Being in such an atmosphere, Zhang Jun suddenly felt that he might actually find a treasure, so he glanced around to see if there was anything he liked.
Professor Guo quickly squatted down next to a street stall, picked up a string of Buddhist beads and observed them carefully. Guo Lan was not idle either, running to another stall, holding a jade bowl and looking at it again and again, with a hesitant expression on his face.
indefinite.
Since Zhang Jun's last "inward vision", he found that his perspective range has been extended to more than two meters, which makes it easier for him to observe the antiques on the ground. He does not have to bend down and get closer every time he observes something.
But even so, he still didn't find anything special, and he was very disappointed, so he said hello to Professor Guo and continued walking alone.
"Take a look at the Xuande furnace. It's obviously made of cast iron and plated with copper, yet you dare to ask for 10,000 yuan." Seeing a buyer and a seller haggling enthusiastically at a certain stall, he was speechless for a while.
Along the way, he relied on his clairvoyance ability to discover that most of the things on the street stalls were fakes. Occasionally, there would be a real thing, and the price would be ridiculously high. Even if he bought it, he would definitely not make a profit.
"Yishui is a scammer. If I hadn't had the power of clairvoyance, I would probably have bought a few worthless things." He shook his head and quickened his pace, preparing to quickly cross this street and go to another one.
Take a look at the street where calligraphy and paintings are sold.
Passing the corner of the street, Zhang Jun glanced at a stall inadvertently, and suddenly stopped. It turned out that he found an iron three-legged incense burner with a diameter of more than 20 centimeters.
There is nothing special about this iron incense burner on the surface. The craftsmanship is rough and jerky. Even people who don't understand art can tell that it doesn't look like a cultural relic. It can be sold for a few kilograms of pig iron at most.
But strangely, he found that there was actually an incense burner inside the iron incense burner, and its shape was very similar to the fake Xuande burner on the street stall just now. After he looked through it, he immediately felt a special smell from it.
This aura was restrained, prosperous, diligent in governance, civilized and martial arts, quiet yet vigorous, which was exactly the atmosphere of the Xuande era. He had felt this aura from the Xuande blue and white porcelain fragments preserved by Professor Guo, and they were almost the same.
Nearly the same.
"Could the thing inside be a Xuande stove?" Zhang Jun's heart skipped a beat. He had never eaten pork and had seen pigs run away. The name Xuande stove had been heard on the TV network, and it seemed to be very valuable.
Zhang Jun looked calm and walked forward to observe carefully. Through perspective, he found that the iron incense burner was hollow, with a copper incense burner wrapped inside, and the gap between the two was filled with paraffin wax.
"It is very difficult to make this thing, and the maker must have spent a lot of effort." Zhang Jun thought to himself, "Then even if the thing inside is not a Xuande furnace, how much is it worth?"
Thinking of this, he pointed to the iron incense burner and asked: "Boss, how much does this cost per pound?"
When the boss heard this, he almost vomited blood and shouted: "Brother, you are buying cabbage, this is the real thing!"
Zhang Jun curled his lips and said: "Okay, boss, I know whether you are real or fake. I need an incense burner at home, please give me a price. Let me explain first, if you give me a higher price, I can turn around and leave, and buy one another day.
It can be used just like a stone incense burner.”
When encountering Zhang Jun like this, the boss secretly said that he was unlucky, but he had kept this iron incense burner for more than half a year. He had originally received it from the countryside for 100 yuan, but he had never been able to sell it.
After thinking for a while, the boss said: "Brother, do you think five hundred dollars is worth it?"
Zhang Jun turned around and left. The boss behind him became anxious and shouted: "Brother, stay back, four hundred!"
Zhang Jun said without looking back: "Two hundred yuan, if you don't sell it, you will lose it."
The boss gritted his teeth and thought that after all, he had made a hundred yuan, so he sold it to him. Thinking of this, he sighed helplessly and said, "Okay, two hundred is two hundred. The market has not been open for a day, so I will give you an advantage."
.”
Zhang Jun grinned and readily handed over two hundred dollars, then picked up the iron incense burner and walked away. He ran to Professor Guo and said, "Professor Guo, I bought a treasure."
Professor Guo was looking at something. When he turned around and took a look, he was happy and asked with a smile: "How much did it cost?"
Zhang Jun answered honestly: "Two hundred."
Professor Guo nodded: "Yes, now that steel prices are rising, we will be able to break even in a few years."
Everyone around him laughed when he heard this, and Zhang Jun also laughed along with "hehe".
Professor Guo was obviously joking just now, so he said seriously: "Xiao Zhang, it's normal to pick eyes on this street, but you have to learn to learn from every experience, so that you can hone your eyesight."
Zhang Jun nodded hurriedly and said, "Professor Guo, let me ask a question, how much is a Xuande furnace worth?"
Guo Lan also came over at this time. When he heard his question, he shook his head and sighed, and said deliberately: "Common, really vulgar, how can it be embarrassing for an archaeologist to ask such a question?"
Professor Guo glared at his daughter and said to Zhang Jun: "There are very few real Xuande furnaces in existence. They are exquisitely made and grand. Emperor Xuande only made three thousand pieces. Today, only a few pieces in the Palace Museum and two pieces in the British Museum have been partially destroyed.
People regard them as genuine, while the whereabouts of others are unknown.”
"There were many imitations of Xuande furnaces in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. But even if they were imitations, many of them would be worth more than 700,000 to 800,000 yuan. Later, there were even more imitations, from the Republic of China to modern ones, all kinds of things. You
When I went out and took a look, almost every antique shop had a few Xuande stoves on display, but they were all imitations."
