While Zhou Zhi was explaining, a staff member came in and handed a list to Mr. Qi.
After reading the list, Mr. Qi put his hand down again. It was not until Zhou Zhi finished speaking that he raised the list in his hand and said: "The results of the scientific appraisal of the Ruyi Wheel Bodhisattva Statue are here. The list is Silk, the paper support you provided has been proved to be from the Tang Dynasty through carbon 14 identification. According to the material of the silk, using the latest protein analysis method, the age is between 212 and 272. between."< br>
"Ah this..." Zhou Zhi was startled: "If this is the case...then the "Statue of Ruyilun Bodhisattva" is not a copy? Did my fourth cousin and I misjudge?"
< br>Due to insufficient scientific means and no equipment such as microscopes, Zhou Zhi and his fourth cousin’s identification method in Jiachuan was mainly “visual inspection”, which is also the most traditional identification method. They believed that all four paintings should be from the Song Dynasty. copy.
However, after the re-appraisal of the National Museum was completed, the experts found that the inferences of three of the paintings were correct, but the "Statue of Ruyilun Bodhisattva" with inscriptions by Mi Fu, Cai Xiang and Chen Shidao was very wrong in age.
The earliest surviving autographed calligraphy in China is "Pingfu Tie" by Lu Ji of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the only authentic calligraphy from the Eastern Jin Dynasty is Wang Xun's "Boyuan Tie". Apart from these two copies, the others are all copies or rubbings. .
This also illustrates the difficulty of preserving calligraphy and paintings before the Tang Dynasty.
Lu Ji was born in 261 AD and died in 303 AD. The birth and death dates of Cao Buxing are unknown, but history records that he was famous for his paintings in Soochow during the Huangwu period of Sun Wu.
The reign of Sun Wu and Huangwu was from 222 to 229 AD.
Considering the writing power of "Ping Fu Tie", it cannot be written by Lu Ji when he was a child. It was at least written after thirty years, so it cannot be earlier than 290 at the earliest.
And now the appraisal report in Mr. Qi's hand covers the years from 212 to 272, including the reign of Sun Wu and Huang Wu.
In other words, in this way, the "Statue of Ruyilun Bodhisattva" has become an "old longevity star" at least sixty years earlier than "Pingfu Tie"! It basically proves that it is the original work of Cao Buxing!
This is major news that can shock the cultural preservation community around the world!
Sure enough, after Mr. Qi finished speaking, everyone was stunned, and then there was a loud "coax", and everyone stretched out their hands: "Report it to me!"
< br>Zhi is very confused: "Protein identification?"
This is definitely a new identification category, Zhou Zhi had never heard of it before.
“It’s just the latest identification technology,” Mr. Wang waved to the researcher who had just sent the identification report: “Xiao Li, Xiao Li, please introduce it.”
“Traditional carbon identification The sample size required for the Nian method is too large, and using it on silk fabrics is almost equivalent to destroying the fabrics. "The researcher named Xiao Li said: "So a chemist named Mahdi Moini tried to use a method. Super sensitive chemical means to solve the problem of silk fabrics, The problem of dating hair, mummies, etc. "
"Moini's technology relies on a scientific discovery, that is, there are two types of amino acids in proteins, one is the left-handed form and the other is the right-handed mirror image. Form. "
"These two amino acids can only be rotated from left-handed to right-handed, but not from right-handed to left-handed. ""Of course, this transformation does not happen often, but it does happen. It’s going on at a steady rate.”
Zhou Zhi already understood something: "That is to say, from the day it is generated, the longer it is stored, the less left-handed protein and more dextrorotated protein it will contain? "
The researcher nodded and said: "Yes, the longer the time passes after the silkworm spins silk, the greater the change in the ratio between the two types of amino acids will be. Through two chemical techniques, Moini. This ratio can be measured."
"This method has There are three advantages: first, only a trace amount of silk sample is needed; second, the time is fast, it only takes twenty minutes to measure this ratio; third, it is sensitive enough to measure the decomposition calculated in hours, that is, it can be used as a measurement Molecular clock for protein materials such as silk. "
"As far as I know, there is an offset sample table for the carbon 14 identification method," Zhou Zhi said, "There is also a seawater environment and a freshwater environment. There is also a huge bias in the carbon 14 identification method.”
"There is also the issue of contamination, such as the identification of calligraphy and painting paper. Paper is easily contaminated by paste and other materials used in later generations, which will make identification extremely difficult."
Xiao Li He gave Zhou Zhi a strange look: "Yes, Carbon 14 does have these problems, and Egg The white molecular clock identification method also has this problem, so it has been used in the field of forensic identification before.”
“However, last year, Moini joined the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Society, which works with many museums. They all cooperate and are mainly committed to the protection of cultural relics, which also makes Moi Moyne gained access to the museum's famous silk collections. "
"Several museums agreed to allow Moyne's research team to sample silk products, including ancient European Renaissance fabrics and North American Civil War fabrics. Flags, of course, the ones with the most samples are from China National Silk Fabrics.”
“Because historical records provide a clear manufacturing date for the museum collection, and compared with the identification results, the final experimental result is that the age error identified through protein molecular clock technology is within Within 50-100 years.”
"After obtaining the research results, Moini published them in the journal Analytical Chemistry."
"So our National Museum took this result?" Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "For foreigners, , this won’t make them "Fragrance blooms inside the wall"? "
"This is normal." Mr. Wang said confidently: "Where in the world are silk samples from all ages still properly preserved? Only we, China What? ”
Mr. Qi also said with a smile: “This is not only good for us, it is also very important for Moini to use this data to correct the test results of his technology.”
“It used to be very difficult to date silk fabrics in museum collections. Researchers often needed to rely on evidence from the surrounding environment of the unearthed objects to support their guesses about the manufacturing age of ancient silk clothing.”
"Those things come next." Mr. Qi said: "Because generally unearthed silk fabrics are surrounded by many other evidences that can prove their age. There is only one, but it is the most difficult..."
"Calligraphy and painting! "Zhou Zhi, Chen Shizhong, and Xu Bangda immediately reacted: "Fake!" "High imitation!"
This is a live calligraphy and painting appraisal. It was indeed difficult to do. Even Qianlong, who was quite confident in his own ability and felt that he had proclaimed himself the "Cultural Emperor", had a group of well-educated connoisseurs, calligraphy and painting attendants, and erudite scholars under his command. There are a lot of fakes, and then when I encounter the best ones like "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", I jump back and forth between the appraisal results of the authentic ones and the fake ones. (End of this chapter)