Chapter 212: Emperor Qianlong’s Royal Cat Food Basin

If it weren't for Jing Jiahao's words, he wouldn't have felt this. Now, in his opinion, the Ru kiln green glaze daffodil basin became more and more "pleasing" as the more he looked at it.

Later, Jiahao stretched out his hands and carefully held up the daffodil basin and continued: "There is another way to identify the patina of porcelain, which is to see the light and see what the light folded on it will react. The patina is actually displayed by light. Therefore, whether there is patina on the surface of the porcelain and whether it is real or virtual light is actually two aspects of the same problem. Since different porcelains have different glaze, glaze layers, and glaze surfaces, the light on the glaze surface shows different characteristics, so people often call the real light "baoguang", "suguang", "clam light", and "muna according to their different shapes.

Light, etc.; and the virtual light is called 'fire light', 'thief light', etc. Patches are a physical phenomenon that naturally forms with the age of deposition of porcelain, which is not transferred by the will of entry. Even if a piece of porcelain does not enter and move it, after being placed for fifty or sixty years or more, the virtual light will naturally fade away and the real light appears. False makers can use various means to weaken the glaze surface, but they cannot create real and natural patches. No matter how well they are done, there will always be some missing places. However, some high imitations such as 'Zhu Imitation' and 'Ming Imitation', their methods of making patches are very clever, and the virtual light is not obvious, so they can distort the real ones with fakes."

He said a lot in one breath, and Lin Haitao pricked up his ears and nodded constantly.

"Why don't we do an experiment in person?" Jiahao said then and placed the porcelain on a relatively tall cabinet.

After putting the thing down, Jiahao took out a magnifying glass from his pocket and looked at it sideways at a glaze surface of the porcelain. After seeing it almost, he only heard him explain seriously: "Haitao, take a look. Through the magnifying glass, we can see the real light from this porcelain. It is the 'treasure light', which means that the thing has a history of at least fifty or sixty years. Of course, it is impossible to have only such a short time, at least more than a hundred years!"

"Oh, is it? Show me!" After hearing Jiahao say solemnly, Lin Haitao immediately became a little excited and felt quite curious.

Jiahao handed Lin Haitao the magnifying glass and let him feel it well.

So, following Jiahao's instructions, Lin Haitao looked over carefully through the magnifying glass.

"Haitao, have you seen a more obvious highlight at a certain location in the focus area?" Jiahao asked after a while.

"Well, there is indeed one." Lin Haitao nodded and replied.

Jiahao said with a smile: "Then you adjust the magnifying glass in your hand to the highlight, the focus and the three points of sight are in a line, and then slowly adjust the distance between the three. In this way, you will find that the light penetrates the glaze surface, forming a cross between light and dark, the mountains undulate and even form a soft light like grape beads. If it is a new porcelain, the glaze surface is like a metal film, blocking the light on the glaze surface, forming a dazzling and unchanging bright light, or forming a layer of twisted silky bright light. In this way, long-term observation, you will learn to accurately grasp the depth and reality of the glaze slurry."

"Brother Yao, really!" After seeing Jiahao said, Lin Haitao said in surprise, "You are so awesome! Jin Yao has really gained knowledge and has learned such a useful method to identify porcelain!"

Jiahao shook his head gently and said, "That's not necessarily. It doesn't mean that all porcelains follow this rule. Different porcelains have different performances, and they also need to be analyzed in specific circumstances."

"At least it's better than you don't know!" Lin Haitao said with great joy.

Later, they used a handicraft porcelain that they bought with a relatively high-quality imitation. The results proved Jiahao's argument that the porcelain looked so terrible, but under the magnifying glass, the original shape was revealed, which was much worse than the real patina.

At this point, Lin Haitao was so impressed by Jiahao that he was full of energy. Of course, he believed Jiahao's view of the daffodil basin.

"Brother Yao, the daffodil basin you bought is an old thing, and there is no doubt about it now, but is it possible that it was from before the Ming and Qing Dynasties? Or this is a genuine Ru kiln product, but it was just buried!"

