A treasure-appraisal maniac

The dragon table is made of huanghuali wood, one meter long and sixty centimeters wide.

Each of the four treasures of the study placed on the dragon desk is a valuable thing.

A yellow agate paperweight with Ganoderma lucidum in its head, the carving is exquisite and every detail is revealed.

The pen holder is Xuande blue and white.

The inkstone is a She inkstone with a large door.

Wolf-hair brush, but the hair has rotted and fallen off.

The paper on the dragon case has also rotted and is stuck to the dragon case.

As for pen holders, paperweights, etc., Lu Fei simply ignored them.

Because there is another pretty cool item on the Dragon Case.

That was the Xuande furnace that Lu Fei thought about day and night.

Lu Fei has the blue and white flowers from Yongle, the cabinet from Wanli, and the fighting colors from Chenghua.

Lu Fei has already collected three of the four treasures of the Ming Dynasty recognized by the collecting community.

Today I saw the Xuande furnace with its open door again, and Lu Fei finally got what he wanted.

Xuande stove, as the name suggests, is a copper incense stove made during the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, referred to as "Xuande stove".

The custom of burning incense has a long history in China. People usually scent their clothes for ritual purposes.

Most of the ancient literati liked to burn a stick of incense in the study room where they read and write, creating the artistic conception of "reading at night with red sleeves adding fragrance".

Therefore, as early as before the Han Dynasty, incense burners made of pottery, porcelain, copper, iron, and tiles appeared.

With the rapid development of the copper casting industry in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty, incense burners made of other materials were gradually replaced by copper incense burners. The Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty was the peak stage of copper incense burner production.

When Emperor Xuande was in power, in order to satisfy his hobby of enjoying incense burners, he ordered the import of a batch of red copper from Siam.

He ordered Lu Zhen, the royal craftsman of the palace, and Wu Bangzuo, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to refer to the styles of famous porcelain from Chai Kiln, Ru Kiln, Guan Kiln, Ge Kiln, Jun Kiln, and Ding Kiln in the imperial palace, as well as the "Xuanhe Bogu Illustration" and "Archaeology". "Pictures" and other historical books, design and supervision

incense burner.

In order to ensure the quality of the incense burner, craftsmen selected dozens of precious metals such as gold and silver, and carefully cast them together with red copper more than ten times.

The finished copper incense burner is crystal clear and warm in color. It is indeed a treasure among the handicrafts of the Ming Dynasty. The successful casting of the Xuande furnace set a precedent for copper furnaces in later generations. For a long period of history, the Xuande furnace became the general name of the copper incense burner.

In Xuande's three years, he used this batch of red copper to open a furnace and cast a total of 3,000 incense burners. They were never produced again. These Xuande incense burners were hidden deep in the Forbidden Palace, and ordinary people only knew their names but did not see their shapes.

After hundreds of years of ups and downs, the real copper incense burner cast in the third year of Xuande can no longer be seen at all.

In order to make huge profits, from the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China, antique dealers continued to imitate Xuande furnaces.

Just after the Xuande furnaces stopped being manufactured, some officials in charge of "casting matters" summoned the original furnace casters to imitate the Xuande furnaces according to the drawings and process procedures of the Xuande furnaces.

These carefully cast imitations are comparable to the real ones and cannot be distinguished by expert authorities. So far, of the many Xuande incense burners collected in major domestic museums, none of them can be recognized by many connoisseurs as the real Xuande incense burner.

Identifying the authentic Xuande furnace has become one of the "unsolved cases" in Chinese archeology.

Combined with these reasons, the price of copper incense burners engraved with Xuande's inscription is extremely low in the international art market, far less than the price of other ancient Chinese bronzes.

But if it can be confirmed that they are the treasures of Xuande furnaces from the third year of Xuande, that would be another matter.

It is not impossible to speculate to an unimaginable height.

