My system is not decent

One by one, looking carefully at the six stone carvings in front of him, Chen Wenzhe knew that these were indeed the antique craftsmanship of the Song Dynasty.

Back then, technology was underdeveloped, but people really relied on craftsmanship to make a living.

The style of imitating antiques in the Song Dynasty was already very popular, but there were not many imitating antiques.

In the period of antiquity, the statues of Buddha are the most done.

As long as you have seen the statues of Buddha made in the style of imitating ancient times in the Song Dynasty, you will know that there is no comparison between the "imitation of the present" and the "imitation of the Song Dynasty"!

Therefore, many Buddha statues that have been handed down to modern times were finally discovered after research, but they were imitated by Song Dynasty and Tang Dynasty.

For example, in the book "The Age and Style of Buddha Statues in Han Dynasty", the two Avalokitesvara Bodhisattvas that emerged from the Lingyan Temple in Suzhou City were identified as Song imitating Tang Dynasty.

At the same time, the Guanyin Bodhisattva statue in the first year of Baoding in the Northern Zhou Dynasty collected by the Capital Museum was designated as Song imitation of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

This has allowed many people to expand their research horizons in addition to recognizing the antique bronze ritual vessels and jade wares of the Song Dynasty, that is, the "antique" Buddha statues of the Song Dynasty.

"Boss, aren't these imitations amazing!"

Feeling that Chen Wenzhe had finished reading it, Li Jinli came over.

Li Jinli is also very proud of being able to collect such a set of Zhaoling Six Horses.

The biggest gimmick of this set of stone carvings is that you clearly know that these are imitation carvings, but you just can't see the traces of imitation carvings.

Regardless of the artistry or the old-fashioned methods, this set of Zhaoling Six Horses is top-notch.

Before Chen Wenzhe returned, Li Jinli had already found many experts to come over for appraisal.

Later, because of its reputation, it attracted a large number of masters to watch it.

There are so many masters, but no one can tell where there is an obvious fallacy.

What everyone sees are exquisite stone carvings and the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Now that Li Jinli saw Chen Wenzhe's satisfied expression, it's very likely that he didn't find any flaws either!

Of course, Chen Wenzhe didn't find any flaws, because the craftsmanship of this set of stone carvings is really good.

Can't find a flaw, but he knows how to do it.

He has craftsmanship and technology. If he is willing to put in the effort, he should be able to carve works of this level.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have that patience.

"Boss, is this set of Zhaoling Six Steeds not bad? I bought it from an antique craftsman in Yangluo."

"An antique handicraft factory? Just bought such a set of stone carvings?" Chen Wenzhe asked strangely.

"Certainly not. When I went there, the small things were almost sold out. In the end, I could only choose some big things, such as this set of Zhaoling Six Horses, and some are Buddha statues. By the way, there is another one here." It’s relatively small, let’s take a look.”

Looking at the elated Li Jinli, Chen Wenzhe was speechless.

Now that it’s real, since there is a means to carve such a good set of Zhaoling Six Horses, how can we imitate some ancient Buddha statues without Song Fang’s craftsmanship?

Chen Wenzhe's eyes followed Li Jinli's movement, and soon saw an eleven-faced Guanyin statue.

He knows this kind of Buddha statue, and it is now in the collections of major museums.

Of course, the number is not many, and many are controversial.

Here it needs to be specially reminded that the controversy is mainly about dating.

Because many of these Buddha statues have obvious Tang Dynasty style, some people identified them as Song Dynasty imitations.

In the pagoda of Huqiu Mountain Temple, two eleven-faced Guanyin Bodhisattva statues were unearthed, but the two Buddha statues have a clear age range.

Therefore, these two eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statues have become standard samples for studying the artistic atmosphere of "antique".

Yunyan Temple Pagoda is located on Huqiu Mountain in Suzhou City, also known as Huqiu Pagoda.

During rescue construction in 1957, several precious cultural relics were discovered.

Through the textual research and research on the cultural relics of the pagoda, it is finally determined that the pagoda was built in the sixth year of Zhou Xiande after the Five Dynasties.

The cultural relics in the pagoda should be enshrined in the pagoda with the completion of the pagoda in the second year of Song Jianlong.

The cultural relics from the pagoda are extremely rich, including Buddha statues, scriptures, porcelain, coins and other categories.

The two eleven-faced Guanyin Bodhisattva statues in the cultural relics of the pagoda have now become the main reference objects for the study of "antique style".

In terms of statue style, the shapes of these two eleven-faced Guanyin statues both present the "S"-shaped standing posture that was common in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

These two eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statues, with heavenly clothes floating down, have a plump figure and bear double-layered waist-style rosettes.

The unique elements of these typical Tang Dynasty statues appear unabashedly on these two Avalokitesvara from the Song Pagoda, causing future generations to have considerable doubts about their dating.

Fortunately, the Haihai Museum has an eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statue from the Tang Dynasty, which allows future generations to compare with these two eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statues.

First of all, judging from the arrangement of the eleven faces of Avalokitesvara, the three statues all have one face on the top, four faces in the middle, five faces on the bottom, and one face of the main statue.

The arrangement of the eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statues in the Tang Dynasty was not static.

For example, there is an eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statue in the late Tang Dynasty collected in Shoubo. It has three faces on the top, seven faces on the bottom, and one side of the main statue.

Looking at the overall shape, the three Avalokitesvara statues all have an "S" shape.

The styles of necklaces, necklaces and bracelets worn all over the body are basically the same.

A bead chain hangs from the neck to the legs, and the celestial clothes fall from the sides of the body.

The left hand naturally hangs down to hold the vase, and the right hand bends the elbow and holds the willow branch.

The Avalokitesvara in the Maritime Museum is decorated with a backlight, and the Avalokitesvara from the Yunyan Temple originally had a small hole for the backlight, but the backlight was no longer seen when it was unearthed.

Therefore, it can be judged that the two eleven-faced Avalokitesvara statues in Yunyan Temple and the eleven-faced Avalokitesvara collected by Shangbo should be from the same fan copy.

This powder version has also influenced many stone statues, such as the eleven-faced Avalokitesvara in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara in Baoqing Temple, Xi'an, in the Philier Art Museum.

Whether it is the arrangement of the eleven sides, or the standing posture and holding objects, it is consistent with the Avalokitesvara statues in the Haihai Museum and Yunyan Temple.

However, after a more detailed comparison, it is still very clear that there is a difference between the two Avalokitesvara from the Song Pagoda and the Avalokitesvara from the Shangbo Tang Dynasty.

The most notable difference is the celestial garment. The celestial garment of Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty is more flexible, using almost five twists and turns to express the celestial garment's elegance, and then naturally droops and floats to the sides of the body.

The Guanyin in the Song Pagoda has few twists and turns, giving people a heavy feeling.

Similarly, in the depiction of the long skirt on the lower body, Song Pagoda's Avalokitesvara is more conservative and traditional, with the long skirt almost covering the feet.

The long skirt of Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty only covered the ankles.

Secondly, from the perspective of engraving, Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty is more refined.

From the perspective of muscular expressiveness, although the three statues in the Maritime Museum and the Song Pagoda do not have the exaggerated "S" shape in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

However, in order to reflect the graceful features of Guanyin women, twisting gestures are still made at the waist.

But the protruding muscles at the waist and abdomen of Guanyin in the Tang Dynasty reflect a sense of muscle movement.

On the other hand, the abdomen of Avalokitesvara in Song Pagoda shows a more bloated and rich appearance.

Through a series of comparisons, the difference can already be clearly seen.

(End of this chapter)