It is because Chen Jieqi is a god-like existence that the rubbings he left behind are widely recognized by the world.
Since there is no problem with the rubbings, then there is a problem with the Xijia plate that is different from the rubbings.
Since Xi Jiapan entered the Tibetan court as early as the Southern Song Dynasty, imitations have appeared in all dynasties since the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, now we can determine whether the Xi armor plate from Sirang is reliable. In addition to judging its own era characteristics and craftsmanship, the most direct evidence is to compare it with Chen Jieqi's inscription rubbings.
Why is it said that the rubbings left by Chen Jieqi are authentic? In addition to the reasons mentioned before, it is also because the spread of Xijiapan here is very orderly and clear!
There are other supporting evidences here, such as Wu Shifen (1796-1856), a famous epigrapher and contemporary of Chen Jieqi, whose book "Longgulu Bronze Inscriptions" was the earliest work to include the inscriptions on the armor plate.
But Wu Shifen wrote after reading the full text: "I haven't looked at the utensil, and I don't know if there are any missing parts... Chen Shouqing said that all three legs are missing when sitting side by side, which is the utensil of a poor student."
Wu Shifen recorded in more detail in another of his works "Longu Lu": "The wares are stored in the Qinghe Road warehouse in Zhili, and the Chen family in Weixian County, Qilu, has a height of three and a half inches and a caliber of one foot and three inches. Five points, the bottom half is missing."
The first draft of Wu Shifen's "Gu Gu Lu" was written in the third year of Xianfeng (1853).
Therefore, it can be basically concluded that the time when Chen Jieqi collected Xi Jiapan was from the end of Daoguang to the beginning of Xianfeng.
After Chen Jieqi's death, the descendants of the Chen family were not able to maintain the collection system throughout his life. The legendary life collection of a generation was scattered everywhere, and this Xijia plate has been missing ever since.
However, in the 30th year of the Republic of China (1941), Rong Geng (1894-1983), a famous modern paleontologist, published a black-and-white photo of the Xijia Pan in the "Tongkao of Yi Qi of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties", which became the earliest reliable example of a generation of national treasures. Image recording.
From the Republic of China to the liberation, many well-known experts and scholars conducted detailed research on the inscriptions of Xijiapan.
However, judging from the texts they left behind, they only studied the inscriptions and rubbings without ever seeing the actual objects.
For example, when Chen Mengjia wrote "The Dating of Bronze Wares of the Western Zhou Dynasty" at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he said that the location of the Xijia Pan was "unknown".
If it weren't for the one in front of him, Chen Wenzhe would never have been able to tell where it was fake, and he would never have thought of the inheritance of Xi Jiapan.
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguoyuedu to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. Yeguoyuedu is available for Android and Apple.]
Based on this reasoning, the problem is still after the Republic of China, that is, after the death of Mr. Chen Jieqi.
Looking at the bronze plate in front of him, Chen Wenzhe fell into deep thought.
Since Xi Jiapan is so famous and was born so early, there must be many fakers.
Not to mention others, Zheng Yu and others prompted him, and he had the idea of duplicating a batch of bronze treasures.
He was interested in bronze bulls, bronze plates, and even bronze tripods.
Therefore, when it comes to counterfeiting a world-famous dish, many masters of counterfeiting throughout the ages must have imitated it.
Let’s not talk about whether the imitations are good or not. The most famous ones are definitely the two fakes mentioned before.
The best way to identify a cultural relic is to compare it with the original.
There is no genuine Xijia Pan, so it would be good to have rubbings that have been verified to be correct.
Now if Chen Wenzhe wants to find out the flaws in the Xijia plate in front of him, he must understand what the forgeries of the past generations look like and what grade they are.
The first thing to compare is definitely the Xijia plate from the Neon and Hong Kong collections.
Chen Wenzhe learned earlier that because the Xijia plate was so famous, there were many imitations in the past dynasties.
In addition to its own characteristics of the times, the Xijia plate sold at the Xilangchun auction has completely comparable inscriptions with the original rubbings left by Mr. Chen Jieqi.
This has become the most direct guarantee for the authenticity of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
If we really want to look for fakes, the two examples we will cite are the above-mentioned Neon and Hong Kong’s two famous Xi Jia Pan counterfeit items.
But those imitations are a bit early.
One of them appeared in the 1940s and 1950s.
During that period, there were rumors that the Neon Calligraphy Museum had a Xijia plate with ring feet, but it was believed to be a forged imitation during the Republic of China period;
In the 1980s, the Chinese University of Hong Kong also collected a Xi armor plate. According to the appraisal of many authoritative experts, its date is indeed the Western Zhou Dynasty.
However, the inscription was forged by later generations. However, there will naturally be obvious differences between the inscription etched by strong acid and Chen Jieqi's original rubbings.
According to what Chen Wenzhe knows, the Xijia plate from Sirang was dispersed overseas in the early years and later returned to China.
In November 2014, this Xijia plate was unveiled at the Huaxia (Beihu) Culture and Art Expo held in Wu City.
At that time, it was unanimously recognized by several experts from the National Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee. Later, it appeared in the Xilang Spring Auction.
Relying on these, it is actually difficult to determine which one is authentic.
But by looking at the inscriptions, you can date them, because the inscriptions don't lie.
It is even said that the historical code of the inscription is the key to determining the authenticity and value of a bronze vessel.
The inscriptions on bronze vessels often contain important first-hand historical information.
It often has an immeasurable effect on the market added value of a piece of bronze.
There are 13 lines of inscriptions on the belly of the Xijia Pan, totaling 133 characters. Because there are four characters of Chongwen in it, historical records say it is 129 characters or 130 characters.
Chen Wenzhe is not a professional researcher of ancient characters and is an outsider in inscription research.
However, he reads a lot!
Fortunately, in the past hundred years, many first-class experts and scholars have repeatedly studied and verified the inscription on this famous vessel.
Therefore, Chen Wenzhe only needs to look at the results of these scholars.
If you want to identify Xi Jia Pan, you must understand the inscriptions on Xi Jia Pan, and you must also know the secrets recorded in the inscriptions on Xi Jia Pan.
Based on his understanding, Chen Wenzhe knew that the Xijiapan inscription contained several historical codes of Xijiapan.
The first one must be the owner of the vessel. The classics have names for this plate such as "Bo Ji Fu Chu Pan", "Xi Tian Pan", "Xi Bo Pan", "Xi Bai Ji Fu Pan", "Xi Jia Pan" and so on.
The difference in titles stems from the use of surnames, surnames, given names and characters in the pre-Qin period.
Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, surname and family name were two concepts.
"Zizhi Tongjian Waiji" says: "The surname is the place where the ancestors came from; the family name is the place where the descendants are."
"Tongzhi Clan Brief" says: "Three generations ago, surnames were divided into two. Men were called surnames, and women were called surnames. The surnames were distinguished between high and low. The noble ones had a surname, and the lowly ones had a surname but no surname."
The name is for personal use, and the characters are mostly supplementary explanations of the name. They are the exterior and interior of each other, so they are also called "table characters".
As a nobleman, Xi Jia, Xi is the surname, Jia is the given name, and the courtesy name is Bo Jifu.
Wang Guowei's "Xi Jia Pan Postscript" believes that "Jia" is the beginning of the heavenly stems, and "ji" also means the beginning. For example, the first day of the month is the auspicious month, and the first eight days of the first month are the first auspicious days.
In the first half of the inscription, he refers to himself as "Xi Jia" by his name to the King of Zhou, and in the second half of the inscription, he refers to himself as a maker of utensils, so he is called "Xi Bo Ji Fu".