During the late Qing Dynasty, a Xuande furnace appeared in Yuhua's pawnshop in Tiandu, and was sold to Sheng Xuanhuai for eight thousand taels of silver.

The sky-high price is in the pocket.

Then Li Hongzhang exchanged twelve valuable treasures with Sheng Xuanhuai, but Sheng Xuanhuai was reluctant to let go.

That Xuande stove is recognized as genuine in the Chinese industry.

Unfortunately, after Sheng Xuanhuai died, his son, Sheng Enyi, who was known as the most prodigal son in the Republic of China, took the precious Xuande stove to Bada Hutong.

His father spent 8,000 taels of snowflakes and silver to collect the super-heavy treasure, but his prodigal son made it after a meal of wine.

When the news spread, the kiln immediately became the focus of the industry, and even Lao Yuan sent people to look for it.

Unfortunately, the valuable Xuande furnace was sold by the old bustard for a cabbage price of eighty taels, and then completely disappeared from the world.

It is also the only treasure Xuande furnace discovered in the past hundred years.

The greatest beauty of the Xuande stove is that its color blends within, emitting strange light from darkness.

According to historical records, Xuande furnaces have more than 40 colors, which are loved by the world, and their colors have many names.

For example, purple with blue and black resembling eggplant skin is called eggplant skin color; black and yellow that resemble Tibetan scripture paper is called Tibetan scripture color; black and white with reddish and light yellow is called brown.

For example, the earthy color of old jade is called earthy antique color; the white-yellow with red color that resembles Tangli is called Tangli color; and the yellowish-red ground with colorful spots is called Imitation Song Shao mottled color.

Spots that are brighter than cinnabar are called vermilion spots; they are as light as pig liver color, maroon red, amber, tea leaves, crab shell green, etc.

Xiang Yuanbian, a great connoisseur, collector, and painter during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, once said: "The beauty of Xuanlu is that the color of the treasure contains pearly light, and the exterior shows dullness and silence."

Now on the dragon table is a bronze elephant-ear Xuande stove, eight centimeters in height, about twelve centimeters in diameter, and weighing almost half a kilogram.

The furnace body is regular in shape, with a straight mouth, double elephant ears on both sides, an elephant head with thick eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes, and a long nose.

Natural and delicate, decorated according to the auspicious meaning of "Taiping Xiang", the patina is calm, the color is elegant, and it is honest yet smart and delicate.

From the outside, Baoguang Yingrun is extremely beautiful.

The bottom inscription is "Made by Wu Bangzuo in the third year of Xuande" in regular script.

All the details are correct and it is absolutely genuine.

Lu Fei couldn't put it down and played with the Xuande Furnace, a peerless treasure. On the other side, Wang Xinlei had already begun to study the big guy behind the Dragon Case.

Wiping the dust off the surface of the big guy, Wang Xinlei suddenly shouted.

"Brother Fei, what's so good about that broken incense burner?"

"Come and take a look at this. This seems to be a dragon chair!"

Wang Xinlei was right, this was indeed a dragon chair.

It's over a meter high and about fifty centimeters wide.

This dragon chair has a rosewood frame, forged brass, and is entirely gilded.

There are thirteen golden dragons circling around the throne. In addition to the mighty dragons, they are also decorated with various gems, gold and silver, etc.

Lu Fei said with a smile while carefully packing the small bits and pieces on the Xuande stove and the dragon case.

"That one is indeed a dragon chair, but it's just a fake."

“Besides the workmanship, the value is just that.”

"No, Brother Fei, this seems to be gold!" Wang Xinlei said.

"It's gold, it's gold-plated brass."

"I judge that this should be the base of Factory Guard Bashu and also serve as a reserve warehouse."

"The room just now should be Wei Zhongxian's bedroom, and this one is undoubtedly the office."

"There is a dragon bed over there, a dragon table and a dragon chair over here."

"Obviously, Wei Zhongxian had already had the idea of ​​​​rebellion at that time and couldn't wait any longer."