劉曉娜
在老翡翠收藏圈里,“中和”是個傳說般的存在,不僅收藏實力驚人,行事也低調,身份神秘。
直到今年1月,隨著《中國老翡翠》一書的出版,才讓“中和”浮出水面。中和,《中國老翡翠》一書的編著者,真名鐘富苗,一位在重慶投資創(chuàng)業(yè)的浙商,已收藏萬余件老翡翠。
2018年起,文物出版社的編輯、攝影團隊多次來到重慶,在他的上萬件藏品中,整理出各個時期的翡翠器物代表563件(組),終成上中下三冊厚厚的《中國老翡翠》。書中展示的,上至宮廷里陳設御前的精美瑰寶,下至百年前普通的簪環(huán)鐲佩;既有書齋文房筆墨紙硯,也有盤碗杯碟爐瓶三事;有龍獅虎熊鳳鳥瑞鶴,也有壽桃佛手靈芝豆角……囊括了十七世紀以來中國翡翠幾乎所有的器形與用途、題材與紋飾,既是一部翡翠藝術的圖典,也是一部明清社會生活的畫卷。
鐘富苗對翡翠的興趣,源于幼年時老家紹興會稽山南麓的小舜江畔,因見了祖母珍藏的一枚翡翠簪子便格外喜愛。而他真正的收藏之路,則始于到重慶投資創(chuàng)業(yè)的2001年。然而,重慶并非翡翠的原產地,為何會成為鐘富苗收藏之路的起點?
翻看《中國老翡翠》,循著鐘富苗這二十年來的收藏足跡,答案逐漸清晰起來——
“世界上出產翡翠的國家有危地馬拉、美國、日本、俄羅斯和緬甸。目前我們所見的翡翠,95%來自于緬甸,也只有緬甸的翡翠才能達到寶石級別?!惫欧绞侵袊幕囆g發(fā)展促進會收藏文化專業(yè)委員會主任,也是《中國老翡翠》的學術顧問,他說翡翠因此又叫“緬甸玉”。翡翠雖然在元代就已被發(fā)現,但直到明代才被大量制作成器,以民俗風格的佩飾為主,當時主要在西南地區(qū)的云貴川三省流通。及至清代,翡翠才開始為皇家所用,被制成各種宮廷、貴族器物。
緬甸出產的翡翠,怎么會大量聚集到重慶、四川?答案就在茶馬古道,而當中的關鍵節(jié)點,便是騰沖。十三世紀,云南騰沖的馬幫到緬甸販貨,回來時為了平衡馬背上所馱貨物重量,會順手在霧露河邊撿幾塊石頭壓重?;氐津v沖卸貨后,這些石頭就被隨意拋棄在地上,有的裂為兩半。人們在斷裂的石頭里竟意外發(fā)現了“碧光燦爛奪目”的翡翠,從而找到了玉礦。這就是“馬幫壓貨石”的故事,也是無數關于翡翠原石被發(fā)現的傳說里,較為大多數人所接受的說法。
以這個故事為起點,很長一段時間里,騰沖幾乎是緬甸翡翠和其他物品進入中國的唯一通道。明清時期,大量來自騰沖的翡翠貢品經茶馬古道、秦五尺道抵達宜賓,順長江而下,然后沿京杭大運河進京。
重慶,地處茶馬古道和長江水道的交匯處,自然成為包括翡翠在內的云貴川各種物資的集散地、中轉站。
川江文史研究者陶靈介紹,過去,大量西南地區(qū)的物資在重慶集散,即使是在宜賓上船的物資,到了重慶也要重新裝船,這既是約定俗成,也是客觀條件所致,“上河段的船只、船工無法應對下河段的險灘,重慶就是上河、下河的分界點。”
這種情況下,包括玉石在內的物資順勢在重慶形成了買賣市場。
上世紀八十年代,改革開放初期,一大批東南亞商人就來到重慶收購老翡翠,大量具有年代感的民間翡翠飾品流失海外。
鐘富苗開始老翡翠收藏后,不滿足于舊貨市場零星的老翡翠飾品,他頻繁行走于四川、云南。他在宜賓、騰沖、保山、大理、昭通等地,拜訪當地行家、藏家、玉雕工藝大師和行業(yè)協會,后來更是將目光瞄向海外,從海外的古董商、收藏家手中尋購,并在蘇富比、佳士得等各大拍賣公司競投老翡翠,這其中就包括了流失海外的宮廷翡翠器物。二十年來,他收藏的老翡翠物件已達萬余件,基本收全了老翡翠的各個器型,涵蓋明代早期到民國時期,那段支離破碎的中國翡翠史,就這么被他一點點拼湊了出來。
對鐘富苗來說,藏品帶來的喜悅是埋在心底的。他將大部分寶貝存在匣子里,一有閑暇便將它們“請”出來“聊聊天”,在一器一物的觸摸中,與歷史對話,參透傳統文化的精髓。
隨著藏品漸豐,鐘富苗心里開始蔓延一絲孤獨感,能與他分享、對話的人屈指可數,可供研究的資料也幾乎被翻遍了。尤其是最近幾年,他有一種越來越強烈的使命感,他想為自己的收藏做點什么。
2017年,文物出版社立項,與鐘富苗聯合整理編著《中國老翡翠——十七至二十世紀中國翡翠藝術》一書,學術顧問即是著名古代玉器鑒定專家古方。
這本書,既是一部翡翠藝術的圖典,也是一部明清社會生活的畫卷。翻閱這本圖典,我們仿佛在重走翡翠之路:在馬幫的貨擔里,在顛沛的江船里,翻越崇山峻嶺,跨過奔騰江河,走入中原、走入江南、走進宮廷、走進千家萬戶。
重慶,作為這段路程的中轉站,見證了文脈的接續(xù),今日又因一位藏家而再次讓珍品聚集于兩江之畔,更似有一種不可切割的緣分在牽扯。
緣起之處,是重慶在地理位置上的巧合;緣深之處,卻是這座城市在文化交流中的不可取代。
In the old jadeite collection circle, "Zhonghe" is like a legend. With a rich collection of old jadeite though, he acts in low profile and his identity remains a mystery.
It was not until January this year that "Zhonghe" came forward with the publication of Early Modern Chinese Jadeite. Zhonghe, the editor of Early Modern Chinese Jadeite, whose real name is Zhong Fumiao, a Zhejiang businessman who invested and started up his business in Chongqing, has collected more than 10,000 pieces of old jadeite.
