From the beginning of the last century to the twenties and thirties, there were a large number of three-color imitations, they have been nearly a hundred years, the glaze fire has faded, soft and warm, it is not excluded that individual utensils will have a faint clam light, but there will never be the real three-color kind of treasure light that overflows from the glaze.

As long as you carefully observe the low-temperature glaze of the early Republic of China, you will find that most of the low-temperature glaze in this period is without clam light. Therefore, whether there is an obvious clam light can still be used as one of the hardware to distinguish the three colors of the Republic of China.

The years are ruthless, and the glazed surface of Tang Sancai has undergone the baptism of thousands of years, leaving some traces that are not easy to find but very special.

There is no report of Tang Sancai's heirlooms, almost all of them are unearthed, and their glazes generally show traces of soil corrosion, the difference is only the degree and way of corrosion. Under normal circumstances, the fine pores of the soil bite appear naturally on the glaze surface at will, or appear all over the body or locally, the size and depth of the pores are different, some are dense, and some are like morning stars.

The degree of corrosion varies, and some can only be detected by careful observation. Under a magnifying glass, some of the soil bite pores are observed, and the glaze on the edges of them has a slight erosion transition. After being treated with potion and buried, there will be small holes on the glaze surface that bite acid, but it is very regular, stiff and unnatural, the degree of corrosion is more consistent, and there is no transition phenomenon of corrosion.

In fact, the high imitators are very contradictory in the treatment of the glaze surface, if it is treated with potion, the luster of the glaze surface is unnatural, and it is easy to be recognized; The glaze is too smooth and novel without using potion, and other elements are added to reduce the brightness of the glaze.

When observing the corroded pores, it is necessary to pay attention to distinguish them from the brown eyes of different sizes formed by the glaze in the kiln, the brown eyes only appear on the glaze surface, and the depth is about one-third of the glaze thickness, and the corroded pores penetrate deep into the glaze, and some corrode to the surface of the fetus.

Some of the real Tang Sancai glaze also has a special form of corrosion, which is also a high imitation of Tang Sancai can not be imitated. That is, a very thin layer of glaze water on the surface of the glossy glaze is corroded, leaving a rough glaze and forming corroded patches of different sizes. They appear on the glaze surface with a clear development process, which is from nothing, from shallow to deep, and then from deep to shallow. After Tang Sancai was unearthed, the corrosion no longer developed, and the process stopped on the glaze, giving us a basis for identification.

Let's start with shallow to deep: when corrosion appears, it starts with faintly visible micropores on the glaze. When the micropores first appear, they can be several or dozens, hundreds or thousands, and they are too small to change the luster and color of the glaze when they first appear. With the increase of micropores, the color of the glaze slowly turns light brown. As the corrosion becomes more and more serious, the corrosion area gradually increases, and rough patches appear, which feel prickly to the touch with your hands, and can be scratched with a light stroke of your fingernails.

Let's talk about from deep to shallow: the process of developing the glaze with more severe corrosion to the uncorroded glaze is a gradual erosion process from deep to shallow. First of all, the most serious place of the glaze surface glaze is completely empty, only to see the rough glaze beyond recognition, with the fingers can be wiped out traces, and then there is a slightly more serious place where the glaze surface is very thin and a thin layer remains, but there are extremely fine pores and the glaze is dim, some of the glaze is almost non-existent, with nails can be pinched in, and then transition, the slightly corroded glaze surface looks good at first glance, and the glaze is still natural, but carefully observe the glaze surface can faintly see the corrosion pores, and the traces can be scratched with a knife.

This alternating corrosion process from shallow to deep and from deep to shallow is expressed in millimeters on the glaze surface, but it takes a hundred years to form this process in time. The whole utensil is easy to imitate, and the subtleties are difficult to imitate. Therefore, after eating through the glaze of the genuine Tang Sancai, and then looking back at the glaze of the imitation, its shallowness is clear.

The phenomenon of returning lead - a spirit condensed in a hundred years. The phenomenon of returning lead on the glaze of some genuine Tang Sancai, that is, the "silver spots" that people often say, is a typical substance that Tang Sancai acquires. In addition to a certain environment, the emergence of the phenomenon of returning lead also takes hundreds of years, which is a special mark left on the Tang Sancai artifacts by time.

There is a thin layer of silver light on the glaze of the whole Tang Sancai ware, such as the color of the autumn moon floating on the surface of the object, and the thin frost is faintly visible.

Some parts of the glaze of one artifact have a silvery-white lead return, while most of the glaze does not. It is worth mentioning that the phenomenon of lead return appears in any color of glaze, and the phenomenon of lead return in blue glaze is often more prominent, and the color is more natural.

