To distinguish fakes, we must first understand the history of bronze forgery and the basic situation of fakes.
Since the appearance of epigraphy in Song Dynasty, ancient bronzes have become important cultural relics for research and appreciation, and public and private compete to collect them in Tibet, which makes bronzes have high economic value. Therefore, since the Song Dynasty, some people have made counterfeit goods for huge profits. According to the research of Mr. Rong Geng, a senior bronze expert, the bronze forging history of more than 1000 years from the Song Dynasty can be roughly divided into four stages.
The first stage, Song Yuanming. The fakes of the Song Dynasty were found in the bronze descriptions of the Song Dynasty. For example, the bronze version of Feng Bigan's tomb recorded in Xue Shanggong's Notes on Zhong Ding's Yi-wares in Past Dynasties (volume 16) is a fake. Forgeries of the Ming Dynasty, such as Gao Lian's On New Forgeries (Eight Pieces of Honor) 14? 5) As the saying goes, "Recently, rockery pots, cups and bottles have been forged in Shandong, Shaanxi, Henan, Jinling and other places. They are all ancient, with a sense of courtesy and well-known patterns, and it is not bad to turn sand from ancient vessels. But compared with antiques, it is very different. Although the cloud is slippery, it begins with thick, although the makeup is beautiful, the body is self-defeating. "
The second stage, from the early Qing Dynasty to Jiaqing. Due to the recovery and development of economy and the advocacy of rulers, epigraphy has made new development and forgeries have flourished. At this time, it mainly imitates the catalogue of bronze wares in Song Dynasty. According to Mr. Rong Geng's textual research, * * * contains four books with inscriptions on bronzes (including fake bronze mirrors) 1 176 which were recorded by the corps commander ordered by Emperor Qianlong.
The third stage, Daoguang to the late Qing Dynasty. On the one hand, epigraphy scholars attach importance to inscriptions, on the other hand, forgers are laborious and easy to distinguish. Therefore, at this time, most forgers turned to copying fakes in kind to make a profit. This kind of forgery began in an, and is most famous for its people.
The fourth stage is the early years of the Republic of China. Due to political corruption and warlords' scuffle, not only the wind of grave robbery prevailed, but also the wind of counterfeiting intensified. Beijing, Suzhou, Xi 'an and other places are centers of counterfeiting, and there are many experts in counterfeiting. At this time, due to the introduction of modern western science and technology, counterfeiters use new technologies to make fakes, which greatly improves the level of fraud. For example, using rubbings to make boards and using chemical etching to make fake inscriptions are much more realistic than in the past. For example, the gift of the cottage 8? Small tree hairpin, whose inscription is similar to the genuine small tree hairpin collected by Wu Dalun, is made by chemical etching. You can't tell the truth without careful identification.
At the same time, because foreigners attach importance to artistic value and like novel shapes and patterns, the novel shapes and patterns of pseudographs prevail. For example, Zhou Meigu, a forger in Suzhou, forged a square-mouth round jar with a hunting pattern on the car immediately (see, Zhang Wei's General Theory of Bronzes in Yin and Zhou Dynasties 205, 1958 edition), which was very novel and deceived many people.
Judging from the history of forgery, the basic situation of forgers can be summarized as follows:
First, the whole device is fake. For example, the famous Ping Rong Pan (by S.W.Bushell, translated by Dai Yue, Fine Arts of China, Commercial Press, 1923 edition) is a fake in Qianlong period. Originally collected in Yiwangfu, Beijing, 1870 flowed into Britain. It is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Outside the abdomen, the upper part is decorated with milk ding pattern and the lower part is decorated with animal face pattern. The ears are neither fish nor fowl, and the feet are welded and forged obviously. There are 23 lines and 547 words in the disc, which is the longest inscription in the known forgeries. The content is mixed with Shangshu and Zuozhuan, and the font is mixed with Pan and De, which is badly carved and can be seen at a glance.
Second, some cultural relics are fakes. For example, a piece of Yi Fu, the ancestor of the Shang Dynasty, collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing is genuine, but the forger added a stream to his mouth and a pin to his upper abdomen, which became a nonexistent antique (see Cheng Changxin and others' Brief Discussion on Distinguishing Counterfeit Bronzes, Cultural Relics Publishing House 196538).