"As for the real Xuande incense burner, it is a priceless treasure and a national treasure. No one will sell it." Professor Guo said, "And even if someone comes out with a real Xuande incense burner, no one in the world can tell.
Its authenticity.”
Zhang Jun became anxious when he heard this and said, "What? So it's impossible to tell whether the Xuande furnace is authentic or not?" He also thought about making a fortune with the items in his arms, but who knew it would be like this.
Professor Guo looked at Zhang Jun with a half-smile but said, "Why, look at you, do you have a real Xuande stove in your hand?"
The latter laughed dryly, naturally he would not say it in such a public place.
Professor Guo explained the whole story in detail and said: "In order to build incense burners, Emperor Xuande of the Ming Dynasty ordered the palace craftsmen to refer to the famous porcelain kilns of Chai Kiln, Ru Kiln, Guan Kiln, Ge Kiln, Jun Kiln and Ding Kiln in the imperial palace.
We designed and supervised the production of a batch of incense burners based on the style of the incense burners, as well as historical documents such as "Archaeological Maps"."
"In order to ensure the quality of the incense burner, craftsmen selected dozens of precious metals such as gold and silver, and carefully cast them together with red copper more than ten times. The finished copper incense burner has a crystal-clear and warm color, making it a treasure among handicrafts.
As for the long period of history, Xuande stove became the general name for copper incense stove."
"However, in the three years of Xuande, only 3,000 incense burners were cast, and they were never produced again. They were all hidden deep in the forbidden palace, and ordinary people only knew their names but did not see their shapes. Now, after hundreds of years of ups and downs,
, the genuine copper incense burner cast in the third year of Xuande is extremely rare."
"In order to make huge profits, from the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China, antique dealers continued to imitate Xuande furnaces. Even after Xuande furnaces stopped manufacturing, some officials who were responsible for casting copper incense burners summoned the original furnace craftsmen to follow the instructions of Xuande furnaces.
The drawings and process procedures are copied. These carefully cast imitations are comparable to the real ones, and even expert authorities cannot distinguish them. So far, of the many Xuande furnaces collected in major domestic museums, none of them can be recognized by many connoisseurs.
It is a real Xuande incense burner. The identification of authentic Xuande incense burners has become one of the unsolved problems in the domestic archaeological community."
After hearing this, Zhang Jun smiled bitterly and said: "In this way, even if the real Xuande was sold for three years, it may not be sold at a high price."
Professor Guo said: "That's possible. Some imitations are exquisite in workmanship and occasionally sell for sky-high prices. Some time ago, a Xuande stove in Hong Kong sold for a high price of 28 million."
Zhang Jun nodded and stopped talking. If it was only 28 million, he would not be in a hurry to sell the object in his arms. After all, it might be a real copper incense burner from the Xuande 3rd year.
When Professor Guo finally bought a bronze mirror, Zhang Jun stepped forward and whispered: "Professor Guo, let's go home. I have something to tell you."
Seeing how mysterious he was, Professor Guo was curious, but he resisted asking and nodded: "Okay, go back."
When they got to the car, Guo Lan asked first, with a suspicious look on her face: "Zhang Jun, we just arrived, why are you leaving in such a hurry?"
Zhang Jun had a serious look on his face and said, "We can't say, we'll find out when we get home." His expression made Professor Guo not dare to ask, but the doubts in his stomach became more and more intense.
After finally returning home, Guo Lan quickly said: "Zhang Jun, can you tell me now? Did you find a treasure?"
Professor Guo also looked expectantly, staring at Zhang Jun and saying: "Xiao Zhang, judging from your appearance, you probably found something good, right?"
Zhang Jun smiled "hehe" and said: "Actually, it's not a good thing, because even if it is real, it may not be sold at a good price."
Professor Guo was surprised: "You mean Xuande furnace?" He was a smart man. He remembered that Zhang Jun had asked about Xuande furnace before, and he guessed it immediately.
Zhang Jun nodded, put down the iron incense burner in his arms, and said seriously: "That's it."
"puff!"
Guo Lan almost spit out the tea he just drank, then pointed at Zhang Jun and laughed "haha" and said: "Zhang Jun, I didn't expect you to be so humorous. It made me laugh to death."
Seeing this almost ugly iron incense burner, normal people would think that Zhang Jun was joking. Professor Guo was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and laughed, saying: "You kid, you can even fool me, an old man."
Zhang Jun laughed "hehe" and said without arguing: "Professor Guo, do you have any tools for cutting steel at home?"
The father and daughter thought Zhang Jun was joking just now, but when they saw him making a request again, their curiosity came up again. Professor Guo led Zhang Jun into his studio, pointed to a cutting machine and said: "This machine
It’s what I usually use for cutting ceramics, and it’s no problem cutting steel, Zhang Jun, what do you want to do?”
Zhang Jun walked over and tried the machine, and quickly became familiar with the operation method. Then he placed the iron incense burner on it and fixed it, turned on the power and started cutting.
Seeing this scene, both Guo Lan and his daughter opened their eyes wide, vaguely thinking of something in their minds, and a hint of expectation gradually appeared on their faces. When Zhang Jun was about to cut off a piece of iron sheet, the two of them were so nervous that they didn't even dare to raise their eyebrows.
out.
"Ding!"
A hollow furnace ear fell to the ground, and the paraffin filled in the hollow part was melted by the heat generated by cutting.
"Wax?" Professor Guo's eyebrows twitched, his face changed, and he blurted out, "There must be an incense burner inside. This is the owner's method of hiding treasures. Xiao Zhang, you may have really found a treasure!
"
Zhang Jun smiled and said nothing and continued cutting. Under his perspective, the cutting was very precise and did not damage the copper incense burner inside at all. About half an hour later, a copper incense burner wrapped in paraffin appeared in front of several people.