Riding the wind of rebirth

"Because the lid of the Dish-shaped Lei has always been collected by the Hunan Provincial Museum." Zhou Zhi smiled bitterly, "But the body of the vessel was discovered by Mr. Xiong when he visited Japan. Later, Mr. Ma also conducted extensive research and verification and clarified the relationship between the two. I relied on the cooperation with two Japanese friends, Mr. Ataka Eiichi and Mr. Sakamoto Goro, and finally purchased the body of the Dish-shaped Lei from the Japanese collector Nitta Dongyi and sent it back to China."

"However, after the body of the vessel arrived in China, in view of the outstanding contributions of Mr. Xiong and Mr. Ma to the return of the important artifact, the country finally handed the collection to the Shanghai Museum for collection. Hunan Museum had actually been actively in contact with Xin Tian Dongyi before, and the two parties had even held a joint exhibition of the Dish Fang Lei. But now it has suffered a great loss, not only did it not gain any benefits, but also lost the lid, and sent the two to the Shanghai Museum to be combined into one."

"Until now, when the Yu Tang Foundation held a liaison meeting on the preservation of the Three Gorges cultural relics, Director Gao Zhixi complained to me every time he met me in the online meeting. His implication was that if I hadn't brought the body of the Dish-shaped Lei back to China, the lid of the Dish-shaped Lei would never have been able to be sent to the Shanghai Museum. I was really pestered by him so much that I had no choice but to donate all the Changsha kiln porcelains I had collected over the years to the Hunan Museum, and only then did I put an end to this case."

Everyone smiled after hearing this. For a long time, the importance China attached to cultural relics was considered negative in the minds of those present at the meeting. But now it seems that this is not the case, or things have begun to change for the better. At least the people Zhou Zhi mentioned are the same as what Zhou Zhi showed here.

Although Zhou Zhi told this story as a joke, it is enough to show that at least many people in China attach great importance to cultural relics, otherwise these stories would not be able to be interpreted.

The Changsha Tongguan Kiln site is located near Shizhu Lake in Changsha today. After the "Anshi Rebellion" in the Tang Dynasty, a large number of kiln workers who migrated from the north gathered here and fired ceramics together with local residents, which was called Shizhu Kiln.

The Changsha kilns declined during the Five Dynasties and were lost in history after the Song Dynasty until they were rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1950s.

The techniques and style of Changsha Kiln can be seen as the beginning and predecessor of the Song Dynasty Cizhou Kiln-style calligraphy and painting decoration, but it is more crude.

However, judging from the styles of decals, engravings, and shapes, Changsha Tongguan Kiln can be said to be China's first barrel of export porcelain, with a lot of "exotic flavor".

It is not only popular domestic, but also exported to East Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and even as far as Northeast Africa.

The product quality was certainly not as good as that of Yue Kiln, but the quantity was large and the price was low. In addition, it was close to the Xiangjiang River and the shore of Dongting Lake in the north, so the water transportation was very convenient. Thus, a maritime "Ceramic Road" starting from the Xiangjiang River, passing through Guangzhou and Ningbo to various parts of Asia and Northeast Africa, gradually took shape, which eventually created objective conditions for the formation and development of the Changsha Tongguan Kiln system.

Those who are close to water get the moon first. Similarly, Changsha kilns were also imported into Shu in large quantities through the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, especially in Manzhou and Yuzhou areas, where there are a large number of relics.

However, because the artistic value of the artifact itself is not very high, it is not taken seriously in the collecting community. In the 1980s, Changsha kiln porcelain could be bought for just one or two yuan at a second-hand stall on Jiachuan Street.

At that time, Zhouzhi would receive food coupons from the school every semester, which were worth more than ten yuan. Children at that time rarely had pocket money, so these food coupons would generally be taken to the food dealers at the north gate to be exchanged for money and then spent.

Only someone as idle as Zhou Zhi would go to a junk stall and trade it with the stall owner for old porcelain. But after making the exchange, he didn't dare take it home because his mother would criticize it as a "broken bowl and pot" that could be picked up anywhere. He either planted flowers with it or threw it away. So he had to hide it with his fourth cousin.

