In traditional Chinese crafts, there are two ingenious restoration methods - weaving and mounting.

There was a real international anecdote in the fifties of the last century. As we all know, the size of the loom is as wide as the cloth produced, and if you want to make a larger textile, you have to sew it, even if the decoration is good. At that time, the largest main table in the banquet hall of the Chinese Great Hall was more than five meters wide......

At a diplomatic state banquet, a foreign guest who was also a textile expert noticed this tablecloth, and even stood up and went around the table to observe it carefully, but he did not see the slightest trace of stitching. He asked in surprise: "I haven't heard of any country in the world that has such a big loom, can China produce it?" At that time, the first prime minister smiled but did not say anything, in fact, the mystery lies in two words: weaving.

Weaving is the most important and sometimes the only means in the restoration of ancient silk weaving crafts.

As for the framing story, there are even more. In the late Qing Dynasty, the eunuchs in the Forbidden City stole calligraphy and paintings from the royal collection, of course, they could not bring out the whole picture, but they peeled off, shredded, and crumpled the painting paper, which looked like indistinguishable waste paper, mixed in the garbage and transported out of the palace. Then find the framing master of the calligraphy and painting shop in the Liulichang area, you can re-mount and repair as before, even if there are slight defects, you can use the same texture of rice paper to repaint, no traces can be seen.

This is not the most difficult, modern cultural relics protection experts on the restoration of some ancient scriptures that is breathtaking, many ancient scriptures of the original appearance is simply unrecognizable, rolled together like a ball of coke to break at a touch, need to be soaked with a soft water bubble to re-mount, and even under the high-powered magnification glass with bamboo needles little by little to pick up the fragments to mount, and then to restore the original appearance of the scrolls.

There are many categories of antiques, including gold and stone oracle bones, bronze ware, calligraphy and painting tablets, jade, ceramics, inkstone and scholars, silk fabrics, bamboo and wood horn teeth, etc., and the restoration methods are different. Among them, ceramics are particularly fragile, and the proportion of intact artifacts that have been preserved is very low, and it is also very difficult to repair. But there is a person who is famous in this industry, and his level of porcelain restoration is simply ingenious, and its effect is even no less than that of silk fabric weaving and calligraphy and painting mounting, and the people of the rivers and lakes call it "ghost hands".

The ghost hand is just a nickname given to him by the people in the Jianghu book, but this person is not a wild road in the rivers and lakes, his name is Zhou Xiaoxian, born in a scholarly family, graduated from a university of higher learning, and then went to Europe to study and study for ten years, after returning to China, he was engaged in the protection and restoration of ancient cultural relics, and countless heirloom treasures repaired by his hands, from the Hongshan cultural pottery pot to the Tang Dynasty figurines, Mianshan Mingwang color sculptures, almost "repaired" the entire history of ceramics in China.

When his father You Zuming mentioned this person, he was also very respectful, and he sighed that he could not accept the "ghost hand". Zhou Xiaoxian is not too old, if You Fang is not mistaken, he is 56 years old this year, and now works in the cultural preservation room of the Yanjing Palace Museum, and is one of the few experts in China who has personally restored the authentic Yuan blue and white heirlooms, and is also the executive director of the Cultural Relics Restoration Committee of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Society, and a senior restoration technician.

The person in the room turned out to be Zhou Xiaoxian, he didn't know You Fang, but You Fang knew him, no different from what he saw on TV and the Internet. His hair was slightly curled and combed back to his head, his forehead was slightly bowed, his face was ruddy, he spoke with a thick voice, he wore resin glasses with wide lenses, and his hands and five fingers were flexible and slender, but his muscles and bones looked very strong.

Of course, Zhou Xiaoxian is one of the best authorities in China to identify Yuan Qinghua, and it is enough to have a ghost hand predecessor sitting here alone. But Zhou Xiaoxian himself is to insist that there is no folk Yuan Qinghua "palace faction" representatives, and this solicitation activity is obviously with the domestic "palace faction" and the international ceramic circles singing against the stage, its behind-the-scenes planner how much magic power, can Zhou Xiaoxian be invited "out of the palace", here for three months?

