Chapter 220 More Loss Than Gain
What is meant by "third-generation black"?
That is, the Zhengtong, Jingtai, and Tianshun reigns of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhengtong was the first reign title of Emperor Yingzong of Ming, Zhu Qizhen, who reigned for thirteen years before the famous Tumu Crisis occurred.
Later, his younger brother Zhu Qiyu succeeded to the throne, adopting the reign title Jingtai. He consulted a diviner, who divined that "Zhengtong" was inauspicious. Therefore, Emperor Jingtai ordered the destruction of all artifacts bearing the "Zhengtong" reign mark inside and outside the palace.
Eight years later, Emperor Jingtai died, and Emperor Yingzong (Zhu Qizhen) was restored to the throne, adopting the reign title "Tianshun". He consulted his colleagues for divination, and they again said that "Jingtai is an inauspicious year". Then Emperor Yingzong also issued an edict to destroy all artifacts bearing the "Jingtai mark" inside and outside the palace.
Eight years later, Emperor Yingzong died, and Zhu Jianshen succeeded him as Emperor Chenghua. He consulted his colleague again for divination, and the result was "Tian Shun is also inauspicious." Emperor Chenghua then ordered all the artifacts bearing the Tian Shun mark to be destroyed.
It's all unofficial history, so its authenticity is impossible to verify. But to date, no artifacts bearing the "authentic" or "Jingtai" mark have been found, either domestically or internationally, regardless of whether they are porcelain, bronze, or ivory/horn/wood carvings.
There were some pieces with the Tianshun mark, but there were only three in total, and they were all porcelain.
The first two pieces are blue-and-white cylindrical incense burners with Persian inscriptions produced by a private kiln in Datong, Shanxi. The two pieces came from the same kiln and are exactly the same in terms of shape, decoration, and even the content of the poems.
One piece was donated by Hong Kong industrialist Mr. Yang Yongde in 1988 and is now in the collection of the Palace Museum. The other piece was collected from private individuals in Datong and is now in the collection of the Shanxi Museum.
The last piece is the only official kiln piece, unearthed from the family tomb of Zhu Zhen, the King of Chu, in Jiangxia, Wuhan, and is now in the collection of the Hubei Provincial Museum.
There are only three in the world, but one of them suddenly appeared here?
Even just half of the base is astonishing enough.
Lin Sicheng looked at him with curiosity and picked it up.
Zhao Xiuneng and Ye Anning were standing nearby, initially not paying much attention, wondering why Lin Sicheng was using such a broken base. But when they saw the words "Tian Shun Nian" on it, their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
What is this? Tian Shun blue and white porcelain?
Crucially, the signs of aging are very obvious; the body of the inscription is almost dry and brittle. Whether it was a forgery made after the Tianshun era is unknown, but Zhao Xiuneng can determine that it should be at least from the early Qing Dynasty.
Upon closer inspection: the material is somewhat coarse, and the color is grayish with many impurities. Black spots formed by quartz particles and iron impurities are clearly visible.
Looking at the blue and white porcelain again: the blue is grayish and dark, closer to blackish blue. This is obviously stone blue from Jiangxi, commonly known as local blue material.
Therefore, there is no doubt that whether it is a genuine Tianshun mark or a later forged mark, it was definitely fired in a folk kiln... The official kiln either used imported Sumali blue or Pingdeng blue, which is also domestic but has a better color.
But regardless of the kiln, even if the firing is poor, as long as it is confirmed to have come from the Tianshun era, it is the fourth piece in the world.
The two remained silent, glancing at the item with Lin Sicheng for a few moments. After a short while, Lin Sicheng looked up and asked, "Master, how much is this?"
The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his early forties, slightly overweight, with a shrewd look on his face.
He glanced at the four people's attire and instantly made a judgment: they were not short of money.
Then he held up one finger, "Ten thousand!"
Lin Sicheng didn't even bother to talk to him, and just left.
He'd seen this trick a million times. If the boss wasn't in a hurry, he'd lose...
