Jianbao life

Chapter 1096 Sky Blue Mud

The stall owner looked up, smiled embarrassedly, and said: "Little brother, I'm so sorry, I just got this box this morning, and I haven't had time to deal with it. If you want, I can clean it for you right away." , make sure it's clean."

"Okay, okay!" Chu Chen waved his hand: "I was afraid that you would wash all the patina off the box."

Patina is indeed very important for antiques, and it is normal for customers to have such concerns. Therefore, the stall owner didn't think too much about it. He was quick-witted, and immediately understood Chu Chen's thoughts. He laughed and said, "In that case, Let me give you a discount, even [-], this is authentic Hongmu furniture."

Chu Chen shook his head again and again: "It's too expensive. Although this is mahogany, the quality is really ordinary, and this box is so big. I can pay up to two hundred!"

"Little brother, I'm also a small business, I can't keep even two hundred..."

Crying poor is the only magic weapon for antique peddlers to do business, but this kind of magic weapon, Chu Chen, has seen so much that he can basically ignore it, so the stall owner scolded Chu Chen for being stingy while bargaining with Chu Chen. If you don't want to have accidents, you have to "fight for three hundred rounds" to deal with this kind of hawker.

After paying the money, Chu Chen hugged the box and left with Yuan Hongjian. After walking a few steps, he saw the middle-aged man who was arguing with the young man walking towards him.This had to make Chu Chen and the others lament the boldness of this man, who was not afraid that if the young man came back, he would cause trouble.

The middle-aged man looked at Chu Chen, walked to the side of the stall owner with some doubts, and asked, "Old Zhang, who was that young man holding the box just now?"

The stall owner was taken aback, and said strangely, "It's only my second day since I came to Panjiayuan. How can I know anyone? Is this person famous?"

When it came to the end, he became a little nervous. If the other party was more famous and his eyesight would be good, didn't he sell out just now?
The man shook his head: "It's just a little familiar. By the way, Lao Zhang, today's income is not bad, right?"

The stall owner chuckled: "It's not bad, your share must be indispensable."

The man frowned and said, "How do you know how to procrastinate, kid? Hurry up and give me the money. I saw a good thing just now, which is exactly the same as the one that Chu Chen commented on TV last time...huh?"

Speaking of this, the man was stunned suddenly, and after a while, he came back to his senses and suddenly said: "The young man who bought your box just now seems to be Chu Chen!"

"Ah?!" The stall owner exclaimed, and quickly recalled Chu Chen's appearance on TV, then stood up abruptly, and said heartbrokenly: "It seems that he is indeed Chu Chen! It's over, it's over, that one I must have missed the box!"

The man said suspiciously: "It shouldn't be. When the old man sold you the box, I also looked at it. It is indeed made of mahogany. How much did you sell him for?"

"Four hundred and six."

"If you look at the appearance of that box, four hundred and six are about the same."

"The key is Chu Chen, how could he just buy something worth more than 400?" The stall owner said with a look of annoyance.

The man comforted him and said, "What's wrong with the expert, can't the expert buy more than 400 things? Besides, maybe he is going to buy it and put it away?"

"Do you believe this?" The stall owner gave him an idiot-like look.

The man shrugged his shoulders: "Okay, then what do you think is the value of that box? It's unlikely that the mud inside is some kind of treasure, right?"

The stall owner clapped his hands together: "Yes! That's the mud, maybe that mud is treasure, otherwise why didn't Chu Chen let me dump the mud?!"

The man was speechless when he heard the words: "Could it be that those muds are made of gold powder? Besides, even if those muds are valuable, what can you do? Well, well, there are too many people walking around in the market, and you're not the only one left. Don't worry about yourself, give me the money, I'm still waiting for the money to buy things!"

"Okay, you two are really together, return the money to me!"

As soon as the man finished speaking, the young man ran up to the two of them, clamoring for a refund with an angry expression on his face...

