In order to achieve the effect he wanted, Tang Wanli concentrated on repeated research.
At that time, there was almost nothing going on in the Porcelain Supervisory Office, and production at the official kilns had stopped, so Tang Wanli had a lot of time.
Based on his mastery of the properties of porcelain clay, he found that Jingdezhen kaolin clay alone could not achieve the effect he wanted anyway.
Therefore, Tang Wanli tried to experiment by adding an appropriate amount of porcelain clay from other regions to Jingdezhen porcelain clay.
After eleven years and thousands of repeated experiments, Tang Wanli clearly understood the properties and characteristics of all the porcelain clay he knew at that time.
He knew the viscosity of each kind of porcelain clay, what the fired color was like, what kind of heat, what effect under what circumstances. ??
What kind of porcelain clay will look like when mixed together, and various proportions of experiments are all recorded in detail.
What surprised Tang Wanli the most was that after repeated testing, he finally created the effect he wanted.
The glaze is bright and moist, and the color is natural. When paired with the pattern, it looks completely natural. At first glance, it makes you feel as if you are actually there.
Generally speaking, the glaze color of newly fired porcelain is too bright, which is what the industry calls fire.
If you want to achieve a natural effect, you have to go through at least a hundred years of wind and rain to achieve this kind of texture. But after Tang Wanli improved the formula, the newly fired works can also achieve this effect, which is simply perfect.
Seeing his work, Tang Wanli burst into tears with excitement, preparing to compile a note and then present the work to the court for appreciation.
But at this time, great changes occurred in the court, the Republic of China government was established, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty completely existed in name only. Even the personal freedom of Emperor Puyi and his relatives were restricted. Who was still in the mood to appreciate his works?
Some time later, General Feng Yuxiang stationed in Tiandu City and drove Puyi out of the Forbidden City. The Manchu Qing Dynasty completely fell, and Tang Wanli, the deputy capital commander, was also laid off.
When you are born in troubled times, even if you have talents in the world, there is no place to put them to use.
You said you are good at making porcelain?
It was not easy to use. At that time, porcelain was simply not as affordable as food.
A few years later, Tang Wannian's old salary was almost exhausted. In order to make a living, Tang Wannian, who was in his fifties, had no choice but to go to Liulichang to find a profitable business. Even if he was working for someone else, it was better than sitting on his own.
many.
But when they arrived at Liulichang, Tang Wannian walked around for several days, but no one used him at all.
The reason is that Tang Wannian's knowledge is a bit biased. He is not vague at all when it comes to appraising porcelain, but he is not good at appraising other objects.
The counters in other shops are all all-around masters. It is impossible to spend money on a second counter who can only appraise porcelain.
Also, Tang Wannian’s name was too resounding, so if he gave me less, he would feel it was inappropriate, and if he gave me more, he wouldn’t be able to offer it, so I had to politely decline.
In this way, another six months passed, and Tang Wannian still had not found a job, but his family's savings were running low.
If this continues, in two months, the family will be unable to open the fire.
Just when Tang Wannian was about to sell off his property and return to his hometown in Zhuozhou to farm, Cui Liu, a boy who once worked for him as a handyman, came to his door and asked Tang Wannian to go to Bailihang to be a porcelain burner.
Tang Wannian frowned when he heard the name Bailixing.
The reason is that he knows that the main business of this workshop is imitation porcelain, which is to put it bluntly to deceive people. > The dignified deputy governor of porcelain, a master at the master level, faked sales prices. If word got out, a lifetime of wisdom would be ruined. But this was the best opportunity he had encountered in more than half a year. If he missed it, he would have no choice but to leave.
Tianducheng returned to his hometown to make a living.
At that time, in that turbulent era, warlords and bandits were everywhere, and everything in the country was in chaos. In comparison, Tianducheng was a fairly safe place. Tang Wannian really didn't want to leave unless it was a last resort.
Thinking of this, Tang Wannian hesitated.
Cui Liu saw his worries and patiently helped him clear up his doubts.
Cui Liu told him that Bailixing now is different from before. Although it is still imitating, its business is aimed at foreigners, that is, exporting overseas to deceive foreigners.
It is a bad virtue to cheat Chinese people, but it is a skill to cheat foreigners. Not only will it not be infamy for thousands of years, but it may also be famous for generations to come.
Hearing what Cui Liu said, Tang Wannian was moved.
There was no Chinese at that time who did not hate foreigners, as long as they were not traitors.
