"My collection here can be divided into four parts, numbered by ABCD. Category A is Gaogu, from the Neolithic Age to the Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties; Class B is blue and white porcelain, from Yuan blue and white porcelain to Ming and Qing dynasty blue and white porcelain, of which there are 27 pieces of Yuan blue and white, Ming Dynasty blue and white more, mainly Yongle, Xuande these early, until Chenghua; Category C is Ming and Qing colored porcelain; Category D is a clear monochrome glazed porcelain. All of them add up to only a few hundred. ”

"The focus of Tianminlou's collection is on the official kilns of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The official kiln of the Ming Dynasty was very bad after Wanli, and many official kilns stopped burning or were burned by the people's kilns, called "official and private burning". When it came to the Apocalypse and Chongzhen, there was basically none, and many things that said "Apocalypse Year System" were very rough, so we didn't accept them after we went to Wanli. ”

Ge Lao enthusiastically began to introduce the collection, so that Wu Tianyuan could start researching, he was also very curious about what level such a young master in Ye Lao's mouth was?

"This is my collection of some of the Qing Dynasty official kilns, there are blue and white, there are colored porcelain, you look at it."

Wu Tianyuan took out his own photos and communicated with Ge Lao, and it was rare to have the opportunity to contact the big collectors, which greatly improved his aesthetics in the future.

"This?"

Ge Lao was surprised: "Although you only have six pieces, each one is the most representative official kiln heavy weapon!" You kid has such a good eye! ”

Ge Lao was impressed by Wu Tianyuan, collecting money is one thing, but personal vision and aesthetics are more important. As soon as you look at Wu Tianyuan's collection, you can know his own connotation and cultivation, and each one is a heavy weapon among heavy weapons.

"The reason why we chose Yuan Ming blue and white is also because Hong Kong generally liked this type of porcelain at that time. At that time, there were not many things in Tianmin Building. When we held our first exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1987, we only exhibited 163 pieces, a few of which were borrowed from other collectors. ”

Ge Lao smiled: "I now buy more or less every year, and I go to every auction, but basically I check and fill in the gaps." I only buy but don't sell, my financial resources are limited, and I can't compare with those rich people who can easily give out hundreds of millions, we still lack a lot of things, like some that we didn't realize that this period was so important before, and now we are slowly replenishing. ”

"I have a collection of Ming Chenghua blue and white inner and outer entwined branches and floral pattern palace bowls, there are patterns inside and outside, last time I took one, it cost more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. Of course I bought this early, it's not that expensive, but it's not cheap either. ”

Ge Lao carefully took out a small bowl and put it on the table for Wu Tianyuan to study.

"This bowl is much finer than the average one, and patterns like this are not uncommon, but many of the others are painted directly flat, and its leaves and flowers have a white edge. There are very few things like this in the world, let alone as detailed and complete as mine. This is considered to be the most important piece here. ”

"There is also a Yongle blue and white sixteen bowl, which some people think is probably the best of all blue and white porcelain. There was once a Japanese connoisseur, who has been making antiques for three generations, and he said that blue and white porcelain could do this, but he had never seen it. ”

"After all, drawing people is not the same thing as drawing flowers, and this thing depicts sixteen children playing games. The use of children to make ornaments has been around since the Song Dynasty, but most of them are one or two. There are sixteen children doing various games, in the past, it was said that it was only after Xuande, but in fact, Yongle has it, but it is rare, and this one is the earliest in Yongle. ”

Wu Tianyuan took advantage of the rare opportunity to absorb as much energy as possible from the Ming Dynasty, and then communicated with Ge Lao, constantly learning the experience of the great collector.

"It's not impossible for a good thing to pop up in the auction house now, but you have to think about what's going on? For example, in the 1930s or earlier, it was exhibited at some important exhibitions, or it was already documented in a book, so no one can say anything. Like us, the sixteen sons of Yongle, are found in several books. ”

"There is another case, although it has never appeared, but its circulation experience is relatively reliable. For example, some French ancestors have participated in the Eight-Nation Alliance and visited the Forbidden City, so you can believe what he took out. Some are completely made up, and the stories are very vivid, but they do not stand up to scrutiny. ”

These stories have to be carefully verified, and they have to be true to believe them, even if they are written in books. Nowadays, there are also people who do things with books, so you have to be very careful. If there is no such origin, I think there must be four bases for the dating of cultural relics: first, reliable documentation; 2. Physical specimens unearthed from tombs of exact date; 3. Ancient ruins; Fourth, the kiln site. Even if only one or two of these four aspects are really reliable, they can be concluded. ”

"The collectors of the past and the collectors of the present are a little different in mentality and have different starting points. People who have extra money and see what they like to buy and play for themselves used to be called "players" in Hong Kong, and those who do business in this way are called "connoisseurs". ”

