雞蛋里的乾坤

俞天立

一枚雞蛋，可以做些什么？

在吃貨的眼里，雞蛋是食材;在農家的眼里，雞蛋是收獲;在藝術家的眼里，雞蛋是雕塑。

走進杭州手工藝活態館，一家作坊燈火通明，里外透著暖黃的光亮。展臺的一排木架上，陳列著上百件整齊劃一而又活色生香的蛋雕作品，像是等待檢閱的禮兵。我是見過不少蛋雕圖片的，至于真家伙，卻是首次見到，不免生出“暫時相賞莫相違”的慨嘆。

一念驚艷，一念心碎

注意到一位中年男子，正在前臺桌前手持刻刀專注雕著一枚雞蛋。

他就是蛋雕技藝非物質文化遺產傳承人董一言。G20杭州峰會期間，他每日加班，在蛋殼上雕刻了20國集團領導人的肖像。土耳其總統夫人阿米娜·埃爾多安看了他的蛋雕作品，驚為天物，當即入手收藏。

在董師傅面前坐下，靜靜欣賞他的蛋雕絕技。只見刻刀輕靈劃過蛋殼，好似沙渚鷗鳥驚起;那細微的聲響，竟帶有點淡淡的甜糯，讓人有種品嘗甜茶粽的感覺。那雞蛋不時被調整旋轉著，舞步曼妙輕盈。或許那早已不是一枚蛋，而是一顆修煉著的內心，而蛋雕工坊，就是他躬耕的桃花源了。

忽然注意到董一言握著的刻刀竟然是反的，把刀口對著自己，我有些好奇。

“我用的蛋都是生雞蛋，刀口容易戳破蛋殼，所以要用刀背刻。”他解釋著，眼睛依然停留在刻刀游走的方位，穩如一架洞幽燭微的顯微鏡。

刀下，是一個“蛋”字。

“非遺技藝，蛋蛋相傳。這是我今天想要雕刻的8個字。”他的話清淡如風。

我問起他蛋藝創作的起因，他停住了手中的刻刀，緩緩打開了他的藝術冊頁。

“2005年那會兒就接觸蛋雕了。開頭是在夜市上看到一位蛋雕師傅，于是被這門藝術深深吸引。我記下了師傅的電話，不停地打‘騷擾電話，請教蛋雕技法，他總是推脫不肯教。我自幼有些篆刻功底，就打算自己琢磨。年輕，不服輸嘛。”

“那時候毛手毛腳的，刻破了至少幾百個蛋……差點自己都失去了信心。長期做這行，視力下降得很快，頸椎也出了問題。”成功背后的辛苦，都是他甘愿承受的。

癡迷上蛋雕的董一言，把積蓄都花在了買蛋上。蛋刻破了，自己吃掉，從頭再來。為了節省一點，剛開始他撿木匠的鋼條來刻，后來才了專用刻刀。雕得多了，慢慢摸索出了最佳的支撐點和拿捏點。

“那時候，為了設計一個理想的圖案，跑了數不清的書店。記得有一次為了掌握鏤空脫膜技法，我反復琢磨卻總是達不到理想的效果。一個偶然的機會，在網上認識了一位同樣做蛋雕的朋友，他告知了我脫膜的方法，我就玩命地研究，整整4天沒怎么睡……這輩子都忘不了，這輩子都感激他。”

欣喜與酸楚，始終線團般交織在他的蛋藝生涯中，不曾間斷。

即使如今，成為了非物質文化傳承人，董一言依然沒有穩定的收入，家人也不太理解，可他卻舍不得放棄這門技藝，對他來說蛋雕就是全部的精神寄托。

夢想似薄如蟬翼的蛋殼，一念驚艷，一念心碎。十多年的如履薄冰，十多年的靜心修煉，他終究在那層生脆的蛋殼上跳出了指尖的芭蕾，夢想圓成了蛋。

非遺技藝，蛋蛋相傳

聽完董一言的蛋雕故事，我手癢癢的，表示自己也想嘗試。他欣然應允，將那刻刀遞給我。刻啥呢？他說，就刻“非遺技藝，蛋蛋相傳”這8個字吧！

我戰戰兢兢順著他的指引刻下去，卻始終手僵指澀，只能走出一條細線，絲毫談不上美觀。平時看似簡單的幾個字，刻起來竟然如此困難。成就蛋雕這門藝術，真的并非一朝一夕之功啊。