If they hadn't introduced opium to China, the Manchu Qing Dynasty wouldn't have fallen into decline so quickly. If they really cheated foreigners, it would be really fun.
After thinking about it, Tang Wannian agreed.
When we arrived at Bailihang, the boss Yu Xingkai gave us a warm welcome. After all, Tang Wannian's reputation was still quite resounding. With such a master in charge, Bailihang's reputation immediately increased several times.
Tang Wannian was inexplicably moved by Yu Xingkai's attention. When he confirmed that he was trying to deceive foreigners, he became even more excited and devoted himself to his work.
Tang Wannian's main job at Bailihang was still supervising porcelain. When he had nothing to do, Tang Wannian continued to try his own recipes. In a few months, he fired more than a dozen pleasing works.
By chance, these works were seen by Yu Xingkai. After Boss Yu got started, his eyes almost fell out of his eyes in surprise.
"This, you did this?"
When doing counterfeit selling, the first and most important thing is to have extraordinary eyesight.
Only by fully understanding the characteristics of the original can you create a perfect imitation. Therefore, Yu Xingkai certainly has an extraordinary vision.
Yu Xingkai was completely stunned when he started working on Tang Wannian's work.
Although this work does not have a base, looking at the opening and hair color, it is definitely an antique that is over a hundred years old!
How could this be a work that was just fired? Absolutely impossible.
Tang Wannian repeatedly promised that he made it himself, but Yu Xingkai didn't believe it even to death. He seemed to be going crazy and had to drag Tang Wannian to demonstrate it himself.
Two days later, another work was released. After getting started, Yu Xingkai exclaimed and fainted.
Facts speak louder than words, and this time he completely believed it.
After waking up, Yu Xingkai jumped up and took Tang Wannian and looked him up and down like a monster, making Tang Wannian feel uncomfortable all over.
"Master Tang, you are truly a strange person!"
"You have such skills. It's too unqualified to be a governor porcelain boss. In my opinion, let's just try something big and make sure that both you and I can make a lot of money."
Tang Wannian didn't understand what he meant, so Yu Xingkai took him to a place where no one was around to discuss it in detail.
After two hours, the two reached a consensus.
From then on, Tang Wannian still worked step by step, but what the guys and employees didn't know was that privately, the boss and Tang Wannian were even busier than when they were at work. In order to achieve the results he wanted, Tang Wanli settled down and studied repeatedly.
At that time, there was almost nothing going on in the Porcelain Supervisory Office, and production at the official kilns had stopped, so Tang Wanli had a lot of time.
Based on his mastery of the properties of porcelain clay, he found that Jingdezhen kaolin clay alone could not achieve the effect he wanted anyway.
Therefore, Tang Wanli tried to experiment by adding an appropriate amount of porcelain clay from other regions to Jingdezhen porcelain clay.
After eleven years and thousands of repeated experiments, Tang Wanli clearly understood the properties and characteristics of all the porcelain clay he knew at that time.
He understood the viscosity of each type of porcelain clay, what the color of the fired clay was like, what the heat was, and what the effect would be under any circumstances.
What kind of porcelain clay will look like when mixed together, and various proportions of experiments are all recorded in detail.
What surprised Tang Wanli the most was that after repeated testing, he finally created the effect he wanted.
The glaze is bright and moist, and the color is natural. When paired with the pattern, it looks completely natural. At first glance, it makes you feel as if you are actually there.
Generally speaking, the glaze color of newly fired porcelain is too bright, which is what the industry calls fire.
If you want to achieve a natural effect, you have to go through at least a hundred years of wind and rain to achieve this kind of texture. But after Tang Wanli improved the formula, the newly fired works can also achieve this effect, which is simply perfect.
Seeing his work, Tang Wanli burst into tears with excitement, preparing to compile a note and then present the work to the court for appreciation.
But at this time, great changes occurred in the court, the Republic of China government was established, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty completely existed in name only. Even the personal freedom of Emperor Puyi and his relatives were restricted. Who was still in the mood to appreciate his works?
Some time later, General Feng Yuxiang stationed in Tiandu City and drove Puyi out of the Forbidden City. The Manchu Qing Dynasty completely fell, and Tang Wanli, the deputy capital commander, was also laid off.
When you are born in troubled times, even if you have talents in the world, there is no place to put them to use.
You said you are good at making porcelain?
It was not easy to use. At that time, porcelain was simply not as affordable as food.
A few years later, Tang Wannian's old salary was almost exhausted. In order to make a living, Tang Wannian, who was in his fifties, had no choice but to go to Liulichang to find a profitable business. Even if he was working for someone else, it was better than sitting on his own.
many.
