/ GT Construction Technology /
Rhinoceroskin paint is the most distinctive traditional craft in Huizhou, and it is the only lost craft. This technique originated in the Tang Dynasty and was popular in the Southern Song Dynasty, but was lost in modern times.
Anhui rhinoceros paint does not trace, engrave or paint, but it hides the unpredictable texture deep in the lacquer. Gan Erke, who vows to rectify the name of Chinese lacquerware, took a year to make and went through countless lacquers and polishes. In the end, all the beauty was presented and frozen at the moment of coming out of the bath, like a year-long gamble.
On June 6, 2017, #Great Craftsman # posted a documentary about the romance of the revival of Chinese lacquerware on the Internet, which attracted widespread attention and reposted by major media outlets. Netizens expressed their admiration and admiration: Huizhou Lacquerware, the beauty that amazes the world! Amazing craftsman! Amazing Huizhou lacquerware!
This Huizhou uncle instantly became famous all over the country. He is the national representative inheritor of Huizhou lacquerware painting skills and a master of Chinese arts and crafts - Gan Erke.
I have spent my whole life making lacquerware, so I should be able to do it well. ? --Gan Er Ke
Gan Er Ke is not prepared from the beginning.
Gan Erke began to learn carpentry after graduating from junior high school, and also studied painting and sculpture. In 1979, he entered Anhui Tunxi Lacquerware Craft Factory, and in 1985 he was transferred to Tunxi Arts and Crafts Institute, where he began to come into contact with bodiless lacquerware.
These experiences laid the foundation for his subsequent involvement in rhinoceros paint craftsmanship.
Lacquerware originated in China but flourished in Japan.
During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, lacquerware craftsmanship was highly praised after being introduced to Japan and was carried forward by the Japanese. Japan is also hailed by the West as "the country of lacquerware art". Like China's china, the original translation of Japan's English country name, Japan, is lacquerware.
As the origin of lacquerware, Chinese lacquerware culture is extensive and profound. Unfortunately, as time goes by, this craft gradually declines.
Seeing our culture and art being promoted by other countries, Gan Erke secretly vowed in his heart: "I will make the best lacquerware."
Choice is very important, that is Go all the way and never look back.
In 1999, in order to make "the best lacquerware", Gan Erke, who was in his forties, closed the antique store that had a huge income and turned around to devote himself to the research and production of rhinoceros lacquer craftsmanship. This business does not bring good income, but requires a lot of investment of time, energy and financial resources.
There are no samples of this craft to watch, and there are only a few words about it in books. Gan Erke doesn’t even know whether he can follow this path, but he said: “Choice is very important. , Just walk all the way and never look back."
He did not choose the popular thing that everyone was passionate about, but chose a difficult and lonely path - rhinoceros paint.
Gan Er can use ten years of carpentry to lay the foundation, ten years of working to learn skills, and ten years of working in the sea to refine his mentality. He can understand painting, be good at carpentry, be able to carve, and refine design. It was ten years of persistence that made him successful.
He said, "What else would you do if you didn't do this? I don't want to have no successors in Huizhou lacquerware."
After nearly 30 years of continuous exploration, innovation and practice, he made Xi Leather lacquer and lacquer sand inkstone (an inkstone made of lacquerware) were revived and rejuvenated, so he was named the national inheritor of Huizhou lacquerware painting skills.
In 2011, Gan Erke's lacquer work "Red Gold Pineapple Lacquer Large Round Box" was permanently collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing. His artistic path is the practice and interpretation of the simple and tenacious craftsman spirit.
He spent ten years recovering the lost rhinoceros paint technique, and his works are permanently collected by the Palace Museum. Japanese lacquer artists bowed to him and praised him. He wanted to bring Chinese lacquerware back to the Eastern stage.
He started making crafts at the age of 15. He got started with his understanding and was willing to resume rhinoceros lacquer skills for 30 years without changing his mind. His works are permanently collected by the Palace Museum.
Using his own efforts to create shocking works, he wants to let the world know that the best lacquerware is in China.
For Gan Erke, "If you can't do your best today, it doesn't matter. There is still tomorrow; if you can't do your best tomorrow, it doesn't matter. There will be the day after tomorrow, or even a lifetime. As long as you persist If you keep doing it, you will become the best one day. If you do one thing in your life, you should be able to do it well." This sentence may be where his "ingenuity" lies!
Rhinoceros leather lacquerware, slow work and careful work, this life can be replaced by a thousand years.
Rhinoceroskin lacquer is the most distinctive traditional craft in Huizhou. During the Southern Song Dynasty, rhinoceroskin lacquerware was used as a tribute and was used by the royal family. It is difficult for ordinary people to find one, and craftsmen of all generations regard the complex production process of rhinoceros paint as a secret secret.
People pay more attention to lacquerware, and pay more attention to the decoration process on the surface of lacquerware, because it is the most obvious and attractive.
Every step of a good thing must be perfect from beginning to end. This is a sweet belief. To do it, we must start from the most basic lacquer fetal bones. Making a piece of lacquerware requires at least a year of work in all the steps.
Making lacquerware requires twelve steps. The first step is to draw a sketch. The size, shape, pattern, and required materials must all be thought over and drawn again and again.
The second step is to pull the gypsum blank. Evenly cover the prepared plaster on the straw, and then carefully draw the plaster until it is made into a plaster model that is easy to adjust.
The most commonly used lacquerware tires are wooden tires, other pottery tires, and metal tires. Metal tires and leather tires are also used. In order to make the fetal bones strong, old nanmu or old ginkgo wood is generally used, which is fine, strong and not easy to deform.
The third step is to trim the blank. Usually, you should put the plaster model in a conspicuous place, look at it several times, and then change it if you are not satisfied, until you feel a move in your heart when you accidentally see it, and the model is finalized.
