Qi Baishi, as an influential Chinese painter in modern world history, had solid painting skills and a unique style. He was especially good at painting flowers, birds, insects, fish, landscapes, and figures.
There are three great masters in the modern painting world: Qi Baishi's shrimp, Xu Beihong's horses, and Zhang Daqian's tigers.
It is worth mentioning that although Xu Beihong and Zhang Daqian were modern painters, they were both born in the Qing Dynasty, just like Qi Baishi.
At the end of 2017, Qi Baishi's "Twelve Landscape Screens" appeared at Poly Auction and was eventually sold for 931.5 million yuan, becoming the most expensive modern Chinese artwork to date.
Qi Baishi's shrimp are lifelike and full of charm.
Qi Baishi, who understood and was skilled at using ink and brush, could not only cleverly use ink and brushstrokes to express the structure and texture of shrimp when painting them, but also use brushstrokes with a metallic quality to depict the shrimp's whiskers and long pincers, so that the pure ink structure also had rich meaning, demonstrating superb skills.
It is precisely because of this unique painting style that Qi Baishi became the most famous painter of shrimp.
The moment Cola Boy unfolded the painting, I got up from my chair and went straight to the table.
The other party was very well prepared, even providing a magnifying glass and silver needles. This clearly indicated that they were allowing me to authenticate the painting by damaging it, demonstrating their absolute confidence that I would not be able to spot any problems with it.
After Cola Boy left, I began to examine the painting.
The first step is to place your fingertips along the central axis of the painting and trace their paths from beginning to end.
This was done to check whether the painting was a print.
Modern printing techniques for ancient paintings have become incredibly advanced. Under computer control, printheads can print different colors at the millimeter level, far surpassing manual copying techniques.
Just by scanning the paper with my finger, I could tell from the subtle undulations that it wasn't a spray painting, but rather something drawn by hand, stroke by stroke.
After confirming the creation process of the painting, I then focused my attention on the painting itself.
The shrimp in this painting are particularly lively, their movement as they float in the water, and the transparent quality of the ink wash painting, making it seem as if the painting itself is moving.
With just a few strokes and extremely concise ink, the three elements of form, texture, and movement required for artistic creation are expressed almost perfectly. Adding one more stroke would make the composition messy, while removing one would make it lack spirit.
A true masterpiece's painting gives one a sense of peace and tranquility.
Although I knew the painting was fake before I saw it, standing in front of it gave me the feeling that it was painted by Qi Baishi.
In addition to showcasing the unique properties of ink and rice paper, the painting also vividly portrays the texture of the shrimp. I can't imagine anyone other than a top-notch art master who could create such a painting.
Common methods of forging ancient paintings include printing cloning, piecing together fragments, and, at a more sophisticated level, uncovering the painting.
This painting of shrimp playing is characterized by its strong brushstrokes and vibrant colors, and is definitely not the product of a painted cover.
In an instant, the records of forgery of ancient paintings in the Judge's Record began to surface in my mind one by one.
To copy, imitate, imitate, create, or write on behalf of someone else.
Modify, add, subtract, dismantle, and add red.
I ultimately focused on adding red, which refers to adding a touch of red to the seal.
Seals are the most important part of a painting or calligraphy work. No matter how perfect a painting or calligraphy work is, it is difficult to have any collection value without a seal. Therefore, many counterfeiters focus on seals, mainly to deceive collectors who value seals.
Qi Baishi was also a master sculptor. The painting was signed with only the two characters "Lao Ping" and a bright red seal with the characters "Qi Da" on it.
Lao Ping was Qi Baishi's pseudonym, and Qi Da was also one of his personal red seals.
The entire print has seven vertical lines. The character "齐" is simplified. The three triangles vary in shape, with some angles complete and others incomplete, and the four sides of different thicknesses, showcasing the utmost in variation.
The firm red lines of this seal give people a sense of perseverance, vigor, and sharp beauty, which is basically consistent with the authentic works I have seen in my memory.
As it stands, there are absolutely no problems with this painting.
After much deliberation, I picked up the silver needles on the table.
This involves examining the painting, specifically tearing a hole in the paper, to determine its authenticity based on the degree of ink coloring.
Using this method would be just like that angry middle-aged man using a blowtorch to burn bronze artifacts—it would make me a laughingstock.
However, if I don't use this method, I really can't find any flaws in this painting.
Insert a silver needle into the paper and gently separate the fibers.
The ink penetrates three-tenths of an inch into the paper, and the depth of color varies in different areas.
The painting is fine; the next step is to check the seal.
As soon as my needle pierced the seal, a piece of lacquer-like material peeled off.
Although the fragment was only about half a millimeter in size, I instantly grasped the flaw in it.
There's something wrong with this seal; it was added later. To make the color look older, animal blood was added to the cinnabar, which is why this happened.
Upon discovering this flaw, my eyes lit up immediately. It turned out that the key to this game was not in the painting at all.
After the third round of the competition began, the other party simply unfolded the painting and said nothing, which made me mistakenly believe that the question they gave me was to find the flaw in the painting.
But there's actually nothing wrong with this painting; it's an authentic work by Qi Baishi. These people, in order to set me up, actually added a fake Qi Baishi seal to it.
Although the seal was carved almost perfectly, its presence on this painting constitutes forgery and has ruined this precious work.
It seems that Uncle Gen and his team really went all out to win this third match.
I found the trick, put down the silver needle in my hand, straightened my body and said, "I found the flaw in this painting. There is nothing wrong with it itself. It is a painting by Mr. Qi Baishi. But the seal on it is problematic. It was added later."
"Hahaha, great! Great!"
Seeing that I had broken through the final round, Su Jialiang's face broke into a bright smile. He clapped his hands and cheered loudly, then looked at the other side with an air of arrogance: "Uncle Gen, new talents emerge in every generation, each leading the way for hundreds of years! Although the antique business values the wisdom and shrewdness of the old, with the development of the times, we old guys should retire and make way for the young people... Now my men have broken through the third level, so I've won two rounds. Do you have anything else to say, sir?"
"People can't deny getting old. Times are changing, and it's hard for us to accept new things anymore."
Uncle Gen also sighed, then his gaze suddenly sharpened: "But who told you that you won the third game?"
The monkey, its neck stiff, stepped forward: "Nonsense! Young Master Duan has already found the flaw in that painting. We didn't win, so how could we have lost?"
"You not only lost! You lost completely!"
The hot-tempered middle-aged man sneered, "This kid's been fooled!"
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