Brief introduction of lion head

Lion's head is a kind of Wan Wen walnut. Walnut belongs to Juglandaceae, a deciduous tree. Fruit period 10 month, the fruit is nearly spherical, with a diameter of 3-5 cm. The endocarp is hard, wrinkled and yellowish brown, which is what people call "walnut".

Generally speaking, the "four famous kernels" are Juglans regia (namely "Wan Wen Juglans regia"). The main varieties are: lion head, tiger head, official hat, prince hat, chicken heart and arhat head. Its producing areas are mainly distributed in some mountainous areas of Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi and Beijing. Because it has reached a high standard in size, color, shape and quality, and because the yield of wild walnut is scarce, it has been sought after and collected by people since ancient times. Of course, the market price is not low, generally ranging from a dozen yuan to several thousand yuan, and some are as high as tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan. Moreover, due to the decrease of wild tree species, the price of fine varieties of walnuts is rising rapidly every year, which has become a new hot spot for people to collect, increase their value and play with. Among walnuts, the lion's head of several good varieties is the rarest and the shape that everyone likes. Among them, the old lion head with water dragon pattern with stuffy tip, short pile, outsole and side width exceeding 4.5CM is the most precious, and its collection value is extremely high, which is rare and of course expensive. There are also some special-shaped hemp walnuts that are also precious, such as the three-ribbed lion head (commonly known as Big Ben) and so on.

Walnuts in Wan Wen are not only used as playthings, but also become artistic treasures favored by players through carving by folk artists. Artists carve images and patterns of various animals and characters on small walnuts to express people's expectation and yearning for the future. In ancient China, people called mahogany "fairy wood", which was the most widely used material for exorcising evil spirits and controlling ghosts. Peach trees have such magical power, which is rooted in the mysterious concept that peach trees are afraid of ghosts. Thus, "walnut" has also been endowed with such mysterious magic. People often hold walnuts with mysterious power in their hands, which can avoid misfortune. The earliest nuclear carvings in the Ming Dynasty were all made of peach stones, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that nuclear carvings such as flower boats and figures carved with olivine and walnuts appeared (as we all know, "nuclear boats"). In the Ming Dynasty, the carvings of hemp walnuts were mostly immortal figures, evil spirits, mascots and so on. As a fashion product, small walnut carving can be enjoyed on the one hand, and become a symbol of wealth on the other. Walnuts nowadays are mostly for people to play with or collect. Because of their special materials and technology, the appreciation space can not be underestimated. There is a mantra in the circle of playing walnuts, "Don't carve it, it's not expensive, double it with one carving".

Perhaps many people don't know much about walnuts, especially walnuts, which are hard in texture, changeable in surface patterns and hollow in the middle. Moreover, its cross section has many irregular holes, so walnut carving is not popular all over the world. Unlike other sculptures, paintings and wood carvings, you can create them at will. Walnut carving is an art of concrete carving on a special material that is small but not full of inches, and it is exquisite. Among the sculptors who play with walnuts, Yang Hongwu is also good at hollowing out walnuts. Conch fairy is the best among his carving treasures. In addition, the material selection of walnut carving is also very important. Sometimes in order to find a walnut with the same idea as yourself, you have to find several sacks of walnuts to pick it out. Therefore, this small walnut carving truly shows the long-standing folk crafts of the Chinese nation. Every walnut handicraft is the condensation of the sculptor's painstaking efforts.