There is only one kind of jewelry in the world, which is composed of life and luxury. It belongs to China and is treasured in the Treasure Hall of the Forbidden City. Its story was interviewed by the Palace Museum as an exception. It is a blue legend that can never be copied in the history of jewelry all over the world, and its name is "Diancui". In this issue, we take you to swim across the long river of history again. We are honored to walk into the Palace Museum and visit the design masters in Taiwan Province Province. In the past time, we were moved to explore this ingenious design that has been in the eyes of the royal family since the Warring States period.
There is such a bridge in A Dream of Red Mansions. One day, Grandmother Jia saw a golden unicorn, so she reached for it and played with it. She smiled and said, "I think I saw someone's child wearing one." Imagine how smart and luxurious those bright jade feathers are in the sun, with shiny bases, raised edges and carved patterns. No wonder Jia Baoyu put it away as soon as he saw it and prepared to give it to his cousin Xiangyun.
As a matter of fact, "bling with jewels and luxurious clothes" is an inevitable praise of beauty in China's ancient poems. Those pearls "Cui" that really shine on the hair side of peerless beauties are actually special point Cui, which is a jewelry craft. The trimmed kingfisher feathers are carefully attached to a gold and silver base. For thousands of years, it has been the most important luxury for aristocratic women to decorate their appearance, because it is so rare, so fragile and so luxurious.
When Zhang Hua, a scholar in the Jin Dynasty, mentioned Diancui in Bird Theory, he specifically said that "women's jewelry is worth thousands of dollars". Perhaps, it is difficult for modern people to understand why this kind of jewelry made of kingfisher feathers can be as famous as that shining pearl, but if you have been to the Palace Museum in Beijing and seen those complicated and luxurious royal crowns of Ming and Qing Dynasties, the bright and profound sapphire will definitely surprise you in an instant.
In ancient times, jewelry was mostly made of gold and silver jewelry. Although dazzling, its color is monotonous. As a result, the bright and dazzling kingfisher feathers were grandly put on the historical stage. Empresses and princesses in ancient times simply put it on a bun. However, since the Warring States period, craftsmen began to attach exquisite kingfisher feathers to gold and silver jewelry along the lines, and finally inlaid with various rare pearls and jade gems. As a result, the splendor of ordinary jewelry is perfectly combined with the bright blue and elegant beauty of Cui Yu, and its brilliance is beyond words. No wonder, since the Tang Dynasty, in the royal dress system, Diancui has been regarded as an indispensable part of the crown clothing of emperors and queens.
A beautiful legend that cannot be copied |
The preciousness of Cui Cui lies not only in the preciousness of the bottom jewelry, but also in the rarity of Cui Yu. Kingfishers are petite, only as big as sparrows, and those soft and bright sapphire feathers only grow on the tips and tails of birds. When making Diancui, each kingfisher usually only uses about 28 feathers, and it must be "captured alive", because once the kingfisher is sick or dies, its feathers will lose their phantom luster. In this way, a small golden hairpin may need the feathers of several or even dozens of kingfishers; The number of complicated jewelry and ornaments is even more difficult to count.
As for the point jade used by the royal family, only the brightest feathers on the kingfisher's head are used. Therefore, Diancui may be the only treasure in the world that combines the beauty of biological spirit and utensils, and its value is more expensive than ordinary gold and silver can measure.
The best Diancui jewelry can be divided into two basic colors: "sapphire blue" and "emerald blue", among which sapphire blue is the best. The color difference is mainly related to the types of jadeite feathers used and the feathers in different parts, among which sapphire blue is the top grade, and according to different techniques, Diancui can also show different colors such as banana moon, lake color and deep blue. If other colors of kingfisher feathers or similar peacock feathers are used, the point jade made is called "Hua Cui", which has a low relative value.
The principle of Diancui is simple, but it is hard to see its trace in this world. Because as early as the Ming and Qing dynasties, excellent jade feathers were extremely scarce, and even the governor of Yunnan gave only a few hundred pairs of tributes to the royal family every year. It's time for 1933.
In, the last Diancuifang in China also closed its doors to thank customers, because since then, Diancuiyu Bird Feather has withdrawn from the market, and even a daughter is rare. Today, kingfisher is one of the national protected animals. It is even more impossible to take down its feathers and make them a little green.
Continuing the dribs and drabs of contemporary inheritance |, there are now thousands of finished products with complete appearance. Because the jade feather must be preserved very carefully, it will be incomplete and damaged with a little scratch. Thousands of years have passed, and most of the cuisines that can be seen in the market today are works in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, while those once amazing Cui Yue in the Tang Dynasty can only dissipate in the fleeting time and become legends only for remembrance.