What are the six techniques of ancient jade carving in China?

In ancient times, people carved jade with hammers.

Jade craft began to be bred in stone craft, and gradually separated with the process of jade differentiation, and the time of jade craft separation was later than that of jade differentiation. If the differentiation between jade and stone began with people's choice of stone in the Paleolithic Age, then the differentiation between jade-making technology and stone-making technology should begin with the polishing of stone tools in the Neolithic Age. There are three methods of stone-making technology in Paleolithic Age, namely, direct hitting method, crushing method and indirect hitting method, which have little connection with jade-making technology and are not considered for the time being. However, it is of great benefit to directly study the stone-making process to discuss the differentiation of jade crafts. "Polishing technology: it is to polish the stone surface and polish the stone into a certain shape, which is an improvement in stone making." [1] (page 474) The technological process of polishing stone tools is: 1. Cut. First, the stone is knocked or cut into rough blanks with a certain shape. Gaza dipped a flat stone in water, rubbed it with sawdust, cut it into grooves from both sides, and then cut it off, often leaving cutting marks without polishing. Grinding. Put it on a big stone, dip it in water sand and grind it until it is made into a smooth and regular stone tool. Drill holes. Dip a stone drill, a bone vertebra, a wooden pole or a bamboo tube dipped in sand in water and grind the drill on the upper part of the stone tool, or use both methods. Due to technical limitations, most of them are drilled from both sides and worn through the middle of the device. Both sides are truncated cone holes. Because the sand thickness is not well mastered, the inclination of the hole will leave a swirl mark, and the two faces will not be connected in place, which often leads to a platform mark. Beads are also drilled on both sides and butted in the middle.

In a word, the stone grinding process is completed by cutting, grinding and drilling, which completely inherits the early jade-making process. At this stage, the differentiation of jade has been completed, and jade and stone tools have also differentiated into their own series, but the technology of making jade and stone has not been completely separated. It is very likely that the stonemason is still in the same workshop, and the jade craftsman is still making jade with grinded stone tools.

The polishing technology of jade and stone tools is the same as above, but we also found the difference between them, that is, the application of polishing technology. When grinding jade, most of them use different degrees of polishing technology, the surface is finer and cleaner than stone tools, and the luster is soft and crystal clear, but its tools have not yet been seen. Xinglongwa Culture and Chahai cultures in the north and Hemudu, Majiabin and Songze cultures in the south are all at this stage, and the jade-making tools at this stage are all hand tools such as sawing, grinding and drilling. So when can the jade-making process be completely distinguished from the stone-making process? Mark is not the application of polishing, but the invention and application of weight machine. This is the birth of a new tool, not the improvement of a certain technological method, which has brought a revolution to the jade-making process [2](6-8 pages).

two

Hammering machine is not only the key equipment of jade-making process, but also the real power to promote the complete separation of jade-making process and stone-making process, and it is the symbol of jade-making process moving towards independent handicraft industry.

The mound machine is a kind of jade grinding machine, which was called "water stool" in Qing Dynasty, "jade cutting machine" in Ming Dynasty and "mound" and "thallium" among workers. There are few records in ancient times. One expedient measure for us to study cranes is to trace back to the source from now on. Although it is not easy to reach the source, we can see its trace and vaguely hear its rustling sound.

There are two kinds of modern weights: the first is the electric iron weight machine, which is made of diamond powder, so it is called sand weight, and the rotation speed is 10-5000 rpm [3] (page 33); The second type is a snakeskin drill, which is similar to a dentist's dental dresser, with a faster rotation speed of 3000-20000 rpm [3] (page 34). Modern jade grinding machine, weight machine, is really convenient, without dipping in water and sand, only using fine running water. However, if the rotating speed is too fast, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, which is beneficial to speed up and the efficiency is several times higher than the weight of logs. The disadvantage is that some work is not easy to do.

High stools before the 1960s can be directly related to the Qing Dynasty.

(A) Analysis of mold machines in Qing Dynasty

About the Qing Dynasty, we can now see a relatively complete video material, namely "On Jade Painting", which was written by Li Chengyuan at the request of British doctor Bujun in 189 1 (the seventeenth year of Guangxu) [4]. He "looks at jade carvings and ponders over a variety of paintings (jade painting preface)". In other words, after on-site investigation, I made a sketch and tried to reflect it truthfully, so this picture is credible. This album is called "On Jade Painting". There are 12 and 13 pictures, each with a caption. It can be said that it is a jade serial book, which is another documentary craft book after Zhi Tao Map. It not only depicts the scene of jade craftsmen's labor operation, but also marks the names of important tools one by one. There are calligraphy and painting in the middle, three vertical columns on the left and right, and the number and title of the first line. Write "say" neatly, and the description is easy to understand. * * * is divided into sanding, grinding, jade carving, chipping, chipping, digging, flower arranging, drilling, flower piercing, drilling, wood cutting and peeling. One sand ramming figure is said, and the other pulp ramming figure is said to be one.

