Chapter 1526 Modern High Technology
"I dare not ask these two..." Zhou Zhi knew that this place was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and now he had the opportunity to ask the names of the two old men.
"Oh," Mr. Wang said with a smile: "I forgot to introduce you. This is Lao Xia next to me. Xia Gengqi is our top lacquer appraisal expert in the country. This is Lao Shen and Jin Shen. , an expert in identifying Buddhist statues in the Forbidden City. "
"By the way, the earliest existing dry lacquer and ramie statues in the White Horse Temple are the eighteen statues, which were identified by Lao Jin and Lao Xia." Then introduce.
“Wow, I’ve admired you two for a long time.” Zhou Zhi was immediately in awe. Lacquerware statues themselves are relatively unpopular, and most appraisal experts include them in miscellaneous items. These two are the only remaining experts in the country.
"The naked eye can basically confirm that it is authentic. Regardless of the materials used, the paint, the inner tube, and the carving method, this is the dry lacquer and ramie technology of the early Northern Qi Dynasty." Xia Gengqi is an expert in this regard: "The early dry lacquer and ramie The craftsmanship has not yet formed a fixed system, so the number of passes of cloth and pressed ash is somewhat random. However, the cooked varnish ash and mat varnish used for the long face and clothing patterns are stacked at least two times. The knife and carving techniques are very particular. It is smooth, and the engravings like to show sharpness. In addition, the requirements for the dirty chamber are not as high as the introduction of cinnabar and other medicinal materials for anti-corrosion and insect protection as in later generations, so there is no need to paint the chamber twice with vermilion."
"Things are old-fashioned at first glance. It complies with the rules of Northern Qi statues.”
“Yes, something like this can actually be seen at a glance.” Jin Shen nodded: “This is the pinnacle of Northern Qi statues. It is difficult to imitate them later. The most valuable thing is that these three statues are so well protected and in perfect condition. They even surpass all the known Sui, Tang and Song Yuan statues. They are really rare national treasures. "< br>
"Should we do a scientific examination?" The two of them said so surely that Mr. Wang had to raise some doubts and asked after careful consideration: "The main statue of Vairocana Buddha Doesn’t the image of the person behind the altar look like a counterfeiter trying to conceal it? "
"Old Wang, you are being unreasonable." Even Mr. Qi couldn't stand it: "Tang Qian's. There are many famous Buddha statues with portraits of worshippers, from Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes to Longmen Grottoes, as well as various gold and bronze statues, which have almost become a fixed format.”
"It's like counterfeiters of porcelain will imitate the bottom mark, but you can't just say that all porcelain with a bottom mark may be fake, right?" Mr. Qi spread his hands: "Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?"
“Scientific examination is required It's not that complicated." Xia Gengqi said: "Lacquerware is originally made of cloth and raw lacquer. Both of them are organic matter. It is most convenient to make carbon 14, and the error is only between 70 and 150 years. Ten years."
"If It is really a statue of Gao Yang who was born in the seventh year of Tianbao in the Northern Qi Dynasty. The technical test date is between 480 and 630 AD. Do you know when it was? "
"The second year of Jianyuan of the Southern Qi Dynasty, the Northern Wei Dynasty? Taihe four years. During this period, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty reached its peak through the "Taihe Reorganization". "
"The latter was in the fourth year of Zhenguan. In this year, Li Jing, sent by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, destroyed DTZ and captured it. Jieli Khan ”
Xia Gengqi and Jin Shen looked at each other. They heard that this kid was a consultant for two museums. They just thought it was a bit childish. It doesn't mean that if they have connections and money to buy national treasures back to the country, they can just give them the title of consultant. of.
So I started to compare, hoping that Zhou Zhi could report the dynasties, especially the reign names of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the front, which was completely hopeless.
Although memorizing the chronology table is a must-pass for almost everyone who engages in connoisseurship, ordinary teachers will also relax some of the requirements for the chaotic Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. .
I didn’t expect that Zhou Zhi could open his mouth and briefly describe the important historical events of the year. And with this posture, it would be no problem for him to elaborate. This level is quite excellent. Masters and PhDs from the history departments of ordinary universities may not be able to get it so easily.
Experts can tell if there is one as soon as they reach out. By just asking this question, Xia Gengqi and Jin Shen knew that Lao Wang Laoqi was not messing around in this matter. Although Zhou Zhi was young, he was quite solid in his skills.
"Then you have to go find Xiao Zhang," Jin Shen said: "In addition to carbon 14 dating, they seem to have many other methods."
The little one in Jin Shen's mouth Zhang, in fact Zhou Zhi should at least be called Lao Zhang, is Zhang Xingquan, the director of the National Museum Cultural Relics Inspection Institute, who is also in his forties or fifties.
“As for the dating method of ramie statues, the easiest thing to think of is of course the carbon 14 dating method.” Director Zhang is now sitting in the large laboratory, introducing “modern high technology” to everyone .
“The carbon 14 dating method is actually called radiocarbon dating in the discipline.” Director Zhang introduced: “It uses the decay characteristics of carbon elements to determine the age of cultural relics. However, this method has a precedent. That is, the cultural relics must be organic or mainly composed of organic matter, such as ancient vessels, wooden buildings, etc. And due to the limitation of decay time, this method is only applicable to cultural relics within 50,000 years.”
"The second method is thermoluminescence dating. This method is to estimate the time it has been exposed to sunlight or heating by measuring the electron energy levels generated by the natural radiation accumulated in the cultural relics. It is more suitable for ceramics, stone Dating method for cultural relics such as artifacts and rocks.”
“The third method is lead isotope dating. By measuring the ratio of lead isotopes in cultural relics, it is used to estimate the age of cultural relics. This method is highly accurate for the age identification of metal cultural relics such as copper and lead."
"I think we can do three things. Together, we can use all three methods to increase the accuracy of dating these three statues."
“Wait a minute!” Thinking of the amount of samples taken from cultural relics for each measurement, Zhou Zhi felt a little flustered: “Director Zhang, you just said that thermoluminescence dating is suitable for ceramic and stone products. The lead isotope dating method is suitable for metal cultural relics such as bronzes, but what we want to determine now is lacquerware, dried lacquer and ramie statues! ”
"This is the valuable experience we have accumulated in appraising the statues of the eighteen saints in the Great Buddha Hall of Cining Palace." Director Zhang smiled proudly: "Because the base of the ramie statue will use a lot of bricks and ash. Bricks and tiles are heated at high temperatures, so thermoluminescence dating can be used to detect the time since the bricks and tiles were formed. ”
"The reason why the lead isotope dating method can be used for the ramie sculptures is because the ancients would add medicinal powder to the lacquer when making the sculptures, as a regulator to control the drying time of the lacquer..."
"Monk Mi Tuo!" Zhou Zhi understood immediately.
"Huh?" Director Zhang was slightly surprised: "You also know this?"
"He is no stranger to lacquerware." Mr. Wang revealed Zhou Zhi's Lao Di: "I gave him all my Ming and Qing furniture. If you don't study it carefully, you will be spanked!"
(End of this chapter)