Since 2018, the editorial and photography team of Cultural Relic Publishing House has often come to Chongqing. Among his tens of thousands of collections, 563 jadeite artifacts of various periods have been sorted out, and finally, three thick volumes of Early Modern Chinese Jadeite have been made. In the book, there are the exquisite treasures displayed in the court and the ordinary hairpin bracelet a hundred years ago; There are not only pen, ink, paper, and inkstone in the study room, but also dishes, cups, stoves, and bottles; There are dragon, tiger, bear, phoenix, bird, red crane, longevity peach, bergamot, Ganoderma, and beans... covering almost all the shapes and uses, themes, and decorations of Chinese jadeite since the 17th century. Thus, it is a picture book of jadeite art and a picture scroll of social life in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Zhong Fumiao’s interest in jadeite originated from the banks of the Xiaoshun River at the southern foot of Huiji Mountain in Shaoxing when he was young, where he saw a jadeite hairpin treasured by his grandmother. Yet he began to be a real collector in 2001 when he started his business in Chongqing. Not the origin of jadeite, how Chongqing became the beginning of Mr. Zhong Fumiao’s collection career?
The answer gradually became clear when we open up the Early Modern Chinese Jadeite and follow Zhong Fumiao’s collection footprint in the past 20 years.
"The countries that produce jadeite globally are Guatemala, the United States, Japan, Russia, and Myanmar. At present, 95% of the jadeite comes from Myanmar, and only jadeite from Myanmar can be called gem," said Gou Fang, the director of the Chinese Culture and Art Development Promotion Association’s Collection Culture Professional Committee, a famous ancient jade appraisal expert, and also the academic advisor of Early Modern Chinese Jadeite. That’s why jadeite is also called"Myanmar Jade", he added. Although jadeite was discovered in the Yuan Dynasty, it was not made into objects in large quantities until the Ming Dynasty, when it was mainly circulated in the southwestern region of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces as a folkloric style of accessory. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that jadeite began to be used by the royal family and was made into various court and aristocratic artifacts.