Jiahao said: "It is unlikely that Ru kiln in the Song Dynasty. I tend to think it was imitated by the Qing Dynasty. Looking at the thickness of the patina, it is probably from the early or mid-Qing Dynasty."

"Well, no matter what, it's a good thing!" Lin Haitao said happily, "You're not sure, so let's ask my grandfather and the others to show you later. They are more knowledgeable and more experienced."

Jiahao nodded and said, "Well, I'm just thinking that way."

In fact, it was not long before Mr. Zheng and Mr. Deng came back. After contacting him by phone, Jiahao and Lin Haitao went to their room to ask for identification.

"This is the Tianqing Glaze Ru Kiln Narcissus Basin!"

After seeing the porcelain that Jiahao used to identify, Mr. Zheng and Mr. Deng were both shocked.

Mr. Zheng said with a slightly excited tone: "There seems to be only two or three daffodils like this in the world. What I know are the two in the Palace Museum, the Palace Museum in Taiwan and the Palace Museum in the Mainland. The Palace Museum in the Mainland is said to be a collection of the Qing Dynasty Palace. Emperor Qianlong once collected it and can't let it go."

"Grandpa, what do you mean is that the Ru kiln porcelain that Brother Yao has bought is genuine?!" Lin Haitao suddenly widened his eyes.

He didn't dare to imagine it anymore. The authentic Ru kiln, which is so big and preserved so perfectly, is simply the best, priceless.

Mr. Zheng shook his head and said, "I didn't say that this piece is one of the three pieces. Ru kiln is a rare treasure. The number of existing ones is extremely rare. Most of the ones on the market are imitations, and of course there are also many ancient imitations. For example, Emperor Qianlong likes to collect porcelain from famous kilns in the Song Dynasty. He heard that because it is difficult to collect Ru kiln porcelain, he sent him to make a batch in the palace. At that time, he ignored the workmanship, which was similar to firing enamel porcelain. That technology must have been lost. Later, the Ru kiln porcelain was far inferior to it. Maybe the two pieces collected by the Palace Museum are not the original Song Ru kiln, but only one or two of the batch of porcelain imitated by Emperor Qianlong, and the rest are unknown. Therefore, it can be said that the batch of Ru kiln porcelain secretly fired by Emperor Qianlong is comparable in terms of collection value."

"Oh?! Emperor Qianlong's imperial porcelain?!"

When he heard Mr. Zheng's words, Jiahao was shocked in secret. He seemed to have suddenly thought of something, which surprised him.

"Master, then what do you think of my porcelain? Is it ancient porcelain? When I bought it, the boss said that the thing was imitation of antique porcelain. According to his meaning, the porcelain is newly imitated and belongs to modern handicrafts."

Jiahao asked Mr. Zheng seriously.

Mr. Zheng nodded quickly, expressed his approval, and replied solemnly: "Xiao Yao, since you received the things, it will definitely not be bad. Although this daffodil basin is a genuine product of Ru kiln in the Song Dynasty, I can be sure that the things are antique porcelain, but they have a certain age, but the specific age needs to be verified."

Mr. Deng, who was standing aside, also agreed: "Old Zheng and I have the same idea. The things are ancient porcelain, and they should be old imitations, because you can tell from the patina that the patina is thick and natural, and it is very open."

"Oh, is that?" Jiahao said happily, "That's good. I received it at the price of a new imitation, so I should have made a profit."

"How much did you spend when you collected it?" Mr. Zheng asked casually.

Jiahao answered truthfully: "Twenty thousand."

"It's only 20,000?" Mr. Zheng said in surprise, "Then you'll make a lot of money. Such a beautiful piece of antique porcelain is worth a lot of money, at least worth hundreds of thousands. If it's antique porcelain from an official kiln, it's even more valuable."

Lin Haitao was surprised and said, "Grandpa, is it possible that Brother Yao's porcelain from an official kiln? Usually, antique porcelain is rarely made in official kilns, right?"

