Antiques with golden eyes

Yongle bright red glaze, also known as Yongle red glaze, was a national treasure in the Ming Dynasty, and its status was even more respected than the Doucai chicken jar cup.

There are two main reasons for its reputation.

First, before the emergence of bright red glaze, there had never been a pure red-colored red glaze porcelain in the entire history of porcelain, which is equivalent to this being a pioneering work.

In terms of meaning alone, although doucai is precious, it cannot compare with bright red glaze.

Doucai is a secondary color application using mineral pigments on the basis of underglaze blue and white porcelain. It is an innovation that stands on the shoulders of giants.

Secondly, the success rate of its firing is extremely low, to an unimaginable level. Countless craftsmen have worked hard and spent countless material resources for more than half a year, but they can often only produce a few flawless finished products.

However, it is precisely because of its thin body, bright color and extremely beautiful appearance that it has become the coveted darling of everyone in the collection world.

This Yongle red-glazed goblet has a rosy and uniform glaze, just like first-condensed chicken blood.

The inner wall is white glaze, as pure as snow, which contrasts with the red glaze on the outer wall and complements each other.

The lines are beautiful and smooth, just like flowing clouds and flowing water, all in one go.

The four characters "Yongle Year System" in seal script are engraved on the sole of the foot.

Shen Yu's eyes fell on the cup, and within a moment, he was keenly aware of something strange.

There is something wrong with the glaze of this cup. Although the color looks bright at first glance, upon closer inspection, it does not have the unique crystal feel of Yongle red glaze.

The real Yongle red glaze is bright red, bright and even. Under light, it will show a deep and flexible luster like a gem.

Although the glaze of the cup in front of me is bright enough, it looks dull and lacks the charm of vivid ruby ​​red.

In other words, the red color is there and the gloss is OK, but there is no bones from the official kiln, it is all on the surface.

There was already a calculation in his mind, but Shen Yu was not in a hurry to speak, but quietly waited for everyone's reaction.

Mr. Wang and Lin Qingzhi were the first to approach. They picked it up and put it down and looked at it several times, but they couldn't figure out why.

Gu Zhengyan made the final appraisal. He squinted and observed the cup carefully. The smile on his face gradually disappeared and was replaced by a trace of doubt.

He turned to look at Marquis Ximen and asked, "Brother Ximen, where did you get this cup?"

Ximen Hou said: "It's an old collection from the antique shop in Kyoto purchased by my nephew. I don't know how long it has been left in the warehouse. When I found it, it was so dirty that I couldn't even see it."

Gu Zhengyan frowned, "I like the Yongle bright red glaze very much, but why is this cup different from the bright red glaze from the official kiln collected by an old friend of mine? By the way, Xiao Shen, what do you think?"

Seeing that the time had come, Shen Yu slowly spoke: "Mr. Gu, your intuition is correct. Although this cup is very similar to Yongle red glaze in appearance and some features, there is indeed a problem with its glaze.

"The reason why Yongle red glaze is precious is that its unique crystal texture is one of the important identification points.

"The glaze of this cup lacks the crystal-clear charm of the official kiln, and is more like a modern imitation. Although its color is red enough, it is only superficial and has no inner charm."

When Marquis Ximen heard this, his face suddenly became extremely ugly. He retorted loudly: "Little friend Shen, I advise you not to be so arbitrary! Why do you conclude that this is a fake?"

Shen Yu shook his head gently, "Mr. Ximen, antique identification is not just based on conjecture. Although the glaze of your cup has the color of red glaze, it looks dull, like a stone pretending to be a gem. It has its form but loses its spirit.”

After saying that, he stretched out his hand, steadily picked up the red-glazed goblet, and began to observe other details of the cup attentively.

In fact, just now, Shen Yu had quietly used his golden eyes to identify the cup.

No precious light appeared, so he already concluded in his mind that this was a modern imitation.

But he knew that if he wanted to convince all the big guys present, he had to find conclusive and irrefutable evidence.

