golden ear

Chapter 291 The Mysterious Formula
Old Tang took a sip of his tea and continued: "A piece of antique porcelain in the complete sense refers to imitation antique porcelain. It consists of two steps, first is imitation, then is old-fashioned, both of which are indispensable. The imitation mainly includes the imitation of the decoration, the shape of the utensil, the imitation of the glaze color, the imitation of the soil and the imitation of the weight; the old-fashioned refers to the use of various technical means to make the "traces of time" of the utensils.. The decoration and the shape of the utensils imitation."

"In terms of imitation, it is relatively easy to imitate the imitation of the decoration and the shape of the vessel. Many shop owners often spend hundreds or thousands of yuan to buy an unearthed and damaged porcelain in order to imitate the decoration on it. Except In addition to imitating paintings directly, they also use a fine brush dipped in ink to outline the outline on the original, then print the outline on transparent white paper, and then paste the paper on the new porcelain body to trace, so that the imitation is often in place. "

"The highest-level ones even use computerized three-dimensional scanning patterns, which are almost the same, and the shape is the same. Compared with past artists, the biggest difference between today's ancient porcelain imitators is that they use various museum catalogs and books, and according to the above pictures and data, imitate the decoration and shape of the utensils, and the high-level ones can even be lifelike.”

"For those who use new raw materials to imitate ancient porcelain, the imitation of clay and glaze color is the most difficult! Just like imitating a calligraphy work, you can imitate the shape of characters, but it is difficult to imitate the style. The imitation of clay depends on the formula of raw materials. Southern Song Dynasty In the past, the soil of JDZ porcelain was always made of a single porcelain stone."

"When the energy of the upper layer of porcelain stones was exhausted, JDZ porcelain workers discovered Macang soil in Macang Village, Yaoli Township, Fuliang at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. The soil with the same properties as warehouse soil is called kaolin, which is a major turning point in the porcelain making process. The "dual formula" tire making method has also made JDZ porcelain famous all over the country since the Yuan Dynasty."

"To save costs, many ceramic workshops in JDZ directly purchase raw materials from mud factories in other places. There are also many such mud factories in Nanshan of JDZ. It is easy to identify the authenticity of porcelain bodies made of these materials. It is more difficult. What is identified is the porcelain made strictly according to the formula of porcelain stone and kaolin, but it is impossible to make it exactly the same, especially the porcelain body in the early and middle Ming Dynasty, because the Ma Cang soil has disappeared. It disappeared in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and it is said that this is also the It is impossible to reproduce the reason why the Dalong vat failed repeatedly in the later period."

Wu Tianyuan finally heard the meat show, what he was looking for were those lost technologies and mineral deposits, Ma Cangtu was one of them.Others can't find it, Wu Tianyuan has supernatural powers, this is his biggest hole card.

"The imitation of glaze color depends on the origin and formula of the glaze, whether it is the cobalt material of blue and white, or the copper material of red glaze, etc., the origin and formula of different periods are also different."

"Taking the cobalt material of blue and white porcelain as an example, from Suniboqing in Yuan Dynasty to Shiziqing in early Ming Dynasty, to Pingqing in Chenghua, Huiqing in Jiajing Wanli, Zhuming material in Tianqi Chongzhen, and finally to the middle and late Qing Dynasty Ocean blue, etc., all have different color effects depending on the place of origin."

"With the disappearance of many raw materials, it is impossible to imitate the effect of the authentic products of that era today. Of course, the thick and thin ratio of glaze water and the method of glazing also affect the final color rendering effect. As for the imitation of weight, it is even more difficult, after all, for the For most imitators, they don’t have the opportunity to touch the real thing with their own hands, so it’s not easy to imitate at all.”

Wu Tianyuan asked: "Except for the lack or disappearance of raw materials, how is your formula?"

"Me?" Old Tang said proudly, "As a descendant of Tang Ying, I have passed on traditional skills for generations. Except for the real unique skills, I, Tang Tianming, are really hard to beat!"

Wu Tianyuan nodded, that's what he wanted. In fact, even if it was a secret recipe that Tang Tianming didn't know, he could almost find the clue by asking Porcelain himself.Sometimes it's just a small difference, but the result is a world of difference.

Old Tang said with a smile: "The most unique advantage of JDZ's imitation of ancient porcelain lies in its rich underground resources. There are countless porcelain relics from past dynasties. In our antique market and flea market, there are a large number of porcelain specimens, which are precious teaching materials for beginners. Someone After doing an experiment, you can pick up porcelain pieces on a construction site of a stilted building that is about to disappear by the Changjiang River. In less than two hours, you can harvest more than ten pieces of Ming and Qing folk kiln blue and white porcelain pieces, so today JDZ artists also make full use of them. In order to take advantage of this advantage, we have worked hard to imitate ancient porcelain."