Third, piece together the pieces of the real device to make a fake device. For example, Xiqing Ancient Mirror 6? Pankui Wen Ding 1 1 recorded in1is specious and is the upper half of a three-legged bronze pot.
Fourth, the equipment is true and false. This includes two situations:
1, the inscription is completely false. Either chisel with a knife or corrode with chemicals. The content is either an imitation of the real inscription, a patchwork or a random fabrication. For example, Chu (Luo Zhenyu's Three Generations of Ji Jin Literature 1? 20), the department of Wuzhong Su Mou in the "True Bell Without Ming" imitation of the Song Dynasty Xue Shanggong's "Zhong Ding Qi Yi Fu Zhi Fa Tie" 6? 15 records the fake engraving of the clock that cheated Luo Zhenyu. After getting this clock, Luo took the word "Chu language" and named his building "Chu" and became a laughing stock.
2. In addition to the real inscription, add a fake inscription. For example, Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. At the end of Daoguang, it was unearthed in Shaanxi, and only the 9-word inscription "Sui Kaishuo was an uncle and was honored as a foreigner" was found. Later, Zhang Erming added the word 124 to the inscriptions before and after it, which increased the inscription to 133. It was sold to Ye Zhihu, Ye Zuoge's Chronicle and more than 30 people for 300 gold, and became a book entitled "Sui Ding Slaughterhouse Ode". Later, the identification of Baokang was false, and the leaves were not awkward, so they were given to Jinshan Temple.
Fifth, the device is true and the pattern is false. In other words, fake patterns are carved on real objects with plain colors or few patterns. For example, the Fang Ding in the Shanghai Museum was originally plain, and the counterfeiters carved bird patterns and cicada patterns on its abdomen. Another example is the Shang Dynasty animal-face pot collected in Shanghai Museum, where forgers embed turquoise in the pattern (Chen Peifen's Bronze Discrimination, Shanghai Museum Collection, No.3, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1986).
As mentioned above, since the appearance of forged bronzes in the Song Dynasty, the identification of fakes has begun. Since the Song Dynasty, we have accumulated rich experience in discriminating fakes, which should be critically inherited and developed.
Hu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, pointed out in "Discrimination of Ancient Bell and Ding's Artistic Instruments" (Collection in Cave, Volume 4 and Volume 9 of Art Series): "The three generations of bronzes have no fishy smell, and the newly unearthed bronzes still have rustic flavor. If you are a fake author, you can rub your hands with it. The copper smell is very unpleasant. " Chen Jieqi, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, had a high level of discriminating forgeries. In his letter to the king, he said, "There must be gouges on the fake engraving. If you brush it off with copper wire, there will be brush marks and the words in front will be gone. ..... The lettering must be distinguishable, and the lettering will be narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. " ("Zhai Chi Yu" 4? 6) Rong Geng's Yi Tong Kao of Shang and Zhou Dynasties and Rong Geng and Zhang Wei's General Theory of Bronzes in Yin and Zhou Dynasties both have special chapters to discuss the problem of distinguishing forgeries, which systematically summarizes the experience of distinguishing forgeries in history.
In the 1920s, China began scientific field archaeological excavations. From 65438 to 0928, the Institute of History and Language of Academia Sinica began to excavate the Yin Ruins in Anyang, and the ancient bronzes excavated by scientific archaeology were unearthed for the first time. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), field archaeology developed rapidly, and a large number of ancient bronzes were unearthed, which provided a reliable yardstick for distinguishing bronzes from fakes. At the same time, because the old master who was engaged in repairing or forging was transferred to cultural relics, museums and other departments, he frankly introduced the methods and internal situation of forgery in the past, which also played an important role in improving the level of forgery identification.
The basic methods to identify the authenticity of bronzes are comparison method and comprehensive analysis method. The artifacts that need to be identified are first compared with the known genuine ones in terms of color, casting process, shape, ornamentation, inscription, etc., and all kinds of counterfeit products are investigated as negative materials, so as to preliminarily understand the authenticity of the artifacts in all aspects. Then, we will comprehensively analyze the above aspects. In this way, from the part to the whole, and then from the whole to the part, I carefully inspected it several times and finally reached a conclusion.
