Chapter 801 Authentic

Author: Erzi Congzhou

Chapter 801 Authentic

After the explanation, everyone nodded repeatedly. Li Jianchen was particularly happy and said with a smile: "I have learned a lot today."

Anzhai Eiichi even bowed slightly to Zhou Zhi: "Before, I also thought that China did not do enough research on its own culture and cultural relics protection. After listening to Zhou Sang's explanation today, I found that it was my misunderstanding. Zhou Sang, you have learned a lesson!"

Yang Yongde said: "It turns out that the Kuilong, Yinglong and Chilong on the porcelain are different from the three dragons in the ancient books. I asked what's going on? It turns out the problem is here!"

As a result, Xu Zhantang's question came up again: "Since it is different from the records in ancient books, how did the domestic experts formulate the identification standards?"

Zhou Zhi explained: "This is what we just discussed, the importance of the complete relationship between cultural relics and their location, and the local classics."

"For example, we can find similar records from the work files of the Qing Palace's building office. On a certain year, month and day, a certain palace was repaired, a few words on the Kui dragon pattern in a certain corridor were repaired, and then we could go to that place to inspect.

Find out what the style of the Kui dragon pattern used on the porch is."

"Similarly, although a lot of porcelain in the Palace Museum has been lost in chaos, a lot of the inventory, its entry time into the palace, records of entry and exit, and records of circulation in each palace and room, all have detailed records, and we can rely on them

These records refer to the place where the porcelain was collected, and match the description of the porcelain patterns in the records with the actual porcelain patterns."

"There are now nearly 1.8 million pieces in the collection of the National Palace Museum in the capital. There are still many collections with detailed archive records. This is also an important research branch of the Institute of Porcelain of the Palace Museum."

"The dragon pattern is a very important pattern on porcelain. The current Forbidden City and National Museum have done very thorough research in this area."

Xu Zhantang nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "I see, it is indeed true. The concept of information loss of cultural relics leaving the country that my friend mentioned before is now clearer to me."

Zhang Zongxian is concerned about another question: "So, does Zhou Xiaoyou think this large jar is from this dynasty?"

Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "Actually, everyone has seen the quality, glaze, shape, base, auxiliary decoration, flint red, etc. of this porcelain, and everyone should know that there is nothing wrong with it."

"The only controversy lies in this rare Kui dragon pattern, right?"

Everyone nodded.

Zhou Zhi continued: "After receiving the appraisal commission from Haitong, I also paid special attention to this aspect and consulted some experts."

"Have they ever seen a large jar with this pattern?" Zhang Zongxian asked in surprise.

"Yeah." Zhou Zhi nodded: "And there are more than one."

"What?!" Everyone present here is considered to be well-informed. None of them have seen such a big jar, but now Zhou Zhi said that there is more than one!

Zhou Zhi said: "Before Chenghua, porcelain painters rarely used the Kui dragon theme. However, a Xuande inkstone was unearthed from the Xuande porcelain pile in Zhushan, Jingde Imperial Kiln, and the underglaze blue and white pattern also contained the Kui dragon.

Served with phoenix pattern."

"In 1884, another blue and white jar fragment slightly larger than this one was unearthed there. The main decorative band was painted with Kui patterns, with a circle of lotus petals underneath, and the six-character Xuande inscription written in a double circle of blue and white on the bottom of the vessel.

"

"I found these through information research. When I went to the capital to visit Mr. Wang, he easily pointed out to me that he only knew of a few such things."

Everyone was dumbfounded.

"The first piece cannot be said to be conclusive, because it is too small, but it is also in Kui script. It can prove the application of Kui dragon pattern on pot-shaped porcelain from the side, that is, the Ming Dynasty Hua Dou Cai Kui dragon pattern collected in the National Palace Museum in Taipei

Tianzi jar."

"The second piece is from the collection of Sun Yingzhou. It is blue and white with red underglaze in the Ming Dynasty. It is now stored in the Palace Museum in the capital. Because it is too precious, it is not on daily display. However, it is in the thirty-fifth edition of the latest publication "Complete Collection of Treasures of Cultural Relics from the Palace Museum"

In the album, the photo of this blue and white glaze red Kuilong jar was selected."

