When he first obtained the blue and white elephant-headed military holding device, Chen Wenzhe only understood what a military holding device was and what a pure vase was.
After all, he has a good memory and remembers everything he has seen!
However, even he could hardly imagine that when he first found this kind of porcelain, countless experts in the country had no idea what these things were used for.
This is archeology, and only through inspection and research can we finally determine what this thing is for.
And this kind of thing happens often in the archaeological world.
For example, if the ancient finger scissors that Chen Wenzhe bought before were not used in the murals of another ancient tomb, can you imagine that the living standards of the ancients would be so high?
This military weapon is the same. If you don't study it carefully, you really don't understand the whims and wonders of the ancients.
Because this weapon has two openings, the lower opening is the water inlet and the higher opening is the water outlet.
When in use, press the bottom of the bottle downwards into the water so that the water surface is submerged in the water inlet. Once filled, it can be taken out.
At this time, the weapon has been filled with water. In order to prevent the liquid from splashing out, you can also stuff a ball of cotton cloth at the water inlet.
There is no need to worry about the water outlet, because no matter how bumpy the water in the tank is, not a drop will spill out.
Unless you tilt it to more than 90 degrees when drinking water, only then can the water in the weapon flow out smoothly.
From this point of view, we really have to thank archaeology. Without the spirit of experts' pursuit of knowledge and exploration, the identity of "Junzhi" would still be a mystery, let alone unraveling the secrets of ancient Buddhism.
Archeology is not only a golden key to open the door to history, but also a beacon in the vast sea of history.
Like the Wanli and the Wanli-era sunken ship discovered by Chen Wenzhe, there are many classic items from the Ming Dynasty on it.
And all of this is caused by historical reasons.
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the country's power declined, and it was difficult to have the financial resources to support a feat like "Zheng He's voyages to the West". The tribute trade system that was at its peak gradually disintegrated.
With the opening of new sea routes and the active activities of the Portuguese at sea, Macao became a global trade center and promoted the initial contact between Catholicism and our native culture.
By the first year of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty (1567), the Ming Empire lifted the "sea ban" to a limited extent, and private trade flourished again, resulting in a sustained trade surplus.
At the same time, Europeans began to spread along the Maritime Silk Road and opened new routes from the Americas across the Pacific. Catholicism spread rapidly with European colonists.
The Maritime Silk Road will inevitably gradually expand into a sea route of truly global significance.
The Wanli period was obviously the most active period for foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty.
Chen Wenzhe's discovery was not accidental. According to some domestic experts' research on historical data, there are at least 6 sunken ships in the South China Sea, belonging to the Wanli period.
There is more than one sunken ship from the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty in the Guangdong Provincial Museum.
The ceramics inside come from two sunken ships, such as the "Nan'ao I" and the "Wanli", both of which were merchant ships from the Wanli period.
There are also many porcelains with water in them, among which the classic one is the large blue and white "liang" plate from the Zhangzhou kiln in Wanli of the Ming Dynasty.
The Zhangzhou kiln blue and white "Liang" plate has a height of 8.7 cm, a diameter of 33.0 cm, and a bottom diameter of 13.0 cm. It was found in "Nanao No. 1".
There is also a blue and white "Wealth and Good Weapon" plate from the Jingzhen Kiln in the Ming Dynasty, with a height of 4.2, a diameter of 18.5 to 19.1, and a bottom diameter of 12.0 cm. It was also found in "Nanao No. 1".
"Nanao I" sank in the Sandianjin waters of Nan'ao County, Guangdong Province.
The academic community has several views on the age of "Nana'ao No. 1", including the Wanli period, thirty-sixth year after Wanli, and the opening of the sea in Longqing.
But generally speaking, the age of the blue and white porcelain of "Nana'ao No. 1" points to the late Ming Dynasty.
The porcelain on board "Nana'ao No. 1" is mainly products from Hu Jian's Zhangzhou kiln series and Jingzhen kiln series.
Among them, there are more than 20,000 pieces of Zhangzhou kiln porcelain;
There are more than 5,000 pieces in the Jingzhen kiln series, with two varieties: blue and white and multicolored.
It can be seen from this that the majority of the porcelain on board "Nanao No. 1" was blue and white porcelain from the Zhangzhou kiln, with the large blue and white porcelain and the bowl with a lid being the representative items.
The porcelain body and glaze of these blue and white porcelain are relatively thick, and the blue and white color is gray or dull.
The figures, flowers and birds painted on it are relatively random, and there is fine sand stuck to the bottom, which is the so-called "sand-footed vessel".
Obviously, the porcelain in the sunken ship discovered by Chen Wenzhe also came from these two places.
Therefore, the porcelain he discovered included both those from Hu Jian and the blue and white porcelain from Jingzhen.
Generally speaking, porcelain that goes overseas must be purchased nearby.
At this point, it is definitely more reasonable to purchase porcelain from Hu Jian.
You should know that with just one shipment, you can save a lot of money.
Hu Jian's Dehua kiln is also a famous kiln, and the porcelain produced by it is certainly no worse than the one in Jingzhen.
However, this also depends on the degree of participation of the official kiln, and over there in Jingzhen, there is a kiln factory built by the government and the people.
This is also proven because the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology went to Jingzhen to inspect the Guanyao ruins, the Hutian Kiln ruins and the Guanyin Pavilion ruins.
By comparing the shipwrecks and kiln site products, it is inferred that the Jingzhen kiln porcelain produced in "Nanao No. 1" came from the fourth phase of the Guanyin Pavilion site and dates from the early to mid-Wanli period.
The "Excavation Report of the Ming Dynasty Kiln Site of Guanyin Pavilion in Jingzhen" pointed out that in the third phase of the Guanyin Pavilion site, that is, during the Jiajing period, a large white glaze plate with the inscription "◆◆Jia◆◆made" and a blue and white five-clawed dragon pattern were discovered.
Remains of the bowl.
All this proves that the Guanyin Pavilion kiln site is a kiln site where the government and the people burned it.
Needless to say, the quality of porcelain fired this way is definitely better.
After all, with the participation of official kilns, the porcelain produced cannot be the same as that of private kilns.
By this time, as a large number of cultural relics came out of the water, Chen Wenzhe was already very clear about the overall condition of this batch of porcelain.
His trip to sea this time took a long time, but among the several sunken ships, there was a large amount of blue and white porcelain preserved in it.
"The Sword Comes"
Not to mention other things, it is just a Ming Dynasty shipwreck, and the total number of porcelain pieces recovered is estimated to be more than 10,000.
This part of the porcelain is very easy to identify because some of the objects have the words "Made in the Next Year" on the bottom.
Judging from the cultural relics found in the water, the age of the shipwreck is basically determined to be the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
Among the cultural relics that have been discovered, some are blue and white porcelain produced at the entrance of Jingzhen Kiln.
Among them are flowers, birds, figures and some simple and elegant freehand blue and white porcelain.
However, not all of these porcelains are exquisite.
Perhaps because the quantity purchased was so large, it was inevitable that a lot of the blue and white porcelain inside was from Jingzhen folk kilns.
And the products of these private kilns all look like those of the Guanyin Pavilion Porcelain Kiln.
If Guanyin Pavilion has shares in the official kiln, then the kiln entrance will have the technology of the official kiln, and it will naturally be able to produce high-quality porcelain.