"Haha, this is fun."

On the other side, Yuan Hongjian couldn't help laughing when he saw the young man running past him.

Chu Chen also laughed and said, "This is the so-called self-destruction if you do many unrighteous actions!"

Yuan Hongjian smiled and nodded: "By the way, let's continue what we just said, what's wrong with these soils?"

Chu Chen smiled and said, "These are all purple clay."

"Why does the purple clay look like cyan?" Yuan Hongjian asked silly.

Chu Chen laughed and said, "Who said there is no green purple clay, haven't you ever seen a green purple clay pot?"

"Hehe." Yuan Hongjian patted his forehead, feeling a little silly: "These inside are green clay?"

Chu Chen nodded and said: "Yes, to be precise, it is called dark green mud. Because of the color of this kind of mud, it is generally easy to be confused by people and call it green mud, but in fact green mud is light grass green, and this kind of mud is green. The muddy blue with a greenish tinge and no gray tinge is almost extinct."

There is a saying that rarity is the most precious thing. When Yuan Hongjian heard that this kind of mud was about to disappear, his eyes lit up and he said with a smile:

"Mr. Chu, this should be the reason why you bought this box."

Chu Chen said with a smile: "There are some reasons for this, but there are actually two kinds of mud in the drawer, and the mud in it is more precious."

"More precious?" Yuan Hongjian asked in surprise, "What kind of mud is that?"

At this time, the two happened to walk to the entrance of the antique shop, and Chu Chen said, "Let's go in and talk about it."

Because the purple clay in the box was more precious, Chu Chen took Yuan Hongjian to the VIP room upstairs.Pushing open the door and going in, I saw Uncle Wu, Zhu Dafu and Zhao Xueyi drinking tea and chatting inside.

After the two sides exchanged some pleasantries, Zhu Dafu asked curiously, "I said, Xiao Chen, why did you bring back such a dirty box?"

Chu Chen smiled mysteriously and said, "There are good things hidden in this box."

"What good stuff?"

It must be unusual for Chu Chen to say that it is a good thing, so the three elders became curious when they heard what Chu Chen said.

"The good stuff is here..." Chu Chen put the box on the table, and then opened the bottom drawer.

"Hey, this looks like dark green clay!" Zhu Dafu, who had studied purple clay teapots, recognized the clay immediately.

Zhao Xueyi was a little surprised and said: "This kind of mud is rare now. Although there are not many such a drawer, it can be used for a long time when used together."

Dark green clay is softer and has lower fire resistance than purple clay. It is generally used as powder or paint on the outside of the carcass to make purple clay pottery more colorful.Because not much is used on a purple sand vessel, coupled with the small quantity and high quality, now only the top purple sand clay is willing to use, which is why Zhao Xueyi said so.

Zhu Dafu smiled and said, "Old Zhao, you are an insider who speaks outsiders. You can tell at a glance that these dark green clays are selected from thousands of people. The predecessors did not know how much effort it took to select such a little. You still don’t say much? You’re too greedy!”

Zisha is actually a kind of ore, which is hidden hundreds of meters deep under the rock formation of Huanglong Mountain, between the "Jiani" ore layers.The purple mud excavated from the mine, commonly known as raw mud, is like massive rocks. If it is to be turned into usable purple sand mud, it needs to be piled up in the open air for a while to weather, wait for it to loosen, and then process it.

In ancient times, the sun-dried and crushed mud was usually surrounded in a circle and washed with river water. People stood in it and walked and trampled on it until the mud was moderately soft and hard. People are so hard and backward in making mud.

Moreover, this method has been used until the 50s, and it was not until the late 60s that mechanized production was adopted, and workers no longer needed to work so hard.

Speaking of it, advanced technology does have the benefits of advanced technology, but it also has its disadvantages. For example, some unscrupulous businessmen used chemical raw materials to prepare purple clay for cost reduction, aesthetics and other reasons.

