Chapter 1816: Back full of mercury, bright and white through the ages
When the bronze mirrors were unearthed, few were complete, and most were broken or damaged. Forgers would weld the broken pieces into a whole, and use patina to repair the defects.
Wherever the mirror surface is not smooth and has green rust, it is all added. It can be said that there are antique mirrors in all dynasties, so there are many types of imitation mirrors.
Of course, the types of imitation mirrors in each era are different. Even if it is the same type of mirror, imitation in different eras also has different emphases.
However, the earlier the dynasty, the greater the controversy over whether there were imitation mirrors. For example, imitation mirrors in the Tang Dynasty are very controversial. There are still different opinions on whether there were imitation mirrors in the Tang Dynasty.
There are also imitation mirrors in the Song Dynasty. Some people think that the Song Dynasty did not imitate Han mirrors, while others think that the Song Dynasty imitated Han mirrors. But they mainly imitated Tang mirrors, so there were imitation mirrors in the Song Dynasty.
Later, according to the information seen, the Song Dynasty had indeed imitated the bronze mirrors of the Han and Tang Dynasties. In addition, the imitated Han mirrors also included nebula mirrors, four breast mirrors, and nebula mirrors.
"Homely Wealth" mirrors, regular mirrors, four-animal mirrors, innocent mirrors, etc. The gold imitation mirrors are especially slightly yellower than the bronze imitation Song Dynasty mirrors.
Among them, the Sunlight and Zhaoming mirrors of the Han Dynasty are almost imitated in all dynasties. They must have seven-circle inscriptions, and the additional inscriptions are especially added to the inner-circle inscriptions.
The imitation mirror decorations of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are far as rough as those of the Han and Tang dynasties, and as thick as the mirrors of the Song Dynasty. This has nothing to do with the fact that the tin content of the imitation mirrors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties is small and high, and the zinc content is slightly increased.
In particular, although the added patterns and inscriptions are very random in content and form, there are no very clear rules.
Contrast is a characteristic of various parts of the same era, and mastering even slight changes is an important aspect in distinguishing real mirrors from imitation mirrors.
Then there are the imitation Han mirrors, such as the Sun Mirror, Zhaoming Mirror, Qingbai Mirror, Portrait Mirror, Rules Mirror, and Dragon and Tiger Mirror.
The ancient bronze mirrors passed down to today are all unearthed cultural relics. There are flower mirrors and Bagua mirrors among the imitation Song mirrors, but there are no mirrors in Huzhou.
Therefore, the copper quality and color have not changed. Of course, the imitation mirrors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are not very bad, they are the same at all times.
Because I believe that although the imitation mirror does not have the characteristics of the real mirror, it is a product of this era after all, and it must show more or less certain characteristics of the era in which the imitation mirror was created.
The quality of the imitation mirrors from the Song Dynasty is similar to that of the mirrors from the Han and Tang dynasties. Among the imitation mirrors from the Jin Dynasty, no matter which dynasty they were imitated from, there must be no engraved characters or inscriptions inspected by the government, so it can be easily identified.
There were also many imitation mirrors in the Jin Dynasty. In the Jin Dynasty, they mainly imitated the patterns of Han, Tang and Song mirrors. In the Tang Dynasty, there were sea animal and grape mirrors, auspicious animal mirrors, and flower and bird mirrors.
There is no silver, no lead. The texture of the bronze mirror is crystal clear, and it is first stained by mercury. After a long time, the back is full of mercury, and it is bright white through the ages. It is called silver back. The so-called unearthed cultural relics refer to the displacement caused by the war and famine. Everything on the ground and in small pieces are the objects buried in the tomb.
For example, there is no difference in copper, because before the Song Dynasty, the composition of China's bronze mirror alloys underwent important changes. The tin content increased significantly, the lead content increased, and the proportion of zinc also increased.
In ancient times, mercury was used in tombs, so the bronze mirrors unearthed today must have been stained by mercury. The original mirrors only had no patterns or inscriptions, and the added inscriptions were at least one or seven places above the patterns, suppressing the original decorations. a part of.
That should be an important aspect in distinguishing antique mirrors from real mirrors. When using a copy of the original mirror to make a model, the craftsman at that time added some decorations and inscriptions.
