Chapter 1715: Humans are transformed from monkeys
“But if this craft is derived from Western horseshoes, then it would be more appropriate to call it Xi’an lacquer.” Matsui was a little confused: “Is this explanation far-fetched? Come to order? "
" It is indeed a bit far-fetched, so another Ming Dynasty person, Du Mu, put forward another theory in "Ting Yu Ji Tan": "Rhinoceros skin is regarded as rhinoceros skin, and the skin of rhinoceros is the navel, which is strong and has text." On the four sides of the navel, there is a round hole in the middle, which is like a glutton for sitting and lying, and the color is extremely smooth. , people from the Western Regions cut it off and used it as a belt decoration... Later, they used it as a lacquerware, so they took its name.'"
"Du Mu thought that the real name of this lacquerware should be 'Xibi'. ', the pronunciation is the same as 'hibi', but the text is different."
"He explained that the word 'Pi' means navel. The rhino's skin is strong. When sitting or lying down, the navel is rubbed extremely smooth on the ground, and there are layers of patterns around it, like opposite ones. Zhongtu Taotie pattern ”
"People in the Western Regions often used the skin from the navel of the rhinoceros to make it into a decoration or buckle in the middle of the belt. Later, the Silk Road was opened, and this kind of jewelry became known to the Han people."
"For example, "Han Shu· "The Huns" It is recorded that the emperor gave Chanyu "a golden belt and a golden rhinoceros." It can be seen that the golden rhinoceros was one of the symbolic ornaments of the nobles at that time. "
"Because it was a precious decoration used by the nobles. , which will naturally affect Popular aesthetics and folk imitation eventually gave birth to such a lacquer art."
"I think this explanation is much more reasonable," Jin Chunyi said: "Is there any similar cultural relic evidence in China?"
< b r> "Yes, and quite a lot." Zhou Zhi said: "Rhino-skin lacquer wine cups were unearthed from Zhu Ran's tomb in the Three Kingdoms. In the Palace Museum, there are rhinoceros-skin pen holders from the Ming and Qing dynasties, sunflower-petal lid boxes, incense boxes, and tea cans. Wait.”
"However, the ancient rhinoceros leather paint technology mostly used three colors of red, yellow and black to fill in, and the texture often resembled rhinoceros skin, tiger skin, or the natural wood grain of huanghuali, or like a pineapple with some skin peeled off, so it has reached In the Qing Dynasty, this craft was also called 'pineapple paint' or 'tiger paint' in the Thirteenth Line of Guangdong Province. "Leather paint'."
"But ancient craftsmen were limited by rules and had many restrictions on their creations." Zhou Zhi said: "What we just said is just to show that this craft has existed since a long time ago. , but whether it is color matching, pattern design, or creative intention, it has crossed I have surpassed my predecessors and stood on their shoulders, using the technology they invented to create my own works independently.” Flap lid box, when I see your lacquer painting again, it’s hard to even think of it. It seems to be something of the same craftsmanship.”
This is indeed not a false statement. The cultural relics of rhino lacquer are mainly simple, calm and restrained, while Lesoage’s paintings are gorgeous, strong and unrestrained. , it can be said that except for the craftsmanship, the two are completely opposite in almost everything.
There are also traditional patterns that mainly imitate the texture of wood and water waves.
As for Lesoage's lacquer paintings, some are like countless large and small soap bubbles stacked up, some are like lights rippling on water waves to create strange lines, some are like volcanic eruptions and the flow of magma, and some are even like Zhou Zhi. Recently discovered flame patterns in Sichuan red , even like wheat fields, rain ponds, snow streams...
In addition to the craftsmanship of rhinoceros paint, you can also see the shadow of Western oil paintings and Japanese high-maki paintings. The craftsmanship may not be as good as the ancients, but the art The use of language is far beyond that of predecessors.
As the old saying goes, a painter who has studied systematically is indeed much better at design and creation than a craftsman who does not understand the language and logic of art and only knows how to copy and paste human figures.
Compared with the paintings, those grotesque large gourds made with rhinoceros paint craftsmanship are inferior and not enough to look at.
But Zhou Zhi doesn’t like it, it doesn’t mean that Matsui doesn’t like it, especially a big gourd. At first glance, the pattern is integrated, and it turns out that it can be separated in half. After separation, the inner wall is divided into black and red, and the two backgrounds They are all filled with clouds. The red half of the gourd depicts a strong man, and the black half of the gourd depicts a gentle and beautiful woman. And around the two of them, there were many strange and weird monsters and "human beings" of all sizes.
Now Zhou Zhi has a deep understanding of the legends and stories of the Yi people, and knows that Lesoage depicts the founding myth of their nation.
In the creation myth of the Yi people, the world also began from chaos. From the chaos, clear air and turbid air gradually separated, and then shadows and shapes were formed.
The clear air ascended to the sky and became the man Ximu Zha. The turbid air descended to the earth and became the woman Xi Duzuo. These two are the ancestors of mankind.
The clear and turbid qi constantly intersect, day and night are obvious, and life begins. Mountains and forests flourished, beasts expanded, and heavenly kings, earthly ministers, and countless gods were born.
The Dragon King's daughter Saiyile Minger Yidrova began to use yellow mud to create humans.
The first generation of people created was a one-eyed man with a triangular eye on the bridge of his nose. This generation is called "La Dad".
In La Daddy's time, humans and monkeys lived together, denning in winter and nesting in summer, drinking blood from their hair. They could not cultivate the land, could not speak, and did not differentiate between elders and younger ones. They were in a primitive and ignorant era where men and women lived together. .
Gradually, the population of humans and monkeys increased day by day, human thoughts and feelings became richer, and humans developed into the second generation.
The second generation of people have an oval-shaped vertical eye on their forehead. This kind of people are called "Raven". Humans in the Raven era have enhanced their power to conquer and transform nature, and have also produced several famous " Among them, Shi Ruikui invented fire, and Fuerke knew about farming and animal husbandry.
One of them became the ancestor of modern humans. When humans passed from the first generation Ximu Zhexi Duzuo to the twenty-ninth generation grandson Lou Zhuwu, Lou Zhuwu raised twelve children, except for one named Wu Luocuo. , the other eleven moved to the land near the water.
The god Cegezi betrothed his beautiful third daughter to Wu Luocuo. After three years of marriage, neither of them gave birth to a child. The sage Bai Bogeng took the two of them to worship their ancestors and gave birth to three children in succession.
The first two were normal, but the third one was pregnant for three years. The child was born with cross eyes, could talk when he opened his mouth, and could walk when he got off the ground.
This child is Apu Dumu, the ancestor of "modern people" in the legend of the Yi people.
This story is very magical. In Zhou Zhi's impression, among all the myths and legends in the world, only the myth of the Yi people says that humans changed from monkeys, and it also has the concept of "evolution".
However, it is a bit nonsensical that evolution always depends on the difference in eyes, but I couldn't help telling the story to Matsui Zoichi, and he was immediately fascinated by it.
Only then did Zhou Zhi remember that many ancient legends of the island country were as magical as this legend of the Yi people.