Mr. Zheng shook his head gently and said, "There are few that are specially produced, but there are indeed some. For example, the batch of Ru kiln porcelain specially made by Emperor Qianlong that I mentioned just now was still fired in the palace. Can you say that it is not from the official kiln?"

"It's for the imperial use, of course!" Lin Haitao replied.

When Mr. Zheng mentioned the batch of Ru kiln porcelain fired by Emperor Qianlong again, the expression of the hero changed slightly and thoughtful.

Then he asked: "Master, the batch of Ru kiln antique porcelain secretly fired by Emperor Qianlong is really precious? What type of Ru kiln porcelain is made? Is it a plate, a plate, or other types of porcelain?"

Old Zheng pointed to the daffodil basin placed on the table and said, "That's it!"

"It's all like this?" Lin Haitao said in surprise, "Why is it such a coincidence?!"

Zheng Lao said in a singular manner: "It's such a coincidence. If I hadn't seen Xiao Yao collect a sky-green glaze daffodil pot, I would have never thought of it for a while. As far as I know, the batch of antique porcelain used in the palace was all of the same kind. As for why Emperor Qianlong liked to make daffodil pots, there was a saying that Emperor Qianlong liked to raise cats. He used the daffodil pots hidden in the palace to feed cats as cat food pots. But the cat he raised was too naughty and smashed the basin. Later, Qianlong issued an edict, ordering craftsmen to fire a batch of Ru kiln sky-green glaze daffodil pots in the porcelain kiln in the palace. In this way, he not only had enough cat food pots, but also could play with it. It was a good thing to kill two birds with one stone, right?"

"So that's it!" After hearing this, Jiahao nodded as if he suddenly realized.

Seeing that he heard so seriously, Mr. Zheng smiled and said, "This is just a legend. The story of antiques has gone to the sea. Sometimes it sounds interesting. Just smile, don't take it seriously. However, although it is not certain whether Emperor Qianlong really used Ru kiln porcelain as a cat food pot, there was indeed a batch of imitation Ru kiln porcelain in the Qing Dynasty palace, either Yongzheng or Qianlong. These two periods are closest."

"The story may not be all fake." Jiahao said solemnly, "Maybe Emperor Qianlong really used Ru kiln porcelain as a cat food pot. Bi Jing was the emperor, what's the case? Using Ru kiln to make a cat food pot is not a luxury. At that time, the value of Ru kiln had not been reflected, at least it was not as important as it is now."

From the image "recorded" on the porcelain, Jiahao saw that the thing was from the imperial kiln factory in the Qing Dynasty palace and was used to feed cats. However, at first he was not sure that the thing was related to Qianlong, but now it seems that it is impossible to be wrong. The Ru kiln daffodil basin he just bought was the cat food basin of Emperor Qianlong, which is very famous.

According to what Mr. Zheng said at the beginning, things are almost comparable to Ru porcelain in the Song Dynasty. The value of the porcelain is immeasurable, because the Ru kiln porcelain is extremely rare and rare, and it is difficult to see in auction houses. Even if there is one occasionally, it will only be a premature price.

Hearing Jiahao's explanation, Mr. Deng nodded with relief and said, "Actually, this story is not completely unfounded, it has a certain origin. There is a joke that is widely circulated. I believe everyone has heard of it. It is about an old lady who is very scheming. In order to sell cats, she put a precious cat food bowl. No one dares to directly say that she wants to buy this bowl when she comes. They say that she buys the old lady's cat and puts it on this bowl. The old lady said, "I can't build this bowl, I have to rely on this bowl to sell cats." This joke did not come out of thin air. It is well-documented in history.

"When we read the history books, we found that who called this precious basin the cat food pot? It turned out to be Emperor Qianlong! During the Qianlong period, the Ru kiln daffodil basin was kept in the palace. Qianlong called it the "cat food pot" and wrote a special poem for this. The poem in the imperial title was written like this: "The official kilns do not distinguish between the Song and Tang dynasties, and the fire did not have any light, so it was a false news that the food vessel was spread, but the scales were savage to know how to feed the favor.'