Sure enough, as soon as he turned around, the shopkeeper grabbed his sleeve, his chubby face glistening with oil: "Hey, young man, look closely: this is Tian Shun blue and white porcelain, ten thousand is too low!"
Lin Sicheng scoffed, "Don't even mention Tianshun. Go ask around and see how much a shard of Jianwen blue and white porcelain sells for?"
The shopkeeper squinted, giving me a look that said, "Don't try to fool me: Where would you find blue and white porcelain during the Jianwen era?"
“Right?” Lin Sicheng pointed to the porcelain shards. “Since you know that no blue and white porcelain was produced during the Jianwen reign, how can you guarantee that this piece was fired during the Tianshun reign and not a later forgery?”
The boss was speechless when asked the question.
Of course, he couldn't prove it. If he could, this thing wouldn't have ended up in his hands, wouldn't be on a street stall, and wouldn't be here now.
The reason for this is that the piece was fired poorly: the blue color was too dark, the porcelain body was too rough, and it was obviously made in a small workshop...
"But the 'Tian Shun' on it can't be fake, right? It's my prized possession!"
He mumbled something, then spread his hands: "Minimum five thousand!"
Lin Sicheng remained silent, appearing hesitant.
Five thousand is certainly not high. In fact, he thinks ten thousand is not high either, and he would even be willing to buy it for twenty or thirty thousand.
But that's not how you find a bargain.
Most people would probably start paying when the boss says 10,000. But believe it or not, before you've even finished emptying your wallet, the boss can immediately raise it to 30,000, or even 50,000?
Lin Sicheng estimated that the boss's expectation was at most two or three thousand, so he had to keep a tight rein on things, otherwise the fat man might change his mind on the spot.
He remained noncommittal, then glanced at it again: "Boss, where did you get it from?"
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't know!"
"Oh!" Lin Sicheng casually put it aside. "I'll take a look at the others, but don't take anything else!"
"Don't worry!" the shopkeeper patted his chest. "Except for this one, the rest are 100 each, and you get a 20% discount if you buy 10 or more!"
Haha... This whole stall of Republic of China era goods, isn't that just asking for trouble?
Lin Sicheng smiled and casually pulled over a stool. He sat down on the spot and first scanned the finished products on the stall.
At first glance, it appears to be a white body with blue patterns, all in one color. But upon closer inspection, the colors are gaudy and the blue is glaring. The patterns are stiff and monotonous, lacking any sense of depth or layering characteristic of "clear and white porcelain."
Upon closer inspection: the glaze is dry, the vitrification is low, the body is thick and heavy, and the base is rough and prickly to the touch.
Most of the blue and white porcelain patterns are decorated with small brown eyes and raised dots, as if they were spitting out saliva.
In ceramics, this phenomenon is called glaze bursting, and the cause is not complicated: it is caused by an excessively high cobalt oxide content in the glaze.
So with just a few glances, Lin Sicheng was able to conclude that although they were all blue and white porcelain, they were all made with industrially synthesized cobalt. In other words, they were all from the Guangxu era onwards.
The inscriptions are quite old, dating from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, but they're ultimately useless.
After examining a few pieces, Lin Sicheng flipped through some porcelain shards and casually asked, "The soil stains are so heavy, could they have been just dug up?"
"Tch..." The shopkeeper scoffed. "Which family is so extravagant that their burial goods are all blue and white porcelain?"
“I didn’t say the tomb, I said the porcelain factory.”
"Porcelain factory? What porcelain factory?"
Lin Sicheng paused for a moment and looked up: the boss's eyes seemed shrewd, but deep in his pupils were a few traces of doubt and confusion.
If they weren't dug up from a porcelain factory, where did you get so many blue and white porcelain pieces? And the body and glaze are exactly the same?
But it seems the boss has no idea at all?
I won't ask anymore...
Seeing him rummaging through everything, Zhao Xiuneng was about to help, but as soon as he squatted down, Lin Sicheng waved his hand: "Forget it, picking and choosing isn't troublesome enough: I'll take them all... plus these two boxes of porcelain shards, plus that one from before, five thousand!"
