The collection and protection of ancient jade is a particular topic, and many people who play the old jade of the Ming and Qing dynasties often say: "Ming and Qing jade are easy to identify, and ancient jade is difficult to identify", but in fact, it is not.

The vast majority of ancient jade artifacts have been put into the ground, and the traces of aging are obvious, so the experience of living in the Panjiayuan for 20 years with Qin as the first can basically be seen at a glance.

But for most of the Ming and Qing jade, it is different, those jade heirlooms are relatively recent, the degree of aging is low, and the current high imitation of the Ming and Qing dynasties is easy to put in place, so it is easier to appreciate the ancient jade, and it is difficult to appreciate the Ming and Qing dynasties, especially the heirlooms.

There is another reason why Liu Yuhao will not say it, that is, because Qin Fatzi usually has fewer opportunities to contact ancient jade, and he always looks at the old objects around him from the eyes of the two major connoisseurs who have been popular in the past, the so-called "craft trace school" and "artifact decoration school", and it is not surprising that he takes medicine from time to time.

You must know that one of the two major factions of appreciating ancient jade is to analyze the traces of microscopic craftsmanship as the main means, and the other is to analyze the type of ornamented ware as the main means, but later they both encountered practical problems.

Whether it is from the shape of the ornament or the process traces to analyze a piece of ancient jade, the modern high imitation has almost fully overcome all the difficulties, that is to say, the high imitation has been able to completely produce all the ornaments and traces that conform to the characteristics of the times, and the personal attainments of Qin first cannot distinguish the authenticity at all.

"Brother Yuhao, this ring dragon pattern is weak and soft, lacking the vigorous and powerful atmosphere of the Warring States dragon pattern, and the dragon body also has an extradescript anchor-like decoration out of thin air, I am not optimistic about it."

But Qin Weixian didn't give up, after taking the dragon pattern ring from Liu Yuhao's hand, he looked at it carefully for a while, rubbed it with his hand, put it under his nose and sniffed it for a while, still shaking his head and insisting on his opinion.

Liu Yuhao nodded appreciatively, he didn't expect that for more than two years, the fat brother was not unfamiliar at all, "Brother Qin, I didn't say that this piece of jade is Gao Gu jade." ”

"Isn't this nonsense!"

Qin Weixian rolled his eyes, threw the dragon pattern ring aside, and said: "This jade Qin color is stiff and abrupt, not natural enough, I think, it must be an artificial imitation of Qin, that Yao Si'er is really a fucking bastard, if I didn't smell the wax smell on the jade, I would almost be blinded, how many people will be harmed." ”

The key to pseudo-ancient jade lies in the selection of jade materials and artificial imitation. Choosing jade materials that are close to ancient jade is the premise of fake ancient jade. According to Gao Lian's "Zunsheng Eight Notes", in order to imitate the Han and Song Dynasty jade craftsmen, hooks and rings, they chose pale yellow, dyed, edge skin, onion jade or jade with light ink color.

In the Ming Dynasty antique jade sword ornaments, there is a common type of porcelain blue and white jade mixed with ink-colored patches. Today's "high imitation" pseudo-ancient jade is also carefully selected with flaws, patches, cracks of impurity jade or inferior jade, so its cost in jade materials and cutting is very limited, and the main energy is spent on imitation Qin old link.

The choice of ancient and modern pseudo-ancient jade in imitation of Qin color is clear.

The ancients admired the "ripe pit" jade that was round and red to the touch, and since the end of the twenties of the last century, with the archaeological excavation of Anyang Yinxu and other sites, jade lovers have gradually accepted and liked the unearthed "shengkeng" jade.

Therefore, from the Song and Yuan dynasties to the beginning of the Republic of China, "old oil", "new oil", "amber jade", "blood jade", "plum jade" and other unbelievable imitation techniques were popular, but they all aimed at imitating the "ripe pit" jade, and today's pseudo-ancient jade is trying to imitate the unearthed "shengkeng" jade.

Liu Yuhao didn't refute either, and said with a smile: "Brother Qin, please help me prepare something." Soon, Liu Yuhao wrote down what he needed and handed it over to Qin Weixian.

Although he was very puzzled about why Liu Yuhao needed those inconsequential things, Qin Fatzi still quickly found those things, "Brother, let's see if these are what you want, what else is missing?" ”

"Brother Qin, I'll do a magic trick for you."

Liu Yuhao threw the dragon pattern ring into the cold water and turned on the induction cooker and began to heat it, suddenly, Liu Yuhao felt that what he said was very brainless, and he laughed first.

"Change, magic?"

Qin Weixian was confused, staring intently at the heated pot of water, trying to figure out what Liu Yuhao was going to do.

The water was boiled quickly, and after Liu Yuhao took a look at the situation of the dragon pattern ring in the pot, he slowly poured a small amount of soda ash and laundry detergent into it, and said to himself: "It's okay, if it's really Gao Guyu, it's troublesome." ”

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of old jade of the Ming and Qing dynasties were smeared by people in the antique circle at that time with a "wax" storage method.

After many years, some collectors have now collected that batch of jade, but what puzzles collectors is that when "panyu", because there is a layer of sticky spicy on it, the feeling on the hand is uncomfortable, but if the wax on the surface of the jade is hard to scrape, it will inevitably hurt the ancient jade, and even more serious may cause cracking, so many people often worry about how to remove the wax attached to the jade.

