木雕、石雕、竹雕、根雕等等，人們已經(jīng)知道得很多，然而雕刻師鄭劍夫用埋藏于水底千百年的烏木作為雕刻材質(zhì)，卻顯得別出心栽，他用這種獨(dú)特的材質(zhì)和獨(dú)特的雕刻藝術(shù)所雕刻出來的作品，成了人們收藏的珍品，以致許多收藏界人士對(duì)古沉木雕刻品作出這樣的評(píng)價(jià)：“家有珠寶一筐，不如烏木一方”。

烏木就是古沉木，又稱炭化木，是千百年前深埋在江河湖泊底層的枯木殘根。隨著歲月的逝去，枯木殘根在水底泥沙中經(jīng)浸泡和磨壓，便逐漸改變了原來的物理性能：木質(zhì)內(nèi)在的脂肪、糖類等都在水中溶解得干干凈凈，蛀蟲、細(xì)菌的生存空間也被清除，有的沉木被水底的泥沙腐蝕得絲絲縷縷，強(qiáng)化了肌理的材質(zhì)美感，有的則變得剛勁挺拔，顯示出崢嶸不桀的力度，形成了古樸凝重、銅打鐵鑄般的效果。其色澤也變得千差萬(wàn)別，有棕色、灰色、紫色、黑色，也有外紅內(nèi)黑或是黑皮黃心的。更有一些時(shí)間長(zhǎng)的古沉木明顯“炭化”，顯現(xiàn)出煤樣的黑色，真是奇譎而神妙。令人稱道的是，古沉木不變形，分量重，密度大，好的古沉木竟然可與紫檀木媲美，堪稱樹中之精，木中之魂。

浙江嵊州的雕刻師鄭劍夫用古沉木作為雕刻材質(zhì)純屬偶然：有一次，他在一個(gè)大橋工地上發(fā)現(xiàn)有位婦女正在用水底挖掘出來的黑“木頭”劈開來燒飯，鄭劍夫拿起“黑木頭”一看，見它色澤烏黑閃亮，材質(zhì)肌理極具美感，他當(dāng)即意識(shí)到這是雕刻的特殊材料，于是他急匆匆趕到大橋工程處的挖泥船上，用500元買了一大堆烏黑的古沉木。

得到這批古沉木后，他沒有急于動(dòng)刀，他對(duì)古沉木反復(fù)觀察，仔細(xì)琢磨著，他認(rèn)為展示古沉木的自然美感是第一要素，其次才是展示自己的刀藝，“人工極者，損其天趣”，鄭劍夫深諳此道。一件好的古沉木雕刻作品應(yīng)該把天然雜質(zhì)的奇譎美感與人工的精湛刀藝有機(jī)地結(jié)合起來，以求天趣與人意的和諧統(tǒng)一，“多留少雕”，保持“七八分自然，二三分人工”才能成為一件珍品。正當(dāng)他面對(duì)古沉木深深思索之際，突然又有位朋友風(fēng)風(fēng)火火地闖了進(jìn)來，說剡溪邊發(fā)現(xiàn)了一段烏黑木頭。當(dāng)鄭劍夫放下雕刀和朋友匆匆來到嵊州剡溪邊時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)這段烏木已被人用火點(diǎn)燃，正在燃燒。鄭劍夫不顧被火炙傷的危險(xiǎn)，當(dāng)即和朋友一起把這段烏木拖到溪水中，待火熄滅之后又把它拉到岸上。在金色斜陽(yáng)的映照下，他發(fā)現(xiàn)這段烏木的紋理顯得特別漂亮，分量也特別重，于是鄭劍夫高興地又把這段古沉木運(yùn)到家中。

