identification of paper and silk
Silk and paper used in calligraphy and painting play a certain role in dating calligraphy and painting. The identification of silk and paper is another way to identify calligraphy and painting. According to the current research of scholars in the Republic of China, the silk paintings of the late Zhou Dynasty, the Chu tombs in the Warring States Period and the Han tombs in Mawangjiao later were all painted on a fine single silk, but so far no double silk has been used (that is, the warp is double silk and the weft is single silk). From the Five Dynasties to the Southern Song Dynasty, silk has developed and changed compared with the previous generation. On the surface, in addition to monofilament silk, there is also the form of double silk. The warp of this kind of double silk is a group of two filaments, and there is a gap of one filament between each two groups, and the weft is a monofilament. On the whole, the silk in Yuan Dynasty is a little thicker than that in Song Dynasty, not as fine and white as that in Song Dynasty, and it is still in a loose state. On the whole, the silk of the Ming Dynasty seems to be relatively rough. In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, there was a kind of low-quality and thin silk. Because this kind of silk was too thin to drop ink, painters often put it on paper before painting and calligraphy. The material of paper is another criterion to judge the age of painting and calligraphy. In ancient paper, Han and Jin dynasties, hemp was used, mostly regenerated from waste materials such as linen, sacks, Ma Xie and fishing nets, and raw hemp was also used-hemp was used in the north and ramie was used in the south. Its characteristic is that the fiber is thick, so it is difficult to make it fine. It is dull and hairless, and the fiber bundles are round, sometimes lignin is seen. Most of the paintings and calligraphy in Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties were made of hemp paper, such as Preface to Lanting, Zhang Haohao's Poem by Du Mushu, and a large number of Tang Dynasty scriptures excavated from Dunhuang. After the Northern Song Dynasty, it decreased sharply, but in the northern Liao and Jin dynasties, linen was still used as the classics. In the future, there are almost no paintings and calligraphy with hemp paper. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, we began to see paper made from bark, mostly from bamboo or sandalwood bark, which is characterized by fine fibers and fine masterpieces produced with the development and progress of handicraft industry. This kind of material is also dull, only slightly brighter than hemp paper, and the fibers are bundled into flat sheets with slight paper hairs. There is also paper made of mulberry bark, which is characterized by thinner and brighter fibers, easy to grow long hair on the paper surface and flat fiber bundles. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, a large number of bark papermaking appeared in calligraphy ink. After that, bark paper was produced all over the country. Paper-making of bamboo materials for painting and calligraphy began in the Northern Song Dynasty. Bamboo is hard and the most difficult to make pulp, so it is not used because it can't be treated by predecessors. Bamboo paper has the finest fibers, bright and hairless, fiber bundles or hard spines, and corners are also seen outside the corners. After the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, all the raw materials for making calligraphy and painting paper were available, so it was not easy to distinguish the times by paper.
decoration identification
the decoration of calligraphy and painting in each era has its own characteristics, which can be used as an auxiliary basis for identifying the dating. For example, the paintings and calligraphy collected by the court in the Southern Song Dynasty have a prescribed mounting format-Shaoxing imperial house decoration style, and there are strict regulations on what materials to use for mounting different grades of paintings and calligraphy, such as what head to use, what lingzi and what axis to use; The color, size and shaft head of the vertical shaft have certain formats. The palace paintings in the Yuan Dynasty were mounted by special personnel. In the fourth year of Dade, "Wu Zhi, a mounter, was ordered to take the ancient jade ivory as the axis, the lotus magpie wood brocade blue silk as the mounting, and the refined lacquer box was stored in the secretary's library, with a total of 646 paintings." The decorative forms of calligraphy and painting in Ming Dynasty have been further developed, and the introduction of calligraphy and painting volumes has been added, and some of them have been written with words, some of which are imitation propaganda and narrow-edged, and some of them are wide-edged with silk or silk. The vertical axis is divided into wide and narrow sides, and some have added poetry halls. The mounting of paintings collected by the Qing court has its special style. During the Tang Xi and Qianlong periods, the materials, techniques and forms of mounting were relatively good. The ceiling silk of the scroll and the shaft was mostly light blue, and the auxiliary waterproof silk was mostly tooth-colored silk. The part near the painting center was mostly beige silk (or silk). Some of the vertical shafts had poetry halls, while others did not, but generally there were two ribbons. The circular curve on the vertical shaft mast is customized, which is significantly different from that of non-palace. After Jiaqing, the quality of court mounting gradually declined, and the mast of the vertical shaft gradually became thicker (later became square), and some shaft heads no longer used rosewood and mahogany, and it seemed clumsy. The hand roll is also thicker than that in the Kanggan period.
