The more He Ren looked at it, the more he felt that his guess made sense. The plum blossom picture in front of him felt very delicate and thin, which was a typical feature of old rice paper.
In other words, regardless of whether the painting is authentic or not, the paper is at least two to three hundred years old and may be an authentic work by Yun Shouping.
You don’t need to read the seal, it must be Yun Shouping’s. The inscription is a poem on a painting, “It rains and frosts in the south of the Yangtze River in October, and the vegetation in the world dare not bloom...”
The last two sentences are inscribed by Yun Shouping, "Imitating the old man Mo Mei who escaped from Zen, and recording the verses of the farmer who cooked the stone mountain." This means that the painting imitated the old man who escaped from Zen, and the poem was written by the farmer who cooked the stone mountain.
This makes it clearer. The old man fleeing Zen is Yang Wujiu, a painter from the Southern Song Dynasty. He is best at painting plum blossoms, while Zhuo Shi Shannong is Wang Mian, a poet and painter from the Yuan Dynasty. The name of the poem is "Plum Blossoms", and he is also very good at it. The skill of painting plum blossoms is no worse than that of Yang Wujiu.
There was no problem with the signature. He Ren looked at the ink pad again. The color was bright but not floating. It should be old ink pad. However, this cannot be regarded as direct evidence. Old seal pads from the Qing Dynasty are not expensive, and although old rice paper is difficult to find, it is not impossible to find it.
If Zhou Wei found someone to copy a painting of Yun Shouping's "Plum Blossoms" and then stamped it with old ink pads, he would be able to hide it from many appraisal experts.
He Ren suddenly had a glimmer of understanding. Is there a possibility? Did Zhou Wei deliberately scent the painting with incense and then use it to find trouble and confuse his own judgment?
He Ren felt that it was very possible that with Zhou Wei's virtue, he could do such a thing.
So He Ren still needs to continue the appraisal, and the next step is to use "right".
"Right" actually means correspondence. See if the style of calligraphy and painting can correspond to the author's style and brushwork. For example, Yun Shouping rarely outlines flowers when he paints them, and uses ink coloring to render them. His brushwork is subtle and full of natural interest... he can all do it one by one. Contrast.
Even if Yun Shouping didn't draw it himself, it was copied by a master.
The last step is to "photograph". The so-called "photograph" is to use light, which is similar to when appraising jade. However, when appraising jade, you look at whether it is transparent and whether there is cotton, while when you take photos of calligraphy and painting, you mainly look at ink marks and paper.
He Ren took out his mobile phone and turned on the flashlight to shine it. Mr. Xue nodded again, smelling, looking, checking, and taking photos. This identification method is an ancient method. Most of the young appraisers nowadays cannot use it. He Ren can follow it. The process, in the minds of experienced experts, is naturally a sign of compliance and is worthy of praise.
He Ren saw the problem when he took this photo.
There is nothing wrong with the paper, it is thin and fine, it is indeed old paper, but there is something wrong with the ink marks. The ink marks on the branches and plum blossoms are in line with the natural oxidation process, but the ink marks on the poems and signatures are still "fresh" and should be from recent years. Added after the year.
He Ren glanced at Zhou Wei, but before he spoke, Zhou Wei spoke first, "You have been watching for more than half an hour and you still haven't understood it? If you are going to watch it for a year and a half, our bet is What should I do if I make an appointment?”
He Ren was amused, "Teacher Zhou, are you too impatient? It looks like Yun Shouping's "Plum Blossom Picture". What's the problem if you look at it for a while? Do you usually judge treasures at a glance?"
"You!" Zhou Wei felt that He Ren was his nemesis, and he didn't listen to every word he said, but he quickly adjusted his mood, "I'm not going to argue with you. Did you just say it was suspicious? You meant you Do you think this painting is fake?"
"I didn't say that, I just have a few doubts."
"doubt?"
"The first is the smell of incense on the painting. We all know that the most basic way to imitate antiques is the fumigation method. Simply put, it is to use incense to fumigate, which can make the painting old..."
Mr. Xue's expression froze, while Zhou Wei sneered and wanted to refute, but He Ren quickly replied, "But this painting is obviously not aged by dyeing, but someone deliberately used incense to diffuse it. As for some Why people do this is unknown.”
Zhou Wei's face turned red. He knew that some of the people He Ren was talking about were referring to him, but he still said, "How can you be sure it's not stained?"
He Ren did not answer, but asked, "Did Teacher Zhou know early on that the paintings he brought were fakes?"
"Uh..." Zhou Wei was choked again, "I didn't say that, I was just asking questions based on what you said."
"Oh, I understand." He Ren winked, making Zhou Wei very angry, "As for the evidence, there is actually some."
"What evidence?"
"Here..." He Ren stretched out his finger and lightly touched the painting, and a little incense ash stuck to his gloves. "I think some people were in a hurry and didn't pay attention when they were burning incense and left some incense ash on the painting." superior."
"Well……"
Zhou Wei wanted to slap himself twice. Why was he so anxious at that time? But he still said hard, "What else? Didn't you just mention some concerns?"
"Also, the ink marks on the painting, poem and signature are still very fresh." He Ren smiled slightly and pointed to the difference in ink color between the inscription and the tree branches. "Looking at the ink feel of the painting and signature, it doesn't seem to be from the same era."
"This is……"
"This was written later..." He Ren rushed to answer again and choked back Zhou Wei's words.
"Um?"
This time it was not Zhou Wei who was in doubt, but Mr. Xue, "Written later? Who wrote it? Yun Shouping?"
"The calligraphy is indeed Yun Shouping's, but it is definitely not written by him."
Now everyone was confused by He Ren.
He Ren pointed to the location of the poem on the painting and explained, "You can take a closer look. Although the style of the characters above is the same as that of Yun Shouping, the strokes are not smooth enough...especially the hook part. The focus is different, obviously. , someone copied it or traced it according to Yun Shouping's calligraphy."
As soon as these words came out, several people present leaned down and studied it carefully. After a while, Mr. Xue clapped his hands appreciatively, "He Xiaoyou's observation skills are really amazing. As you said, these words were written later. "
He Ren said with a smile, "This is logical, but it is inconsistent with the deliberate use of incense to fumigate the paintings. I don't know why some people do this. Is it just to make it more difficult for the appraisal? "
Zhou Wei pursed his lips and said nothing, but He Ren continued, "One more thing, there is something wrong with the bug eyes on it."
Xu Qingjie took a closer look and saw that the paintings were full of small holes, which were obviously insect-eaten. He was a little confused, "What's the problem with this?"
Zhou Wei returned to normal at this time and immediately asked, "Yes, what's the problem with this?"
He Ren waved his hand, "You haven't seen many poorly preserved ancient paintings and calligraphy at first glance. Most of those paintings and calligraphy are rolled up and stored. The holes bitten by insects cannot be exactly the same. Some are round, some are long, and some are Probably irregular shapes.”
"But the traces of moth infestation on your painting are basically small circular holes. This is a typical trace of moth infestation caused by being placed in a rice vat. Moreover, it was obviously not put in long enough. In some places, there are no holes. Bite it through... Teacher Zhou, what do you think?"
Zhou Wei feels so uncomfortable. He Ren always rushes to answer, which makes him look stupid...