Specifically, first of all, distinguish from the colors of copper and rust. Ancient bronzes are generally bronze, while fakes are brass. Especially the ancient bronzes have been corroded for thousands of years, and the copper has deteriorated, and the weight is much lighter than that of the same size. This is what antique dealers often say: fakes are "heavy in hand." For example, Ode to the History of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Shanghai Museum weighs 9350 grams, while the fake Ode to the History weighs 12420 grams, which is about one third heavier than the real one.
The true rust on the surface of ancient bronzes is naturally formed after thousands of years. It has many colors such as blue, blue, gray and black, deep and dense, metallic luster, simple style, natural distribution and aesthetic feeling. False rust is formed by rapid corrosion with acid, with light color and floating; Or painted with alcohol ready mixed paint tablets and pigments, the color is dull, there is no layering and metallic luster, the texture is loose, and it will fall off when dug, or it will fall off when rubbed with alcohol. Such as the fake rust on the fake bronze surface in Figure 5.
Secondly, identify the counterfeit from the casting process. Ancient bronzes were mainly cast by fan casting method, so there were often raised fan lines and cast nodules on the surface of bronzes. And the surface is smooth, and the detailed patterns are delicate and smooth. However, fake bronzes are mostly made by sand turning, with rough surface and casting defects such as sand holes and shrinkage cavities. And imitate the imitation of the real thing. Generally, fake things are thicker than the real ones, and the decorations and inscriptions are vague, which makes them look stupid and lifeless.
Third, identify the fake from the shape of the equipment. The shapes of ancient Chinese bronzes have certain rules. The shape of a pseudo-device, or an emulator, is often similar in shape but not in spirit; Or make it up out of thin air and make it into a novel shape to impress others. Therefore, you must be very careful when you encounter novel shapes.
Fourth, identify fakes from the decorative patterns. The decorative patterns of ancient bronzes are natural and vivid, and the style is simple and verve. Some false lines are turned up by real lines, but they are vague, bloated and lifeless; Some of them were engraved, which not only destroyed the watch, but also left knife marks. False lines are not only dull and loose, but also the layout is often unreasonable, especially at the corners. In a word, the types of ancient bronze decorations and the structure and layout of each decoration have certain rules. Anyone who doesn't conform to the rules may be a fake. Figure 6. The pattern of the fake bronze chime is very monotonous.
Fifth, we can distinguish forgeries from inscriptions. Zhenming is characterized by natural fluency, vividness and simplicity. The inscription has a small mouth and a big bottom, and the corners are round and stylish. The structure of false inscriptions is loose or rigid, even wrong, dull and weak. The bottom of the forger's mouth is large and small, with shapes and knife marks. The false inscriptions made by corrosion method are fat and swollen, and the words are different in depth. The font structure and content of ancient inscriptions have certain rules. If it is inconsistent with the usual practice, it is necessary to compare it with the original one sentence by sentence, word by word and stroke by stroke in order to distinguish the authenticity. Moreover, the place where the inscription is located or the lines are irregular, and it may also be a fake.
Sixth, use the relationship between shape, decoration and inscription to identify authenticity. The relationship between genuine products and counterfeit products is consistent, but there must be contradictions between them. If we analyze them carefully, we will find their defects. For example, The Book of Rites of Shanzhai 2? The Ding, the "Father of Zhong Yi" recorded in 64 years, is decorated with animal faces on its straight ears, column feet and mouth edges, belonging to the late Shang Dynasty and the early Zhou Dynasty. However, its inscription belongs to the late Western Zhou Dynasty, which is obviously a false inscription. According to the 22nd edition of True Songtang Lucky Gold Map by China's adoptive father Ding, the vessel is shaped as hoof and foot, and the lower edge of the mouth is decorated with ring patterns. The shape and ornamentation of vessels belong to the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and the inscriptions also belong to the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The three are consistent.
In addition, it is also very important to know the unearthed situation and spreading experience of artifacts in detail in the work of distinguishing fakes, which can often provide important clues for distinguishing fakes.
Finally, in the work of distinguishing fakes, we must correctly distinguish fakes from imitations. Fake goods are fake cultural relics made by counterfeiters for profit. Imitation is the bronze wares of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties copied by officials or private individuals in later generations and used for ceremonial activities, such as the imitation of bells, which not only reflects the social life at that time, but also imitates and admires the ancients. There is an essential difference between imitation and counterfeiting.