The pictures and texts of jade painting theory are easy to understand, but they need to be explained. Through Li Chengyuan's theory of painting jade, we can not only understand the main equipment and basic technology of jade work in the late Qing Dynasty, but also spy out how the jade workers manipulated the water stool in the Qing Dynasty. This kind of grinding machine has reached the best level after countless improvements by jade artisans in past dynasties. It is a first-class ancient jade grinding equipment, which can be called one-person high-foot platform scale machine, also known as "high stool" or "water stool".

(2) Discussion on machinery from Ming Dynasty to Sui and Tang Dynasties.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Song Yingxing's Tiangong Wu Kai said: "When the jade was first cut, the iron melted into a plate, and the basin filled with sand. With the turntable, Gaza cut the jade and suddenly broke." [5] (p. 308)

Its explanation is relatively simple. If you refer to the attached drawings, it is not difficult to understand that the winch published in Tiangong of Song Dynasty is basically the same as Yutuzhi, and it is also a table-leg high winch operated by one person. People in the Ming dynasty tend to generalize, but they don't ask for answers. The pictures and explanations are very concise.

What you can see now is only the pictures and words of the Ming and Qing dynasties mentioned above, and you can't find the material in the previous weights. Of course, this type of crane will not be the primitive form of ancient times, it is only a kind of crane in modern times, and its upper limit is in Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it can't be earlier. This is because the indoor furniture used in our daily life changed the habit of sitting on the floor or sitting on the couch in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, leaving a short step and sitting on the pier or chair. In this social background, there may be a table-type or high-legged table-type water stool. Therefore, the author thinks that the first high-legged table crane operated by one person was created in Sui and Tang Dynasties. The existing rotating machines in the Tang Dynasty can be proved by grinding. The so-called pulverizer is a pulverizer, that is, an instrument for pulverizing grain into powder. It consists of a pulverizer and a roller, which is pulled by livestock or pushed by people to make the roller rotate to pulverize grain. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, people used "grinding" to practice "hills", which was vivid and easy to understand. Grinding jade means making jade by weight. There is no doubt about the existence of cranes. The painting machine in Tiangong and the jade machine in Song Dynasty are both very advanced jade grinding machines left over after thousands of years of use and improvement, and they are also the development and improvement forms of desktop jade grinding machines in Sui and Tang Dynasties. It can be said that the forms and functions of the Sui, Tang, Ming and Qing Dynasties are the same as those of the 1960s.

(3) Several kinds of iron weights from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Qin and Han Dynasties

Judging from the workmanship of three generations of jade articles in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there is no doubt that jade articles were carved with hammers, and there is no disagreement among people who study jade articles. Of course, the machines at this time were not as efficient and advanced as those in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It is estimated that the mechanical principle is the same as that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but the structural form may be different. For example, like the Han people, they sit on the ground and use the machine. The machine has to sit several times instead of stepping on the table. It is reported that what kind of jade grinder was used in India in the19th century? One person pulls the bow to drive the jade grinder to rotate, which can be used as a reference for studying this kind of jade grinder. What kind of structure should several types of cranes in China be at this time? How many people are used for operation? Further exploration is needed, but it does not rule out that there are other auxiliary workers who are responsible for the rotation of the weights, perhaps several types of weights operated by two or three people, rather than an advanced weight grinder with a jade weight. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, iron smelting was invented and gradually popularized as a tool and weapon, which promoted the development of industry and agriculture. Not long after this time, or as late as the Qin and Han Dynasties, iron weights were naturally used in the weight machine, which improved the efficiency of thinking.

(4) Several bronze weights in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

The assumption and judgment of several squatting pans operated by many people in the Han Dynasty are also derived from the data unearthed in three generations, such as the stone carvings of man and beast unearthed in Yin Ruins and the sitting ladies unearthed in Muhao Tomb. The two sitting postures of servants in Shang Dynasty are sitting on the floor, which proves that the sitting plane in Shang Dynasty should be sitting on the plane, and the Xia Dynasty before it and the Zhou Dynasty after it are no exception.

