"Thank you!" Chu Chen took the tea cup, thanked him, and said with a smile: "Actually, it's nothing, mainly because my family's ancestral acupuncture is better." After hearing Chu Chen say that it was ancestral acupuncture, Zhu Although the professor was curious, considering the taboo, he changed the subject and talked about treatment. So he asked: "Dr. Chu, when do you plan to perform acupuncture next time?" Chu Chen thought about it: "I have an operation tomorrow, so I'll come back the day after tomorrow!" "Okay" Next , the two exchanged their views. Seeing that everything had been explained clearly, Chu Chen took a sip of tea and was about to leave. However, when he was drinking tea, he happened to see Professor Zhu¡¯s table with his peripheral vision. Something immediately aroused his interest. "Professor Zhu, this root carving of yours looks good!" "Is this a root carving?" Professor Zhu looked a little confused, then he smiled and said: "I don't know anything about it, this thing is still the same as a few days ago. A parent gave it to me because I cured his child's disease. I originally refused to take it, but he said it was an ancestral item and not worth much, so he threw it on my table and ran away. "Is it quite expensive?" Chu Chen shook his head: "I haven't looked at it carefully. I don't know if it is expensive, but it looks like the workmanship is quite good." "That's right!" Professor Zhu frowned. Head: "I originally planned to ask someone to help me find out what the value of this thing is. If it costs a few hundred yuan, it doesn't matter if I just accept it. If it's too expensive, I will definitely return it to the parent. " Yesterday, Chu Chen asked about Professor Zhu from Liu Qinshu. I know that he doesn¡¯t receive red envelopes very much, and he rarely accepts gifts from patients¡¯ family members. In fact, for Professor Zhu, as long as he goes out for surgery during holidays or provides guidance, he can earn a lot of income. There is no need to receive any red envelopes. Professor Zhu continued: "Dr. Chu, since you understand this, how about you help me identify it, please?" "No problem" Root carving is a traditional carving art in our country. It is made of tree roots (including tree trunks, tree tumors, and The spontaneous and distorted forms of bamboo roots, etc.) are the objects of artistic creation. Through conception, artistic processing and craft processing, artistic image works such as characters, animals, and utensils are created. The root carving process emphasizes "three-quarters of manual work and seven-cents of natural creation", which means that in the creation of root carvings, the natural form of the root material should be mainly used to express the artistic image, and artificial processing and modification should be supplemented. Therefore, root carving is also called "root art" or "root art". The root carving on Professor Zhu¡¯s desk is a bamboo root carving of a longevity star. The raw material of bamboo root carving is moso bamboo root. Moso bamboo grows in clusters in nature, with many types and shapes, and is evergreen all year round. After decades or even hundreds of years of hard work, it has formed its own style with tough texture, delicate texture and elegant color. It should be regarded as a rarity due to its interesting accidental growth of roots and strange bamboo joints. The key to the success or failure of bamboo root carving creation depends on whether the natural beauty can be skillfully carved to win. Therefore, the work is required to have novel ideas, ingenious composition, appropriate selection and interest in artistic modeling. Of course, bamboo roots seem to show "ugliness" on their surface, but this "ugliness" brings us the charm of capturing materials and displaying skills, prompting us to stimulate our imagination. As Rodin said, "In nature, what ordinary people call ugly .can become very beautiful in art.¡± The bamboo root sculpture in front of you is carved from the full bamboo root. The longevity star is used as a standing figure. It is completely based on the characteristics of the bamboo root and is very appropriate. The longevity star holds a fan in his left hand. The right hand holds the staff, both of which are close to the body, forming a hidden relief. The clothes have simple lines and few wrinkles. There are not many layers, the blade is round, powerful, slightly textured, and polished smooth. It makes full use of artistic exaggeration to depict the head of the longevity star. Therefore, the proportion of the head is enlarged, about 3 cm, accounting for about a quarter of the body length. The head of the longevity star is almost shoulder-to-shoulder in width, with a high forehead and three deep wrinkles, indicating that he is both long-lived and weathered. The birthday boy has broad eyes, nose and mouth, big ears and shoulders, squinted eyes looking down, gentle face, kind eyebrows, three short beards, four-faceted appearance, bright and leisurely spirit, which vividly depicts the characteristics and inner world of the birthday boy. , giving a deep impression. This longevity star carved from bamboo roots has been passed down for a long time. The paste is rich and even, and it seems to have the aura of immortality. In addition, the carving is exquisite, and the knife skills seem to be smooth and smooth, giving a feeling of "excellent shape of the object, exhausting the spirit of the object, and obtaining the interest of the object". Therefore, after a brief look, Chu Chen knew that this should be an old root carving work, and judging from the carving style, it should be??.Ding bamboo carving works. Jia.Ding bamboo carving was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the Zhengde and Jiajing years of the Ming Dynasty, famous bamboo carvers Zhu He, Zhu Ying and Zhu Zhizheng appeared. The sect was passed down from generation to generation and was known as the "Three Zhus" in the world. Sanzhu incorporated calligraphy and painting into bamboo carvings, used knives instead of pens, applied brushwork to knife skills, and