You should know that the purple sand utensils made of this kind of mud are not only not good for making tea, but also contain toxic substances that are harmful to the human body. Therefore, when you buy purple sand utensils, you must be careful not to buy this kind of purple sand utensils.

Zhao Xueyi chuckled and said, "No matter how greedy I am, it's useless. These muds don't belong to me. But, Xiaochen, can I discuss with you, can I sell some of these dark green muds? ​​I don't want too much." , as long as the amount of a ball pot is enough."

One bead is a traditional pot style, which is said to have been created by Hui Mengchen.The characteristics of the shape of the vessel are that the pot body is spherical without neck, the pot lid adopts an embedded structure, the cover button is small ball type, three-bend tubular flow, large round handle, and exquisite workmanship. Because this pot type is used for Drinking Kungfu tea is the predecessor of what is called "horizontal pot" in later generations.

This kind of pot is generally not big, and based on this calculation, the amount of dark green mud does not need a lot.

Zhu Dafu quickly said, "Xiao Chen, can you sell me a little too?"

Uncle Wu then chuckled, the meaning he wanted to express was self-evident.

Seeing that even the father-in-law had spoken, Chu Chen said with a smile: "Well, after a while, I will ask Master Song to help make a teapot for everyone. What do you think?"

Everyone agreed, and Zhu Dafu couldn't wait to say: "Don't wait for a while, I will call Xiao Song and ask him to come over as soon as possible."

Zhao Xueyi said with a smile: "I said, Lao Zhu, your airs are a little too big. After all, other people are master pot makers. It's fine if you don't go there yourself. Would you mind letting him go all the way?"

Zhu Dafu waved his hand: "Does that matter? What is my relationship with him? Besides, if he hears about these high-quality dark green clays, he will definitely rush over excitedly. I don't even need to invite him."

"Anyway, if you handle this matter, we'll sit back and enjoy it." Uncle Wu laughed.

"Why?" Zhu Dafu said.

"Why? Just because Xiao Chen is my son-in-law!" Uncle Wu laughed triumphantly.

"Well, who told me that I don't have a good daughter!" Zhu Dafu spread his hands helplessly.

After laughing for a while, Yuan Hongjian asked, "Mr. Chu, didn't you just say that there is a more precious kind of mud in the drawer?"

"More precious mud?" The three elders all showed a very surprised look on their faces when they heard this.

"what!"

At this time, Zhu Dafu exclaimed in surprise, and asked a little bit tongue-tied: "Xiaochen, you don't mean that there is still azure mud in it?"

"Tianqing mud (what is it)?!" Uncle Wu and Zhao Xueyi were shocked, but Yuan Hongjian was a little confused because he had never heard of this kind of mud.

"I think the mud inside should be the lost sky blue mud."

Chu Chen first opened the drawer completely, and saw that the whole drawer was divided into two compartments. The outer compartment contained dark green clay, while the inside contained a kind of dark green clay, but when you look closely, the particles flash blue light and are very delicate. Moisturizing mud.

"Is this the sky blue mud?" Zhu Dafu excitedly leaned over to observe and distinguish it carefully.

At this time, Chu Chen explained to Yuan Hongjian: "The name Tianqingni comes from the "Yangxian Minghu Series" written by Zhou Gaoqi, an annotator in the late Ming Dynasty, in the Chongzhen period. This is the earliest professional book on purple sand. There are basically records of Zisha business.”

"Some of the books are his personal experience, such as mining, mud and green body production; some are hearsay, such as the legend of Shi Taoyi, Fuguitu, Jinsha Temple monk, and Gongchun. Regarding the purple sand before the Qing Dynasty, Subsequent works basically quoted Zhou Gaoqi's sayings, either supplemented or enriched, or speculated and misunderstood."

"In the book "Yangxian Teapot Series", Zhou Gaoqi used 174 words in the book, 74 of which were used to describe Tianqing clay. It can be seen that he attached great importance to Tianqing clay, and this kind of clay was also the It is the best kind of mud found in Zisha mud.”

