Chapter 146 Coffin Boards of the Han Dynasty
An old Volkswagen Santana slowly drove up. It was neither new nor old, with a grayish paint color, and it had been driven for at least eight or nine years.
It must be said that Professor Lin is truly unassuming.
The car then stopped at the entrance, and Lin Changqing and two men and women in their early thirties got out.
Wang Qizhi and Shang Yan went to greet them.
"Professor Lin!"
Lin Changqing was taken aback, and half-jokingly asked, "Professor Wang, Professor Shang, is this all the fuss?"
"certainly!"
Amidst laughter and conversation, the three entered the office.
Li Zhen brewed tea and sat for a while before Wang Qizhi led Lin Changqing next door. He even joked that he was inviting him to tour Lin Sicheng's business empire.
The space is quite large, nearly two hundred square meters, divided into two rooms. The studio area has been in use for a while, and several of Shang Yan's students are washing porcelain shards.
It's quite tidy, and the facilities are quite complete.
After looking around for a bit, the group went next door, where the head of the school's equipment department was leading a team to design the space. They all knew Lin Changqing and greeted him.
At first, Lin Changqing was a little suspicious: It's just a personal studio, how much equipment can it use? Is it really necessary to have the equipment department design it specially?
But as Lin Changqing looked around, he became more and more surprised.
The area on the east side should be the high-end cleaning equipment zone, which should be equipped with at least one dual-wavelength laser cleaning machine and one low-temperature plasma treatment device.
These two things can only be imported; the cheapest German-made ones cost two hundred thousand US dollars each.
The middle section should be the micromanipulation area, which requires a laser positioning instrument, a stereo microscope, and a micromanipulation arm.
Microscopes are alright; a research-grade Zeiss microscope costs around 70,000 to 80,000 RMB. But the cheapest positioning instrument costs around 100,000 USD.
These few units alone cost close to three million, not even counting spectrometers, X-ray machines, and other detection and analysis instruments.
It doesn't feel like a studio; it's more like a small to medium-sized precision laboratory.
The problem is, schools do have these kinds of devices, don't they?
Guessing what he was thinking, Wang Qizhi explained, "The school's equipment is all teaching-grade, which is good in terms of practicality and durability. But in terms of the reliability of research data, it is still a bit lacking."
Lin Changqing was stunned for a moment: It's just repairing a piece of porcelain, and even the teaching-level one isn't enough?
Wang Qizhi sighed inwardly: If it's just for repairing porcelain, then of course it's enough. But if it's for researching techniques, restoring processes, and restoring gold craftsmanship, then it's definitely not enough.
For example, when processing special body types: porcelain is processed using clay and glaze, while gold and silver ware is processed using metal and welding slag. A power source that's too small simply won't work.
More importantly, once construction begins, Lin Sicheng will need the equipment anytime, anywhere, and the school cannot simply lend it to him on a whim.
What, are you not going to teach the students anymore?
So, the teacher and student discussed it and decided that it was better to rely on themselves than on others.
Moreover, this was the result of Lin Sicheng trying his best to reduce the number of models and functions. According to Wang Qizhi's plan, the budget would have to be at least doubled...
Seeing that Wang Qizhi remained silent, Lin Changqing misunderstood: Wang Qizhi was probably worried about the ownership of the patent.
If a technology is developed using the school's facilities and equipment, how should it be calculated?
Given this, it's definitely something we need to consider beforehand. The question is, with such high investment costs, can we recoup our investment?
Suspicious, the group returned to the office, where Wang Qizhi retrieved all the relevant documents.
He then went on to explain in general terms: "Professor Lin, I won't lie to you: before the National Day holiday, I made a special trip to Beijing, hoping to cut in line, but I didn't succeed. Afterwards, I asked someone for advice: they said to try not to skip levels, otherwise too many things could change..."
After returning, I discussed it with the school leaders again: we finally decided to start the application process at the district level... Professor Lin, you have many connections and know many people, so we'll have to trouble you with this part.”
Are they really going to apply for World Heritage status?
Lin Changqing, secretly suspicious, took the documents.
When Lin Sicheng told him, he only said that the main body of the project application was "blue and white porcelain restoration" and that the core technology came from the "Palace Museum Porcelain Restoration Group".
But Lin Changqing was very skeptical: this was not a question of whether or not there were core technologies and materials, but rather a matter of needing sufficient time for research and learning.
Even if you give it to him and Shang Yan, they shouldn't do anything else but focus on researching this. It wouldn't be enough to say they'd be able to master it in less than three to five years.
This is based on their decades of professional study and experience. If it were Lin Sicheng, wouldn't it have taken ten years?
By the time you learn it, it'll be too late, and what's the point of applying for intangible cultural heritage status?
He quickly changed his mind and opened the folder.
The document included a photo of a restored matte-glazed plum vase: its golden branches gleaming, and its glaze lustrous.
The repair was really good; even if he were to do the repair, it would only go up to this level.
Scroll down: Restorer, Lin Sicheng!
Lin Sicheng?
Lin Changqing paused for a moment and looked at Shang Yan.
Shang Yan just smiled but didn't say anything.
Lin Changqing misunderstood again: it was indeed Lin Sicheng who made the changes, but it was definitely Shang Yan who provided guidance.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed true: Shang Yan's name was signed in the "Supervisor" column.
Then he remembered: "Is this the one that Secretary Hao sold?"
Wang Qizhi nodded: "Yes, it sold for 300,000!"
Lin Changqing was stunned: He had even made an offer back then...
Continuing to scroll down, when he came across the "Soy-glazed Gold-sprinkled Bowl," Lin Changqing was taken aback: Lacquer?