"The so-called 'not distinguishable official kiln' is actually 'not distinguishable Ru kiln'. Emperor Qianlong could not distinguish between Ru kiln and Guan kiln. Ru kiln was a bit blue, while the official kiln was a bit gray. But in the eyes of an outsider who was not a professional, these gaps were not big, so Qianlong said: 'I can't distinguish whether this official kiln was from the Song Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty.'

"'No fire,' means an old kiln porcelain, which means that there is no fire. When we identify, we often say, 'This porcelain is full of fire,' which means new, just released, so it is very hot. 'Baoguang' means that the luster on the porcelain is very comfortable. We always say the word 'paste', which comes from this place.

"And what is the 'food utensil'? It is the food bowl of a puppy. Historical books record that the puppy among the dogs bark in the dog. There is a poem by Yuan Zhen of the Tang Dynasty: "The parrot roars are hungry and sings, and they are still angry when they sleep." When the parrot is hungry, it chirps and yells; when the puppy you raises, it gets angry when you move it. Those who have raised pet dogs have this experience. When they fall asleep, you always poke it, it will scream and be unhappy. Qianlong said that the only puppy that you raise is the "cu scale", which means that after stepping on the scale, you will know the kindness of the owner's raising. "cu" means stepping on it, and it will be achieved overnight.

"Qianlong had such a dynamic description, but he made a mistake. He thought the puppy of the ornamental dog was a cat. Therefore, in the tenth year of Qianlong, in May 1745, the cat food basin was issued: a red sandalwood seat was equipped with a red sandalwood seat, lowered, deeper, and a drawer was installed inside the seat. The cat food basin that Qianlong believed was actually a Ru kiln daffodil. Qianlong issued an order to use red sandalwood to make a seat, which was placed on the top of the head, and the bottom was relatively high, and a drawer was inserted. After this seat was completed, it has been collected in the Qing Palace, and now it is in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan and North.

"Later, Qianlong issued an order to imitate some of the 'Ru Kiln Cat Food Basin' for him. He said the official kiln and the Ru kiln at a time, and he couldn't tell the difference between the cat food basin. The allusion of the cat food basin began to spread from the Qianlong's order. If you really have a cat food basin from Ru kiln, let alone selling cats, haha, you have sold cows!"

“…”

He said a lot in one breath, and Jiahao and the others pricked up their ears and listened seriously.

After hearing this, Old Zheng shook his head and sighed, and said with a wry smile: "I am ashamed, it turns out that there is still something about Shi Keji. I have ignored this history."

Mr. Deng smiled and comforted, "You learn until you are old. You know everything you can't do if you enter? If you know everything, it's meaningless. If you don't know, learn and learn, then it's interesting, right? His Qianlong did regard the Ru kiln daffodil basin as a 'cat food pot', but it's not like the story circulating in antiques. He said that Qianlong raised cats and cats broke the authentic Ru kiln porcelain. If that's true, how did the one collected in the Forbidden City come from? But I guess the two or three Ru kiln daffodil basin collected in the Forbidden City may be the 'cat food pot' made by Emperor Qianlong."

"Well, you are right, you have been taught." Old Zheng nodded humbly.

At this moment, the Jia Hao, who had been standing quietly beside him and listening, became more and more excited when he listened, because from what Mr. Deng said, he could be sure that the Ru kiln daffodil basin he had received by mistake was a piece that flowed out of the palace, and that piece was a "Ru kiln cat food basin" made by Emperor Qianlong.

"Master, Mr. Deng, if you say that this piece of my body is not an authentic Ru kiln porcelain, is it possible that it is one of the cat food bowls made by Emperor Qianlong?" Jiahao couldn't help asking later.

Although he knew very well that the porcelain he received was an imperial porcelain from the Qianlong period, he was the only one who knew the origin and the details of the things and things were clearly understood, and he did not know anything about them, so he had to get the confidence of the things.
Chapter completed!