Zhao Xiuneng was shocked: There were some in the box too?
The chubby boss curled his lip: "I have at least three or four hundred pieces..."
He had only said half a sentence when Lin Sicheng stood up and turned around.
The boss was both angry and amused, and then pulled him back: "This young man, how can you have no patience at all?"
"Just tell me, are you selling or not?"
"Sell!" The shopkeeper didn't hesitate for even a second. "Pay up!"
He's had this piece of porcelain on his stall for almost two years, but the highest price he's ever offered is only a thousand or eight hundred. He'd be content if he could sell it for two thousand.
As for those two boxes, I bought a half-pickup truck for 500 yuan, and the ones I have at home can still hold at least five or six more boxes like that...
The shop owner happily accepted the money, asked a fellow vendor to watch the stall for him, and found a cart to help Lin Sicheng pull it out.
When they arrived at the parking lot, the owner was stunned: Good heavens, a Mercedes-Benz?
Five thousand, is that too little?
But then his eyes lit up: "Boss, I have several more boxes at home, do you want them?"
Huh, there's more?
Lin Sicheng feigned hesitation: "I'll go back and take a look first, and see if there's anything useful in here... Here, leave me your number!"
"Okay!"
After exchanging phone numbers, Zhao and I worked together to load the two boxes of porcelain shards onto the car, and the chubby boss even waved goodbye.
Ye Anning only realized after the car had already left the parking lot: What happened to visiting the Guandi Temple?
From the moment I entered until I left, it only took about ten minutes...
About ten minutes later, they arrived at the hotel. As soon as they got out of the car and opened the trunk, the Grand Cherokee screeched to a halt beside them.
Wang Qizhi got out of the car, quite surprised: "Where did you get this?"
“Guansheng Temple!” Lin Sicheng replied, then reached into his bag and asked, “Teacher, what do you think?”
Wang Qizhi instinctively took it, and then... that was it.
Even if he knew nothing about porcelain, he could still recognize the characters "Tianshun".
Even if his level of connoisseurship is not as good as Lin Sicheng's, he can at least determine the age: although the cobalt blue color is average, it has penetrated deep into the body, the shell surface is hard and shiny with oil, and the reflected light is arranged in a crystalline pattern, presenting a warm and lustrous feeling like pearls.
Wang Qizhi estimates that the era is at least three hundred years old, and even if it is not as early as the Tianshun era, it is at least before the Kangxi era or earlier...
"Tianshun blue and white porcelain?"
Lin Sicheng nodded: "Most likely!"
Based on Wang Qizhi's understanding, Lin Sicheng was almost certain, if not 100%. Therefore, this base was fired during the Tianshun era.
Is this the fourth thing in the entire world?
Even if it's just a base.
Suddenly, Wang Qizhi looked puzzled: How long had he been gone?
Less than two hours have passed.
In just a short while, Lin Sicheng managed to snag a huge bargain.
Wang Qizhi then pointed to the two boxes on the ground: "Are there any in here too?"
Lin Sicheng nodded: "Yes, but I don't know how much!"
Wang Qizhi was stunned, unsure of what to say.
It's like he has a natural ability to attract wealth; no matter where he goes, leaks will automatically bump into Lin Sicheng's feet.
But upon closer reflection: this piece of porcelain must have been on that stall for quite some time, and so many people have seen it, so why wasn't it sold?
Because it's expensive, and even more so because there's no guarantee of success: a single piece of porcelain costs two or three thousand yuan, equivalent to two months' salary for an average person.
The key point is that this thing is fired so poorly: the blue and white is dull, the body is thick and coarse, and there are so many impurities. It looks like it was fired in a small workshop. Who would dare to buy it?
Ultimately, it comes down to a lack of discernment and a low level of appreciation...
With a sigh inwardly, Wang Qizhi went to the front desk and booked another suite. Zhao Da borrowed a luggage cart and carried the two boxes of porcelain shards upstairs.
