At 7:10 pm, Wang Ding and Jin Long arrived in Xin#jian County in a 211 air-conditioned car.
It is July now. In Gancheng, a stove city, if you didn’t use this kind of air-conditioned car, you would basically be wet all over the body after being heated.
Xin# Jianxian is a prefecture-level county and city below Gancheng. Because it is very close to Gancheng, people who cannot afford a house in Gancheng choose Xin# Jianxian. This is the case.
Jinlong's family is not rich, it is considered an ordinary family. When they get married, their parents paid the down payment for Jinlong's house. Then Jinlong and his wife mortgaged each month and needed to pay more than 2,000 yuan. Originally, this family was fine, and their parents had their pensions.
, my father could still do odd jobs to make money, but in the first year of Jinlong's marriage, Jinlong's mother suffered from a strange disease. She went to the hospital for examination, but there was no result. Jinlong had to seek medical treatment randomly and spent a lot of money.
Not to mention the money, my mother's illness was still not diagnosed with pathology and frequent labor pains.
Just like that, Jinlong would take his mother to see a doctor every month, spending money once and once. Some doctors prescribe some medicines perfunctorily, and Jinlong could not tell whether he could cure the disease, but he still had to pay. It just happened over and over again.
All the 100,000 yuan of money was thrown away here.
The building of Jinlong’s house is on the second floor. This is a typical small high-rise building with a total of 12 floors. When I bought this building, Jinlong’s parents were considering that they were old and they were on the second floor and it was a good thing to do, so they bought the second floor.
"Wang Ding, there is an old man at home, which is quite chaotic. Don't dislike me."
Jinlong walked to the door and said to Wang Ding while taking out the key.
Wang Ding smiled and said, "Look at what Brother Jin said, I am honored to invite me to your house as a guest. Why do I care if the house is in chaos? Besides, even if it is in chaos, can I still be in chaos?"
As the door was opened, the living room that caught my eye was very spacious, and the pink and white floor tiles gave people a fresh summer breeze. Sofa, TV, coffee table? But the only thing that doesn't match this picture is in this living room
The coffee table is full of bottles of medicine.
When the golden dragon finally closed the door with a bang, Wang Ding's nose even flew into his unpleasant medicine mixed with a crazy smell.
Jinlong might have smelled it too, so he was so busy that he opened the door again, and then rushed to the window and opened the windows.
"Wang Ding, I'm making you laugh because my mother's illness is full of medicine at home, which smells a bit bad."
"It's okay, it's okay. It's okay." Wang Ding is a child who has suffered, so he is not spoiled. Although it tastes bad, Wang Ding can still hold it back.
"Guizhen, my friend is here, you can cook some good dishes." Jin Long shouted to the inner room. After hearing the sound inside, Jin Long smiled and said to Wang Ding, "Wang Ding, let's go to my study, I'm there
There are some artworks inside, I think you will be interested."
For those who are playing collecting, there are inevitably some treasures in their own home, and Jinlong is no exception. At this time, when he pointed at a room and asked Wang Ding to go in, Wang Ding nodded and followed Jinlong to a room inside.
go.
Pushing open the door, what caught Wang Ding's eyes were dozens of carvings. It was obvious that these carvings were carved from wood. Among all the carvings, two of them were more conspicuous. The first one was the one near the left side of the door.
The carving of an eagle, this carving presents a goshawk that spreads its wings and wants to fly. Its wings roars, its eyes are unstoppable, and it is very majestic. The other, the second largest carving is the goshawk carving.
Behind it is a carving of a wooden boy herding cattle.
Wang Ding knows little about wood carvings. Wang Ding is really a little dazzled when he comes into the world of carvings. Observing the two most conspicuous carvings, it is intuitive. Wang Ding can only see these two carvings.
The woods are different, but from this appearance, Wang Ding really can't tell what wood these two carvings are, and he suddenly feels his lack of knowledge.
"What, what do you think of me as a carving?"
Jinlong asked when he saw Wang Ding looking at the two works of art with great enthusiasm.
"Root carving?"
Root carving, literally, is obvious, that is, these two works of art are carved with the roots of wood. "Brother Jin, do you mean that the materials of these carvings are the roots of wood?"
"Haha. It can be understood in a narrow sense, but in fact, the root carving in a broad sense also includes tree bodies, tree tumors, bamboo roots, etc. For example, this wooden boy shepherds a cow, which is the root carving completed by the tree roots and the tree body."
"Oh, so that's it. Brother Jin, I'm not afraid of you making fun of it. I'm completely a layman in the art of root carving. Now I just see that the wood of these two carvings is different. Is there any knowledge in this regard?"
The root carving of the wooden boy who saw the cow was brown and yellow, while the carving of the goshawk spreading its wings was gray and white, and the wood of the two was obviously different.