But when they arrived at Liulichang, Tang Wannian walked around for several days, but no one used him at all.
The reason is that Tang Wannian's knowledge is a bit biased. He is not vague at all when it comes to appraising porcelain, but he is not good at appraising other objects.
The counters in other shops are all all-around masters. It is impossible to spend money on a second counter who can only appraise porcelain.
Also, Tang Wannian’s name was too resounding, so if he gave me less, he would feel it was inappropriate, and if he gave me more, he wouldn’t be able to offer it, so I had to politely decline.
In this way, another six months passed, and Tang Wannian still had not found a job, but his family's savings were running low.
If this continues, in two months, the family will be unable to open the fire.
Just when Tang Wannian was about to sell off his property and return to his hometown in Zhuozhou to farm, Cui Liu, a boy who once worked for him as a handyman, came to his door and asked Tang Wannian to go to Bailihang to be a porcelain burner.
Tang Wannian frowned when he heard the name Bailixing.
The reason is that he knows that the main business of this workshop is imitation porcelain, which is to put it bluntly to deceive people. > The dignified deputy governor of porcelain, a master at the master level, faked sales prices. If word got out, a lifetime of wisdom would be ruined. But this was the best opportunity he had encountered in more than half a year. If he missed it, he would have no choice but to leave.
Tianducheng returned to his hometown to make a living.
At that time, in that turbulent era, warlords and bandits were everywhere, and everything in the country was in chaos. In comparison, Tianducheng was a fairly safe place. Tang Wannian really didn't want to leave unless it was a last resort.
Thinking of this, Tang Wannian hesitated.
Cui Liu saw his worries and patiently helped him clear up his doubts.
Cui Liu told him that Bailixing now is different from before. Although it is still imitating, its business is aimed at foreigners, that is, exporting overseas to deceive foreigners.
It is a bad virtue to cheat Chinese people, but it is a skill to cheat foreigners. Not only will it not be infamy for thousands of years, but it may also be famous for generations to come.
Hearing what Cui Liu said, Tang Wannian was moved.
There was no Chinese at that time who did not hate foreigners, as long as they were not traitors.
If they hadn't introduced opium to China, the Manchu Qing Dynasty wouldn't have fallen into decline so quickly. If they really cheated foreigners, it would be really fun.
After thinking about it, Tang Wannian agreed.
When we arrived at Bailihang, the boss Yu Xingkai gave us a warm welcome. After all, Tang Wannian's reputation was still quite resounding. With such a master in charge, Bailihang's reputation immediately increased several times.
Tang Wannian was inexplicably moved by Yu Xingkai's attention. When he confirmed that he was trying to deceive foreigners, he became even more excited and devoted himself to his work.
Tang Wannian's main job at Bailihang was still supervising porcelain. When he had nothing to do, Tang Wannian continued to try his own recipes. In a few months, he fired more than a dozen pleasing works.
By chance, these works were seen by Yu Xingkai. After Boss Yu got started, his eyes almost fell out of his eyes in surprise.
"This, you did this?"
When doing counterfeit selling, the first and most important thing is to have extraordinary eyesight.
Only by fully understanding the characteristics of the original can you create a perfect imitation. Therefore, Yu Xingkai certainly has an extraordinary vision.
Yu Xingkai was completely stunned when he started working on Tang Wannian's work.
Although this work does not have a base, looking at the opening and hair color, it is definitely an antique that is over a hundred years old!
How could this be a work that was just fired? Absolutely impossible.
Tang Wannian repeatedly promised that he made it himself, but Yu Xingkai didn't believe it even to death. He seemed to be going crazy and had to drag Tang Wannian to demonstrate it himself.
Two days later, another work was released. After getting started, Yu Xingkai exclaimed and fainted.
Facts speak louder than words, and this time he completely believed it.
After waking up, Yu Xingkai jumped up and took Tang Wannian and looked him up and down like a monster, making Tang Wannian feel uncomfortable all over.
"Master Tang, you are truly a strange person!"
"You have such skills. It's too unqualified to be a governor porcelain boss. In my opinion, let's just try something big and make sure that both you and I can make a lot of money."
Tang Wannian didn't understand what he meant, so Yu Xingkai took him to a place where no one was around to discuss it in detail.
After two hours, the two reached a consensus.
From then on, Tang Wannian still worked step by step, but the guys and employees didn't know that privately, the boss and Tang Wannian were even busier than when they were at work.