Such a large piece was missing, but after it was repaired, the lacquer and porcelain bodies fit together perfectly, forming a seamless whole.
The restorer is still Lin Sicheng, and the instructor is still Shang Yan.
Lin Sicheng definitely doesn't have that skill. Even Shang Yan doesn't have it.
Did Wang Qizhi hire outside help?
Secretly suspicious, he scrolled down again, and his eyes suddenly lit up:
Two sets of photos, one showing the state before restoration: dirty and broken, a once beautiful blue and white porcelain jar with dragon design was now shattered into dozens of pieces.
A set of restoration work is underway: Lin Sicheng is using a glaze tray in one hand and a rat-tail brush in the other to repaint the blue and white porcelain.
Lin Changqing felt like his eyes were playing tricks on him: No... Lin Sicheng, is he really repairing blue and white porcelain?
But how is that possible?
As if guessing what Lin Changqing was thinking, Wang Qizhi helped him turn to the next page: "It took five days to complete, with simultaneous filming and recording, so these photos and notes were added later based on the video recording... But the more than one hundred hours of video and audio data were filmed in real time, in one continuous take..."
Lin Changqing was suddenly stunned: In the last set of photos, the members of the restoration team were taking a group photo in front of the restored large tank, and Lin Sicheng was standing right in the middle.
Looking further down, there are more than ten pages of records: from the initial cleaning and photography, to the drawing and modeling in the middle, and then to the final splicing, repair and repainting... all recorded clearly and in great detail.
Five days were added in total, and it wasn't until the fourth day that Shang Yan got involved and helped with some auxiliary work.
Looking at the guidance section again, it's empty?
Wang Qizhi smiled and said, "Professor Lin, you might not believe me, but there really was no one to guide us. The only technical guidance we received was a few documents. Even the plum vase and the gold-sprinkled bowl were all things that Lin Sicheng learned on the job. We only used Professor Shang's name to get it approved..."
Lin Changqing pointed to the photo: "Where's this big jar?"
Wang Qizhi nodded: "Of course, it's a process of learning while supplementing our knowledge!"
Lin Changqing looked on in astonishment and slowly raised his head.
Subconsciously, he recalled the night before National Day, the night Lin Sicheng returned home: "Grandpa, my teacher got some core technical information about the Palace Museum and wants me to study it so we can apply for World Heritage status under the name of 'Blue and White Porcelain Restoration'..."
At the time, Lin Changqing wondered: How could the technique of restoring blue and white porcelain be so easy to learn?
It's estimated that Professor Wang and Lin Sicheng hit it off and he was planning to use their personal connections to push Lin Sicheng forward.
He even suspected that Lin Sicheng was planning to live off a woman.
But now, Wang Qizhi is telling him with absolute certainty: Lin Sicheng has really learned how to repair blue and white porcelain?
Professor Lin, if you don't believe me, I'll show you the video...
Lin Changqing was stunned for a long time: "How long has he been studying?"
"About a month!"
Looking at the documents in his hand, Lin Changqing's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
Seriously, if this weren't his own grandson, he would definitely ask Wang Qizhi and Shang Yan: "You've been learning all this time by reading materials?"
Professor Wang, Professor Shang, do you believe it or not?
He let out a long sigh: "Professor Wang, where is Lin Sicheng? Is he teaching a class?"
Lin Sicheng no longer needs to attend classes. He hasn't attended any for a long time.
"Secretary Hao had something to discuss with him, so he went to Rongbaozhai."
Hao Jun did have something to ask Lin Sicheng to look after something. Incidentally, Lin Sicheng also wanted to get some change...
...
Lin Sicheng sat on the sofa, a receipt in front of him. The item was listed as "Song Dynasty Three Masters Official Crown Pearl Flower," and the amount was a long string of zeros: 1,200,000!
With a 17% commission, this item sold for a total of 1.4 million.
"Keep the ticket safe, the payment will be settled tomorrow!" Hao Jun pushed it forward, rolling his eyes. "You only have the pearl flower, what about the crown?"
"It's still at the provincial museum." Lin Sicheng put away the tickets. "Besides, even if we were to sell it, it would have to be auctioned off!"
Hao Jun was stunned: He was just testing the waters, and Lin Sicheng actually sold it?
"Are you really going to sell?"
Lin Sicheng sighed: "How could this be fake?"
We have no choice but to sell.
The material preparation costs for each item in the "Gold and Silver Workshop" alone amount to hundreds of thousands. And that's not even considering the sheer amount of equipment.
However, it needs to be auctioned: Hao Jun's bid is fast, but the price will have to be discounted.
Take this piece that was just sold, for example. If it were put on auction, it could have sold for at least 10% more, and 20% wouldn't be impossible.
Upon hearing that the auction was about to begin, Hao Jun dropped the subject. He glanced at his watch again: "The car won't arrive for another half hour. Let's have some tea first."
Lin Sicheng nodded and picked up his teacup: "I forgot to ask you, what exactly were you looking at?"
"They're probably all from the Han Dynasty: a stone inkstone and two lacquered tables!"
A lacquer table from the Han Dynasty?
Since it is a case, it must be made of wood with lacquer. If it can be preserved for about two thousand years, it is definitely a rare treasure.
Lin Sicheng was startled: "What do they look like?"
"It is about two meters long and half a meter wide, with a black lacquer base and patterns of the Big Dipper and the Twenty-Eight Mansions painted in vermilion lacquer!"
Hao Jun said, gesturing as he spoke, "They're very symmetrical. To me, they look like a pair of door panels!"
Lin Sicheng was suddenly stunned: Door panel my ass!
The base is lacquered in black, and the Big Dipper and the Twenty-Eight Mansions are painted in vermilion lacquer... Could this be a coffin board from the Han Dynasty?
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