How can jadeite produced in Myanmar gather in Chongqing and Sichuan? The answer lies in the Ancient Tea Horse Road and a key point is Tengchong. In the 13th century, caravans from Tengchong, Yunnan, went to Myanmar to buy goods. When they came back, to balance the weight of the goods on horseback, they would pick up a few stones by the Wulu River to weigh them. After returning to Tengchong for unloading, these stone were abandoned on the ground at will, and some split in half. People unexpectedly discovered the"bright and dazzling" jadeite in the broken stones, thus finding the jade mine. This is the story of "stones used by caravans to weigh goods". It is also one of the more accepted statements in the numerous legends about the discovery of jadeite stones.
Starting from this story, Tengchong was almost the only channel for Myanmar jadeite and other items to enter China for a long time. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, many jadeite tributes from Tengchong arrived in Yibin via the Ancient Tea Horse Road and Qin Wuchi Road, went down along the Yangtze River, and then entered the capital city along the BeijingHangzhou Grand Canal.
Chongqing, located at the intersection of the Ancient Tea Horse Road and the Yangtze River waterway, has naturally become a distribution center and transfer station for various materials in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, including jadeite.
Tao Ling, a researcher of Chuanjiang literature and history, said that many materials from southwest China were distributed in Chongqing in the past. Even the materials boarded in Yibin had to be re-loaded when they arrived in Chongqing. This is both a convention and an objective condition. "Ships and boatmen in the upper river section cannot cope with the dangerous beaches in the lower river section, and Chongqing is the demarcation point between the upper river and the lower river."
In this case, a market for trading materials, including jade, took into shape in Chongqing.
In the 1980s, the early days of reform and opening up, many Southeast Asian business people came to Chongqing to buy old jadeite, leaving a large number of folk jadeite ornaments with a sense of age flowing overseas.
After Zhong Fumiao started collecting old jadeite, he was not satisfied with the sporadic old jadeite ornaments in the flea market, instead, he frequently moved around Sichuan and Yunnan. He visited local experts, collectors, jade carving masters, and trade associations in Yibin, Tengchong, Baoshan, Dali, and Zhaotong. Later, he set his sights on overseas countries, looking for old jadeite from overseas antique dealers and collectors and bidding for old jadeite in Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and other major auction companies, including court jadeite artifacts lost overseas. Over the past 20 years, he has collected more than 10,000 pieces of old jadeite objects, basically covering all kinds of old jadeite. The fragmented history of Chinese jadeite from the early Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China was then pieced together by him, little by little.
For Zhong Fumiao, the joy brought by the collection is deep inside. He kept most of the treasures in the box and"invited" them out to "chat" whenever he had free time, talked with history, and understand the essence of traditional culture in the touch of them.
With the increasing number of collection, Zhong Fumiao began to feel a sense of loneliness in his heart. Only a few people could share ideas and talk with him, and the materials available for research were almost searched. Especially in recent years, he has a growing sense of mission. He wants to do something for his collection.
In 2017, the Cultural Relic Publishing House set up a project to compile the book "Early Modern Chinese JadeiteChinese Jadeite Art from 17th to 20th Century" with Zhong Fumiao. The academic consultant is the famous ancient jade expert Gu Fang.
This book is a picture book of jadeite art and a picture scroll of social life in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Looking through this book, we seem to be retracing the road of emerald: in the caravan’s cargo load, in the turbulent riverboats, climbing over the mountains, crossing the surging rivers, entering the Central Plains, regions south of the Yangtze River, the court and thousands of households.
Chongqing, as a transit lounge for this journey, witnessed the continuation of the culture. Today, due to a collector, treasures are once again gathered on the banks of the two rivers. Thus, it seems that there is an inseparable fate involved.
The origin of the tie comes from Chongqing’s geographical location; The deep connection behind, however, is the irreplaceable role of this city in cultural exchanges and transmission.