鸡蛋里的乾坤

俞天立

一枚鸡蛋，可以做些什么？

在吃货的眼里，鸡蛋是食材;在农家的眼里，鸡蛋是收获;在艺术家的眼里，鸡蛋是雕塑。

走进杭州手工艺活态馆，一家作坊灯火通明，里外透着暖黄的光亮。展台的一排木架上，陈列着上百件整齐划一而又活色生香的蛋雕作品，像是等待检阅的礼兵。我是见过不少蛋雕图片的，至于真家伙，却是首次见到，不免生出“暂时相赏莫相违”的慨叹。

一念惊艳，一念心碎

注意到一位中年男子，正在前臺桌前手持刻刀专注雕着一枚鸡蛋。

他就是蛋雕技艺非物质文化遗产传承人董一言。G20杭州峰会期间，他每日加班，在蛋壳上雕刻了20国集团领导人的肖像。土耳其总统夫人阿米娜·埃尔多安看了他的蛋雕作品，惊为天物，当即入手收藏。

在董师傅面前坐下，静静欣赏他的蛋雕绝技。只见刻刀轻灵划过蛋壳，好似沙渚鸥鸟惊起;那细微的声响，竟带有点淡淡的甜糯，让人有种品尝甜茶粽的感觉。那鸡蛋不时被调整旋转着，舞步曼妙轻盈。或许那早已不是一枚蛋，而是一颗修炼着的内心，而蛋雕工坊，就是他躬耕的桃花源了。

忽然注意到董一言握着的刻刀竟然是反的，把刀口对着自己，我有些好奇。

“我用的蛋都是生鸡蛋，刀口容易戳破蛋壳，所以要用刀背刻。”他解释着，眼睛依然停留在刻刀游走的方位，稳如一架洞幽烛微的显微镜。

刀下，是一个“蛋”字。

“非遗技艺，蛋蛋相传。这是我今天想要雕刻的8个字。”他的话清淡如风。

我问起他蛋艺创作的起因，他停住了手中的刻刀，缓缓打开了他的艺术册页。

“2005年那会儿就接触蛋雕了。开头是在夜市上看到一位蛋雕师傅，于是被这门艺术深深吸引。我记下了师傅的电话，不停地打‘骚扰电话，请教蛋雕技法，他总是推脱不肯教。我自幼有些篆刻功底，就打算自己琢磨。年轻，不服输嘛。”

“那时候毛手毛脚的，刻破了至少几百个蛋……差点自己都失去了信心。长期做这行，视力下降得很快，颈椎也出了问题。”成功背后的辛苦，都是他甘愿承受的。

痴迷上蛋雕的董一言，把积蓄都花在了买蛋上。蛋刻破了，自己吃掉，从头再来。为了节省一点，刚开始他捡木匠的钢条来刻，后来才了专用刻刀。雕得多了，慢慢摸索出了最佳的支撑点和拿捏点。

“那时候，为了设计一个理想的图案，跑了数不清的书店。记得有一次为了掌握镂空脱膜技法，我反复琢磨却总是达不到理想的效果。一个偶然的机会，在网上认识了一位同样做蛋雕的朋友，他告知了我脱膜的方法，我就玩命地研究，整整4天没怎么睡……这辈子都忘不了，这辈子都感激他。”

欣喜与酸楚，始终线团般交织在他的蛋艺生涯中，不曾间断。

即使如今，成为了非物质文化传承人，董一言依然没有稳定的收入，家人也不太理解，可他却舍不得放弃这门技艺，对他来说蛋雕就是全部的精神寄托。

梦想似薄如蝉翼的蛋壳，一念惊艳，一念心碎。十多年的如履薄冰，十多年的静心修炼，他终究在那层生脆的蛋壳上跳出了指尖的芭蕾，梦想圆成了蛋。

非遗技艺，蛋蛋相传

听完董一言的蛋雕故事，我手痒痒的，表示自己也想尝试。他欣然应允，将那刻刀递给我。刻啥呢？他说，就刻“非遗技艺，蛋蛋相传”这8个字吧！

我战战兢兢顺着他的指引刻下去，却始终手僵指涩，只能走出一条细线，丝毫谈不上美观。平时看似简单的几个字，刻起来竟然如此困难。成就蛋雕这门艺术，真的并非一朝一夕之功啊。

“镂空雕更容易刻破，雕刻时连话都不能说。不像其他种类的雕刻，对蛋雕来说，刻破了就不能修复。你现在这种刻法叫做浅浮雕，不容易破蛋的，放开手脚去刻便是了。刻的时候要均匀用力，刮的时候要注意角度。”董一言边传授蛋雕知识，边热情鼓励着我。

在名师的指点下，我这门外汉犹如大旱之望云霓，刀法轻巧自如了不少，人、刀、蛋也渐渐融为一体……终于，靠着董一言的悉心调教，我的第一件蛋雕作品刻成了。真实的感觉是——这真是一门磨人心志的细活。

“活儿还没有结束，最后要把蛋清和蛋黄抽掉。”董一言提醒我。

他拿起我刻好的鸡蛋，用一枚小针轻轻地在底部掏出一个洞，又拿来一管针筒：“注意，不是直接去抽蛋清，而是先要往里面打气然后再抽，这样清理得比较干净。”

当他把一枚清理干净的蛋雕工艺品交到我的手里，我知道，他是把蛋艺带给他的酸甜苦辣分享给了我。这枚蛋，刮去了遗憾，刻去了退缩，蛋壳上留下的分明是“守护”二字。就像千千万万手艺人，守护着的是祖辈留下的一方艺术沃土。他们耕耘，他们除草，甘愿忍受烈日的暴晒、风雨的洗礼，只为等待种子的破土而出——那一刻的生命，太葱翠，太清新，太珍贵。

“师傅，这么多年一直守着一枚蛋，您后悔过吗？”我问他。

“学艺不后悔，学艺不精才后悔！”他一脸真诚。

“蓉菊满园皆可羡，赏心从此莫相违。”发现美、追求美、传承美，会让我们的生活变得更有诗意;有诗意的人生才有未来。

一枚小小的鸡蛋里，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.