While going upstairs, Zhao Xiuneng made a phone call, and everyone gathered in the suite.
Then, the seven people knelt on the carpet and laid it out piece by piece. Lin Sicheng and Zhao Xiuneng picked out pieces one by one.
"Senior Brother Zhao, is this... or is this not..."
What about this one?
"This... Oh? Senior brother, look, this piece is bluish-green, it might be mixed with Pingdengqing... Set it aside for now!"
"Put this aside too!"
It took almost two hours to sort through the whole batch, and the two of them picked out more than ten pieces.
Then, Lin Sicheng carefully compared them and put the four pieces together.
A quick glance revealed a group of people stunned into silence.
Although there was a gap in the middle, the group could clearly see that this was a Tian Shun blue and white floral plate.
Looking at the remaining ten or so pieces, although they were not fired very well, most of them were not as good as these four pieces: the blue and white porcelain was mixed with black spots, the color was black with a grayish tinge, and some were even close to dark blue or navy blue.
The body is also very coarse, with two pieces resembling the walls of a bowl, but nearly half a centimeter thick. The broken pieces are yellowish-gray and contain a great many impurities.
The problem is that it is exactly the same as the previous one: the blue and white decoration is deeply embedded in the body, the glaze is hard and shiny, and it has an oily luster.
It's impossible for something to age to this extent without oxidation lasting three or four hundred years.
What does this mean?
This indicates that these dozen or so pieces and the four pieces from the "Tianshun" period came from the same period: either during the Zhengtong or Jingtai reigns, or during the Chenghua reign.
The most crucial element is the fetus.
Whether it's these dozen or so pieces, or the two or three hundred pieces next to them, regardless of whether they are new or old, and regardless of whether the cobalt blue used is the foreign blue that only appeared after the Guangxu period, or the local cobalt blue used by folk kilns in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the body is exactly the same:
It is grayish and contains a lot of impurities. You can see the quartz crystals and iron spots at the broken edge at a glance.
What does this tell us?
This indicates that these hundreds of porcelain pieces all came from the same place, or even the same kiln...
In an instant, Zhao Da remembered: When Lin Sicheng was turning over the porcelain shards, he asked the boss: "The soil stains are so heavy, which porcelain factory did you dig them from?"
The key point is that so many porcelain shards couldn't have been transported from elsewhere; if they were, they would have been transported to the capital, not specifically to Shanxi.
So it's 100% from a local kiln in Shanxi.
He suddenly realized: "Master, these are all blue and white porcelains fired in Shanxi during the Ming Dynasty?"
“That’s right!” Lin Sicheng nodded. “After the Xuande period, due to insufficient production capacity in Jingdezhen, the imperial kilns tried the ‘official-private joint production’ model. In fact, it was a forced allocation: private kilns had to produce according to the standards of the official kilns, and the finished products were presented as tribute after strict selection.”
The highest quality porcelain was called "pure-color porcelain," with the best pieces sent to the imperial palace for the exclusive use of the royal family; this was historically known as "imperial-limited porcelain." The next highest quality was sent to the Ministry of Works for bestowal as rewards; this was historically known as "ministry-limited porcelain." The lowest quality porcelain was called "second-grade porcelain," which could be sold at a different price…
From then on, the official kiln techniques spread to the common people, and kilns were established in various provinces, including Shanxi. Clearly recorded, only three kilns in the Ming Dynasty had received tax receipts (similar to business licenses) from the government, paid taxes, and produced blue-and-white porcelain: the Yuci Kiln in Taiyuan, the Pingding Kiln in Yangquan, and the Jiexiu Kiln in Jinzhong…
However, despite not paying taxes, numerous small kilns were secretly producing porcelain. For example, the two blue-and-white cylindrical incense burners treasured in the Palace Museum and Shanxi Museum originated from the Ma family's private kiln in Datong..."
Zhao Xiuneng frowned: "Junior brother, shouldn't we find a dozen more?"
Of course we have to look. Who knows, we might find the fifth piece, or even the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, or tenth piece.