Hearing this, Yuan Hongjian asked: "Since this kind of mud is so good, why haven't I seen several handed down pots using this kind of mud?"

Zhao Xueyi laughed and said: "Tianqing clay is a rare purple sand clay. It is not easy to mine, so there are not many that can be used to make pots, but there are not no handed down products. Yang Pengnian and Shao Daheng There are two works handed down from heaven and earth, both of which are regarded as treasures by the collection hall, and you will definitely not see them if you don’t have a chance.”

Yuan Hongjian said with some regret: "It turns out that this is the case, that is to say, this kind of mine is lost because of the small stock?"

"You can also say that, but the main reason is the change of the place of production."

Chu Chen explained: "Zhou Gaoqi's book said that Tianqing mud was produced in Lishu. This mining area was abandoned due to water seepage, forming today's big water pool. The exact time of water seepage has not yet been verified. There are many opinions. The biggest possibility is In the early period of the Republic of China. Not to mention that there were few Tianqing mud mines, because the mining area was abandoned, of course the Tianqing mud was lost.”

Zhu Dafu raised his head and said, "Actually, I've heard that Tianqing mud was also mined near the mining area. When Xiao Song heard the news, he went to inquire about it, but he found nothing."

Zhao Xueyi said: "I think the possibility of spreading rumors is relatively high, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble, and there will be an uproar!"

Uncle Wu smiled and said, "Don't mention such things without shadows. Let's talk about whether this is azure mud. Old Zhu, what do you think?"

"I think it should be regarded as sky blue mud." Zhu Dafu nodded affirmatively.

"Why do you say that?" Zhao Xueyi said, "I remember that the book "Yangxian Teapot Series" basically said, 'Tianqingni, out of Lishu, Taozhi becomes dark. , there is pear skin mud, which shows the color of pear jelly; light red mud, which shows all kinds of strange clouds in the changes of Song Ye.' If this is the case, the green mud should be dark liver-colored that day, right?"

Zhu Dafu said with a smile: "Which teacher taught you Chinese? The text clearly says 'Tao's liver color becomes dark', that is to say, it becomes dark liver color after firing. If it is dark liver color before firing, it doesn't matter." The word 'change' is over. Therefore, no matter what color the sky blue clay is, it must not be dark liver before it is fired."

"Zhou Gaoqi did not explain the reason why Tianqing mud is called Tianqing mud, but judging from the rules of mineral material naming, it is either in the form of mineral material, which is azure, or in the process of making mud, it is azure. Look at the mud again, does it match the description in Zhou Gaoqi's book? So I think it should be Tianqing mud."

"That's not necessarily true." Zhao Xueyi shook his head and said, "There are several kinds of azure minerals, but after firing, they are not dark liver, but brown, purple, white, yellow, blue-gray, etc. So whether it is sky blue mud or not, it should be burned out to count.”

"Who did you ask to burn it? Xiao Song? Even if Xiao Chen is relieved, I am not at ease!" Zhu Dafu firmly disagreed with this.

Zhao Xueyi was surprised and said, "What? Master Song is a pot maker at the master level. I don't know what worries you?"

Zhu Dafu said: "That's because you don't know the difficulty of firing sky blue clay. Don't look at this clay as similar to the dark green clay next to it, but it's actually like a beautiful girl wearing a veil. The requirements for firing conditions are relatively high, and if there is a slight discrepancy, one will lose his temper and hide his true face."

"Yang Pengnian and Shao Daheng are basically in the same era, so it is not surprising that only Yang Pengnian and Shao Daheng have Tianqingni works handed down in history. It is estimated that these two guys discovered Tianqingni at that time, but It’s all kept secret.”