You Fang stood at the door and was stunned, inexplicably feeling that the plum bottle in his arms had become sinking. Zhou Xiaoxian looked at him and smiled: "What, this gentleman knows me?" ”

You Fang immediately returned to normal, and walked in with the box: "The ghost hand predecessor is famous, how can anyone who doesn't know it?" ”

Zhou Xiaoxian was a little displeased, and said bluntly: "I don't think this nickname is very good, and my hands are not ghost hands." ”

You Fang hurriedly changed his words and said: "This kind of nickname is really not respectful enough, Mr. Zhou is a rejuvenation national player in the literary and entertainment world, I'm just a little strange, why did you appear in this kind of activity?" ”

Zhou Xiaoxian didn't talk much nonsense, and said very simply: "There is no need to discuss academic views here, since you have Yuan Qinghua sent for identification, then take it out and take a look." ”

There was still a large empty space on the workbench, You Fang put down the box, took out the blue and white twig-patterned plum bottle, and said secretly in his heart: "Dad, Dad, it's time to test your skills!" ”

Zhou Xiaoxian's expression was a little impatient, and he thought that You Fang had interrupted his work. It's no wonder that it's been more than two months since he arrived in Guangzhou, and he has seen hundreds of so-called Yuan Qinghua one after another, of course, none of them are true, these people are simply delaying time to tease him. Although the organizer of the event was very polite and prepared a studio for him to try not to delay his usual work, he was still very unhappy whenever someone sent something for identification.

His student Luo Dike was checking outside, and the unsightly utensils had already been blocked back, and the things that could be sent in were all quite clever imitation fakes, and Zhou Xiaoxian naturally became more and more angry the more he looked at it. But when he saw this plum vase, his brows furrowed involuntarily, and he leaned down to look at it carefully for a long time, and then put on his gloves and picked them up to observe the rim and ring feet, looking thoughtful.

Luo Dike was very surprised, and asked in a low voice: "Teacher, do you need any instruments?" "There are all kinds of instruments in this studio, and there is even an expensive optical spectrum analyzer in one corner of the room.

Zhou Xiaoxian didn't speak, just shook his head, put the bottle on the table, took off his gloves, gently put his hands on the bottle, adjusted his breathing to become gentle and even, closed his eyes slightly, and seemed to enter a state of distraction. Others may think it is very strange when they see it, is he practicing qigong and wants to work on the bottle? You Fang changed color slightly, and it could be seen that Zhou Xiaoxian not only relied on his eyesight to identify this time, but also directly fell on the famous "ghost hands".

You Fang secretly thought, if his father You Zuming was at the scene, I don't know if he would be very worried in his heart? This plum vase represents the highest level of You Zuming's imitation technology, when firing completely with the ancient method of building a kiln, specially transported from the south thousands of miles back to the porcelain clay, specially collected ancient glazes, painted by hand, after many experiments to successfully fire. There are many conditions that are difficult to repeat, and it may not be so successful to fire the same utensils, which was sold to a Turkish Chinese for 200,000 yuan, and now it is still too cheap to sell.

The room was very quiet, no one spoke, and after about a cup of tea, Zhou Xiaoxian let out a sigh and sighed quietly: "With such skills, why bother to burn Yuan Qinghua?" ”

Luo Dike was stunned: "Teacher, what do you mean, do you have any appraisal results?" And the You Fang on the side had to admire when he heard the words, the ghost hand predecessor really lived up to his reputation, and had identified the plum bottle from the imitation of modern people, and the sentence he sighed reminded You Fang of another sentence of Wu Lao's comment on You Zuming: "Why not create your own contemporary utensils?" ”

Zhou Xiaoxian didn't answer the student's words, the look on his face seemed to be very embarrassed, and he said to Luo Dike: "Please sit down with this gentleman and talk, and you can also sit down." ”

Luo Dike pushed a few working chairs with wheels, and invited You Fang and Zhou Xiaoxian to sit down face to face at the table, and sat on the side himself, looking full of curiosity.

