Antiques with golden eyes

"Brother Liu, pinch me."

Lao Liu was smiling like a flower. When he heard Shen Yu's words, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Xiao Shen, are you okay? You just woke up from a coma, why should I pinch you?"

"Just pinch it, hurry up."

"That's what you said, I'm really pinched."

While speaking, Lao Liu pinched Shen Yu's calf hard. Shen Yu suddenly grinned in pain and couldn't help but murmured in a low voice: "It's not an illusion, I, I, I..."

"You're just hallucinating, you're as strong as a cow, you just scratch your itch when you fall."

Old Li Tou continued to speak in a rather disdainful tone from the side. He was a forthright person with a straightforward temper, and now that he was seventy years old, he also spoke very irritably.

Hearing Old Li's words, Old Liu seemed to think of something for a moment, and quickly reminded him: "Xiao Shen, Mr. Li saved you this time, why don't you quickly say thank you to him?"

"Uncle Li, it turns out you are here too. Shen Yu thanks you." Shen Yu shook his head to put aside his distracting thoughts and stood up on his own.

Shen Yu was very familiar with Lao Li Tou, and could even be said to be one of his closest relatives in Chuzhou.

Old Mr. Li's name is Li Hanlin. He comes from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, but he likes antiques the most. When he was forty, he gave up medicine and went into business and set up an antique stall.

Because he had received guidance from Zhongzhonglou many times, Li Hanlin respected Zhongzhonglou very much.

As long as Chongzhonglou was there, Li Hanlin was busy, serving tea and pouring water, and respectfully performing discipleship rituals.

For as long as Shen Yu can remember, every year on Qingming Festival, he would follow his grandfather to Chuzhou to worship his ancestors. On this day, Li Hanlin would take the initiative to invite Zhonglou to cook the most famous Chuzhou local cuisine "Zui Xianlou" for dinner.< /p>

Shen Yu loves Zuixianlou's "Sauce-flavored Beef" and "Crispy River Shrimp" the most, and Li Hanlin also knows Shen Yu's taste, so he must order these two dishes for him every time.

Shen Yu's mouth is also sweet, and he speaks like Uncle Li in every mouthful, which makes Mr. Li smile happily.

During Shen Yu's winter and summer vacations, Zhongzhonglou would also bring Shen Yu to live and relax in his ancestral home in Chuzhou.

Because Li Hanlin's granddaughter is the same age as Shen Yu, they often played together when they were young, and they can be said to be childhood sweethearts.

Li Hanlin even wanted to arrange a wedding for the two of them, but was declined by Chongzhonglou.

Not only that, whenever Li Hanlin goes to Dongjiang, whether it is to discuss business or visit relatives and friends, he will definitely take time to visit Zhongchenlou.

When Zhongzhonglou passed away, none of his sons were around, and only his grandson Shen Yu took care of his funeral affairs.

Except for Chu Yaozong of Dongjiang Baoyuxuan, Li Hanlin was busy and contributed the most, and he burst into tears because he failed to call "Master" to Zhongzhonglou.

When Shen Yu came to Chuzhou, the first person he looked for was Li Hanlin. His shop was able to open quickly, and most of it was due to Li Hanlin.

"Thank you for what? I was a die-hard fan of Mr. Shen when I was young. More than 20 years ago, I rode a motorcycle to the provincial capital to ask for advice.

"At that time, I just wanted to give it a try, but I didn't know that Mr. Shen had a very good temper. I said he was from Chuzhou and he really answered all questions.

"You were not born yet. Mr. Shen knew that I had no place to live in Dongjiang, so he let me live in the wing of your house for half a month. During that half-month, Mr. Shen told me many methods of identifying calligraphy and painting porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. I can say

It’s a life-long benefit.

"To be honest, I went to ask Mr. Shen for advice. I have been in the antique business for nearly three years. During this period, I have made mistakes and made some mistakes. Although I have made some money, I still feel very confused.

"Because I was a monk on the way, I learned most of my antique knowledge by reading books. It was okay to pick up some miscellaneous items, but I still couldn't figure out the appraisal of some official kiln porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

"How should I put it? When I was appraising it, I could clearly feel that something was wrong with the bottle or can in front of me, but I couldn't find out what was wrong for a while. It was like there was a layer of window paper between people and antiques.
"I know that I can get the answer immediately if I pierce this layer of paper, but no matter how hard I try, I can't get it.

"If you don't point it out, you won't be able to see it. If you don't understand it, I won't dare to accept some high-priced antiques. If you don't dare to accept them, you won't be eye-catching, but you won't make any money either.

"The prerequisite for picking up antiques is to dare to buy. If you don't dare to buy and are hesitant, you may be lucky enough to encounter old objects before others, but if you fail to seize the opportunity, you will end up with nothing.