The economic value of Changsha kiln porcelain has never been hyped up in the collecting circle, but this does not prevent them from having high academic value.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, the economic and cultural level of Shuzhong was very high, and it was known as "Yang Yi Yi Er". Therefore, the Changsha kiln porcelains sent to Shuzhong to make money were more exquisite in shape and decoration than those sold overseas.

In particular, the Changsha kiln porcelains decorated with poems are very distinctive and are truly unique. Zhou Zhi was the first to collect them because he was attracted by those interesting poems.

Zhou Zhi had no choice but to surrender and donate his collection to "spend money to avoid disaster". Many of the porcelains in this batch of porcelains filled the gaps in Changsha Kiln. Some pieces that could only appear as broken pieces before have now become "perfect products". Gao Zhixi was naturally "very happy" and never complained about Zhou Zhi again.

However, if Zhou Zhi wants to regain this part of his childhood memories, he can only go to the Changsha Tongguan Kiln Porcelain Exhibition Hall of the Hunan Provincial Museum.

Recalling these experiences of "extortion", Zhou Zhi couldn't help but shake his head.

Guan Shuning then introduced: "By the way, this is the first pure English book introducing the collections of the Palace Museum..."

"The Palace Museum Peking!" Zhou Zhi blurted out, "I've seen this book in the Forbidden City. The author is Wango.HCWeng... Hey, if you remove the HC, it's Mr. Weng!"

"Is this book still published in the Palace Museum?" Guan Shuning was a little surprised.

"Uh... no, I saw it on Mr. Qi's bookshelf. There was an extra cover printed on the cover, with a few Chinese translations of "Selections from the Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing"."

"Mr. Qi and Mr. Weng have a good relationship. They are both great collectors of inscriptions and ancient books. How come you also know Mr. Qi?"

"Well... I guess I'm half his disciple." At this moment Zhou Zhi felt that this circle seemed really small, with these people hanging around all the time.

"Hasn't I introduced him before?" An Siyuan said, "Elbow is a master-level expert in the restoration of ancient Chinese books and paintings, so he has a unique way of collecting calligraphy and paintings."

"He had previously restored the Six Hand Scrolls from Prince Chun's Palace, and he also restored my Inscription on the Buried Crane and Thousand Character Classic in True and Cursive Script."

Guan Shuning clapped his hands and said, "Exhibition of authentic paintings by the Four Masters of the Six Dynasties! I remember I saw you on TV news! You are the young man next to Master Qi and Master Wang, the restorer of the four masters' paintings!"

The "Exhibition of Authentic Works of the Four Great Masters of the Six Dynasties" is the name given by the industry to the loan exhibition of the National Museum. After using the protein molecular clock identification method, it was determined that Gu Kaizhi's "Biographies of Women, Benevolence and Wisdom" was the second half of the Palace Museum's collection; Lu Tanwei's "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and Rong Qiqi" was a copy by the painter Li Zhaoqing in the late Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty; "Image of Bodhisattva Ruyilun" was an authentic work by Cao Buxing, and "Han Wu Shooting a Dragon" was also a copy from the Northern Song Dynasty. It was basically determined that it was a copy of Zhang Sengyou's authentic work.

To outsiders, this incident was just a spectacle, but to insiders it was like dropping a hydrogen bomb, causing an enormous sensation.

Although three of the four paintings are copies, there is a very strong chain of evidence proving that they were copies by court painters of the Tang and Song dynasties, and they are the authors closest to the Four Masters of the Six Dynasties.

The "Statue of Ruyilun Bodhisattva" is even more extraordinary. It has been passed down in an orderly manner since the Northern Song Dynasty, and contains inscriptions and postscripts by three great masters: Cai Xiang, Mi Fu, and Chen Shidao. Regardless of whether it is identified by traditional or new scientific technology, it is the earliest existing copy by a famous artist, and it is the authentic work of Cao Buxing.

Such news certainly attracted the attention of professional researchers of oriental calligraphy and painting like Guan Shuning. He was previously shocked by Zhou Zhi's literary attainments and did not associate it with calligraphy and painting. Now he finally remembered who Zhou Zhi was. (End of this chapter)