Chapter 492 Ink Pad
The glaze of your kiln is thick, and there are a few bubbles in the glaze, which appear and disappear under the light, like the twinkling of morning stars.
However, unlike the entrance of Guan Ge kiln, these sparse bubbles are embedded in the middle and lower part of the glaze layer. Another part of the bubbles hidden at the bottom of the glaze layer is even difficult to see through the glaze surface.
The bubbles in Guange porcelain are obviously clear, and they often overflow to the surface of the porcelain to form "brown eyes", while the Ru kiln has "brown eyes in the juice, hidden into the crab claws", which is not only the same as the porcelain of the same generation. There is a big difference, and it makes it extremely difficult for imitations in the past to copy.
This is also a special phenomenon unique to agate glaze, because the viscosity of agate is so strong that the air in the glaze and carcass cannot escape normally during the firing process, and more of it is enclosed in the glaze. In the lower layer, because the vitrification is not strong enough, these bubbles are looming and mixed in the cracked ice texture, which adds another layer of mysterious beauty to the porcelain.
"Blue as the sky, face as jade, as few as morning stars, and patterns as cicada wings." Zhou Zhi is now very confident: "Feng Lao, the former president of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Research Society, once said: 'The glaze color of Ru kiln is the most difficult to imitate. , more difficult than Ding, Jun, Yao and other kilns There are so many products handed down from ancient times that they are not authentic. '"
"So this is a Southern Song Dynasty Ru kiln."
In fact, there is another important identification feature, which is the utensil. "Baoguang".
This is the age characteristic of old porcelain. In the jargon, it is called "Baoguang restrained".
The so-called porcelain is actually a layer of glass glaze wrapped around the pottery for protection and decoration, which greatly enhances the use value and appreciation value of the pottery.
The glass glaze of porcelain that has just come out of the kiln is transparent and bright, and is extremely smooth. However, in the art world, this is a sign that the thing is not old. Therefore, the glaze reflection at this time is called "stealing light".
During years of use and display, the surface of porcelain will also experience slight weathering, causing the glaze to appear brighter and gradually disappear, giving the porcelain an increasingly moist "age feel".
In the jargon, it means "thief". When the thief escapes, it becomes "baoguang", and the porcelain becomes a truly valuable antique.
Therefore, it is inevitable for later generations to fake porcelain and throw away the luster. There are only a few techniques, the physical one is polishing, and the chemical one is pickling.
However, these two methods can only deceive laymen, because the degree of weathering of real old porcelain is different in different parts of the base, mouth edge, protruding belly, concave belly... different parts.
Matte counterfeiting generally leaves regular wear marks, and the depth is basically the same, which is different from the scattered wear marks left naturally.
The same is true for the bite marks on the glaze caused by chemical methods. Not only the roughness is the same, but the physical scratches and the depth of the opening are very different.
For Ru kiln, the difficulty of counterfeiting is even higher.
“I have developed my elbow vision.” The fourth cousin finally smiled with satisfaction this time: “There are only nine and a half pieces of Ru kiln collections known in the world that are among the people. Although you are It's a little small, but it's rare to be separated, and it's both top and bottom. It's a complete split style. Among the nearly 80 pieces of porcelain in the world, including museums, this is even the only one."
"So don't look at a small box as big as your palm, its value is no more than your Longquan kiln and Yuan blue and white. It’s worse than a can with a lotus leaf lid, or even better.”
"Unexpectedly, I never expected that there would be such a leak..." Zhou Zhi couldn't help but be very happy: "Uh... what should I call this thing if it's not enough? The shape of the device is quite weird..."
"You don't know how to open it? Come and take a look?" said the fourth aunt with a smile.
"Oh yes," Zhou Zhi quickly opened the porcelain box carefully and found that there was a red pigment inside, which had dried due to age: "Is this... cinnabar?"
"Zhu Qi, it's mixed with honey." The fourth aunt said reproachfully: "You are also a master of calligraphy, so you don't have to laugh at me."