The fourth step is to mix paint. The powder made by firing and grinding traditional ancient tiles is mixed with lacquer to make lacquer ash with the strongest viscosity, which helps to stabilize the fetal bones.
When Gan Erke first started buying, squeezing, and filtering paint, he spent a week working with paint. I was originally lucky that I was not allergic to paint, as it was a natural material for making paint.
But the good times did not last long. After half a month, his whole body became itchy and covered with lacquer sores. He had to apply leek juice on his body every day before he recovered.
After mixing the paint, apply the paint ash layer by layer on the gypsum tire. This is the fifth step of dusting. Then use the linen cloth made of extremely tough ramie and press it on the fetal bones. This is the sixth step of mounting the cloth.
The completion of a fetal bone requires repeated dusting and mounting. Fill the gaps in the linen cloth with paint dust. After each batch, you have to wait for the carcass to dry in the shade, and then repeat this process. Each time It will take several months.
After repeatedly accumulating the dusty mounting fabric until it reaches the desired thickness, the seventh step is to reshape it. Pull out the rope inside the fetal bone and dig out the plaster, leaving a fetal bone completely composed of lacquer, linen, and lacquer ash, which can last for thousands of years.
Step 8: The concave and convex texture to be created on the fetal bone is called "埝", and making 坝 is the key to making rhinoceros skin paint.
The shape, trend, and height of the pile determine the final pattern. This is the secret of why rhinoceros lacquerware can form exquisite textures without carving, painting, or tracing.
Traditional rhinoceros paint is mostly made of yellow, red and black colors. The lacquerware is dull in color. However, you can directly use the brightest gold foil instead of yellow paint to create your own golden-spotted rhinoceros. Leather paint, this is the ninth step of making rhinoceros leather paint and gilding.
The tenth step is to paint. The paint needs to be applied repeatedly 40 times, and each application needs to be completely dried before continuing to the next time.
After the paint dries, it’s the eleventh most challenging step—sanding. The four layers of paint combined are barely thick enough for a piece of paper. After polishing, the texture of the rhinoceros paint is gone, making it a waste product.
So you need to be willing to rub it repeatedly in this tiny space. Wherever the ridges are raised and polished, golden paint circles will appear, with clear layers and dense flow.
The final step in making lacquerware is to polish the lacquer surface. What Gan Erke pursues is a glossy finish without any scratches, which has never been seen in lacquerware before.
Therefore, he insisted on using his hands instead of tools for the final polishing. He said: "Only the skin and experience of the palm can sense the temperature and frequency of paint polishing, so that a delicate and crystal-clear surface texture can be formed."
From repeated attempts to restoring the rhinoceros paint craft , made the first satisfactory work, which lasted for 10 years. In 2011, the rhino lacquer work "Red Gold Pineapple Lacquer Large Round Box" produced by Gan Erke was permanently collected by the Palace Museum.
In 2016, Gan Erke's works "Green and Gold Rhinoceros Leather Lacquered Heavenly Sphere Vase" and "Tang's Deer Antler Sand Eight-Ringed Pure Vase" were collected by the National Museum.
In 2017, the work "Ruyuan" designed by Jiang Qiong'er and produced by Gan Erke - "Red and Gold Rhinoceros Leather Lacquer Heaven and Earth Cover Box" was collected by the British Museum.
"Lacquer ware and things that have been painted are two different things. Lacquer ware is a thing that becomes a 'vessel'. It is the 'vessel' that we often say that a person can become a great vessel." Gan Erke is like this. explain. "Like glue and paint".
Huangshan Tunxi Liyang Old Street, far away from the hustle and bustle, has a simple and elegant Zen feel. The studio of lacquer master Gan Erke, a representative inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage projects, is located here.
The bright hall on the first floor displays his lacquerware works, including warm red and gold-spotted rhinoceros leather lacquer bowls, calm green and gold-spotted rhinoceros leather lacquer boxes, gorgeous flowing lacquer tea cans and Quaint antler sand incense burner. If a stranger came in curiously and happened to be downstairs, he would introduce the lacquerware to the visitor in a friendly manner.
He is over sixty years old, wearing a neat white shirt, with his hair streaked with white hair not messy. He narrates in an orderly manner, with a calm and gentle tone, like a quiet scholar.
Only his fingernails revealed different information. There was black paint ash between his fingernails, which was the mark of having just moved his hands.
He values ????the "degree" of doing things and being a person, and also values ??the creed of "gentle as jade".
, quite a gentleman - polishing one's own temperament is just like polishing a beloved piece of lacquerware.
A perfect work is not done with hands but with heart. Only such works can stand up and be passed down. His works are only customized for those individuals who love traditional Chinese craftsmanship and traditional Chinese culture. They are made for China, for the spirit of craftsmanship, and for immortality.
As a high-level expert in the field of traditional Chinese culture, he has more activities and entertainment, but he remains low-key and indifferent. He does not keep his skills secret, but is active in university lectures, TV and online media , to promote and display ancient and mysterious traditional skills to people.
In order to better inherit Huizhou lacquerware craftsmanship, Gan Erke brought 7 students. Now they can operate independently and flexibly use various lacquer production techniques to assist Gan Erke in making lacquerware. But even so, we can only make a dozen or twenty pieces a year.
After graduating from Fudan University, Gan Erke’s daughter Gan Fei devoted herself to promoting her father’s lacquerware. This is the best way to inherit it!
"One person's achievement can only form a peak. Only when more people succeed can a plateau of lacquerware art be achieved." He said.
As long as you insist on doing something and keep doing it, one day you will become the best.
If you do one thing in your life, you should be able to do it well.
Let’s talk to you.
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