"You are right. There is a lot of knowledge here. Brother Jin may not know much about other antiques and cultural relics. But I have been engaged in the research of root carving since I was a child. To be honest, I am more than a dozen.
When I was 2018, I learned the craftsmanship of carving with a folk master, so I was very familiar with root carving. But later I didn’t learn it well, so I gave up on continuing carving learning.”
It is said that Brother Jinlong had learned carving before, and Wang Ding really met Brother Jin again. In fact, Wang Ding did not understand the art of root carving, but he had also heard about the development of the craft of carving.
Not to mention it, Wang Ding knew that decades ago, as root art production and production declined, people's material consumption had not reached that level, and many artists changed careers or transferred their careers, and their root carving skills were on the verge of extinction. I am afraid that
The later Golden Dragon did not learn how to carve, which was also related to this.
"Then Brother Jin, please scan me for literacy."
"Okay," Jinlong said enthusiastically, "As long as you are willing to listen, I will tell you. Appreciation of root carving is actually the same as other antiques, and it needs to first study its production, which includes the material of root carving and the age of root carving.
Because a good root carving artwork must be selected without random materials. Generally, the root carving material should be selected for hard materials, stable wood, not easy to crack and deform, not to be immortal, and can be preserved for a long time. The common tree species are basically the most common ones:
Boxwood, sandalwood, cypress, elm, etc., such as the wooden boy in my house, and the carvings here, they are all carved from boxwood. You find the difference between this carving and other carvings.
Is it right?"
Jinlong asked Wang Ding, and Wang Ding carefully savored the various carvings and turned around the root carvings. These dozens of artworks have their own advantages and colorful colors. But to say that the most antique ones are,
This kind of boxwood is the root carving that presents high-end atmosphere.
"Is it because of the color of this boxwood?" Wang Ding boldly guessed.
"Yes, you are indeed extremely intelligent, you can see it all at once." Jin Long smiled sincerely. For the first time, he smiled in front of Wang Ding without any precautions. "It's the color of boxwood, because boxwood is full of boxwood.
The dark brown color looks elegant and high-end, so it is also the most common root carving artwork and is also the most popular among people. Then there are red shirts and sandalwood, which are still of high quality.”
"Wang Ding, I suddenly want to ask you, do you want to have a further understanding of the art of root carving? Because I think you are still very talented in root carving appraisal."
"Is that?" Wang Ding felt a little embarrassed by Jin Long's praise. "But Brother Jin, although you praise me so much, I have to say that I am indeed very interested in root carvings. Because in furniture, the root carvings can be said to be li
There are a lot of bad quality. I really want to buy some inferior carvings made of wood. Then I have to slap them hard, I think this is really useful."
"Yes," Jin Long sighed, as if he had had a type of experience before.
After pondering for a while, Jin Long said, "Wang Ding, the root carving collection has actually been around for a long time. As early as the middle and late Warring States Period, the unearth of the root carving "Evil-Breaking" shows that the art of root carving has appeared in our country. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the root carving skills have become more
Maturity. Root artists not only use wood and bamboo roots to create decorations for people to appreciate, but also carve furniture with practical value and other practical items such as tree root Taishi chairs and tree root crutches. Therefore, it can be said that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
At that time, root carving was widely used in furniture. However, since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, root carving art has been a bit sluggish. During the Republic of China, due to limited production conditions, many carving artists changed careers. The Qing Dynasty can be said to be a dividing line of root carving art.
.If you can see the root carving artworks from the Qing Dynasty, it is usually of great value. However, if it was after the Qing Dynasty or after the Republic of China, the value of root carving will basically not be too high. Of course, this is not absolute.
”
"Oh? Not absolute, what else do you have to look at?" Wang Ding asked in confusion.
"Just as I said at the beginning. To appreciate root carving, we need to look at the material of the root carving. The root carving artwork of good materials is slightly more valuable. Then we also look at the shape of the root carving. The shape of the root carving is "sparse, strange,"
, ancient, strange, and "good meaning". Generally speaking, the more complex the shape of the root carving, it means that it condenses more wisdom and sweat from the sculptor. In this era when the sculptor is missing, the higher its value will usually be.
, and there are also root carvings with good meanings, such as fish leaping on the dragon gate, spreading their wings and flying high, and blessings from the East China Sea. Because of their special meaning, they are generally highly respected, so their value will be increased."
Wang Ding seemed to understand. Listening to Jin Long's introduction of so many knowledge about carvings, Wang Ding had already been promoted from an outsider to a circle.
"Brother Jinlong, I still have one more problem."
"explain."
Wang Ding smiled foolishly, "What I want to ask is where did you find so many root sculpture artworks?"