Chen Wenzhe wanted to see whether the porcelain clay processed according to ancient techniques would have the characteristics of Macang clay, and whether it could produce the characteristics of Yuan blue and white.
"To make Yuan blue and white, you must choose a relatively famous one. Let's start by making the Guiguzi Xianshan Large Jar. This one is the most famous and has been imitated the most. It can be said that the imitation process is very sophisticated."
It was the first time to actually make Yuan blue and white flowers, so Chen Wenzhe naturally wanted to make something simpler.
It is definitely not easy to make a large Yuan blue and white jar.
But Guiguzi Xiashan Big Jar is different. It has been imitated so many times that it can be said that it has been clearly studied by others.
As long as the Macang soil is qualified, Chen Wenzhe is confident that he can make a qualified Yuan blue and white Guiguzi go down the mountain jar.
It is actually not difficult to make this big can, because there is a lot of decrypted information now, and there is even a one-stop counterfeiting service.
The imitation process of the Yuan blue and white Guiguzi Xiashan jar has been made transparent.
This Yuan blue and white pot has the main pattern of "Guiguzi Descending the Mountain".
It describes the story of Sun Bin's master Gui Guzi, who agreed to go down the mountain to rescue the famous Qi generals Sun Bin and Dugu Chen who were trapped by the Yan State at the repeated request of the Qi envoy Su Dai.
This artifact was sold at the "Chinese Ceramics, Fine Crafts and Export Crafts" auction held at Christie's in London on July 12, 2005.
It was sold for 14 million pounds, or 15.688 million pounds after commission, which is equivalent to about 230 million yuan. It set the highest auction record for Chinese art in the world at that time.
After the fire in this jar, a large number of imitations came out.
Of course, most of them are inferior imitations, but there are also some high-end antique porcelains among them.
As time went by, some complete antique porcelains even appeared.
What is antique porcelain in the complete sense? It refers to antique porcelain that is fake and passed off as real.
It consists of two steps, first imitation, and then distressing, both of which are indispensable.
Imitation mainly includes imitation of decoration, imitation of vessel shape, imitation of glaze color, imitation of soil and imitation of weight;
Distressing refers to the adoption of various technical means to create "traces of time" on artifacts.
After the 1990s, there was a craze for collecting Yuan blue and white flowers among the people, and many people said they had Yuan blue and white flowers on their hands.
However, if you think about it carefully, you will know that something is wrong. There were none in the previous 700 years. Why did so many suddenly appear after 700 years?
This is very doubtful, especially in recent years, Yuan Qinghua has been seriously forged, with too many fakes.
In recent years, a large number of "Yuan blue and white flowers" have been discovered by the public, and many of them have been identified as "genuine", but this cannot be a strong evidence for the large number of Yuan blue and white flowers.
At present, counterfeiting is prevalent in Jingzhen. Although the shape of Yuan blue and white made by some experts has reached the standard, it is "spiritually similar" to the real Yuan blue and white.
The imitation of Yuan blue and white porcelain has a history of only 20 years, and it is a newcomer among all imitation porcelains.
There is no evidence that anyone copied Yuan blue and white before the 1980s.
Although the hypocrisy in the history of the Chinese people is incredible, it is true that no one has ever touched Yuan Qinghua.
The reason is very simple. Dr. Pope, a beautiful Chinese, only started studying Yuan blue and white flowers in the 1950s.
When the results of his research on "the most authentic" Yuan blue and white flowers were made public, they were limited to academic achievements and kept a considerable distance from business.
It has only been 20 years since Yuan Qinghua really gained commercial attention from around the world.
It was because of the large Yuan blue and white Guiguzi jar that sold for a sky-high price at auction that the world truly realized its value.
As long as it is a work of art from the past, there will definitely be imitations on the market, and Yuan blue and white are no exception.
Gaining profit is the sole purpose of counterfeiters. In an era when Yuan blue and white flowers were not of high value, there was no point in counterfeiting.
In addition, for a long time, Yuan Qinghua was not favored, and the research level was also low. From a sociological perspective, there was no basis and necessity for imitation.
In 1987, Yuanqinghua reached the million-dollar mark for the first time in Hong Kong and Jiangsu Fubi.
The excitement of the auction scene at that time will still be fresh in the memory of anyone who saw it.
From that day on, master counterfeiters began to covet the excess profits of Yuan Qinghua and began a marathon imitation process.
Most people will take it for granted that the craftsmanship of Yuan blue and white is not much different from that of the later Ming and Qing dynasties.
It is nothing more than a few basic processes of drawing, sharpening, painting, glazing and firing.
All early imitations of Yuan blue and white are taken for granted.
Although it is not far from the topic, there is always a gap of thousands of miles, and anyone with a discerning eye can see it at a glance.
In Jingzhen in the 1980s, the Jade Huchun mass-produced by the Jianguo Porcelain Factory imitated the Yuan blue and white style and sold for only 15 yuan.
At that time, imitation was just a matter of taste, pursuing physical resemblance rather than spiritual resemblance.
There is no intention to deceive the world at all. The price of 15 yuan already includes the factory's legitimate profits.
During that period, which was the early stage of imitation of Yuan blue and white flowers, those imitation Yuan blue and white flowers were full of loopholes.
In terms of decoration, shape, size and proportion, glaze color, and carcass, they pay attention to one thing and neglect the other.
The most common mistake made by imitation products from 20 years ago is subjective fabrication.
For example, you can often see "big pots" with many layers and small size;
The pattern on the upper half conflicts with the pattern on the lower half;
Detailed decoration is in conflict with the overall decoration;
The shape does not care about the pattern, and conversely, the pattern does not care about the shape, and so on.
In short, contradictions and conflicts are a common phenomenon in early imitations.
At that time, even the first-class experts were not sure about the research on the blue and white flowers of the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, and the craftsmen had no time to study them in depth.
During the first wave, Jingzhen took it for granted and produced a large number of counterfeit goods, and they are still wandering in society among the novices.
Since the 1990s, as the craze set off by Yuan blue and white flowers has not subsided, scholars’ research results have been published frequently.
The obvious errors mentioned above have been continuously corrected by imitators.
Studying diligently and diligently has enabled the imitation of Yuan blue and white flowers to reach a higher level.
At this time, the "Yuan blue and white" has some appearance. From a professional perspective, many imitations can be given a passing score of 60 points or a good score of 80 points.
More and more imitation products are penetrating into the market like mercury, making many Taobao hunters feel like they have found a treasure.
At this time, the "Yuan blue and white" had not yet aroused enough vigilance among people.
In the past ten years, there have been countless people talking about such fakes.
The motivation of money accelerated the pace of imitation of Yuan blue and white flowers.
At the turn of the century, imitations of Yuan blue and white flowers could already look authentic in the hands of a few people.
This is not sensational, because Chen Wenzhe has already seen it.
If it weren't for this superb technology, how could a high-quality imitation that we knew to be a fake be sold for 500,000, 600,000, or even millions?
And to what extent this level of imitation reaches, it is at least difficult to identify with the naked eye!