"For example, old tires are newly painted, using white tires from the middle and late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and painting them with famille rose and other overglaze colors to double their value."

"Old glaze and new tire, imitators will use the old glaze water to decorate the new tire."

"Old pieces and new ones are assembled with old unearthed objects with incomplete feet, legs, bottoms, mouths, necks, etc. in new porcelain. This kind of counterfeiting is highly deceptive and requires experienced collectors to distinguish it."

"The old-fashioned technique can be roughly divided into two stages. The first stage is from the 20s to the mid-to-late 80s. The old-fashioned method mainly imitates the characteristics of unearthed artifacts. The common method is to polish the new glaze with sandpaper. surface, or corrode the glazed surface with hydrofluoric acid, and then paint muddy water, and the muddy water penetrates into the damaged glazed surface, resulting in the effect of excavation.”

"From the mid-to-late 20s to today is the second stage of old-fashioned, mainly imitating the characteristics of handed down items. Due to proper protection, handed down items generally do not suffer from the large degree of glaze damage of unearthed utensils. The glaze surface has the characteristics of devitrification, the glaze is warm and moist, and the bottom tire is relatively delicate, and the inner wall can be seen with "chicken claw patterns" and other characteristics."

"For the purpose of saving costs, low- and medium-level imitations often use industrial potions to create effects on the glaze. Processing a Yongzheng famille rose bowl in the market costs 5 yuan, and you can earn [-] yuan a day. It’s a good business too.”

"High-end antique porcelain will use the method of soaking traditional Chinese medicine to create the effect of old porcelain. There are not many masters who master this method of making old porcelain. The formula of Chinese medicine is strictly kept secret. In their shop, you can see all kinds of medicine bottles. , but the label has been removed to prevent disclosure."

"Boiling and soaking traditional Chinese medicine for aging will also vary slightly depending on the object. For example, in order to create the light effect of famille rose porcelain clams, a little alcohol will be added to the traditional Chinese medicine, and in order to eliminate the luster of underglaze colored porcelain, a little hydrogen fluoride will be dripped into it. Sour and so on."

Wu Tianyuan sighed and said that he really found the right person!As soon as the expert makes a move, he will know if there is one!Mr. Nangong and Mr. Ouyang were responsible for the calligraphy and painting, and they took the most high-end way. Recently, their Yuan Dynasty calligraphy and painting could not satisfy these old masters, and even started to imitate the original works of the Song Dynasty. There are many treasures copied in the museum, and the level is getting higher and higher.

Lao Tang concluded: "Actually, many antique porcelain workshops in JDZ are operating at a loss, especially those low-end antique workshops. Even so, they still insist on production. The reason is very simple, and the production of simple craft porcelain is even more loss-making."

"Since the closure of a large number of state-owned porcelain factories in JDZ in the 20s, many laid-off workers had no source of livelihood. The inextricable ceramic complex prompted most of them to continue to engage in the ceramic industry. However, it is impossible to start large-scale production with personal funds alone , It is impossible to make money from the production of daily-use porcelain, only through the production of low-cost craft porcelain, but there are too many people involved, which eventually leads to an oversupply in the market.”

"Basically, only 10 of every 2 craft porcelain shops can make a profit. For small producers, pure craft porcelain is unsustainable, so many people turn to antique porcelain with higher profits. But antique porcelain is also an investment. In an industry where the cost is directly proportional to the value of the output, small producers can only produce low-grade antique porcelain due to insufficient funds, and the price of each piece ranges from one or two hundred yuan to four or five hundred yuan. In the next production, the cost will be cut even more, and the level of the product will be lowered accordingly. This is a vicious circle, and it has directly led to the rejection attitude of many consumers across the country towards JDZ ceramics."

After listening to Lao Tang's introduction, Wu Tianyuan has a clear understanding of JDZ and even the entire Chinese porcelain manufacturing industry, just a few words, big but not strong, many but not refined!
Like other industrial manufacturing, China is still a labor-intensive industry, without real innovative technology and brand added value. It can only rely on cheap manpower to start for Japanese, European and American high-end brands, and dozens of times and hundreds of times of profits are easily taken away by family members. JDZ Porcelain is just a small microcosm of China.

(End of this chapter)