"Then this is... ink pad?"
"Yes, old ink pad."
There are two kinds of ink pads, cinnabar and cinnabar.
The so-called cinnabar ink mud is made from the cinnabar that settled on the bottom layer when bleaching cinnabar. The seal produced is red with purple, thick and calm; the so-called cinnabar ink mud is made from the cinnabar that floats on the lower layer. The upper layer is made of fine cinnabar. The printed seal is reddish-yellow and elegant in color.
Relatively speaking, cinnabar ink pad is suitable for sealing seals with white text; cinnabar ink pad is suitable for sealing seals with red text.
Seals were widely used during the Qin and Han Dynasties, but those seals did not use ink pads. Instead, they were covered on wax cakes and mud cakes, which were called "wax seals" and "mud seals."
From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, people began to mix cinnabar with water, mainly atractylodes liquid, and use a brush to brush the bottom of the seal and cover it on silk and paper. The most primitive "ink pad" began to be produced.
But after the water dries, the cinnabar easily falls off, so people began to look for a curing agent.
The first curing agent is what Zhou Zhi mixes into the box of ink pad now - honey.
After the honey itself has been concentrated, the cinnabar itself is also highly toxic, so even after being stored for thousands of years, the box of ink pad in Zhou Zhi's hand, in addition to being severely dehydrated, is still a beautiful "palace wall red".
"It turns out this is an ink pad box." Zhou Zhi smiled.
"Yes, this is the earliest honey mud." said the fourth aunt: "Look, this is the fan I repaired with the Zhu Qi in this hard box. Is it perfect?"
The fan is a small painting, in the style of a round fan, on a silk background. The painting shows a scene of a corner by the lake, with lush forests and bamboos, beautiful mountains and clear waters, and the brushstrokes are extremely delicate and exquisite.
On the scroll there is only a line of small regular script in the style of Zhong Yao and a seal. The small regular script is written on the willow tree trunk by the lake in the picture, and the content is "Jiading Xinwei Liu Song New Year Painting".
The seal is a small seal in Zhuwen. Zhou Zhi carefully identified it, but it was the four words "Qingbo Menxia".
"Who is this?" Zhou Zhi was not familiar with this person.
"It's time to memorize "Xuanhe Painting Book"." The fourth cousin said: "At any rate, you are also a collector of famous paintings and calligraphy works from the Song Dynasty now. It's time to memorize "Xuanhe Painting Book"."
"Is he very famous?"
"He was a famous court painter in the Southern Song Dynasty. He experienced the three dynasties of Xiaozong, Guangzong and Ningzong. He is also a painter of green and green landscapes and figures, and his painting method is influenced by Li Tang. His brushwork is exquisite, beautiful and elegant. He often paints scenic scenes of the West Lake. Because his subjects are mostly small scenes of gardens, he is known as "Small Scenery Landscape". "
" He is Zhang Dunli's apprentice, and together with Li Tang, Ma Yuan, and Xia Gui, he is known as the "Four Southern Song Dynasty Masters". He should be remembered in the future. ”
"I do know the latter two, and I also know Zhang Dunli, the Yingzong's consort, right? Liu Songnian is still his apprentice?"
"Yes, that Zhang Dunli."
"Then my " "Su Chu" can add a few chapters. The two princesses are good friends of the heroine, and the consort Zhang Dunli is also a relatively important supporting role in it." Zhou Zhi smiled happily.
"If this can help you remember more knowledge, I agree." The fourth cousin said angrily.
"Elbow, look at this seal." The fourth aunt said: "It was repaired with old seal pad, how about it?"
"There is indeed no color difference, so the Qingbo clan is Liu Songnian's nickname?"
"That's not true." The fourth aunt said: "In his early years, Liu Songnian and his brothers lived in the Qingbo clan of Qiantang with their father, so he named himself Qingbo. However, Qingbo Gate is also called Nan'an'Anmen', so it is often nicknamed 'Second Gate Liu'."
(End of this chapter)