"There is a clear distinction between connoisseurs and players, and connoisseurs think about how much I can sell this thing after I buy it. Players want to have fun with whatever they like. Now there is another kind of "speculators", they are more powerful than experts, they are all local tyrants, they used to speculate in stocks, real estate, and now they come to speculate in antiques. ”

Elder Ge sighed: "For collectors, there are only two possibilities for selling things: one is that the business fails and has to be sold, and there are many such examples. Besides, the person you like is gone, and there is no one to take over below, and the children and grandchildren have to be separated, and it is the most convenient to sell these things for money. For true collectors, these things are selected from their favorites, and they are reluctant to give up any of them. ”

Zhai Jianmin said with a smile: "Many people ask me what is the secret of identification? I said that there is no trick to identification, just to look at it more, and to look at it carefully, to see it clearly. ”

"It's the same as knowing someone, if you just look at the photos, or listen to the introduction, the description, it's useless! You have to have direct contact with him, everyone has a relationship, and after a while, no matter how much others pretend to be him, you can see that something is wrong, and that's the most important thing. There is a very good condition in Hong Kong that there are hundreds of things to show you at auction every year. Whether you buy it or not, you can pick it up and have a chance to get started. ”

Ge Lao smiled: "Of course, many old gentlemen often come to Tianmin Building, such as ceramic experts Mr. Geng Baochang and Mr. Feng Xianming, who have a good relationship with me. Mr. Geng is 12 years older than me, and now he is 92 years old, but he basically does not wear glasses to see things, and rarely uses a magnifying glass to see, just touch with his hands, look at the shape of the instrument, the bottom of the foot, touch the edge of the mouth, and knock on the sound, he can accurately tell the kiln mouth and age, this ability I have never learned. ”

"Mr. Chen Yujie, who died only the year before last, is completely different, he and Mr. Qiu Yanzhi are brothers, he sees things very carefully, a thing can be seen for several hours, looking over and over, and he has his own knack for seeing things, he doesn't tell others, sometimes he will tell me, after listening to them, I will carefully record it, and then figure it out myself."

"There are also some friends from Jingdezhen or other porcelain kilns who will tell me some knowledge of porcelain-making technology, which is also very helpful to me. That's why I often say that I often have people coming here, and teachers often come to my door. ”

Ge Lao looked at Wu Tianyuan and sighed: "Although you kid is young, he has a really good memory, and after reading so many things, he can casually tell their origin and description!" This is the most powerful person I've ever met, and it seems that I have put in a lot of hard work! ”

Wu Tianyuan was a little embarrassed, this was really not his rote memorization, there was no way, it was all said by the porcelain himself!

"We see the treasure mainly in the museum, but it's not easy. The Forbidden City has the most rules for taking things, the number of people is strictly limited, the level is more strictly defined, and there is a set of rules. Once, we went from Hong Kong to more than a dozen people, and they were accompanied by their dean. As a result, after sitting for a long time, I took a Kangxi, a Yongzheng and a Qianlong, just three. ”

"At that time, Xu Zhantang was on fire, saying that who didn't have such a lot of things to go so far to see? I'm so angry. Mr. Geng sat next to him, blushing very much, and he couldn't get his face off, but he couldn't help it. Before leaving, he patted me on the shoulder and told me to wait for him at Donghuamen with my father the next day. ”

"The next day we went, and then we saw a Yongle hand cup, a Hongwu glaze red plum bottle with a lid, and a Chenghua bucket color. Mr. Geng said, let's have a good time. At this time, we learned that the Forbidden City has rules, more than how many people, the first-class product can not be taken out, yesterday there were too many people, and the dean could not do it. ”

This is a reminder from Wu Tianyuan, there will be a chance to deal with the Forbidden City in the future, and it is best to have fewer people!

Zhai Jianmin added: "It's so important to get started, you take a lot, and as soon as something is in your hand, you can feel it immediately." For example, Kangxi's things, it gives you a particularly heavy feeling, because its structure is very tight and strong. If you pick it up lightly, it's doubtful. ”

Wu Tianyuan nodded and said: "The sound of porcelain is the same, if the temperature is high, the sound will be crisp and sharp; If the temperature is low, the sound will be a little deeper. So Mr. Geng can judge it when he picks it up, probably because he has seen too much and doesn't need to look at the details at all. ”

"I think it's a lot more advanced than looking at the details, and it's not easy to do that, and I never learned that. Especially for some things in the folk kiln, I don't touch much, so I was dumbfounded when I saw the folk kiln, and I couldn't even tell the specific period. ”

The three of them chatted until the evening, and they chatted happily at dinner, Ge Lao admired Wu Tianyuan very much, and asked him to come here to sit when he was free, and he would visit the Tianyuan Museum next time.