created original deep and high-relief bamboo carving techniques. It had a great influence on later bamboo carvings and formed the unique Jiading bamboo carving school. It is recorded in the "Zun Fu of Bamboo Pen" written by Zhao Xin of the Qing Dynasty: "The city is named after bamboo carvings The original carving method was owned by Zhu Sansong. Not even a hundred years after Zhu died, they rushed to imitate it and provided them with food and clothing, so they were written together with the products." , which is exactly the case. Sure enough, after a while, Chu Chen saw the inscription "Made by Three Pines" engraved on the bottom. This "Three Songs" is the nickname of Zhu Ying's second son, Zhu Zhizheng. The year of Zhu Zhizheng's birth and death is unknown. The works produced are signed with the Chongzhen year, and the year of his death may have been in the Qing Dynasty. Lu Fuzhao's "Nancun Essays" said: "(Sansong) is good at painting distant mountains, pale rocks, clumps of bamboos and dead trees, and he especially likes to paint donkeys. He is meticulous with his carving knife. He starts working on it when he is in high demand, and a piece of wood can be completed over time." Although Zhu Songlin was the founder of Zhu's bamboo carvings, as Zhu Sansong developed, his skills became more refined. The pen holders, armrests, incense holders and other items he carved were extremely precious curios at the time. Emperor Jiaqing also had a fondness for Zhu Sansong's works. Du Zhong, one of the inscriptions "Only expresses the spirit with Xiao Shu's brushwork, but it has been kept simple for a long time." Chu Chen didn¡¯t expect that he would encounter a piece of Zhu Sansong¡¯s work, and this thing was just for celebrating his birthday. If he could buy it, he would have a birthday gift for the old man in Jinling in the future. As for whether he can buy it, Chu Chen is a little uncertain. Judging from the appearance and carving work of this bamboo root longevity star, the market value is definitely high. He estimates that it should be between 350,000 and 400,000. Based on Professor Zhu¡¯s Judging from his character, he would definitely return this bamboo root sculpture to its original owner. Therefore, if he wants to buy it, he can only ask the original owner. When the other party hears that this thing has such a high value, he doesn't know if he will sell it, but he can't force it to buy or sell it. In the end, he can only go to Let¡¯s talk about it later. Putting down the things in his hands, Chu Chen said with a smile: "Professor Zhu, this thing of yours is indeed an authentic piece carved by Zhu Sansong in the late Ming Dynasty." "Late Ming Dynasty?" The results Professor Zhu gave to Chu Chen were quite good. Surprise: "Well, isn't this thing hundreds of years old? Why does it still look so new and smooth!" "This is not new, it's patina! It's a natural oxidation reaction caused by the previous owner playing with it often. " Chu Chen explained with a smile: "As for the smoothness, the old root carving looks clean, natural and simple, but it has natural scars because of its age and human use. You see " Having said this, Chu Chen picked up a strong flashlight and shined it on the surface of the thing. Professor Zhu was surprised to find that there were indeed a few tiny scratches on it as Chu Chen said. The number seemed to be quite large. Quite a lot. "Is this the sign of a real antique?" Professor Zhu raised his head and asked. Putting away the flashlight, Chu Chen explained: "This is indeed one of the signs of authenticity, but there are many ways to make fakes now, and this kind of trace can also be imitated. Of course, if you want to tell whether something like this is real It is easier to make fake ones. For example, the new root carvings look like old ones. Most of the carvings are crude and blunt, and the knife skills have not changed. There are many figures with the same appearance, and multiple patterns decorate the same pattern. " "Old root carvings are carved as a whole. The techniques are perfect and consistent. From the main characters to the environment (houses, furniture, trees, etc.), they are all carved realistically and with smooth lines. Just like this statue, it looks very natural and vivid, if it is an imitation. It would be difficult to do this" After listening to Chu Chen explain some key points of identification, Professor Zhu smiled bitterly and said: "This thing sounds confusing. It seems that I am not a material in your field. Ah! By the way, since this thing is real and from the Ming Dynasty, it should be very expensive, right?" Chu Chen said: "Antiques do not become more valuable as they age. The key is to see how the thing is. The artistic level is low. Or popular things are not worth much, but your thing is indeed better. Zhu Sansong, whom I mentioned earlier, is very famous among bamboo root carving artists. I estimate that the market value of this thing should be. Between 350,000 and 400,000." "His!" Professor Zhu took a breath when he heard the price given by Chu Chen. It wasn't that he had never seen such a lot of money, but he didn't expect that it would only cost ten thousand yuan. It was incredible to him that a statue that was two to three centimeters high could be worth hundreds of thousands. After a while, Professor Zhu asked with some astonishment: "Are all antiques so expensive?" Chu Chen shook his head: "Of course that's impossible. There are good and bad things, and only a small part of them are fine. It's valuable, of course, hundreds of thousands of things inIt¡¯s not too expensive to play there, with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands, or even hundreds of millions. "Professor Zhu was stunned, and then asked: "I heard from others that there was someone who made a fortune overnight. Is this true? " Chu Chen replied: "This kind of thing does exist, but there are many fakes in the antique industry. If you don't learn, you will get into this industry with the idea of ??getting rich overnight, and you will often end up with a bruised face. "