seal identification
the characteristics of the times and the breath of seals are also evidence to identify calligraphy and painting. The seal's flavor of the times can be seen from its shape, seal characters, engraving method, texture, printing color and so on. In the Song Dynasty, few calligraphy and painting works were stamped with the painter's own seal, and most painters did not affix their own seal to their works. In the Song Dynasty, most of the seals were made of copper and jade, and a few were made of other materials. There are two kinds of printing colors: honey printing and watermark (a few mimeographs appeared in the late Southern Song Dynasty). The color of honey printing is red and thick, and the color of watermark is light and thin. The seal characters and engraving methods of seals in the Yuan Dynasty have changed, and a round Zhu Wen seal appeared. Materials are wood, ivory, copper, jade, etc., and most of the printing colors are mimeographed and watermarked. Since Wang Mian began to use stone engraving in Yuan Dynasty, more and more people used stone engraving. In the early Ming Dynasty, the seals of all kinds of stones were quite common, and the engraving method of seal characters also had new changes. The stop of each word in seal characters was slightly thicker than the original strokes, but it was lighter and slightly yellow, which was somewhat different from the printing color of Yuan Dynasty. In the middle and late Ming dynasty, the seals were mostly stone, and others were crystal, agate, copper and jade. Fonts include ancient Chinese seal script and other forms. During this period, most of the printing colors were made of oil, and there were also shades of colors, and a few painters used watermarks. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the seal characters used by painters and painters did not change much, but the seal shapes and fonts tended to be diversified. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, there were various specifications of seal and seal engraving, such as Zhejiang School, Anhui School and other schools, and most of them took Shuowen Jiezi as the main body. The printing color is from oily, and the watermark is no longer used.
identification of inscription and postscript
inscription and postscript can be divided into three categories: the author's inscription and postscript, the contemporaries' inscription and postscript, and the descendants' inscription and postscript. Although the inscription and postscript of a painting and calligraphy also negates this work, it is rare. The most important thing is to explain the creation process and collection relationship of this work, or to verify its truth and praise its beauty, so people know it. However, there are both forgeries in calligraphy and painting, and there are also many kinds of forgeries in inscription and postscript, so we can't help but pay attention to its "changes" in calligraphy and painting appraisal. It is common that genuine ancient paintings are accompanied by other people's fake postscript, or fake ancient paintings are accompanied by other people's real postscript. If there is an inscription on the painting by the author at the same time, the relationship between him and the author should be clarified. This situation is not necessarily known from the calligraphy and painting itself, but must be explored from some inscriptions. How much role the inscriptions and postscripts of later generations can play in the identification of calligraphy and painting should be analyzed according to the specific situation. Falsification was very popular in the Song Dynasty. Mi Fei's Book History recorded Wang Xianzhi's Goose Sticks and Yu Shinan's books, which were dyed antique by Wang Jinqing and put together with inscriptions and postscript moved from other places. At that time, I also asked the officials to write these volumes. If it has been passed down to now, although the inscription and postscript of the Song people are true, the post itself is from Mi Fei. Whether the identification of calligraphy and painting by inscription and postscript is credible depends on the level of the inscription and postscript. Hongli's collection is extremely rich, and there are many inscriptions and postscript, but its discriminating ability is poor, and it often makes the false come true. Huang Zijiu's Fuchun Shan Jutu, he got a fake copy first, sighing as unparalleled. Later, he told the truth that it was false. Wen Zhiming's inscription and postscript are more credible, because he is good at painting and has high identification ability. In addition to the high and low eyesight, the appraiser must also look at his responsible attitude towards the work. Dong Qichang has seen a lot of calligraphy and painting, but he is not serious in judging the truth, so he can't fully believe his inscription. Generally speaking, the connoisseurs of the previous generation went closer to ancient times and saw more things, which took advantage of us. Although their inscriptions and postscript can't be trusted, they are still worth studying and thinking about.
