Harry Potter Morning Light

Chapter 2169 Flower Controversy (77)
Almost all arts have legends of beauty, many of which are recorded in the four local chronicles of JDZ.There is such a legend: A porcelain merchant was in distress at sea and fell on a deserted coast. Others were busy repairing the leaking boat, but he was wandering on the beach, unexpectedly, he was caught in the pebbles on the shore. He found a lot of lapis lazuli here, and he thought it was suitable as a pigment for painting porcelain, so he brought back a lot of lapis lazuli.The story recorded in the county chronicle added: "The porcelain craftsmen never used such a beautiful, so pure blue, and the porcelain merchants and others returned to the shore drifted in distress, but found nothing." Blue was never found again.

Few people know how many processes are needed to make a piece of porcelain, and how many workers' hands it takes to make it. I am afraid that even those who casually drink tea from thin-bodied porcelain cups may not necessarily know.Of course Nick didn't know either, because it was a secret, like the Venetians guarded their glass-making recipes on the island.

Due to the large population, the wages of craftsmen are kept very low, and many workers can be assigned to each process, but even so, strict confidentiality cannot be achieved. For example, Wang Jinsheng, an ink worker who once worked in the ink shop run by Cao Sugong, is not only I have learned the whole set of crafts, and developed ink carving crafts, which replaced the original ink molds of Cao’s family. The exquisite craftsmanship makes ink itself a work of art, which has been sought after by many people. Jianguzhai’s ink Become the most sought-after, even surpassing the Cao family.

Labor costs in Europe are too high and have been replaced by machines.However, while using people as machines, it also limits people's creativity. The paintings on Chinese porcelain are not drawn by a single artist, but by more than a dozen painters. This is probably because the quality of porcelain vase paintings is not high. s reason.

Painters are paid according to the workpiece, some only learn to paint flowers, some only paint ladies or officials, etc., so in such an environment, art will never make any progress, and ancient porcelain More valuable than porcelain made today.

Porcelain from the Song Dynasty, the most expensive, is characterized by monochromatic glazes whose hues are unrivaled in their elegance.Cyan is not the traditional color of Chinese civilization, and it was not until the Yuan Dynasty that blue and white blue appeared.That blue color is not the color of lapis lazuli mentioned above, at least not before the chemical reaction occurs after high temperature baking.

The preference for ancient porcelain will inevitably lead to counterfeiting, that is, bury the new porcelain in the pond and take it out after a few months to make it look like the yellowish color of the real antique, and the fake will not make a crisp sound when knocked on it , which is similar to real antiques.

But there are also people who hope to get more rewards by improving their own value, or the boss asks the craftsmen to learn painting from Lin Gua in order to meet the needs of European customers.

After regaining freedom of movement, Nick came to Lin Gua's studio again. His "business" here was still very good, and the turmoil outside seemed to have no effect on him. Everything was the same as when Nick left last time.

The difference is that Nick wore the Chinese scholar's scholar's attire, and his "appearance" surprised Lin Gua. He looked Nick up and down for a long time before he couldn't help laughing and said, "I don't think you are a scholar, you have a pair of blue eyes. "

Many Manchus retain blue eyes and Sogdian features. This is the result of intermarriage within their ethnic group rather than with the Han. Even Wanning looks a lot like a young Portuguese woman from some angles.

At this time, Lin Gua had already sent her portrait to the Admiral's Mansion. The easel that was originally used to put her portrait was painted by another person.

This person gives people a feeling that is difficult to express in words. Jade is divided into warm jade and cold jade. Li Yishan wrote in his poems: "The bright moon in the sea has tears, and the warm jade in Lantian produces smoke."This metaphor gives people an illusion that warm jade emits heat, just like a warm inkstone, but it only gives people a warm feeling in color. This kind of jade is mainly produced in XJ.