"I think I, Li Hanlin, can now live without worries, and even own two antique shops in this flea market. It's not too much to say that I owe it all to Mr. Shen.

"Mr. Shen has been kind to me. Even if I die, my children and grandchildren will have to go to Mr. Shen's tomb every year to pay homage." Li Hanlin patted Shen Yu on the shoulder and said with some emotion, and there was even more hidden meaning in his eyes.

Hot tears.

"Uncle Li, I..." Shen Yu just wanted to speak, but was immediately interrupted by Li Hanlin.

"Shen Yu, again, if there is something missing in your store, you can come to your Uncle Li's store to get it.

"It's definitely impossible to give you free gifts all the time, but I'll give you whatever I charge you, so there's no problem at all.

"You can rest assured and work hard in Chuzhou. As long as I, Li Hanlin, am still breathing, I will always protect you."

Li Hanlin said these words in front of many stall owners or shopkeepers around him. He knew what Shen Yu wanted to say just now, and he was very grateful, but he stopped him.

Li Hanlin's meaning is very obvious. The young man in front of you has a close relationship with me. Although Mr. Shen is gone, you should stop trying to take his ideas.

Otherwise, you have to think carefully about how to face the old man's anger.

"Thank you, Uncle Li." Shen Yu bowed deeply to Li Hanlin. He was grateful from the bottom of his heart for the old man in front of him.

Li Hanlin patted Shen Yu on the shoulder again, then turned around and shouted to the onlookers, "Since Xiao Shen is fine, let's all disperse and go back to each stall to take care of our own business. There are seniors and juniors. Young people, don’t you want to support your family? Can you still see money by watching the excitement?"

It is obvious that Li Hanlin has absolute prestige in the antique market. With his words, everyone quickly dispersed, fearing that they would get scolded by the old man if they left late.

Seeing that everyone had left, Li Hanlin bent down and picked up the ancient inkstone on the ground.

While wiping the dust on it with the sleeve of his practice clothes, he nodded and praised: "What an inkstone. The Duan Inkstone of the Song Dynasty with its open door. I never imagined that I could see such a real Song Dynasty inkstone again in my lifetime."

"Song Yan?"

Shen Yu was stunned and quickly asked: "From the Song Dynasty? Uncle Li, shouldn't this ancient inkstone be from the Ming Dynasty?"

Li Hanlin did not answer immediately, but asked: "Shen Yu, is this square inkstone yours?"

"No, this inkstone belongs to Brother Liu." Shen Yu quickly explained.

Li Hanlin said with a smile: "It turns out to be Xiaoliu's! Yes, receiving such a good inkstone is enough to prove that your eyesight has improved again."

Lao Liu quickly waved his hand: "Mr. Li, thank you for your praise. I am a blind cat who ran into a dead mouse. Also, the owner of Fang Gu Yan has now been replaced by Xiao Shen."

Li Hanlin was stunned when he heard this, but then he seemed to think of something and asked with a smile: "What? Did this kid Shen Yu pick something up in your stall?"

"Absolutely. We played a little game of 'finding the real thing among the fake'. The winning prize is that if Shen Yuru finds the real thing, he can just pick an antique from my stall.

"Of course, it won't be given to him for free, he can take it at the cost price.

"As you know, Xiao Shen has good eyesight, so this inkstone will naturally become his." After Lao Liu finished speaking, he winked at Shen Yu and gently shook his head with subtle movements.

"So that's what happened, Shen Yu, please tell me first why you said this Fang Duan Inkstone is from the Ming Dynasty?"

Shen Yu scratched his head: "This is a long story to say. Uncle Li, are you sure you have time to listen? Why don't I talk about it next time I come to your store?"

"It's up to you, Xiaoliu, go to this store and bring out some chairs, and let's sit down and talk."

Lao Liu went to Yun Ya Xuan and moved three chairs out. Anyway, Mr. Li had spoken, so he was not afraid of the shop owner saying that he came uninvited.

After sitting down, Shen Yu coughed lightly and spoke slowly: "Duan Inkstone is a famous inkstone in ancient times. It is unclear what its original name was. However, because it was produced in Duanzhou in the Tang Dynasty, it was named Duan Inkstone.

"Of course, there is also a saying that it was produced in Duanxi River, so it was named Duan Inkstone.

"You also know that when you use Duan inkstone to grind ink, the ink will be fine and smooth. It is said that the best Duan inkstone can keep the water in the inkstone from drying out for a long time.

"If there is no clear water when grinding ink, even blowing a breath can produce water droplets in the inkstone and grind the ink.

“That’s how the so-called ‘breathing the air and grinding the ink’ comes from.

"The same is true for this Fang Duan Inkstone. When you blow into the inkstone, water droplets will appear immediately.

