The room in the courtyard was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and everyone was staring at me.
Mr. Leng seemed to have noticed the change in my expression, and took a sip of tea, remaining calm and composed.
If these three porcelain pieces weren't placed in front of me all at once, but were shown to me one by one, I would even suspect that I looked at one cup three times.
Previously, the monk Hongfu said that two of the three teacups were egg-laying replicas.
According to him, this thing was used by Chai Rong. Could it be that the other party got three cups at once?
This possibility is very low, just like a person using three pairs of chopsticks at a time.
Unless, of course, these items were spares that were passed down together.
But this would contradict what the monk Hongfu said.
In my view, these three things are clearly all true and all false.
Thinking about this, I was already sweating.
In a verbal duel, one must not only distinguish between truth and falsehood, but also explain why one distinguishes between them.
I can't even tell the difference between real and fake, so what's the point of talking about this?
Seeing that I stood there like a statue for a long time, the monkey walked up to me and asked in a low voice, "Did you see anything?"
I took a deep breath: "Don't rush."
Antiques are all about playing with people's hearts.
I suddenly remembered what my grandfather had said to me.
He also said that when encountering situations where it is difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake, one should put oneself in the shoes of the counterfeiter.
I bit the tip of my tongue to calm myself down.
If my judgment of authenticity is correct, then the information the monk gave me must be flawed.
He just said that the genuine article was taken out by a palace maid and then imitated by a folk craftsman.
The record of Chai ware in the Judge's Record is not in the section on authentication, but is classified as a rumor. Not only is it short, but it also notes that no such item exists and warns future generations not to do business with it to avoid being deceived.
According to legend, the wood-fired kiln produces paper of similar thickness to the coarse cotton and hemp paper of ancient times. The firing temperature needs to be between 1260 and 1330 degrees Celsius, resulting in an extremely low yield.
How could ordinary people possibly replicate something that was so difficult to manufacture even in the imperial kilns?
Furthermore, the bottom marks of these three porcelain pieces are the character "柴" written in large seal script.
According to the records of the judges, the marks of Chai ware are mostly the two characters "Yi Ding". In addition, there are also marks with the characters "Yi", "Guan", and "Yu".
Official kilns were meant for use in the palace. Would Chai Rong, as the emperor, really have the audacity to have his surname engraved on the bottom of a cup?
The era and the craftsmanship match, but the signature doesn't.
That's really fucking weird.
Seeing that I had put down my teacup and was standing still, Monk Hongfu said, "You have been studying this for a long time, have you noticed anything?"
"I've got it."
Thirty seconds later, I picked up the two porcelain cups and released my hands while they were suspended in mid-air.
"Splash!"
The porcelain cup fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
"Why!"
Uncle Mao, who had always appeared very composed, noticed my actions and instinctively stepped forward quickly, but he was still a step too late.
He stared at the shards on the ground, his eyes blazing with fury: "Kid! Do you know how much these things are worth?"
Mr. Leng remained unmoved: "You probably can't afford to pay for the broken porcelain."
Liu Shusheng's face was now ashen, and he was trembling like a leaf. He came from a family with a long history in this trade, so he knew the value of Chai ware.
If my argument hadn't been ongoing, he probably would have been even more agitated, or perhaps too frightened to speak.
I was quite relaxed about it: "This thing originally consisted of three pieces, with its value divided into three. Now there's only one left, so the value of the other two pieces will naturally go to it, and the price will skyrocket. Mr. Leng, you should thank me."
Mr. Leng cast a meaningful glance at him.
Taking the opportunity, the monk Hongfu said, "Since you have figured out the trick, please teach me how to distinguish between the real and the fake."
I shrugged: "All three of these items are real."
"Cough cough!"
Upon hearing my words, the monkey immediately began coughing incessantly, clearly choking on its own saliva.
Before anyone else could speak, I added, "However, none of these three items are the so-called Chai kiln porcelain. They are fakes made by Song Dynasty swindlers based on records of Chai kiln porcelain to deceive people. In reality, they are Jingdezhen white porcelain."
The monk Hongfu's expression changed drastically: "You dare say this isn't Chai ware? What's your basis for that?"
"Firstly, although there are many records of Chai ware, none of them have survived to this day, so there is no systematic method for identification. However, we can learn from history."
I looked at Monk Hongfu and continued, "Secondly, later generations' understanding of Chai ware all comes from Cao Zhao's 'Gegu Yaolun' from the early Ming Dynasty. However, Wen Zhenheng of the late Ming Dynasty had never seen Chai ware. He only selected a few characteristics based on Cao Zhao's description and recorded the 'Four Likes' in his book 'Changwu Zhi'. In fact, Cao Zhao also wrote a sentence, 'Thinness is also rare.' If all Chai ware was thin-walled, why would Cao Zhao have gone to the trouble of recording it?"
Mr. Leng smiled and said, "That's interesting."
I continued, "Cao Zhao once recorded that the Chai kiln had coarse yellow clay feet, which should have produced thick-bodied porcelain, contradicting the claim that it was as thin as paper. In ancient times, the emphasis was on the substantial and heavy, and thin and light pieces were difficult to be displayed in elegant halls, let alone used as royal utensils. Moreover, the Later Zhou dynasty inherited the culture of the Tang dynasty, and it was unlikely that such a leap in the development of porcelain would occur, and it was not passed down. Therefore, if there really was a thin-bodied piece in the Chai kiln, it would only be an accidental coincidence."
Mr. Leng became interested: "Continue."
I replied, “According to the literature, there is no record of anyone seeing Chai ware in the late Ming Dynasty. It is very likely that collectors in the late Ming Dynasty mistook thin-walled celadon from the Song Dynasty for Chai ware and appreciated it. This led to the spread of the misinformation. Or it may have been a rumor spread by antique dealers at the time to attract attention.”
The monk Hongfu clenched his fist and angrily questioned me, "You've said so much, it's all speculation. Do you have any concrete evidence?"
"I haven't finished yet. Among the four characteristics, I haven't mentioned that Chai ware has fine cracks. This is because collectors in the late Ming Dynasty saw that the thin-walled porcelain did not have cracks. They mistakenly believed that Chai ware white porcelain had a high firing temperature and good magnetization, so they added the characteristic of a sound like a chime. But these characteristics have long since contradicted the earliest records of Chai ware."
Seeing Hongfu's exasperation, I added insult to injury: "Since no Chai ware has been passed down through generations, there is no systematic standard for its identification. Authentication can only be done through comparison of historical materials. The 'Gegu Yaolun' from the early Ming Dynasty is the earliest record of the characteristics of Chai ware, and it is the closest to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is also the most comprehensive ancient document. Therefore, the true appearance of Chai ware should be a thick, sky-blue porcelain bowl. Later generations' judgments on Chai ware have all been misled by the 'Changwu Zhi'."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Leng looked at Monk Hongfu and asked, "Master Hongfu, when you persuaded me to accept these three pieces of porcelain, you told me that they matched the characteristics of Chai ware as recorded in the records. Now even the theory of the Four Similarities has been overturned. What else do you have to say?"
"Mr. Leng, this..."
The monk Hongfu came to argue with me. Since he wanted to refute me, he naturally had to give a reason. But after thinking for a long time, he just said sullenly, "He is right. The judgments on Chai ware in the world today all come from the records in 'Treatise on Superfluous Things'. I take history as a mirror, and my knowledge is not wrong. It's just that I haven't verified it in detail."
Is learning from history always the right thing to do?
Mr. Leng got up, walked to the table, picked up the last piece of porcelain, and let go.
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