After sitting down, Zhou Xiaoxian asked, "I see that you are not very old, can you ask for a name?" …… Of course, this call promises to keep the identity of the applicant confidential, you can say. ”

You Fang replied very simply: "My name is Mei Lande, the orchid of orchids, and the virtue of virtue." …… May I ask Mr. Zhou, what are your appraisal results? "He has a lot of respect for this senior, but everything is according to plan, and he can say whatever he wants.

Zhou Xiaoxian glanced at the plum bottle again, and said in a soothing but decisive tone: "Judging from the descriptive surface features, I can't find fault, but as the appraisal result of this solicitation activity, I can clearly conclude that it is a fake. ”

You Fang's reaction was calm, but Luo Dike on the side looked very anxious and even nervous, and stopped talking several times. Because he knew that saying such a thing on such an occasion as a teacher would have a very bad impact in the future.

Zhou Xiaoxian had to come because he was entrusted by someone, and the big collector who offered a reward to collect Yuan Qinghua had unreserved trust in him, and whether the things sent were true or false depended on Zhou Xiaoxian's words. Zhou Xiaoxian's professional level and authoritative status are well known, and he is also a representative of the "palace faction", he nodded and said that things are true, that is, true, and the organizers fully believe in his professionalism.

However, if it is concluded that something is fake, it is always necessary to explain the reasons from a professional point of view to the applicants who have traveled thousands of miles, which is an on-site bounty solicitation, which is not only related to whether the visitor can get a huge amount of wealth, but also related to whether the person entrusted to him can get his wish.

If there is one thing, Zhou Xiaoxian said it was fake, and the solicitor would of course follow his opinion. But if he doesn't say the reason, there will be a big problem here, because everyone knows that the view of the "palace faction" is that there is no inheritance of the people. It's easy to say as a usual academic discussion, but if you put things in front of you, you can't find fault with them but insist that they are false, and there are many things involved.

If it spreads, the hats of "authoritative scholars" and "academic foreign slaves" thrown by the "outside the palace" will definitely be fastened, and even have a considerable negative impact on his professional reputation, moral evaluation, and academic quality. And the owner of the utensils lost a lot of wealth because of his unreasonable words, and he didn't know how to publicize and arrange it after he went out.

Luo Dike knew the power of this, and when he heard the teacher say such words, he was worried and anxious, and his expression was very nervous. And You Fang only frowned slightly, and asked rhetorically: "Teacher Zhou made this conclusion, there is always a reason, right?" ”

Zhou Xiaoxian actually smiled: "Mr. Rand, you are very calm!" ”

This sentence has a deep meaning, if you come with confidence, hoping that the thing in your hand is the real Yuan Qinghua, hearing Zhou Xiaoxian say that, the first reaction is to faint in disappointment, and then the second reaction is to jump up and fight according to reason. However, You Fang was not very disappointed and excited, and he was too calm, which shows that he himself knows the origin and details of this thing, and there is a good chance that the forger himself or has a lot to do with the forger.

Zhou Xiaoxian is a scholar, not a Jianghu person, but he is also well-informed about this, and he does not break it but reminds him in words that he and You Fang are well aware. And his name for You Fang is also very interesting, not "Mr. May" but "Mr. Rand", a traditional way of greeting that is very close, but at the moment it sounds like "rare and calm".

It is one thing to be able to see it secretly, and it is another thing to say it on the surface, You Fang deliberately did not answer, but remembered a certain movie line, smiled and said: "Mr. Zhou, I understand your achievements and status in the industry, and I also know the academic dispute about Yuan Qinghua in the collection industry. ”

Luo Dike on the side was nervous again when he heard this, and looked at the teacher suspiciously. He secretly suspected that You Fang's intentions were specially sent by experts from the "palace school" in the collection world? With a piece of Yuan Qinghua that is difficult to distinguish between true and false, he will either slap Mr. Zhou's eyes or the face of the "palace faction". If this is the case, it should also be evaluated based on facts, and the academic opinion itself argues for the facts, and the truth is true.

Zhou Xiaoxian seemed to see the student's doubts, and suddenly changed the topic and pointed to the unfinished restoration on the workbench and said, "Mr. Rand, can you tell what kind of artifact this is?" ”

If You Fang can't see it or read it wrongly, it means that he is a layman, and Zhou Xiaoxian can't understand too many professional questions explained to him, so there is no need to talk nonsense about the identification of Yuan Qinghua. If it can be seen at a glance, combined with the calm reaction just now, then his origin is even more problematic.

