Chen Wenzhe knows a senior in the industry who is also an expert in bronze restoration and manufacturing.
It took him 20 years, with the help of electricity, soldering iron, etc., to use the lost wax method to imitate the 1:1 Zun Hou Yizun plate.
Despite this, there is still controversy in the industry.
Some bronze restoration experts say that imitations that are reshaped with reference to text, pictures, etc. are different from replicas that are modeled on the actual object. There is still a certain gap between the level of sophistication and the charm of the original.
In other words, the Zeng Hou Yizun plate imitated in this way can barely be called a high imitation.
You should know that Zeng Hou Yizun's plate has multiple layers of openwork carvings. The surfaces are independent of each other and not connected to each other. They are supported by the inner copper stems;
The copper stems are connected in layers, scattered and decorated with countless snakes. The production cost and technical difficulty are quite high;
In addition, for the sake of protecting national treasures, the official has not made a copy of Zeng Hou Yizun Disk.
A treasure is a treasure, no matter ancient or modern, it is always a treasure.
We look at Zeng Hou Yizun Pan now and think it is a treasure, but in ancient times, Zeng Hou was also sure that he was a treasure.
And here, there is an interesting little story.
I am afraid that few people know that this Zun Hou Yi Zun plate originally belonged to his grandfather. Later, his grandson changed his name and became Zeng Hou Yi's.
This is not nonsense by Chen Wenzhe, but there is real evidence.
There are seven-character inscriptions on the Zun and the plate of the fraternity quilt, "Zeng Hou Yi will keep it forever", which means that Zeng Hou Yi will enjoy it forever.
However, the inscription "Y" on the inside of the plate was added after polishing, and the polishing marks are clearly identifiable.
There are 208 artifacts unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi with the inscription "Zeng Hou Yi", but only this one was polished and engraved.
The previous inscription was the name of Zeng Houyu, the grandfather of Zeng Houyi.
In recent years, with the continuous deepening of the archeology of Zeng State, the historical sequence of Zeng State has been basically clarified.
After research, we learned that this Zeng Houyi should be the grandfather of Zeng Houyi.
Changes of characters on bronze vessels mostly occurred when there was a change of dynasty or genocide.
It is very rare to change the name of the grandfather, so many researchers speculate that because this dish was so exquisite and it was a rare treasure at the time, Zeng Houyi did not hesitate to take it for himself.
Is it expensive to sell a replica of such a national treasure for 200,000 yuan?
Not to mention the high imitation of Zeng Hou Yizun's plate, but the one in front of Chen Wenzhe is not easy to copy.
For example, on this dish, the rim and the square-shaped hollow decorations on the plate can be made into five decorative patterns, which can be assembled and turned upside down to create a vessel that can hold wax liquid.
Inject the wax liquid into it and operate it skillfully to get an airtight wax shell.
By hollowing out the wax shell, making a new mold, and then injecting molten copper into the mold, you can obtain a hollow casting with complicated patterns but a seamless whole.
Hollow accessories such as the ringed feet, the inner and outer walls of the neck, the leopard-shaped beast, the flat body on the abdomen, etc. need to first inject wax liquid into the mold to make it a wax model. By repairing the wax model, the hollow effect is achieved, and then
This is the second preparation of the mold, and then the copper liquid is poured into it to obtain the casting.
Regarding the production of the statue, the statue is divided into four sections to make molds, and molds are made on the molds respectively. Wax is injected into the mold to form a wax mold, and the wax mold is welded into a whole. The mold seams and weld marks are cleaned, and then the whole wax is added.
Preparation on the mold and casting by lost wax method.
Now that the statue is finished, it still needs to be plated.
Let's talk about the production of the plate body. When the plate body is assembled, a wax mold is first made, and then directly welded to the rim wax mold, and then cast using the lost wax method.
Looking at the Zun Plate in his hand, Chen Wenzhe felt a little emotional. He was able to copy the simple Zun Plate in front of him, but he could not copy the Zun Hou Y Zun Plate.
The thing in front of him belongs to him, and there is no need for him to copy it.
Things that don't belong to him cannot be copied.
Shaking his head, he couldn't keep all the good things for himself.
This time, I finally saw a bronze artifact here. If I dig here, I will definitely gain something.
It's just that there seem to be two things buried here?
There was nothing to hesitate. Chen Wenzhe looked back at the two artifacts in front of him, and scenes of what had happened here appeared before his eyes.
Chen Wenzhe looked at the collapsed earth mound. It was a specially built earth platform.
Although the golden pot and zunpan are eye-catching, he is more interested in this earthen platform.
It would definitely be impossible to build such a thing here without a reason.
I found an engineering shovel and leveled the mound with just a few blows. What was exposed behind were some tomb bricks!
"Hollow brick? Hollow brick portrait brick tomb?"
Chen Wenzhe looked at the tomb bricks in front of him with a strange expression, or should we say it was an ancient tomb?
No matter how you look at it, it looks like it was dug out of an ancient tomb and used here.
Sure enough, as more tomb bricks were exposed, Chen Wenzhe discovered more.
The use of these bricks is not very good, at least the joints between the bricks are not very standard, which is why Chen Wenzhe believes that they are pieced together.
As the excavation progressed, a large number of exquisitely carved patterns were revealed on the exposed hollow bricks.
These patchwork portrait bricks depict large trees with leafy branches, birds of various shapes, galloping horses, figures kneeling on one knee, etc.
Although these murals have been covered in dust for who knows how many years, the images in the pictures are still lifelike.
These tomb bricks are also treasures, so after they were discovered, they were eventually excavated and moved here.
And when we came here, we did not waste it, but used it to build another ancient tomb? Or maybe we built a treasure house?
After digging carefully for a while, there was no foundation. After digging out the soil below, the tomb bricks above began to loosen.
Slowly pry them off one by one and carefully put them on the other side. These tomb bricks are considered treasures.
When these tomb bricks were cleared away, Chen Wenzhe was delighted by the scene in front of him.
The bronzes he was looking for finally appeared, and this time it was not just one or two pieces, but piles of them.
At this time, in the small cave in front of Chen Wenzhe, tripods were piled up everywhere.
Round, square, high or low, there are all kinds of shapes.
Seeing this situation, Chen Wenzhe speeded up.
After the tomb brick wall blocking the road is removed, what is revealed behind is definitely not all bronze. The most conspicuous thing is the relatively large tripod.
Bronze tripod, bronze statue, bronze plate, the size of the plate seems to be quite small.
There are most round tripods here, of course, there may also be Gui and cauldrons.
There is a round tripod, which can also be called Li.
Ge, an ancient cooking utensil.
Bronze Li was originally made based on the existing pottery Li from the Neolithic Age.
Its shape is generally wide-mouthed with three hollow legs, which is convenient for cooking and heating.
Bronze Li was popular in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, or in the Spring and Autumn Period. It should be rare in the Han Dynasty, right?