"The third piece is hidden in the National Museum of China, and it is not usually displayed outside. However, it once appeared in the directory in the internal data of the "Research Series on Cultural Relics Collected by the National Museum of China: Porcelain Volume (Ming Dynasty)", and the old man took me to see it.

The real thing is similar to the jar we see in front of us, and it is also made of blue and white Su material."

"I knew the fourth piece by chance," Zhou Zhi said: "I have a friend in England who once brought me a collection album of the Cambridge Museum. There was a large blue and white jar with Xuande Kui dragon pattern, which was sold in May 1937.

It was sold twice by Sotheby's in London in June 1939. It has been successively included in the collections of Wu Laixi, Major Lindsay F. Hay and Soame Jenyns, and is currently collected in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge."

"This is a museum with an academic background and is very unknown. However, with these two auction records and the collection location, I believe that with your energy, you should be able to find it."

When talking about the origin of these things, Lin Wanqiu began to record it in her notebook. When she heard this, she immediately nodded at Li Lehai with her pen.

"I'll go!" Hou Zhongjin, who has the widest connections in the Western world, immediately walked outside.

Zhou Zhi continued: "A closer look shows that the Kui patterns of the Xuan and Cheng dynasties each have their own characteristics, but both have an elephant's trunk rolled up, only two front legs with sharp claws, and a dragon's tail composed of a series of graceful curly grass patterns."

"Kui's mouth must be wide open, and the sharp teeth and long tongue are clearly visible. The celestial grass in his mouth may be Sandra chinensis or Ganoderma lucidum."

"In comparison, the Xuande dragon pattern is more vigorous and majestic, and the end of its proboscis is shaped like Ruyi, while the Chenghua Kui pattern is more peaceful, and its proboscis shape is closer to that of an elephant trunk."

"Chenghua porcelain with the Kui pattern is mostly Buddhist porcelain, because Emperor Chenghua himself believed in Buddhism, and the Kui dragon on porcelain is closely related to the Capricorn pattern."

"In the Xuande Dynasty, although the status of Buddhism was not as high as that of Chenghua, Emperor Xuande still followed the practices of his grandfather, Emperor Yongle, such as continuing to have ceremonial exchanges with Tibetan monks."

"Therefore, it is not surprising that the image of the Buddhist Capricorn Fish merged with the Chinese native image of the Kui Dragon to form the unique image of the Kui Dragon on Xuancheng porcelain."

Zhang Zongxian asked: "So, this piece of porcelain is... actually..."

"There is no doubt that it is authentic!" Hou Zhongjin had already walked in quickly from the outside with a piece of fax paper: "My colleague in England sent it to me!"

Zhou Zhi said: "The one from Cambridge University is the most perfect, and it also has a general cover. It is also the only complete one among the few known Kuilong blue and white jars from the early Ming Dynasty."

Everyone took the fax over, and sure enough, although it was a very unclear black and white fax picture, the shape and pattern of the vessel were almost exactly the same as the one in the exhibition hall now. What was even more rare was that there was an original helmet-shaped cover from the Yuan Dynasty.

There are still three pictures on the fax, two sideways and one full-footed. The base pattern is exactly the same as this one, with double-circle Xuande six characters.

"If I had known this, I wouldn't have taken action." Zhang Zongxian was not upset at all. He smiled and touched his forehead: "I found a big mistake for my niece!"

"Can I ask how much money Sister Wanqiu spent at that time?" Zhou Zhi became curious.

Lin Wanqiu said with a smile: "Uncle Zhang was joking with me. When I went to his collection room to play, he asked me to point out an item in the room at will. As my coming-of-age gift, he would give it to me at whatever price he paid for it."

"This blue and white piece looked very comfortable to me, so I pointed it out. Then my uncle asked me to give him two thousand dollars and give him this big jar."
Chapter completed!