這段古沉木有1米多長(zhǎng)，直徑達(dá)45厘米，它在水底不知經(jīng)歷了多少歲月，多少磨劫，它的周身已被水底泥砂侵蝕沖刷得千瘡百孔。鄭劍夫把它放在地上左瞄右看，反復(fù)揣摩，發(fā)覺這段古沉木中孕育著一個(gè)朦朧的生命：它似乎有一個(gè)忍辱負(fù)重、勇往直前的達(dá)摩祖師形象，于是鄭劍夫用手中的雕刀依形度勢(shì)，在形象關(guān)鍵的臉部特別是那雙堅(jiān)毅剛強(qiáng)的眼睛和緊抿的嘴巴上施以刀藝，使這段古沉木上的達(dá)摩祖師形象從朦朧走向清新，其他部分他則一刀不湊，順其自然，使古沉木固有的起伏形態(tài)及紋痕、肌理、結(jié)疤轉(zhuǎn)化為達(dá)摩朝前邁步的身軀、螺旋形的須發(fā)、肩扛的包袱以及被風(fēng)吹拂起的衣衫長(zhǎng)袖。

古沉木雕《達(dá)摩》完工后，鄭劍夫帶著它參加浙江省工藝美術(shù)精品展，引起了廣大參觀者和美術(shù)院校教授及專家學(xué)者們的稱贊，拿回了金獎(jiǎng)。一位韓國(guó)客戶看到這件作品后，急欲買去收藏，但鄭劍夫舍不得賣，婉言謝絕這位韓國(guó)客戶，不過最終他經(jīng)不住翻譯的苦苦勸說，鄭劍夫終于勉強(qiáng)答應(yīng)。

后來他又用當(dāng)時(shí)鋸下的小段古沉木創(chuàng)作了一尊長(zhǎng)眉羅漢，不到三天又被跟蹤到家里的一個(gè)臺(tái)商買去。

目前，古沉木在嵊州剡溪被不斷發(fā)現(xiàn)，古沉木的雕刻精品也在鄭劍夫的雕刀下不斷涌現(xiàn)。在他的悉心雕刻下，大型古沉木雕精品《書圣王羲之》誕生了，作品高達(dá)3.5米。多少個(gè)日夜，鄭劍夫站在腳手架上飛鑿走刀，他以嫻熟的高超技藝，依形度勢(shì)地掀開古沉木那層神秘的“面紗”，將古沉木中一位瀟灑睿智的東晉書圣王羲之的形象和盤托出。這件古沉木雕精品完工后，書圣王羲之的歸隱地金庭村即以18萬(wàn)元的高價(jià)將其買去陳列；他創(chuàng)作的古沉木雕《唐女》，讓古沉木與高貴雍容、嫵媚動(dòng)人的楊貴妃連在一起，折射出中國(guó)盛唐時(shí)期那種大氣的韻律和楊貴妃那豐滿嫵媚的形象。這件作品已連續(xù)捧回國(guó)家、省級(jí)的四個(gè)金獎(jiǎng)，世界收藏家聯(lián)合會(huì)主席看到這件作品時(shí)，發(fā)出了“一百萬(wàn)也不能賣”的感嘆!

古沉木的色彩雖然千差萬(wàn)別，但其主色調(diào)卻近似于黑色。用這種色調(diào)雕就的作品深沉厚重，具有高古的氣韻和深?yuàn)W的精神內(nèi)涵。他創(chuàng)作的古沉木雕《鐘馗夜巡》，通過古沉木的自然黑色，一方面表現(xiàn)了鐘馗面對(duì)妖魔鬼怪嫉惡如仇的浩然正氣，另一方面也渲染了夜間巡邏的環(huán)境氣氛；《人約黃昏后》則通過濃淡不一的墨色營(yíng)造一種浪漫的想象空間，造就一種神秘而美好的愛情氛圍。特別是鄭劍夫花了六年時(shí)間創(chuàng)作的根雕《梁山好漢一百零八將》組合型大作品，更受到人們的青睞，其中《黑旋風(fēng)李逵》的運(yùn)用十分到位，古沉木那深沉的本土黑色，讓李逵得體地傳遞出豪放、粗獷的精神氣質(zhì)，作品在中國(guó)工藝美術(shù)大師精品作品展期間，北京故宮博物院原副院長(zhǎng)楊伯達(dá)稱贊為“不但是精品而且是絕品”，全國(guó)人大常委會(huì)副委員長(zhǎng)李鐵映也給予了高度稱贊。