If we could piece this plate together, even if we could only piece together most of it, and then fill in the missing parts with lacquer and porcelain powder, it would cost at least five or six hundred thousand.
If all else fails, assembling the base is fine too; it should sell for at least 100,000 to 200,000 yuan.
So, I hope the fat boss wasn't lying and that there really are five or six more boxes at home...
Wang Qizhi, resting his chin on his hand, asked, "So this kiln site hasn't been discovered yet, right?"
Lin Sicheng nodded: "Definitely!"
This is a piece of blue and white porcelain from the Tianshun era. If it had been discovered, the news would have been everywhere.
Wang Qizhi pondered for a moment longer: "How about... we try to find it?"
What are you looking for, the kiln site?
Lin Sicheng paused, seemingly lost in thought: "Teacher, did the meeting not go well today?"
For the talks to go smoothly, some arrangements need to be made for the evening; it's impossible to come back so early...
Wang Qizhi chuckled awkwardly: "I went to the Industry Bureau, met with the director, and then the deputy director in charge of the Chengni Inkstone Factory. They were both very polite and spoke very tactfully... but they both implied the same thing: the technology and data cannot be made public until the public consultation is over and it is officially included in the national intangible cultural heritage list..."
"We can't even visit?"
"The exhibition hall is open to visitors, and the blank-making workshop is fine, but the kiln cannot be used..."
I had already thought of that.
It involves a national-level project that aims to boost local economic growth and expand influence, and it's at a crucial juncture before completion. Who would dare to back down?
Let alone Wang Qizhi, even if Old Master Wang came, it probably wouldn't make a difference.
But the Ministry of Culture will not officially release the catalog until June, which is three months away. We can't just wait around.
So Wang Qizhi wanted to take a roundabout approach, just like Lin Sicheng had planned to do when he went to Tongchuan last time: take something that would appeal to the locals and exchange it.
Ye Anning pursed her lips: "Uncle, what if the porcelain kiln isn't in Yuncheng?"
Wang Qizhi froze, his face gradually falling: Oh right?
Shanxi is such a big province, with so many cities and counties that have fired porcelain. Who knows where the porcelain came from?
The kiln site isn't in Yuncheng, so what's the use of finding it?
Wang Qizhi suddenly had a brilliant idea: "Why don't we ask the stall owner?"
“That fat guy definitely won’t tell, and besides, we can’t be too hasty!” Zhao Xiuneng shook his head. “In this line of work, the more anxious you are, the more they’ll try to charge you a higher price!”
He paused for a moment, glanced around, and then looked at Lin Sicheng: "Junior brother, I think it's not entirely hopeless for you!"
Lin Sicheng has a way... but what way could he possibly have?
A moment later, a flash of inspiration struck Wang Qizhi, and he suddenly realized:
Since they are all porcelain, and Lin Sicheng was able to deduce the core technology of Yaozhou porcelain, why couldn't he also deduce the technology of Chengni inkstone?
That's what Zhao Xiuneng meant.
But the question is, is doing it this way a good idea?
While he was hesitating, Lin Sicheng sighed first.
Of course it can be deduced; it's simply a matter of buying more samples and conducting more experiments. It's even easier than the Yaozhou porcelain experiment.
But the problem is, we can't go to a place to study and learn, and then start a fight and ruin their livelihood.
Yaozhou Porcelain was forced into this situation, and the other party did indeed go too far. But this time, they were very polite and made their point clearly: Professor Wang, could we wait another three months, until the Ministry of Culture has completed its public announcement?
To try to deduce or crack it is just blatant bullying.
Lin Sicheng shook his head decisively: "Teacher, Senior Brother Zhao, there's always a way out, don't rush!"
Isn't this already the end of the road?
Just as Zhao Xiuneng was about to say something, Wang Qizhi gave him a wink.
It's true that you can do it secretly, but you'll inevitably attract gossip, which is unseemly, and it also poses significant risks.
Just one point: Will museums in Shanxi still accept business in the future, and will they still be able to replenish cultural relics?
It's not worth the risk!
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