred to the White Horse Temple in Luoyang in 1773.
Concerning these eighteen statues of the Lord, the cultural relics appraisal supplement specifically states that they are "passed to be Liu Yuansu". Based on historical data, the Forbidden City concluded that these Buddhist statues originated from Nengren Temple in Dadu, Yuan Dynasty.
In the Qing Dynasty, this craft formed strict and complex specifications. Today, according to the banknote of "Current Rules for Work on Buddhas in the Old Summer Palace" collected by Lu Shuxun, there are detailed records of the Qing Dynasty palace-made folders. Methods and materials:
"Buddha statues are not limited to civil and military matters. They put putty and sand on the crotch and make the cloth fifteen times. They pressed the cloth with dust fifteen times. The long face resembles the pattern of clothing. Once it is painted with gray, two times of matting paint, three times of water polishing, one time of paint ash and dirt. Apply vermilion paint twice."
"The materials used are: : Linen, tung oil, Yansheng lacquer, varnish, matte paint, lacquer vermilion, brick dust, caviar brick dust, soil, etc. "
The so-called brick dust and soil are used to mix paint. The material is still used by domestic craftsmen who make lacquerware.
Brick dust is a powder ground from old green bricks and green tiles. Soil is a "dryer" used to control the drying time of paint juice. It is often used together with minerals. , called Mitoseng, is the sulfide-like galena slag deposited at the bottom of the furnace after refining silver and lead using the ancient method.
Because it is lightweight and is just a cavity of a lacquer shell, the ramie statue is very easy to carry.
But precisely because of this, the ramie statues are also particularly easy to damage. It only takes one hammer to destroy them, and they can also be easily ignited.
Because of the convenience of portability, many statues were easily scattered abroad in the era of poverty and weakness. Most of the current high-quality products are abroad, such as the Buddha statues collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Freer Museum of Art in the United States. The authentic statues at Tangzhaoti Temple in the island country are all exquisite.
The earliest extant dry lacquer and ramie sculpture is the Sui Dynasty Amitabha Buddha statue in Longxing Temple, Hebei Province, which is stored in the Walters Art Museum.
As for the largest dry lacquered ramie statue, only a Buddha head remains. In the hands of a private collector in the island country, the height of the head alone reaches 49.5 centimeters. It is obviously cut and merged from a complete Buddha statue. Smuggled out.
In addition, there are three Buddha clips from the Yuan Dynasty collected by the Luoyang Museum. Historical records indicate that "the statues are all made of lacquer, with rich and golden make-up, and are extremely exquisite."
Each of these statues is now a national first-class cultural relic, and they are all painted and gold-lacquered. Although they are far more exquisite than those scattered abroad, they are not as old as them.
The statue now in Zhou Zhi's barrel is a lotus-seat statue. The statue is made of deep jujube-colored lacquer.
The height of the statue is about 60 centimeters, which is not particularly large, but the clothes, hands and feet can already be seen that it has been carefully built, and the art and science are particularly delicate.
I came to the bathroom of a dormitory, opened the faucet and filled the bathtub with water. Zhou Zhi found a pen, cut off half of the pen tip with scissors, dipped the remaining pen tip in water, and began to wash carefully. Here comes this statue.
As much of the mud was brushed away by the soft wool pen, the statue finally revealed its true appearance.
Due to being protected by clay for a long time, the statue is extremely well preserved. The entire paint surface is as clean as new. Under the light of the bathroom, it shows a gelatinous texture similar to that of horns. It seems to be somewhat transparent, but it is not transparent when you look closely.
The front of this Buddha statue adopts the classic shape of two-stage semi-circular carving with a back screen. The Buddha statue has a high bun, a round face, thin eyebrows and long eyes, a small mouth and thin lips, and a slight smile at the corners of the mouth. .
After the mud was removed, the details of the clothing were revealed. The Buddha statue was wearing a shoulder-length long dress with bare chest and silk underwear. The lines of the clothes were sparse and smooth. The right hand is raised to perform the fearless seal, the left palm is lowered to perform the wish seal, and the bare feet are placed on the lotus platform.