"Some people say that it is because Shao Daheng is better than Yang Pengnian, and his azure clay works are more refined and expressive than Yang Pengnian's. But according to research, the firing temperature of Shao Daheng's works is a few degrees lower. , so I think, rather than saying that he is better than Yang Pengnian, it is better to say that he has a more thorough research on Tianqingni."

Speaking of this, Zhu Dafu took a sip of tea, and after a short rest, he continued: "You said, even with Yang Pengnian's level, he can't grasp the characteristics of Tianqing clay well, so I really can't rest assured that Xiao Song can make it." , after all, this is azure clay that needs a little less, but there is no extra for him to study and trial manufacture."

Everyone agrees with Zhu Dafu's explanation, Zhao Xueyi said: "Since it can't be fired, how can we tell whether it is real azure clay? And if it is really azure clay, wouldn't it be a pity to leave it like this?" ?"

Zhu Dafu nodded and said: "If you're not sure, it's better to leave it alone. Of course, the thing belongs to Xiao Chen, so how he handles it depends on his opinion. Anyway, I won't change my mind."

Chu Chen said with a smile: "I want to take it to the laboratory and analyze it with instruments. The result should be able to tell whether it is azure mud. If it is azure mud, then we will decide what to do with it at that time." deal with it."

"Hi! How did I forget that it's a scientific instrument!" Zhu Dafu and Zhao Xueyi both smiled and shook their heads, mainly because they never liked to use instruments to identify antiques.

After a while, Zhao Xueyi asked: "By the way, Xiaochen, where did you get this box? The seller is too ignorant, even if he doesn't know Tianqingni, doesn't he know Dark Greenni? "

"That's what happened..." Chu Chen repeated what happened just now to everyone.

After hearing what happened, Zhu Dafu sneered: "This kind of person is the black sheep in our antique industry, and some reputations are ruined by people like them."

"It can't be helped. Now some people can do anything for personal gain. For example, Tianqing clay purple sand pots. There are also some so-called pots of this kind on the market, but they are actually made of chemical materials."

Uncle Wu shook his head: "The most ridiculous thing is that I visited a large-scale purple sand pot store last year. There were many azure purple clay pots on the table, marked with 'sky green clay', and the price was only a few hundred dollars. Some customers Negotiating with the sales staff, the minimum is only 200 yuan."

"Actually, these are chemical grouting pots. Let alone making tea with this kind of pot is harmful to the body, the cost of it is less than ten yuan. Unscrupulous merchants are so black."

Speaking of unscrupulous profiteers, even Chu Chen and the others felt the same way. After all, they all came from beginners, and they all suffered from this to some extent.

After chatting for a while, Uncle Wu suggested that Chu Chen take out all the mud in the drawer. On the one hand, it is inconvenient to put it in the drawer, and on the other hand, it is convenient for storage.

Chu Chen readily agreed, and then went to get tools and began to clean up the mud carefully.

During this period, Zhu Dafu called Song Jun. He didn't say that he wanted to ask Song Jun to make pots, but he just talked about the dark green clay and sky green clay, and Song Jun immediately put down his work. He yelled on the phone not to dispose of the mud, but to wait for him to come.

After hanging up the phone, Zhu Dafu laughed and said, "Let me just say it, Xiao Song will definitely come here in a hurry."

Zhao Xueyi smiled and said, "You're not talking nonsense, like if you knew there was a real Zigang card for sale, wouldn't you run over in a hurry?"

Zhu Dafu said: "I really want to do the same, but where is the real Zigang brand for sale? Do you have any?"

Zhao Xueyi said helplessly: "Nonsense, if I had one, I wouldn't have to worry so much about my son's marriage!"

"Why, your son's girlfriend asked him again?"

"Isn't that right? I don't know why girls nowadays are so vain. They don't want to talk about everything. They want to give her all their wealth..."

"Forget it, that's what your son has encountered. There are many good girls in the world, and only your son has his eyes on this one. Let me tell you, you should persuade your son to break up. Young, I have plenty of time to find..."

(End of this chapter)