Of course, it is inconvenient to move the things that have just been repaired and spliced to half, You Fang just looked at it twice, and replied honestly: "It is an imitation of the Qianlong Dynasty utensils during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, the pine green pastel, the shape and decoration are all imitations of the Qianlong Dynasty, but the characteristics of the porcelain glaze are all from the late Qing Dynasty." If it is the bottom money of the Guangxu Dynasty, it cannot be regarded as a fake. ”

Luo Dike on the side looked at You Fang and couldn't help but show surprise and admiration, this young man in his early twenties is a big expert, and his level is by no means lower than himself! Hearing this, Zhou Xiaoxian nodded silently, stood up very strangely, bypassed the workbench and came to the half-repaired porcelain, and said as if talking to himself-

"It's not for nothing that some people call me a ghost hand, and I've repaired thousands of things like this over the years. When I was young, I was no different from others, I followed a professional routine, but I was more serious and focused. But when I was almost fifty years old, I gradually had a feeling as if these fragments had a life of their own, and I could feel their breath in their slumber.

They reappear in my hands, as if they were waking up from a deep sleep and can speak. This is not fiction, the utensils themselves have the breath of years of accumulation, and the mind can really be immersed in it and can feel it. Even if two very similar pieces of artifact are mixed together, I can easily separate them, just by hand, so some people call me ghost hands.

I don't like this nickname, because they only see the skill in their hands, and they can't see the mental immersion and spiritual resonance behind it. The blue and white you brought, although it is ingeniously imitated, lacks one thing, that is, the precipitation that has passed through the historical years, it has not really experienced it, even if it is changed by X-ray irradiation. ”

You Fang couldn't help but stand up when he heard this, the admiration in his heart was indescribable, this is the real master realm! Zhou Xiaoxian may not have cultivated any cheats, and he doesn't know what spiritual sense is, but his experience can also be said to be a kind of spiritual sense, and in terms of artifact identification, it is even more subtle and subtle than that of masters who specialize in cultivating spiritual sense.

Thinking of this, You Fang asked in a deep voice: "What you are talking about is a feeling, a realm that can only be experienced after many years of specialization in this way, but you can't describe it, you can only mean it but can't be spoken, right?" ”

Zhou Xiaoxian's face suddenly sank: "Yes, there is no way to write these in the appraisal report, and most people will not accept this explanation." But Mr. Rand, don't push me too much, I don't mean that I can't tell where the holes in this thing are, but if you get to that point, you have to destroy the artifact, which is not good for you and me! ”

He obviously misunderstood, You Fang was praising him, but he heard it as a threat - since you can't explain that something is fake with an explanation acceptable to the industry, you have to admit that it is true, otherwise it will not be good for you to spread it. It's no wonder he misunderstood, even Luo Dike on the side was suspicious of You Fang's intention just now, can Zhou Xiaoxian himself not doubt it?

You Fang hurriedly explained: "Teacher Zhou, I fully understand what you said, and I don't mean to embarrass you, I just admire it." ”

"Oh? Then I'm really a little curious, and even if you understand, you can refute me just now, because it means a big windfall. Zhou Xiaoxian's face softened, but he asked a little strangely. It's not that he has no way to prove that the plum vase is fake, but the last resort is used to make trouble, and the impact on his own reputation is indeed very bad.

You Fang's expression was a little sly: "I know you still have a way to prove that it is a fake, so why refute it?" But that's not called identification. I don't embarrass you, I'm just a little curious, who is soliciting Yuan Qinghua and actually inviting a master like you to sit in charge for three months? ”

Zhou Xiaoxian's expression was a little strange, and he even wanted to laugh: "You just want to know this?" In fact, he didn't want to deliberately hide or create mystery, but he didn't want to be talked about by the media, I can tell you. ”

He whispered a thunderous name, and You Fang was stunned for five seconds when he heard the words, and then without saying a word, he picked up the blue and white plum vase and threw it to the ground, shattering it on the spot.

(To be continued)