最近，地處嵊州市三界鎮(zhèn)的曹娥江地段，又在挖沙中挖掘出了大量的古沉木，這無(wú)疑給鄭劍夫的古沉木雕刻注入了無(wú)窮的活力。鄭劍夫心頭蘊(yùn)藏著一個(gè)遠(yuǎn)大的理想，他希望在不久的將來建造一個(gè)“中國(guó)古沉木雕刻藝術(shù)博物館”，將目前全國(guó)各地的珍貴古沉木及其雕刻作品匯聚到一起，進(jìn)行科學(xué)的陳列展示，為中華民族的藝術(shù)大廈增添光彩。

Carving on Ancient Riverbed Blackwood

By Xu Huadang

People may be quite familiar with carvings sculpted on stone， wood， bamboo， or roots. But carvings created on hundreds-year-old blackwood discovered and salvaged from riverbeds are rare.

Zheng Jianfu happens to be a master of sculpture and happens to be a native of Shengzhou， a place where a lot of blackwood has been found in its rivers. Blackwood is actually a local term for trees buried in rivers and lakes for hundreds of years or even thousands of years. The wood changes physical attributes after long-term underwater presences. Fat and sugar have dissolved; worms and germs have been eliminated; blackwood bears corrosive marks left by sands and currents. A blackwood usually shows a strange texture: it looks as if it were iron， radiating an extremely hard， ancient， powerful charisma. Different blackwood pieces show different surface tints: brown， gray， purple， black. Some displays black color on the surface， but inside it may be reddish or yellowish. Some blackwood shines in totally coal black. Such a river-bottom wood does not warp; it has great density and therefore it is unusually heavy. A high-class blackwood piece is regarded as valuable as rosewood. Collectors now regard blackwood as precious as jewels.

So it is by no accident the sculptor Zheng Jianfu has come into possession of quite a few blackwood pieces uncovered in the local rivers of Shengzhou and become a successful sculptor of blackwood sculptures. He ran into his first share of blackwood by accident. One day he saw a woman hacking a pile of firewood on a bridge construction site. It turned out that the black firewood had been unearthed from the riverbed. Zheng picked up a piece and examined it carefully. The wood radiated a black sheen and the texture was extremely enchanting. He realized that it would be ideal for carving. He rushed to the dredger that had been clearing the riverbed for the bridge， and spent 500 yuan for a huge pile of blackwood. And another day， a friend rushed to him， reporting a beautiful piece of blackwood had been picked up from Shanxi， a local river in Shengzhou. They rushed to the river only to find that the blackwood had been set on fire on the bank. Zheng and his friend immediately dragged the burning wood into the river and extinguished the fire. They found the ancient blackwood beautiful.

Zheng Jianfu was enchanted by the latest godsend blackwood piece， which measured more than 1 meter in length and 45 centimeters in diameter. He examined and studied its time-damaged surface carefully and decided to carve a statue of Bodhidharma (?-c.536)， an Indian Buddhist monk who initiated the Zen practice in ancient China. The original shape of the wood was utilized ingeniously to depict the Zen master. The statue stirred a huge sensation at a provincial art exhibition and won a gold award for its irresistible charm and inspirational workmanship. It was later purchased by a Korean collector. Zheng later carved an Arhat on the piece sawn off from the original one. A collector from Taiwan came all the way to Zheng’s home and bought the statue.

The Shanxi River in Shengzhou seems a natural treasure house for riverbed blackwood. Local people have kept digging up blackwood from the river. These new finds have provided Zheng with adequate raw materials for large-size sculptures. He created a statue of Wang Xizhi the Calligrapher. The huge statue measures 3.5 meters in height. Zheng spent nights and days exploring the mystery of the blackwood and created a statue of the arguably greatest Chinese calligrapher. As soon as the statue was done， it was purchased by Jinting Village in neighboring Shaoxing where Wang lived in reclusion after retirement.A Woman of the Tang Dynasty， a large-size statue carved by Zheng， has won four gold awards at national and provincial exhibitions. Some experts say it is a priceless treasure. Many of his statues are regarded as absolute masterpieces.

Recently， a great deal of blackwood has been dredged up from the riverbed of the Cao誩 River in Shengzhou. These pieces provide Zheng with wonderful new opportunities to create new carvings. Zheng now dreams of establishing a national blackwood sculpture museum in his hometown in the hope of displaying blackwood sculptures from all over the country.

(Translated by David)