Chapter 1,369: Six Weapons Ritual to the Four Directions of Heaven and Earth
"The jade frog of the Liangzhu Culture? Or the topaz frog? This thing is very rare, but why does it appear here?"
After rummaging around carefully, it turned out that not all the stones here were rough.
Of course, there are not many real antique jade stones.
But it can also be seen from now on that those foreign merchant ships that entered the country were really dishonest.
Just like these antique jades, it is definitely impossible to sell them officially, especially some ritual vessels or royal objects.
For example, topaz is generally monopolized by the royal family and cannot be used by the public.
Just now he saw some jade stones with their shells peeled off, revealing the browned jade flesh inside.
Without some skills, who would have been able to make such a thing from that place in the Western Regions during the Ming and Qing Dynasties?
He really didn't expect that if he looked carefully at the jade raw materials, he would also find some jade pieces mixed in them.
And looking at these artifacts, they are actually ancient artifacts.
These are definitely not jades from the Ming and Qing dynasties, because their carving styles don't look like those from the Ming and Qing dynasties at all. Instead, they look like high ancient ware.
Just like the jade frog and the jade pig of the Liangzhu culture, these are somewhat similar to the jade pig dragon that Chen Wenzhe obtained before.
There is only one similarity, that is the simple carving style, and the other is the craftsmanship.
In ancient times, there were no machines, so jade could only be carved manually, which was quick and easy to identify.
The older the jade, the worse the craftsmanship at that time, and the more troublesome it is to carve it.
So the lines, shapes, etc. are all very simple.
Of course, there are also slightly more complex carvings, but these cannot be from the Liangzhu culture.
For example, the yellow jade dragon pattern in front of you is very laborious to carve, so it definitely cannot be from the Hongshan Culture or the Liangzhu Culture.
It looks like it's from the Warring States Period, and it's another important weapon.
Although the palm-sized topaz work is inconspicuous, this is a Huang, and it is still a Huang.
Jade Huang is a kind of jewelry.
In ancient my country, jade congs, jade bis, jade guis, jade seals, jade amber, etc. were all jade ritual utensils of the "six utensils used to ritualize the world and the four directions".
Among the six jade wares, four types of jade wares, including jade Huang, jade cong, jade bi and jade kui, have the longest history and have appeared as early as the Neolithic Age.
In ancient times, these six weapons were collectively called "Six Rui".
The book "Zhou Li" calls them "six utensils for rituals in all directions of heaven and earth". They are high-level and heavy-weight jade ritual utensils.
These six kinds of ritual utensils are important items in the collection of modern jade collectors. They cannot be obtained by chance, and they are also auspicious utensils.
This jade is in the shape of a narrow arc, slightly wider at both ends, and has a flat and thin body. The surface is carved with drum nail patterns, the grains are full, and the ground is ground smooth.
A concave string pattern border is outlined around the huang, and a hole is punched in the middle for tying.
This jade huang is large in size, and its color becomes darker after being exposed to qin. Its surface has a natural gray skin and a mature luster. It is a rare jade product from the Warring States Period.
Jade Huangs from the Warring States Period are still easy to identify.
Compared with similar vessels of the previous generation, the shape and artistic style of the Warring States Period jade Huang have undergone drastic changes.
The jade huangs of this period were not only numerous in number, complex in shape, but also spread over a wider area.
There are even many new varieties that are exquisite and ingenious, such as outline type, hollow type, layered type, segmented type and so on.
The common Warring States jade Huangs generally fall into these categories.
For example, the piece of jade in front of you is a jade in the outline style.
The outline-shaped jade Huang is a type of complex-shaped vessel that appeared in large numbers during the Warring States Period.
The so-called "outline style" is a kind of "auxiliary" shapes such as dragons, snakes, chisels, phoenixes, and modified moirés, which are decorated with hollow and openwork techniques in addition to the traditional "mother" shape of the jade Huang.
shape.
This kind of jade Huang is one of the most distinctive and innovative varieties among the Warring States Period jade.
This kind of jade Huang appeared most during the Warring States and Han Dynasties.
However, from the source, this kind of jade Huang must have existed for a longer period of time.
In Liangzhu culture, jade Huang is a kind of ceremonial ornament.
Whenever religious rituals are performed, wizards wear it.
It is often combined with jade tubes and jade strings to form a string of exquisite hangings, showing the mysterious identity of the wizard.
And each jade huang is engraved with complex or simple images of gods, humans and beasts.
In the international art market, modern jade pendants have won the same favor among collectors as jade pendants, especially in Wanwan, where the market is promising.
There is no way that no matter what period it is, things that represent wealth and power will be sought after by people.
The piece of jade in front of me, apart from anything else, I knew it was a treasure just by looking at its texture.
The main thing is that the topaz it uses is of really good quality.
There is a huge difference between this and the ancient jades unearthed on land, which have a rich earthy texture.
Ordinary high ancient jade is mottled and looks like a stone.
But what about the jade in front of you? This must be first-grade topaz, with deep yellow color, soft and even texture, and dense and delicate texture.
After rubbing it, it feels like the jade is very tough.
The most important thing is that it is moisturizing, smooth and translucent.
The waxy luster of oil makes it look very beautiful.
Then there’s the quality. This piece of topaz has basically no strands, cracks, impurities, etc.
Topaz can be divided into several grades according to the quality of its texture.
The lowest color is yellowish, soft and uneven, the texture is dense and delicate, waxy luster, common strands, cracks, impurities, etc.
The division of colors is also rough, and it is impossible to find strict boundaries.
Therefore, the color characteristics of many Hetian jade cannot be defined and can only be used as a reference when collecting.
And when collecting a piece of jade, the color is only one aspect, the more important thing is to look at the texture of the jade.
If we only look at the color, we may regard other yellow nephrite as Hetian jade.
To specifically look at jade, you have to weigh it, touch it and look at it three times.
First, weigh the weight and examine the density;
If it is light and has no falling feeling, even if it is jade, it is a jade with low density.
The second is to touch it slowly and feel the delicacy of the jade. A good piece of jade will be very oily even through the skin and without polishing, except of course for stone-covered jade.
Topaz has a high hardness of 6.5, fine texture, strong toughness, typical oily luster, and polished interior.
In layman's terms, it should be like chicken fat, oily, glutinous, and crispy.
Huangpiqin seed material can be called topaz only if the flesh inside is also colored yellow.
Only when the inner and outer colors are consistent, not white, and the yellow color does not change from the outside to the inside can it be called topaz.
Otherwise, it is yellow-skinned jade, not topaz.
Generally speaking, topaz from huangpiqin seed material is more common, while raw topaz seed material is much rarer.
The difference between the two is hardness and skin color.
The hardness of Huangpiqin seed material is much lower than that of topaz raw material, and also lower than that of ordinary baby material.
The raw topaz seeds mostly have brown or red skin except that the jade quality is yellow.
As for topaz made from Huangpiqin seeds, the internal and external tones are uniformly yellow-skinned.