What Liu Yuhao is showing today is the "water wax removal method" improved by Master Wang, which removes the attachments left on the surface of the jade through physical heat conduction without harming the ancient jade.

However, not all ancient jade can be soaked and boiled in water using this method. Because the ancient jade of Shengkeng was unearthed not long ago, the skin shell has been calcified, and it cannot enter the water bravely, otherwise it may cause irreparable regrets.

Liu Yuhao once saw a piece of Yuangao ancient jade that was forcibly destroyed by inexperienced players with the "water wax removal method", the white skin shell of chicken bones on the surface of the ancient jade was boiled and saw the pieces fall off, and the calcified skin shell all swelled and fell off, separated from the jade table, and in an instant, the original delicate calcified skin shell disappeared completely, becoming no different from the rough white jade.

Therefore, Master Wang later concluded that even the "water wax removal method" improved by him can only be applied to jade after the Ming Dynasty, and must not be used on the ancient jade that has been completely affected in the jade shell, and the jade is dissociated and loose.

Coincidentally, this dragon pattern ring is precisely a high imitation of the Ming Dynasty.

After a few more minutes, Liu Yuhao used a water inlet pipe to put water on the bottom of the pot, so that the floating wax overflowed, and repeated this several times, until there was no wax floating in the pot again, then he fished out the dragon ring and gently wiped the jade table with a cotton towel.

"Oh yes, don't I just have an eye!"

Qin Weixian had been watching Liu Yuhao's every step absentmindedly, but when he saw that the dragon pattern ring was slowly condensed after wiping, until the color became more and more colorful, he slapped his head and shouted with regret.

Caressing the warm, pure, and crystal smooth dragon pattern ring in his hand, Liu Yuhao smiled proudly and said, "Brother Qin, you used to specialize in the antique business, based on your experience, what price can this dragon pattern ring be sold after ten years of playing?" ”

"What's the deal, take such a good quality of beautiful jade? Who willing! ”

Qin Wei first snatched the dragon pattern ring and carefully rubbed it in the palm of his hand, feeling the sticky and slippery slurry of the jade table, as if it was his lover, it was as gentle as possible, if it weren't for the fact that Gu Yu couldn't play with it just out of the water, he was really reluctant to put it down.

Liu Yuhao said with a smile: "Gu Yu has been boiling water for many times to produce ash, it is not a good way, if this dragon pattern ring Brother Qin wants to stay and play, he still has to raise it slowly, it is not easy to work for five or seven years." ”

Color restoration is dependent on different temperatures, to produce different colors, "water wax removal method" can indeed remove the wax on the surface of the ancient jade, but if the boiling water temperature is too high, some of the coloring trace elements in the ancient jade are reduced to high temperature, there will be a phenomenon of "death".

"If you want to hurry, you can't reach it! I understand that. ”

Qin Weixian touched his chin, his eyes narrowed into a slit, and he grinned, as a former antique practitioner, he still understood this simple knowledge.

Ancient jade is warm and pure, crystal clear and clean, especially the color of the wonderful rich infinite strange interest, not only pleasing to the eye, but also pleasing to the heart.

However, the predecessors believed that even though the ancient jade has the most beautiful color, if it is not added, it will be hidden but not revealed, and the color of the jade is not easy to see, and the jade nature is not restored, which is like a stubborn stone. The quality of a piece of jade, in addition to the quality of its own texture, is more important in how to "raise jade".

Therefore, there is such a passage in the "Ancient Jade Identification" of the great collector Liu Datong of the Qing Dynasty, "The old jade plate is still better than more than three years." Cover with three dog hot, gold and stone can sweat, so it is easy to cross ears; If the jade is in severe winter, it is not in the greenhouse, and it is not easy to take effect. ”

The ancient jade is maintained by Panmo, relying on artificial methods or the essence of the human body to nourish the impurities that invade the jade body, and some jade absorbs foreign substances between the textures, the texture of the jade body begins to change in color, and the previous jade nature will gradually recover in the pan culture.

This method of making jade more quaint, commonly known as "rebirth", is caused by the reaction between the tiny amount of color in the jade body and the pH level of the hand through the friction of the human hand.

Of course, the changes in color vary from person to person, or the fragrance is colorful, or the charm is revealed, so collectors who really know how to play with ancient jade will not buy jade that has been "raised" by others.

Liu Yuhao smiled and asked, "Brother Qin, what about that Yao Si'er, I have something to ask him." ”

"Well, I'm going to call that bastard."

Qin Wei put his hand under his nose and sniffed it, stretched out his thumb to Liu Yuhao and shook it before turning around and going out.

After the ancient jade comes out of the water, it will emit a stronger smell, and the smell has a variety of mixed characteristics of the smell of unknown substances, the most common smell is the smell of earth, grass rot, burial smell, and even camphor smell, borneol smell, sandalwood fragrance, etc. Some imitations are smeared with ancient tomb soil, but the smell disappears after washing once, and the smell of genuine ancient jade will not disappear for decades.

Qin Wei was an expert first, and the wax attached to the surface of the dragon pattern ring just now made him slap his eyes, but now after smelling his familiar smell, he would no longer doubt the truth of Liu Yuhao's words.

After Qin Wei went out first, Liu Yuhao's eyes narrowed together, and his expression changed a little.