"But, breathing and grinding ink can be done even with Duan inkstones worth several thousand dollars on the market today, so grinding with breath and grinding ink cannot be used as a basis to judge whether a Duan inkstone is an ancient inkstone..."

"Ah?"

Lao Liu was listening with great interest, when he suddenly heard what Shen Yu said, and couldn't help but look towards Shen Yu. When he saw Shen Yu's smile that was a bit unbeatable, he immediately gave him a fierce look.

Shen Yu didn't seem to see it at all, but continued to speak seriously: "Although Duan Inkstone was produced in the Tang Dynasty, people in the Tang Dynasty did not use Duan Inkstone very much.

"Because people in the Tang Dynasty mostly used tile inkstones, which are cheap, practical, easy to obtain and strong.

"Of course, this is not to say that Duan Inkstone is not good, but that ordinary people cannot afford it.

"This is related to the difficulty of mining Duan inkstone at that time, because the Duan stone used to make the inkstone is immersed in water all year round, which makes it extremely difficult to find the Duan stone veins.

"Even if a stone vein is found, it cannot be mined in water and still needs to be drained.

"Mining a stone vein often requires draining water for a month or even several months, and then building roads, clearing sediment, and strengthening stone walls. The difficulty of quarrying is three times more difficult than mining gold and silver.

"This can be understood from the "History of Inkstone" written by Mi Fu, one of the four great calligraphers of the Song Dynasty. The History of Inkstone praises Duan Inkstone very much and uses a large space to describe it in detail.

"It mentions "taking water, moon and stones", and Su Shi and Su Dongpo, one of the four masters of the Song Dynasty, even said that collecting Duan stones requires a thousand men to pull the can and a hundred men to transport the catty."

"From this point of view, quarrying is a very hard occupation. Generally speaking, unless you are poor and need money, you will not do it.

"The Duan Inkstone was a tribute during the reign of Wu Zhou. Di Renjie learned about the hardships of mining inkstones and even asked Wu Zetian to reduce the number of Duan Inkstones as tribute.

"In this way, although Duan inkstones have been mined since the Wude period of Li Yuan, the output of Duan inkstones was extremely rare throughout the Tang Dynasty.

"One of the most important points is that not all the mined end stones can be used to make inkstones. Most of them can only be used for viewing and playing.

"Some people even speculate that the entire Tang Dynasty's fine Duan Inkstones are only a few hundred square meters. The possibility that this square Duan Inkstone is a Tang inkstone can basically be ruled out."

"The hard-to-find Duan Inkstone situation eased slightly in the early Song Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty. It is not that the mining technology has improved, but that the literati were willing to spend money on Duan Inkstone.

"During the Southern Tang Dynasty, Duan inkstones had a warm texture and fine texture, making them suitable for grinding ink. The ancients at that time had generally discovered its advantages, so the demand for Duan inkstones became even stronger.

"The imperial court of the Southern Tang Dynasty appointed inkstone officials in Duanzhou and increased mining efforts, but even so the output was not much. By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, all types of stone inkstones combined were equal to tile inkstones.

"Note that this is the total number of all stone inkstones, including Tao inkstones and She inkstones. This shows that in the Song Dynasty, the output of Duan inkstones was still very small.

"Duanshi was not mined again until the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, because there were fewer and fewer duanshi in old pits, and the pits were often closed after a few or more than ten years of mining.

"This square Duan inkstone is of excellent quality. It looks like Duanxi Laokeng stone at first glance, and it is an extremely rare Black Duan inkstone.

"Heiduan is described in detail in the ancient book "Dongtian Qinglu". There is an old pit under the Duan River. The pebbles are as black as lacquer and as fine and smooth as jade. There is no sound when knocking and grinding ink.

"There are eyes, and there is halo in the eyes, or six or seven are connected, or the shape of stars is arranged.

"The stone is at the bottom of the water. You have to drain the water from a thousand weirs to a depth of several feet, lower it under a bonfire, and enter the cave to get it."

"It can be seen that the black-duan inkstone is definitely the best among inkstones. When I was an appraiser at Baoyuxuan, I saw a similar black inkstone in the store. The masters in the store unanimously identified it as the Duan-duan inkstone in the early Ming Dynasty."

"One more thing, there is a Tai Chi diagram on this inkstone, although both the Song and Ming dynasties liked Taoism.

"However, people in the Song Dynasty had different aesthetics from those in the Ming Dynasty. People in the Song Dynasty did not like fancy things, and most of their inkstones were plain inkstones.

"People in the Song Dynasty rarely carve too many patterns on their inkstones, because this inkstone has a cute tiger on it, so I prefer it to be an inkstone from the early Ming Dynasty.

"Of course, the stone for making inkstones may have been mined since the Song Dynasty, and it was only in the Ming Dynasty that inkstones were made.

"The above is my basis for identification."