Behind the back is a boat-shaped backlight, a shallow round headlight is carved behind the head, and a lotus flower is inside the circle. Judging from the shape, handprints and clothing, this is a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha.
However, as the cleaning continued, Zhou Zhi became more and more surprised.
When I first saw this Buddha statue, Zhou Zhi felt that it should be from the Yuan and Ming Dynasties due to the influence of the region where it appeared, and it might be from the Song Dynasty at most.
However, after the cleaning was completed, the Buddha statue's spiral hair turned to the right, taking on the characteristics of a low and flat bun.
The statue has a round and kind face, curved eyebrows and closed eyes, slender eyebrows and eyes, a plump mouth and nose, and soft and dignified facial features.
The lip line has large fluctuations. The M shape of the upper lip line and the W shape of the lower lip line are natural and soft. The face is plump, and the corners of the mouth are slightly tilted and deeply sunk, which makes it appear to be a kind of looming, compassionate and comforting, beautiful and subtle , a warm and tolerant smile.
This smile makes people feel gentle and calm. It can be said that if you add one point, it will be too charming, and if you subtract one point, it will be less soft. It is so just right, peaceful, peaceful, compassionate, and warm. It makes people feel comfortable at the first sight. It can only be understood. , indescribable.
Compared with the Northern Wei Dynasty statues, the accessories of this Sakyamuni Buddha statue are slightly more complicated. There is a set of Yingluo-style decorations on the chest. The upper body is covered with a double-room coat and the lower body is wearing a skirt. The lines are simple and smooth. , the clothes have light patterns, and the pleats are mostly tightened with fine pens, making them look like clothes draped in gauze, light and close to the flesh. Viewed from the side, the abdomen is slightly protruding forward, as if it had just been fished out of the water.
This feature is so distinguishable. The plain and close-fitting style of the cassock on the Buddha statue is the "Cao Family Style" - Cao Yi, one of the famous "Four Styles" of Chinese Buddhist art. Out of water.
The four types are Cao type, founded by Cao Zhongda of the Northern Qi Dynasty; Zhang type, founded by Zhang Sengyao of Nanliang; Wu type, founded by Wu Daozi of the Tang Dynasty; and Zhou type, founded by Zhou Fang of the Tang Dynasty.
Among them, Wu Daozi's "Wu Dai is in the Wind" and Cao Zhongda's "Cao Yi Comes Out of the Water" are the most outstanding. The two are relative concepts. The former's brushwork is round and elegant, and the painted statue's belt seems to be fluttering in the wind. , the latter's brushwork is strong and thick, and the clothes of the painted statues are close to the body, as if they had just emerged from the water.
The statue's skeletal proportions are accurate and even, and the carvings are exquisite and delicate. It perfectly combines the physical beauty of the earthly world with the sense of transcendence in the fairy world. The dynamic streamlines make the overall beauty of the Buddha statue more vivid, exuding meditation, compassion, and silence. spiritual charm and inner temperament.
The wet statue glistened under the light and flowing water in the bathroom. Although Zhou Zhi was squatting to clean it and looking down, it gave rise to a feeling of looking up and worshiping.
Gently turn the statue in a circle, and there are bas-reliefs and line carvings on the back. The upper bas-relief is obviously a sculpture of a worshipper, a Buddha statue is also engraved in the center, and the lower part is a rectangular stele-shaped inscription plate.
A few lines of words were written on the plaque in vermilion lacquer Wei stele calligraphy:
"On the 15th day of July in the seventh year of Tianbao, the King of Kaifeng ordered Yang Minjing to build a statue of the Buddha, two Bodhisattvas and three bodies. ”
This is the most traditional inscription for a donor. Many gold and bronze statues and grotto statues before the Tang Dynasty have similar inscriptions.
The calligraphy handwriting is powerful and ancient, and has the style of a "stele knife". He is very good at it. If my fourth cousin saw it, he would not be able to put it down.
And Zhou Zhi was so shocked that he almost couldn't hold the soft brush steady.
Tianbao is the reign name of Gao Yang in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and Yang Min is Gao Yang's important minister!
(End of this chapter)