The "cold jade" produced in Yunnan and Myanmar is mainly "cold jade", which looks as clear and cold as glass. The man in the painting is somewhere in between, making people feel warm and cold at the same time.

"Who is this?" Nick asked.

"A guest." Lin Gua said casually, and then walked to the side. Nick found that Lin Gua had an extra sculptor in his studio. seal."

Nick chose a green stone that he thought was beautiful, and Lin Gua handed it over to the engraver, who engraved his Chinese name "Pingxi".

Before entering the customs, the Manchus wore purses, usually around their waists, containing flint and other items to meet the daily needs of fishing and hunting.This custom has not changed after entering the customs. The most common thing in the folk is the money purse. There is no need to bring money in the palace. There will be some eight treasures, jade or seals in it. At the same time, it also has the function of a status symbol.

The sleeves of Hanfu are generally wide and can hold a lot of things inside, but this kind of sleeve is not suitable for riding and shooting. After changing to arrow sleeves, the sleeves cannot hold things in the sleeves.

Literati often wear the "Four Treasures of the Study", especially pens, so that it is convenient to "splash ink" at any time.People from ordinary families can use a piece of bamboo to hold a pen, while wealthy people use ivory, red sandalwood, ebony, etc.

Nick couldn't accept the pen case and the brush, he still recognized the quill more, and Lin Gua was still unwilling to change his posture of holding the brush as always.

Then Lin Gua said in that flattering and mocking tone, "What's the business of your presence today?"

So Nick left the studio and wandered around the city like a depraved young man with nothing to do, but he didn't dare to enter the sparsely populated or complicated alleys. He accidentally found Captain Yao on the street, and he was also doing nothing, so Nick stopped him.

Captain Yao didn't recognize Nick at first, and he didn't recognize him until Nick walked in, but he didn't run away.

Nick invited Captain Yao to a restaurant not far away for a meal, and when he was three points drunk, Captain Yao began to complain, "It's terrible, those pirates make it difficult for us to go to sea, I can barely survive, but I Brothers still have to support a family."

There are many temples in Guangzhou, not all of them have a long history like Faxing Temple, but some temples are said to be "effective". Captain Yao went to burn incense and petition.

Then he began to ask Nick about ways to get rich. The English built many luxurious houses in Guangzhou, and there were so many big ships on the sea. He also asked Nick if he had a way to turn stones into gold, turning ordinary metals into silver.

Nick asked Captain Yao why he asked him such a question. Captain Yao said that you are French, and he had heard that the French had developed that magical stone in the Philippines.

Nick told Captain Yao that not only he did not have that ability, but anyone else in the world did not have that ability. Later, Captain Yao asked about European coins, or counterfeit coins.

Because of the ignorance of foreign countries, many people do not know how much silver is contained in foreign currency, but making currency requires molds, which cannot be imitated by the poor craftsmanship of ordinary sailors.

Then Captain Yao talked about his father’s generation again, because the Guangzhou Customs repeatedly collected taxes, and all ships parked in the port had to pay customs duties. In order to avoid the taxation, even if there was a strong wind at sea, they did not dare to enter the port to berth, resulting in many ship capsizing accidents .Fan Yu, the admiral of the navy at the time, also submitted a memorial, requesting that the merchant ships berthed, and that non-local transactions would not be taxed. If it weren't for this policy, Captain Yao would not have dared to park the ship in Guangzhou Port for so long.

If we have romantic fantasies about a profession, it must be because we don't know enough about it.The life of sailors is actually not as free as people think. They are always longing for a safe harbor where they can dock.

After parting with Captain Yao, Nick went back to the hospital and took away his luggage and the map on the wall. He couldn't cause trouble to the priest, and there would be other European tourists coming here to settle down in the future.

Before going out, Nick suddenly remembered, and took the clock on the table away, because it was a gift he bought for the admiral, not the original furnishings inside, although it has certain value, keeping it is considered a good thing for the hospital. a kind of compensation.

(End of this chapter)