Why can boxwood ward off evil spirits?
Boxwood has a very subtle and special position in classical furniture. Most of the boxwood works we see are handicraft ornaments, and there is basically no finished furniture, which is mostly used for decoration in the use of classical furniture. I remember once in Yuan Henry Classical Hardwood Furniture Co., Ltd., a gentleman saw the rosewood inlaid with boxwood in Kowloon, and praised the texture of boxwood jade, even saying that it would be nice if it were made into large furniture. In fact, many people have such questions. Why can't I see the furniture of boxwood? So what kind of wood is boxwood?
In fact, boxwood grows widely in China, and is widely distributed in the southeast coast, southwest and Taiwan Province Province. It has lush foliage and evergreen seasons. It is a common evergreen plant in tropical and temperate regions. Boxwood carving, as a three-dimensional carving handicraft, appears alone, and people enjoy it at their desks for a short time. At present, the earliest relics of the Yuan Dynasty can be found, such as the existing boxwood carving figure "Li Tieguai" in the Forbidden City in Beijing, which was made in the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (1342) and has a history of more than 600 years.
Boxwood is still a very interesting topic. Li Yu called it gentleman's wind and "gentleman's forest". In his "With Mail", it is even recorded that "boxwood is one inch old and does not overflow, and it will shrink one inch in leap years. This is God's will." In fact, this statement has also been mentioned in other books. For example, Su Shi said in a poem: "There are countless flowers and trees in the garden, and only Huang Yang is in a leap year." "Natural History" even mentioned that someone had done a test, saying that boxwood would not decrease in leap years, and it would not last long. In Youyang Miscellany, there are also the following records about the felling of boxwood: "Boxwood is heavy in the world because it has no fire. Try using water. If it sinks, it won't catch fire. Anyone who takes this wood will find that there are no stars in the dark night, and it will not crack. " These statements put a mysterious coat on boxwood and added a lot of interest to boxwood's works as people's favorite playthings.
Boxwood is extremely delicate because of its slow growth, and brown eyes (pores) are not visible to the naked eye. However, boxwood still grows slowly, and it is difficult to have big materials. Most of them are used for inlaying high-grade mahogany or processing into extremely fine carvings, and no large-scale works have been seen. Because of this, boxwood carvings are often mistaken for ivory by beginners. It can be said that boxwood is extremely difficult to make large pieces of furniture. If it appears, it will be a treasure.
The fragrance of boxwood is very light, very light, elegant but not gaudy, which can be described as incense and can repel mosquitoes. In addition, boxwood has the functions of sterilization, anti-inflammation and hemostasis. The mountain people who grow boxwood are used to picking boxwood leaves as hemostatic agents and placing boxwood branches to drive away mosquitoes and flies.
Appreciating boxwood's artistic works is the most important. If you play it seriously, you will always get something.
Legend of the origin of boxwood carving
According to legend, boxwood carving was invented by a cowherd named Ye. Ye is from Yueqing, Zhejiang. One day, he was playing in a temple at the head of the village and saw an old man carving a Buddha statue in the temple. Suddenly attracted by the skills of the old man, he immediately ran outside the temple, dug a sticky piece of mud, sat at the door of the temple and secretly learned a pile of plastic. The old man is a famous local folk artist. Seeing that Ye was clever and eager to learn, he took him as a disciple and taught him various skills such as round carving, clay sculpture, painting, bronzing and embossing. He made rapid progress, and a year later, he mastered these skills. One day, Ye watched the plastic Buddha in Baotai Mountain, Yueqing County. A Taoist in the temple broke a boxwood and asked him to carve a wishful hairpin out of boxwood. In the process of carving, Ye found that boxwood is tough, delicate in texture and shiny in color, which is inferior to other wood and is a good wood for carving. From then on, he began to carve works with boxwood. In this way, boxwood sculpture was born in China's folk art garden.