Kneeling and squatting are ancient sitting postures. When sitting in front of the machine, your feet can't start the crane to turn. I can only spin with bowstring in one hand and ponder with jade in the other. Or two other people pull it back and forth to make its shaft rotate and drive the weight to rotate. Maybe two or three people can operate a machine. The so-called jade man is a person who sits in front of the pier and holds jade dipped in water and sanded jade. The height of the crane is about 30-50 cm. The structure of the weighing machine is composed of several supports, shafts, weights, bars or bows. The weight is made of bronze and can be cast by itself, which is more efficient than the original weight machine.

(5) The invention and improvement of the original winch

When will this machine come out? This is a long-standing and difficult-to-unify argument in the history of jade crafts in China. For example, Jo Yeo-jeong, who advocated that the hammer was invented in the primitive society of China, thought: "By the time of Tang Yu, there were many kinds of jade, and the jade was well handled, so the hammer was used instead of pure manual work." [6] Grinding refers to a jade grinder grinding jade with a grinder.

Liu Datong, a contemporary writer, identified the authenticity of ancient jade in Identification of Ancient Jade. Regarding the production of jade, he specially created two plates: "Knife Worker" and "Kunwu Knife Cutting Jade". He claimed that "there was no knife craft in the jade era, so it refers to the craft that exists today, such as Yu Fu's jade shovel, but there is no pattern, which means that there has been no knife craft since ancient times" [7]. Liu Datong thinks: "I can divide the sculpture into five periods according to ancient and modern times, and the stones from other mountains can be wrongly attacked, which is the oldest." Change the Kunwu Dao of the Zhou Dynasty, then the Eight Dao of the Han Dynasty, and then the skillful carving of the Six Dynasties, until the Qianlong carving of the Qing Dynasty was finally completed. What people see today is not Kunwu's sword, but a steel knife made of chrysanthemum iron to carve jade. "He thinks that the patterns and decorations on jade can be carved with a knife:" It used to be a floating cloud, and I haven't seen Kunwu Dao since Wei and Jin Dynasties. It's true. If we talk about the method of grinding jade with two hooks, the Han Dynasty has been convenient and lost its ancient interest. So far, the situation of making jade with rotating cars is getting worse and worse. If it is made by machine again, it will be even more incredible and awesome! " [7]

The so-called "double-hook grinding jade method" comes from the Ming Dynasty's "Eight Sacred Records". The original text is as follows: "However, Chinese people think of double hooks, and the grinding method is as fine as autumn, and there is no unevenness in density. The handover part is continuous, like hairspring drawing, leaving no trace. " [8] (page 172)

Gao Lian advocated that the "double-hook jade grinding method" was China's method, while Liu Datong meant that there was a double-hook jade grinding method in ancient times, not China's method. He not only advocated carving jade with Kunwu knife from the Zhou Dynasty, but also advocated carving jade with tools such as copper knife in the Six Dynasties. He also accepted Gao Lian's theory of grinding jade with two hooks, arguing that it is inappropriate to advocate the coexistence of knife carving and grinding. The idea of carving jade with a knife is just a legend, but it doesn't exist. Cutting jade can only be based on the statement that "stones from other mountains can attack jade", which is the only correct statement.

Some people in the west think that harness originated in Chaldea and then spread to the east and west. For example, Bosier put forward: "All the tools used by jade workers in China are complete and sufficient, and they are very early. If traced back to the west, it seems to have been invented by the Chaldeans (place names, the kingdom of Babylon) and Susina, and then spread to China, Europe and India in the East. [9] Now we can see that in the19th century, the line drawing of wooden tools used by Indian jade workers was different from the spinning wheel and water stool used by Xinjiang Hetian jade workers. Is this a different development from the same source or a * * * source * * stream? It is worth studying and discussing.

Xia Shang Zhou guillotine is a bronze guillotine operated by one or more people, which originated from the original guillotine. Conversely, the original modified version of the guillotine was the guillotine in the early Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

Where was the original hammer machine invented? It is a matter of great concern to jade research and archaeology. In the past, jade articles of Hongshan Culture and Liangzhu culture were the main products. These jades are decorated with complex decorations and polished surfaces, leaving some scars. According to this research, Mr. Wang Zunguo thinks: "The back of Zhang Ling Yuchan has obvious arc cutting. Arc cuts with diameters of 1 1 cm, 16 cm and 26 cm were left on m3: 22 of Sidun Jade Cliff, indicating that the cutting tools should be wheel saws with different diameters or round hammers, which were also called grinders in ancient times. The data is estimated to be a sand table containing timely particles. Judging from the symmetry and regularity of the round edge of jade and the angle of jade cong, the error is only about1mm. Besides the skilled skills of jade makers, there are also fixed jade cutting machines. It is estimated that jade cutting machines similar to water benches have appeared in the first half of this century. Judging from the prevailing ceramic turbine technology at that time, it was possible. Good luck and happiness!