Reborn Treasure Appraiser: I Really Didn’t Want to Be an Expert

Chapter 39 Am I still an expert in miscellaneous matters?
The jeans turned into shorts. Lin Sicheng held the dog in one hand and the dog bowl wrapped with the cut trouser legs in the other.

Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin followed behind, glancing at the dog and then at the dog bowl in Lin Sicheng's hand.

"Lao Guan, what is that?"

"Looks like an enamel basin?"

Hao Jun rolled his eyes: "Isn't this bullshit?"

Is an enamel basin worth Lin Sicheng spending two thousand yuan to buy a dog?
He even cut his pants to take away the dog bowl covered in dog shit?

"So what do you think that is?"

Hao Jun choked: He looks... like an enamel basin too?

But it's definitely not an enamel basin.

Lin Sicheng doesn’t have so much money that he doesn’t have much money to spend, does he?

While making random guesses, Lin Sicheng stopped and looked around.

Just out of Beixiang, there is a road across the street and Sajin Bridge next to it.

The roadside was full of parked cars, ivy covered the railings, and the sprinklers in the grass were buzzing with water.

Lin Sicheng looped the dog leash around the railing and stepped into the green belt. He quickly untied the denim and shone it into the shower head.

Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin looked at each other and stretched their necks.

The basin was very dirty, not just ordinary dirty. Black mud wrapped in messy things was washed down layer by layer.

Lin Sicheng didn't mind, and wiped it gently with the denim cloth. His movements were slow and careful.

Then once, twice, three times... the dog bowl became cleaner and cleaner, gradually revealing its original color.

Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin's eyes widened wider and wider.

First, the edge of the basin was in a mess, with bumps and depressions, and full of holes and potholes.

There are only a few pieces of porcelain left, and the unique water drop pattern left after the enamel has been broken and fallen off is very similar to raindrops that exploded in an instant.

But the strange thing is that the exposed edge is not low-carbon steel that turns black due to oxidation after the enamelware falls off, but red, and has a purple tint to it?

What is this, copper?
Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin were cheered up: Strictly speaking, any metal object covered in enamel is considered enameled. However, due to the scarcity of raw materials and limited industrial standards, industrially mass-produced copper enamel is almost extinct.

Even if there are any, they are all handmade. And the time is early enough, at least before the founding of the People's Republic of China.

So, this is an enameled copper basin from the Republic of China period?

Haha, I knew Lin Sicheng couldn't afford to buy a dog for 2,000 yuan. Judging from the current situation, this basin is definitely worth 2,000 yuan, which means the dog is given away for free?
Pondering secretly, Hao Jun moved forward a little, but then he seemed to be frozen.

No, why did it become blue?
As Lin Sicheng rinsed the basin, the intact outer porcelain part slowly emerged. A hint of faint blue came into view.

Thinking he was seeing things, Hao Jun blinked hard, then opened his eyes and looked again, his pupils shrank little by little.

Green as a furnace fire, clear as the blue sky, bright as the vault of heaven… Peacock blue?
But this is not the point, but the pattern that is gradually washed out on the bottom of the basin:
Two goldfish with three tails, the porcelain on the fish bodies has basically fallen off, only the glaze on the tails remains: one is pink and the other is golden.

The water chestnut leaves in the middle and around the two fish are basically intact. At first glance: pink is pink, gold is gold, green is green, the glaze color is even and rich, and the color is moist and beautiful.

The most important thing is the traces of craftsmanship on the part of the fish body where the porcelain has fallen off: it is obvious that the copper wire was pinched, the enamel was colored, then put into the furnace, sintered, taken out of the furnace, polished, and then colored again, then put into the furnace again, and then put into the furnace again...

Hao Jun couldn't guess how many times the color was applied and how many times it was put into the furnace, but he could at least conclude that this was not an ordinary enameled copper basin, but cloisonné enamel.

Officially known as Jingtai blue, it was monopolized by the imperial court during the Ming and early Qing dynasties. It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Guangxu, due to financial constraints and technological discontinuities, that the production became a joint venture between the government and the private sector.

Based on this inference, even if this basin is from the Republic of China period, even if it came from a private workshop, it must at least be a time-honored brand of imperial merchants during the Qing Dynasty. If I had to estimate its price, it would be worth at least ten golden hairs.

Tsk, Lin Sicheng’s luck?
Just as he was secretly surprised, Guan Xingmin poked him and said, "Old Hao, look!"

"No need to look, cloisonné!"

"I didn't know this was cloisonné? I'll show you the pattern..."

"what's that?"

Hao Jun turned around abruptly: Lin Sicheng had already finished washing the basin and was washing the outside. Just like before, the glaze was a deep blue, crystal clear and rich.

When washing to the bottom of the basin, as the dirt was washed away, a stamp about the size of a beer bottle cap, round inside and out, darker and bluer in color, close to navy blue, was revealed.

The characters are in regular script, the imprints are of uniform thickness, the strokes are spaced well apart, and the thickness is even.

Unfortunately, only half is left: reverse seat... reverse seat of what?
I don’t have much impression of it, but that doesn’t stop the price of this pot from skyrocketing.

There are ten golden retrievers without a pattern, but if there is a pattern, even if it is not recorded in history, the price will at least double.

He subconsciously looked at the dog tied to the railing: What is this, shit luck?
After a while, they had washed most of it. As soon as Lin Sicheng stepped over the railing, Guan Xingmin stretched out his hand and said, "Give it to me and let me take a look!"

Hao Jun laughed and said, "Don't you mind it being dirty?"

"Dirty? You throw three hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollars into the toilet, do you think I can pick it up?"

"nonsense!"

Hao Jun retorted and moved forward.

But just one glance and they were both stunned.

Seeing it from a distance is one thing, seeing it up close is another.

Let’s first look at the shape of the vessel: it’s true that the rim has been knocked, but it’s mostly man-made: there are seven indentations, undulating in a wavy pattern, and combined with the straight line of the belly, it looks like a flower no matter how you look at it.

So, this is not a basin at all, it is clearly a sunflower plate.

Look at the circle of green leaves on the bottom of the basin and the two fish in the middle: the copper base is as thin as paper, the copper wire is as thin as silk, the thickness is generally the same, and the thickness is generally uniform.

Just looking at the exquisite and extremely strict craftsmanship, it feels like this basin... oh no, this plate, doesn't look like something that can be made in a folk workshop?
Look at the glaze color again: it is clearly sky blue, but with a slight side light, a faint purple halo can be seen.

Subconsciously, the two of them thought of the bluish purple clay teapot.

While cloisonné does undergo kiln-change, this basin definitely does not. The reason for this glaze color is simply because the glaze used for the blue-dotting (coloring before firing) was Huiqing.

The key point is that this thing is ridiculously expensive and was only available to the royal family during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

It was even more impossible during the Republic of China, because at that time, both porcelain and enamel were made using cheaper foreign blue imported from Europe.

Not to mention the Republic of China, by around the Tongzhi period, Huiqing material had basically disappeared.

Combined with the fact that “enamel was not produced after Emperor Qianlong”, this basin could only have come from the middle Qing Dynasty or earlier... But then again: where were the folk workshops in the middle Qing Dynasty?

Hao Jun's eyelids twitched, and he turned the basin over. Although only half of the inscription remained, he could see that the seal was a double circle inside and outside. The font was a little soft, with a slight trace of cursive...

But it is precisely because it is a bit soft that it is highly recognizable: the early official kiln style of Yongzheng is of this style.

This is insane, I’m an expert in miscellaneous subjects?

Hao Jun stared at the golden retriever lying lazily under the railing, not knowing what to say.

(End of this chapter)