Other evidence
Miscellaneous characters: calligraphy and painting writers and so on have always taken handwriting seriously. Such as calligraphy and painting or inscription, especially the inscription of calligraphy and painting, etc., are all considered to be the clues exposed by forgers.
taboo: in the feudal emperors' era, writing should be taboo, that is, when writing words with the same name as the emperor of the current dynasty, one stroke should be omitted. This is called taboo, which is generally called lack of pen. On the painting and calligraphy, we can see which generation of emperors avoided the words without pens, so we can conclude that the creation period of painting and calligraphy cannot be earlier than that of the generation of emperors who avoided them, otherwise it is a loophole of forgery. This issue has always been regarded as irrefutable evidence.
year and month: the year and month mentioned in the calligraphy and painting or the inscription or postscript are inconsistent with the author's age, birth and death, or are different from the facts, which will also be considered as an auxiliary sign of forgery. For example, Zhang Daqian's "Wind and Rain Map of Xiangjiang River" and its volumes were photocopied in the first episode of "Famous Records of Gale Hall". Paper book, long width. Draw ink pen, water stone, wind and rain bamboo. Self-knowledge; It has been three years since the wind and forest came to an end, and I have been eager to write "Xiangjiang Storm", but I have failed to pay it despite my hectic schedule. This year, I went to the capital, chased my friends with wine, and bid farewell to the south of Lucheng. I did it on a whim, but I was ashamed of my poor pen and my friendship was kind. At that time, I was the orthodox Bing Yin (eleven years, 1446), and I looked forward to the day after the autumn and July, and I was aware of Soochow Xia Chang. Zhong Zhuwen's "Soochow Xiachang Zhongzhao Book Seal" and "Taichangqing Book" were printed. In addition, the Beijing Institute of Cultural Relics keeps a volume with the inscription of painting style, which is exactly the same as Zhang's collection. Painted on raw paper, and the paper color at the end of the title is dragged and cooked. Looking closely at the two volumes of brushes, they are not calm, and the words are slightly literary and clear, which is completely single-handed. Taking the inscriptions in the original paintings of Xia Dynasty as proof, we know that in the eleventh year of orthodoxy, Bing Yin (1446), Xia was still studying in the official department, while his official, Tai Changqing, was ugly in the five years from Tianshun to Chenghua (about 1457-1469), so it is impossible to use the seal of "Tai Changqing's Books" in orthodoxy, so it is certain that these two volumes were mostly forged out of thin air by people in the middle of Ming Dynasty. The counterfeiters have not carefully investigated Xia's life story, so they have revealed such flaws. The following cases of calligraphy fakes are also judged and identified by this. Yan Zhenqing's Poem Volume of General Pei in the Tang Dynasty (this is a fake in itself, regardless of it) is followed by the inscription and postscript of Lin Tong, a famous poet in the early Song Dynasty, which is "the shadow of vegetables is horizontal and the water is shallow, and the faint fragrance floats in the dusk of the moon". It is a forgery, because the font of this postscript was copied from Huang Tingjian, who was born 17 years after Kao Lintong's death, and it is impossible to learn Huang's font. Ou Yangxun wrote the Heart Sutra of Prajna Prajnaparamita in lower case in Tang Dynasty, and the date of writing was October 4th, Zhenguan 9. The Heart Sutra is one of the classics that Master Xuanzang learned from the Western Regions. Xuanzang didn't start translating it until February 6th, 19th year of Zhenguan. How could Ouyang Xun have written it in advance? It can be concluded that this post is not written by Ou Yangxun. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yong's book "The Inscription of the Shaolin Temple" was written by Li Yong, the secretariat of Hangzhou, which was built on the 15th day of the first month of the third year of Kaiyuan. According to the biography of New Tang Book, Li Yong's book was the secretariat of Hangzhou in the third year of Kaiyuan Gan, and the historical facts are inconsistent, so we can know that it is false. After Qianhuitang carved Ling Fei Jing, there were two inscriptions by Zhao Mengfu, one of which was written in Taiding four years (1327), Zhao was 74 years old, and Zhao Mengfu died in Zhizhi two years (1322) at the age of 69. It can be seen that this postscript can't be Zhao Shu. Shen Du, a representative figure of pavilion calligraphy in the Ming Dynasty, wrote a post saying, "Looking at the day after July in the fourteenth year of Chenghua". Kao Shen Du died in the ninth year of Xuande (1434), and died for 45 years in the fourteenth year of Chenghua (1478), so it can be concluded that it is a forgery.