After all, it would be difficult to completely convince everyone if we just talked about abstract criteria such as insufficient charm.

At this time, Liao Wansan promptly ordered the servant to bring over a lamp.

After the servant placed the desk lamp properly and powered on, Shen Yu carefully held the goblet in his hand and slowly turned it under the lamp, carefully observing the changes in gloss of the glaze from different angles.

The goblet is a classic type of vessel, whether in the field of porcelain or gold and silverware.

It has a bowl shape on the top and a high handle on the bottom. This unique shape is also called a "handled cup".

Its historical origins are extremely long and can be traced back to the distant Neolithic period.

After thousands of years, by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was not only a practical instrument that met people's daily needs, but also played an indispensable role as a sacrificial instrument in many occasions of worshiping heaven and ancestors.

At the same time, because of its unique shape, it is also one of the most cherished ornamental objects from official kilns.

Soon, Shen Yu discovered the problem.

I saw several flaws on the glaze of the cup.

On the delicate glaze surface, five or six pinhole-sized dots are clearly visible.

This situation is incompatible with the famous fineness of the Yongle red glaze production process.

You must know that the production of official kiln porcelain in the Yongle period followed extremely strict standards. The craftsmen at that time were supervised by potters in every step of firing the porcelain.

The ultimate goal is to ensure that the finished product reaches an almost flawless state.

The glaze defects on the cup in front of me were extremely obvious and dazzling under the bright and concentrated light of the desk lamp.

It is conceivable that during the Yongle period, when craftsmanship was extremely demanding, it was absolutely impossible to present such defective utensils to the emperor.

Zhu Di was never merciful and gave him inferior things. This was a serious crime of disrespect and beheading!

No one dares to do this!

Therefore, once such problems were discovered during the production process, according to the rules at the time, they would be smashed directly to prevent them from flowing into the palace.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Then, Shen Yu gently turned the cup over and carefully looked at the inscription on the bottom.

At first glance, the font of the code seems to be somewhat similar to the seal script made in the Yongle period. However, as long as you pay a little attention, you can notice that the thickness of the strokes, the strength of the writing and the overall charm are different between the two. There are also some small differences that are difficult to ignore.

The logo on the bottom of this cup gives people an extremely stiff and rigid feeling.

Speaking of which, the style of official kiln does not necessarily require the calligraphy to reach the pinnacle. However, after years of precipitation and the inheritance of countless craftsmen from generation to generation, the style of official kiln naturally contains a kind of deep heritage and exquisite skills. confidence.

This kind of confidence is gradually accumulated in the process of careful production and inheritance day after day, year after year, but the style of the cup in front of you obviously lacks this unique temperament and charm.

In other words, the style of this goblet is wrong.

Shen Yu broke through the doubts one by one. Everyone present was an expert who had been in the antique business for many years. They naturally understood that everything Shen Yu said was reasonable and irrefutable.

Although Marquis Ximen was unwilling to do so, he could only remain speechless in the face of such conclusive evidence.

Next, Shen Yu carefully inspected the other six or seven antiques brought by Marquis Ximen one by one.

However, the result was a huge disappointment. Without exception, these antiques were all fakes. This result made Ximen Hou's face become increasingly gloomy and ugly.

Even his face turned green with anger!

It goes without saying that he was angry with Shen Yu.

After all, it was Shen Yu who exposed his "treasures" one by one in front of everyone, making him lose face in front of all the big guys and even become a laughing stock.

But Shen Yu was the palm-eye master personally invited by Gu Zhengyan, so he was blameless for doing so.

Moreover, his identification process was clear and organized, and the doubtful points pointed out were so intertwined that he could not refute it no matter how hard he racked his brains.

What he was most angry about in his heart was Ximen Pavilion.

This bastard spent countless money, happily thinking that he had found a rare treasure, but in the end it was just a pile of worthless fakes. All the money was wasted, and he never heard a sound.

"There are not many items left. Is it possible that all the items I brought today are fakes? If this is the case, it will be really embarrassing!"