It is not easy to imitate a cultural relic with unique characteristics, but if you have a clear understanding of its past and present life, it is not as difficult as you might imagine.
For example, Kangxi's blue and white Longevity statue, if you really know its production process, you can figure out how to imitate it.
Chen Wenzhe knew that Ma Dudu had once evaluated a Kangxi blue and white statue with the inscription "Longevity", and Chen Wenzhe particularly agreed with his evaluation.
Although there are certainly more than one such blue and white Wanshou statue in existence, the one in the National Palace Museum can certainly be said to be the only one in the world.
Because of their different identities, the one in the Forbidden City must be the authentic Wanshou Zun that was approved by Kangxi and accepted by him.
If this one is the principal wife, then the other surviving Wanshou Lords can only be regarded as concubines.
Just because of such a difference in status, its valuation is 1.2 billion, which is not high at all.
In the antique circles of Shendu, there is a saying: "When talking about antiques and cultural relics, you have to listen to Mr. Ma."
This Mr. Ma is Mr. Ma, a famous collector, writer, cultural scholar, and founder of Guanfu Museum in my country.
As early as the 1980s, he started his own collection. He can be regarded as one of the first batch of young people with cultural relic awareness after the founding of New China.
As he grows older, his understanding and appreciation of cultural relics and antiques naturally continue to improve.
It is famous, and everyone who collects it naturally knows the famous "Kangxi Blue and White Master with Longevity Characters in Qing Dynasty".
After seeing it back then, he nodded repeatedly and gave an estimate of 1.2 billion.
Don't think that 1.2 billion is expensive. It's like child's play. In fact, it's not child's play at all.
This is not difficult for anyone to understand as long as they understand the background and production process of this piece of porcelain.
In terms of the craftsmanship of the porcelain itself, this statue is not among the pinnacles of ancient Chinese porcelain.
After all, before that, the wars in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties had severely impacted the Jingzhen porcelain industry, which brought the entire Chinese porcelain industry to a standstill.
"Jingzhen Ceramics Record" states: Jingzhen began to re-establish a factory to make pottery in the 11th year of Shunzhi. It tried successively to bake "dragon jars", "rails" and other items, but failed.
At the same time, Jingzhen was in the tug-of-war zone of the Southern Ming Dynasty's struggle against the Qing Dynasty. Affected by the war, the kiln owners in Jingzhen were naturally unable to burn kilns with peace of mind.
This situation lasted until about the tenth year of Kangxi's reign (1671), when Jingzhen's porcelain industry gradually recovered.
In the 19th year of Kangxi's reign, Emperor Kangxi sent Zang Zang, a doctor from the Ministry of Industry's Yu Heng Division, to go to JDZ to "stay in the factory to supervise manufacturing."
This set the precedent for calling kilns after the surnames of the kiln governors. The most representative ones are "Zang Kiln" and "Lang Kiln".
As we all know, Kangxi created a prosperous age with political stability and economic prosperity.
Coupled with Kangxi's own emphasis on the field of porcelain, the Qing Dynasty's porcelain production technology was finally able to rapidly improve and achieve a breakthrough.
Especially at this time, the west wind was gradually spreading, and many Western materials and technologies were introduced to China, which led to new breakthroughs in my country's traditional ceramic industry, and amazing works frequently appeared.
Among them, "enamel and pastel" were major inventions during this period.
"Illustrations of Ceramics" writes: Jingzhen stretches for only more than ten miles, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and is in a remote corner. There are traders selling pottery from all directions. There are two or three hundred folk kilns in the area, and there are no less than hundreds of thousands of craftsmen.
There are many eaters.
It can be seen from this that Chinese porcelain developed rapidly at this time.
Since Emperor Kangxi personally liked grand and thick porcelain, the porcelain bodies of the Kangxi period were thicker and generally clumsy in shape.
Even objects of the same size are heavier than those of other periods of the Qing Dynasty. This is why the Qing Emperor Kangxi's blue and white "Wanshou" statue is so huge.
After figuring out the background of the Qing Emperor Kangxi’s blue-and-white Wanshou statue, the next step is the highlight.
Are there really so many different words for "longevity" in our country? The answer is: No.
But don't worry, as long as you have the will, you will have a clever plan.
"Wanshou Zunfu" writes: Gather hundreds of families to search for tomb scriptures, and the seals are as wide as ten thousand.
It means that the word "Shou" on this blue and white statue with the character "Longevity" comes from various historical books and inscriptions on ancient artifacts.
But even so, there are still not enough different characters for "longevity".
At this time, calligraphers and craftsmen need to use their creativity to create a new character "Shou".
For example, they merged the characters representing auspiciousness such as "Qianqiu, Wandai, and Sanhuang" with the character "Shou" to form a new character "Shou";
For example, they used the word "Shou" as the basis and transformed it;
Another example is to imitate the ancient people's understanding of calligraphy, using bird and insect seal script, tadpole script, bronze seal script and other fonts to create the word "Shou";
Later, they even integrated elements such as heavenly stems and earthly branches, Qimen Dunjia, wind, rain, thunder and lightning, insects, fish, birds and beasts into the word "Shou".
So there appeared "The tadpoles are colorful, the insects and fish are mingling, and the Sui Shu is written. The traces of birds in Fu Nongxuan are written in Jie Shen. Some express the meaning of clouds and moons, or some pictographs depict the stars. The wind and the horses are formed, and the pen is recognized.
Zhou Xuan of the Stone Drum; Crouching Tiger Startled the Dragon, and the ink fell into brilliant colors after the summer of Ge. The Heluo River reopened, and the heroic figure was admired again." The spectacular scene is breathtaking.
By the way, there is one more detail I have to mention.
All the characters "Longevity" on this blue and white Wanshou statue will also make corresponding font changes according to its position.
The size of the font, fat and thin, all increase or decrease according to the concave and convex twists and turns of the vessel body.
The most important thing is that everything is done very smoothly and naturally, and it feels seamless when you look at it.
I am afraid that even thousands of words cannot explain the mystery of this word "longevity". I have to lament the wisdom of flattery again!
It is reported that countless calligraphers and craftsmen across the country spent nearly 7 years just to "create" the word "Shou".
Such ingenuity is admirable.
However, the background of the times is not satisfactory!
Of course, there is absolutely no problem with such a porcelain being valued at more than 1.2 billion.
Such precious porcelain can no longer be measured by value.
No matter if it's 1.2 billion or 1.3 billion, it won't be put up for auction anyway, it's just a gimmick.
Perhaps the best destination for this piece of porcelain is to be placed in a museum, where people from generation to generation can visit and appreciate it, and allow modern people to experience the wisdom of the ancients.
Knowing this, Chen Wenzhe was naturally very fortunate.
If he is asked to create it, let’s not talk about whether it can be created. Let’s talk about the time. If it takes seven years, how many people can support it?
Now it's fine, all you have to do is follow the example of the gourd, copy it first, and then you can use it freely as you become familiar with it.
If you still can't quickly copy a Wanshou Zun, why has he learned so many techniques recently?
However, making a Wanshou Zun is definitely not something that can be completed in a short time.
Therefore, Chen Wenzhe is not in a hurry. If such a valuable treasure is copied, it will be a victory.