When some people hear about porcelain fished from the sea, they will think of the damaged glaze layer covered with the remains of marine life.
This is wrong. For example, the Kangxi emerald blue landscape figure vase found by Chen Wenzhe is very well preserved.
If you don't say it, you won't even know that it has been preserved in the sea water for hundreds of years.
And this is no accident.
There are also porcelain fished from the sea like "Wanjiao No. 1", a considerable number of which fall into this situation.
That batch of sea-harvested porcelain has no obvious inclusions in its appearance, but the corrosion of seawater will leave traces on the surface of the porcelain.
Under such circumstances, the surface of the porcelain often appears matte and even corroded plaques appear.
Special attention needs to be paid here. It is not corrosion from sea water, but a large area of marine organisms attached to it, which will definitely damage the porcelain, especially the glaze on the surface of the porcelain.
This is not necessarily true, because some porcelain that seems to have endured many vicissitudes of life and is covered with the remains of strange-shaped sea creatures may turn out to be modern porcelain with a bright appearance and a rich glaze when cleaned.
Therefore, some people currently use seabed organisms to forge sea-harvested porcelain, and can even forge some so-called high-quality sea-harvested porcelain.
These so-called high-quality sea-harvested porcelain will definitely fetch high prices.
Because there are precedents to follow, just like "Wanjiao No. 1" fishing for porcelain from the sea.
Speaking of Wanjiao No. 1, sunken ships can be found here, and there are traces to follow.
This sunken ship is located near Pingtan Wanjiao in the East China Sea of Hu Jiancheng, FJ Province.
Because hundreds of years ago, this was a waterway with frequent merchant ships.
Because of the numerous reefs and unpredictable sea currents, some merchant ships sank here.
Based on the cargo on the sunken ship, the locals called the waters here Baitang Reef, Yinzhu Reef, and Wan Reef.
Why is it called Wanjiao? It is because most of the porcelain bowls picked up by fishermen are so it is called Wanjiao.
One day in late June 2005, a fisherman accidentally fished out several porcelain pieces while fishing near Wanjiao in Pingtan.
The patterns on these porcelains are exquisite and simple. After archaeological investigation, it was discovered that there was a sunken ship more than ten meters underwater.
As archaeological work progressed, experts determined that this was a ship used to transport porcelain during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty.
It is worth mentioning that "Wanjiao No. 1" discovered that the simplified Chinese character "Double Dragon" appeared on the Kangxi blue and white porcelain of the Qing Dynasty.
After the news came out, relevant experts cleared up their doubts.
Simplified Chinese characters did not appear after liberation. Before that, many domestic celebrities, as well as Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong and others earlier, were trying to simplify traditional Chinese characters.
The basis is the broken style, vulgar style and lower case in traditional Chinese calligraphy.
These fonts appeared as early as the Han Dynasty and are not uncommon in calligraphy of all dynasties.
It was only after liberation that the government implemented simplified Chinese characters across the country, and people thought that simplified characters only appeared after liberation.
The abbreviations "Double" and "Dragon" appear in Wei stele.
The word "dragon" has been written in a similar simplified way in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions.
The abbreviation on the porcelain here should be the signature mark left by the maker, just like a monogram.
In fact, "simplified Chinese characters" evolved from calligraphy and began to be used among the people in the Ming and Qing Dynasties or even earlier.
At that time, simplified and traditional Chinese were running in parallel, so it was reasonable for folk craftsmen to use the abbreviation "Double Dragon" on porcelain.
Simplified Chinese characters have also been found on some ancient porcelains before.
For example, when Chen Wenzhe bought two pieces of porcelain in Shendu, he thought they were errors made by modern people when they forged them.
In fact, it was made by ancient people unintentionally and is a real antique.
Speaking of Wanjiao No. 1, there is still a lot worth saying.
Because this sunken ship has a very good reference value for the excavation of sunken ships on the seabed.
Of course, Chen Wenzhe pays attention to this ship mainly because there are many mysteries on this ship, and also because many of the porcelain found on this ship are exquisite and well-preserved porcelain.
What's more, this is probably a fine porcelain produced in Jingzhen during the Kangxi period.
You must know that Jingzhen was an imperial kiln factory at that time. Since it is a high-quality product, it cannot be much worse than the official kiln.
In this way, the value of this boat will be very high.
Wanjiao No. 1 is a wooden boat that sank about 10 meters underwater.
The most important point is that its hull is buried in the sand, and only part of the ship's planks and sides can be seen.
When it was discovered, the exact size could not even be measured.
Of course, if an ancient shipwreck capsizes, there will definitely be a large amount of porcelain scattered on the seabed near the shipwreck.
This time the porcelain was exposed to sea water. After hundreds of years of baptism, it will definitely be damaged.
This type of porcelain is the standard Hai Lao porcelain, but what about the non-standard ones?
It must be the porcelain that was directly buried by the sand, so this is how some of the exquisite porcelain found on this ship came from.
This batch of blue and white porcelain has various varieties. The main types include general jars, large plates, flower goblets, statues, incense burners, jars, bowls, deep-belly cups, middle plates, lids, shallow-belly bowls, small plates, small bowls, and small cups.
Powder box, pen holder, vial, small cup, wash etc.
In addition, stone inkstones, copper coins and copper locks were also found.
Because the shipwreck site was buried shallowly, large-scale excavations were carried out when it was first discovered, causing serious damage to the ship itself.
However, fortunately, many porcelains were not stolen because of the protection of sediment.
In addition, due to the protection of sediment, the glaze of this batch of porcelain is still as good as new, and the patterns are clearly visible.
Judging from the porcelain excavated from the water, the porcelain in this sunken ship can be roughly divided into two categories.
One type is small porcelain for daily use, but many of them are high-quality products, just like the official kiln porcelain recorded in historical data.
They have "fine adobe, thin texture, and excellent glaze color."
Another type of these porcelain is display porcelain used for decoration and ornamental purposes.
For example, a gourd bottle was discovered, which is a rare item.
Its production process is very special. The lower layer is sauce glaze, the middle layer is Ge glaze, and the upper layer is blue and white glaze. It is very precious.
The largest porcelain vessel that produces water is the "General Jar".
There must be a reason why so many precious porcelains can be preserved.
Because in that sea area, the routes between ancient times and today have not changed much.
Not far from the wreck site, you can still see an endless stream of ships coming and going.
In a place where people come and go, even tomb robbers would not dare to be too presumptuous.
Also, that sea area is really dangerous, because anyone passing there can see that every time the tide goes out, many reefs are exposed in that area.
Such a place also indirectly protects the precious porcelain buried under the sea.
Even so, after the final cleanup and excavation of "Wanjiao No. 1", many cultural relics were unearthed.
Including those that were lost, stolen, and destroyed, the cargo on this ship is estimated to be at least 50,000 pieces.