“鏤空雕更容易刻破，雕刻時連話都不能說。不像其他種類的雕刻，對蛋雕來說，刻破了就不能修復。你現在這種刻法叫做淺浮雕，不容易破蛋的，放開手腳去刻便是了。刻的時候要均勻用力，刮的時候要注意角度。”董一言邊傳授蛋雕知識，邊熱情鼓勵著我。

在名師的指點下，我這門外漢猶如大旱之望云霓，刀法輕巧自如了不少，人、刀、蛋也漸漸融為一體……終于，靠著董一言的悉心調教，我的第一件蛋雕作品刻成了。真實的感覺是——這真是一門磨人心志的細活。

“活兒還沒有結束，最后要把蛋清和蛋黃抽掉。”董一言提醒我。

他拿起我刻好的雞蛋，用一枚小針輕輕地在底部掏出一個洞，又拿來一管針筒：“注意，不是直接去抽蛋清，而是先要往里面打氣然后再抽，這樣清理得比較干凈。”

當他把一枚清理干凈的蛋雕工藝品交到我的手里，我知道，他是把蛋藝帶給他的酸甜苦辣分享給了我。這枚蛋，刮去了遺憾，刻去了退縮，蛋殼上留下的分明是“守護”二字。就像千千萬萬手藝人，守護著的是祖輩留下的一方藝術沃土。他們耕耘，他們除草，甘愿忍受烈日的暴曬、風雨的洗禮，只為等待種子的破土而出——那一刻的生命，太蔥翠，太清新，太珍貴。

“師傅，這么多年一直守著一枚蛋，您后悔過嗎？”我問他。

“學藝不后悔，學藝不精才后悔！”他一臉真誠。

“蓉菊滿園皆可羨，賞心從此莫相違。”發現美、追求美、傳承美，會讓我們的生活變得更有詩意;有詩意的人生才有未來。

一枚小小的雞蛋里，是可以有大乾坤的。

Now Dong Yiyan is an experienced eggshell sculptor， a certified master of eggshell sculpting， which is an intangible cultural heritage. One of the highlight moments in his career happened in 2016 when he carved on eggshells the images of 20 state leaders attending the G20 Summit Meeting in Hangzhou.

Dong now works at his studio at a handicraft demonstration center in Hangzhou where he and other masters display their handmade wonders as well as works in progress.

Dong Yiyan ran into eggshell sculpture in 2005. He， a native of Anhui， a neighboring province， had been in Hangzhou for two years. He worked as a vendor selling some handicraft products at a night market. In 2005， he spotted an eggshell sculptor selling sculpted eggshells at the market. The young vendor was fascinated by the incredibly delicate eggshell artworks. He got the phone number of the master and began to call him trying to convince the master to take him as a young disciple. He was turned town. So the young man decided to learn it anyway by himself， thinking the seal carving techniques he had learned before might be helpful in his new pursuit.

Eggshell carving wasnt exactly what he had thought it might be. The learning curve was more than challenging. The first few hundred eggshells broke under his carving knife as he wasnt able to control the knife. He almost gave up. Moreover， he found his eyesight became poorer and the pain in the cervical spine sometimes almost unbearable. He knew he needed to work harder to master the difficult skills. One of the challenges he needed to conquer was the cash problem. He needed money to buy eggs and tools. And he needed to learn more about art to make his carving look real and better on eggshells as thin as paper. And he needed to find and master technical know-how such as removing the membrane from inside the eggshell while engaged in the hollow carving. After meeting an eggshell carving fellow online and learned basic know-how from the guy， Dong spent four days and nights figuring out the details of the skill. He hardly slept during the period. He says he owes lifelong gratitude to the guy.

After about 10 years learning the craft largely on his own and through trials and errors， Dong Yiyan mastered the skills. Unlike the eggshell sculptor he met at the night market in 2005， Dong is willing to teach anyone who takes interest in eggshell sculpture. He looks down on some eggshell carvers who refuse to reveal their technical know-how to others. “You cant take it with you into another life. Youd better pass the expertise on to other people. Unfortunately， it is not a rewarding job. I spent so many years mastering the skills and the money I make doesnt count. My children arent interested. Alas， no one will inherit the skills from me，” sadly sighs Dong.

As he cant make a stable income from eggshell sculpture， his wife sometimes complains and is reluctant to support him when he is engaged in some works. He does not want to give up. He is now a middle-aged man and he has spent the best years of his life on this handicraft.

Dong Yiyan never regrets his dedication to the eggshell sculpture. “I never regret having mastered the craft. The only thing that could be regretful in this world is that you work hard but fail to be perfect，” remarks the master.