The imitations of the Song Dynasty are softer, brass, yellow with red flashes. But in that large piece of heaven and earth, craftsmen of all ages have made great efforts in the decoration, inscriptions, inner shapes, and the circles, edges, buttons, and button bases that divide the decoration. Every aspect has been renovated and transformed.
Some of the added contents are very obvious, while others are more subtle. There were relatively few silver ingot buttons in the Ming Dynasty. The buttons in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had flat tops and were much smaller in area than imitation mirrors in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. There were also few inscriptions cast under the flat tops.
However, due to the lack of careful attention to the decoration and molding, there were even errors in some important records, and the imitation mirror with added content was designated as the mirror of the original era.
To identify the authenticity of ancient bronze mirrors, you should first fully understand the evolution of bronze mirrors in each era from the aspects of the nature, decoration, and performance content of the bronze mirror.
Among the imitation mirrors of the Tang Dynasty, the Sea Beast Grape Mirror was the most popular. There were also many imitation mirrors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China. During this period, the trend of imitating antiques was very strong, and both the court and the people imitated it. Mirrors from all periods were imitated.
Bronze mirrors of the same era may have different characteristics, and they will all be affected by the politics, economy, ideology, culture and customs of that time.
It must have been contaminated by blood and water first, and then invaded by mercury. The copper quality is simple, and the color is like lead. The color lags with age, which is called lead back. However, judging from the added content of many imitation mirrors, the number of added inscriptions is very small. .
Except for those, there is no difference, and because of the added content, they are the same. The mirrors imitated by the Ming and Qing Dynasties have straight edges, sharp edges and corners, and small differences in the buttons.
Originally, the mirror was a flat surface with a small area, allowing for a clear view. Although the Ming and Qing court imitation mirrors were made of brass, the Ming imitation mirrors had yellow gleams with white, while the Qing dynasty imitation mirrors had yellow gleams with yellow.
However, due to the quality of copper and the weakness of mercury, its mercury is naturally the same. And the inscriptions added in front are at least the names of these mirror casting workshops, shops and craftsmen, and most of them should be The name of the user of the bronze mirror.
Judging from the location of the additional inscriptions, several are the same, depending on the decorative content of the original mirror.
No matter whether the appearance is the same, the change in alloy composition will bring about the difference in texture and color, which will inevitably affect the quality of the bronze mirror.
Roughly counting, the added inscriptions are: Gong, Chen, Sun, Da, Cao, Li, Lu, Zhao, Ma, etc.
The bronze mirrors of the Song and Jin Dynasties are smooth, the patterns are molded, the lines are rough, and they appear rigid. Others have bronzes made by Qi, Caopu, Kong Ji, Lu, Ma Qing, Lu, Zhang, Li Taishan, and Li Pu. Pretending that Li Jingzhen is a pig or a dog, the Qi family guarantees exchange for bronze, Xie Duotang makes guarantee for exchange for bronze, etc.
Those that are not half mercury, half green and cinnabar are first exposed to flesh and blood, and become green over time. Those that are half pure are dyed with mercury, so the back of a mirror is mixed with seven colors.
The most important thing is that the shape is the same. Although the bronze mirror is particularly small, the back area of the mirror is large. The characteristics of the imitation mirrors in different periods are not the same.
The inner area of the original mirror is decorated with inscriptions, and the added pictures and texts are not placed inside the decoration. Judging from the types of imitation mirrors in the above eras, the Han Dynasty's Nikuang, Zhaoming and other inscribed mirrors, regular mirrors, portrait mirrors, dragon and tiger mirrors, etc. mirror.
Huzhou mirrors and Sigua mirrors from the Song Dynasty are important types of mirrors imitated in previous generations. The imitation mirrors of each era are clarified, and the key areas for identifying imitation mirrors are drawn out.
Since there are so few imitation bronze mirrors, and none have been imitated in any era, the identification of bronze mirrors is not a very important issue.
To name just a few: the Song Dynasty imitated the rhombus-shaped mirrors of the Tang Dynasty and the sunflower-shaped mirrors. In the Tang Dynasty, such mirrors were all in-out shape, while in the Song Dynasty, the Shaoba-shaped mirrors were in the four-out shape. Even if they were in the four-out shape, the arc curvatures in the Tang and Song Dynasties were the same.
If the original mirror has no decorations but only no inscriptions, it must be a single-circle mirror with inscriptions, and the additional inscriptions are added to the original inscription circle.