Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

Although there are no words on this jade at all, the production date of this object can be roughly judged by the pattern production on it.

The reason why it can be determined is that the carvings on this cup chose the patterns of gold and silverware of that era, and through these patterns, the approximate age of the cup can be easily judged.

The development of gold and silverware in the Tang Dynasty can be divided into three stages: the first period is from Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty to the early period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. This period is the period of rapid development of gold and silverware in Tang Dynasty, and it is also the period when the influence of foreign culture is the strongest.

The main types of utensils are tall cups, cups with handles, and long cups with more than five melodies. Belly-folded bowls and clam-shaped boxes are also common, as well as pots, bottles, etc.

Among them, high-footed cups, cups with handles, and multi-curved long cups with more than five melodies are missing from traditional Chinese utensils. This should be the result of the influence of foreign culture. The plates and boxes are mainly round, with some cunning flower shapes and a few sunflower shapes.

Pot-like utensils often have three legs. Popular decorative patterns include honeysuckle pattern, tangled grape pattern, linked beads pattern, and rope pattern, and are mostly decorated with floor-to-ceiling techniques. In addition, pearl pattern, precious phase pattern, curling cloud pattern and cloud curve pattern are also more popular.

The ornamentation is more related to the shape of the object. For example, the treasure pattern is generally decorated on round objects, and the curling cloud pattern and cloud curve pattern are mostly used as edge decorations. The gold and silverware of this period were small but thick, and most of them were made using the hammering technique.

The second period is the late Xuanzong era of the Tang Dynasty. During this period, the gold and silverware of the Tang Dynasty entered a mature stage. It had got rid of the influence of foreign culture and completed the process of Chineseization of gold and silverware.

Goblets, cups with handles, and multi-melody long cups with more than five melodies are rarely seen. Various new pots appeared. Tsai flower-shaped dishes are popular. The surfaces of various utensils are mostly in the shape of four or five curves.

The honeysuckle pattern, grape pattern, triangle pattern, rope pattern, cloud pattern, and curling cloud pattern have basically disappeared, while the precious phase pattern is still visible, and the branch pattern and group pattern are flourishing.

The patterns are more realistic and divided into units, leaving more white space. A few artifacts still have similarities with Western gold and silverware, but they are not directly influenced by Western gold and silverware, but inherit the characteristics of the previous period and develop to some extent.

The third period was from Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty to the end of the Tang Dynasty. This period was the period when gold and silverware became popular and diversified in the Tang Dynasty, and the types of utensils increased greatly. Among the utensils of the Tang Dynasty, tea sets, Xiangbaozi, soup bowls, Boluozi, warmers, chip tubes, turtle boxes, etc. all belong to this period.

The shape of bowls, plates, and boxes has also undergone great changes. Bowls with shallow flower mouths and oblique abdomens, four- or five-curved silver plates with ringed feet, sunflower-shaped plates, etc. are popular. Broken branch patterns and group patterns continue to be popular and become more colorful.

Mandarin ducks, tancens, swan geese, and double fishes have become popular themes. At the same time, lotus leaves, ankle strap patterns, petal patterns, small patterns, and half patterns appeared as the main edge patterns.

There were many large gold and silverwares in this period, some of which were thin and rough, with clear and intermittent patterns throughout. The number of inscribed utensils increased.

In other words, the style change trend of gold and silverware in the Tang Dynasty was a process of gradual localization and secularization. And this directly laid a foundation for the subsequent style of the Song Dynasty.

Now this jade cup is a tall cup full of Western style. It is mainly decorated with some deformed traditional Chinese patterns. However, the basic patterns are branch patterns and group patterns. There are no foreign patterns such as honeysuckle or grape patterns. .

Therefore, Liang Liangen judged that this thing should most likely appear in the later period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, which was the mature period of gold and silverware in the Tang Dynasty. As for the shape of the goblet, it may be related to the traditional style of the Western Regions.

You must know that the Western Region in a broad sense is not only the part of China, but also includes many areas in Central Asia, so it is normal to find such things in Central Asia.

But there was one strange thing, that is, after careful inspection, Liang En found that there was a large area of ​​blood on the jade cup.

This is not a normal situation. After all, it is impossible to have this thing on normal heirloom items, and even if it is a funerary item, the area of ​​blood Qin on it is a bit too large.

More importantly, after careful observation, he discovered that the cup was actually a remnant. The two original handles on both sides had disappeared for unknown reasons, but they had been cleverly repaired later.

Judging from the traces of trimming, it is obvious that the other party used a high-speed rotating modern tool, and this should obviously be the result of reprocessing by the people who dug it out after entering the 19th century.

At the same time, in addition to this thing, Liang En also discovered that there were some patterns on the mouth and edge of the cup that were obviously added later to cover up a series of scratches and flaws.

In addition, the entire jade cup has been polished and tidied, which proves that the person who obtained this thing in modern times should be a wealthy man and reorganized it according to his own ideas.

This is not a rare thing, because in that era people did not have a consistent view of various antiques, so they re-polished and decorated the found antiques.

Especially those Europeans prefer to do this. They don't care about the things of other civilizations and transform those things according to their own ideas.

But the problem is that this approach often destroys those ancient cultural relics. To take the most famous example, the British Museum used the method of cutting up the "Proverbs of Women's History" a hundred years ago and mounting it on wooden boards.

According to the thinking at the time, this kind of mounting method made the surface of the calligraphy and painting less likely to wrinkle and break, but in fact, after a period of display, the wooden boards would crack. Traditional Chinese paintings are usually painted on silk or paper. , will also crack as the board splits.

Another reason is that the British transformed this work according to Western forms. It was meant to be hung on the wall just like an oil painting, so he cut out the "Pictures of Proverbs for Women's History" piece by piece.

The last time Liang En visited the British Museum, it happened to be during the one-month exhibition period of "The Picture of Women's History". After careful observation, he found that this masterpiece that had been hidden in the museum for nearly a century could already see obvious changes. The "symptoms" of cracking and powder loss.

The same is true for this jade cup now, although it will definitely look much better than the one that was dug out before. But it severely destroyed the original traces on the jade.

"I can feel that there should be a secret hidden behind this thing, a big secret." After finishing the meal, Liang En gently touched the jade cup and said to Joan of Arc.

The reason why he was so sure was because he performed a divination. Since the result he sought was an extremely vague result, Liang En successfully obtained the result of the divination after spending almost all the legendary points.

"I believe you on this point, but do you plan to go to Central Asia this season?" Jeanne looked at Liang En and asked. "You know, the natural conditions in that place are not very good, especially in winter."

"If it's just exploration, I think it doesn't matter if we go now." Liang En said with a smile, "As long as we don't carry out large-scale excavation, the next work should be able to be carried out in winter, so we can go now."