It is not like some articles that the blue glaze will not return to lead, you must know that the glaze of Tang Sancai is composed of various chemical elements, of which the composition of lead is about 25%. Since the glaze has such a high lead content, as long as the conditions are suitable, what color of the glaze lead molecules are not still running out, and the blue glaze is also glazed, without exception.

Appears as tiny silvery-white spots on the glaze. "Silver spots" is an important manifestation of the phenomenon of lead return from genuine Tang Sancai ware, and its manifestation is still a dynamic process that appears successively at different times. The first is the gestation stage, which is manifested in the form of faintly visible light black spots on the glaze, some of which are slightly bursting, and then the development is the appearance of white spots with large needle tips in the middle of the light black spots, and then the white spots gradually grow into white spots.

As this process continues to develop, there are more and more silvery-white spots on the glaze, and the size is different and the color is natural. "Silver spots" from brewing to the development of silver pieces, is constantly changing and developing, but after the Tang Sancai ware was unearthed, leaving the environment where the "silver spots" appeared, the dynamic growth process was solidified on the Tang Sancai ware, providing us with a dynamic process to observe it, and hundreds of years of time will be solidified in front of our eyes.

The genuine "silver spot" is made up of molecules and is as thin as 1% of paper. The "silver spots" of high imitation Tang Sancai, some of which are innate in the kiln, seem to be deliberately added to melt together with the glaze, and the "silver spots" go deep into the glaze, which is just the opposite of the genuine "silver spots" floating on the glaze surface; Some of the "silver spots" are "planted" after the imitation is out of the kiln, thick and clumsy, without any sense of nature, and the luster of the natural lead metal is far from the difference.

Although the "silver spots" imitators who "planted" on it also melt it on the glaze surface with a certain temperature, the artificial traces are very thick, and it is okay to fool the layman, and it is difficult to pass in front of the connoisseurs. The first method is used to create "silver spots", and they cannot be treated with medicinal solutions and buried in the ground, because then the "silver spots" will be black and dull; The second method of creating "silver spots" not only does not create extremely thin real "silver spots", but also leaves traces. Even if you try your best to imitate a slightly decent "silver spot", the growth process of the real "silver spot" that appears one after another and is of different sizes is no longer in the way. Therefore, the "silver spot" is a dead knot that high imitators cannot untie.

Regarding the formation of "silver spots", Mr. Cheng Yong commented in the preface of the book "Comparative Identification of Authentic and Fake Porcelain of Jin, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties": "A few years ago, it was difficult to imitate the opening of Tang Sancai caviar, and now this problem has been solved. At present, there is one last important feature that is difficult to imitate, and that is the 'silver sheet'. The formation of 'open silver sheet' is because of lead, which is one of the more active chemical elements, and it will naturally run out after a long time, forming the phenomenon of 'open silver sheet'. It can be seen that the "silver spots" are the sediment of time.

Because the imitation product is not produced for a long time, the surface of the utensil has not been corroded by acid, alkali, salt and other underground chemicals for thousands of years, the glaze is new and bright, and the glaze is smooth and easy to touch, without the "astringency" of the real product. Although the surface does not have that smooth and bright feeling, this imitation often leaves traces of friction on the surface of the utensil.

If you look closely at the side light, you can see the friction marks produced by polishing on the glaze, and you can feel like you are stabbing your hands when you touch the utensils with your hands. The genuine three-color cylindrical device is formed by the molding method, and the double mold is assembled left and right, and the tire is partially repaired.

There is a hole left in the middle of the bottom or lower part of the main body of the utensil, through which you can clearly see the traces of mold clamping, and you can see that there are some irregular handicraft traces left on the wall of the vessel. The imitation is treated with a modern high-precision grinder, but the dual-mode assembly is added to the snake. Tang Sancai absorbed the characteristics of Chinese traditional Chinese painting sculpture and other arts and crafts, and adopted decorative patterns in the form of stacking and pasting, carving, etc., with rough and powerful lines.

Although the glaze opening of the high imitation Tang Sancai is also light and fine, like a caviar, even a small number of high imitation openings also seem to have a slightly upturned feeling, but compared with the real Tang Sancai, the opening of the imitation Tang Sancai is dense, extremely fine, fine and bursting, and there are differences in different glaze colors: the yellow glaze is the smallest; The dark yellow glaze is the most fine, more like the folk "sesame glaze" and "warped skin pattern"; The brown glaze resembles a burnt glaze, and the glaze opening is mostly bursting, and the separation from the carcass seems to be more obvious; The green glaze is not as thin as the yellow glaze; The white glaze opening is about the same as the red glaze opening; The blue glaze and dark green glaze are mostly cracked, and although the walking lines are also fine, the grain pieces are rarely upturned; The opening of genuine Tang Sancai ware is often more complicated, that is, the opening of the glaze of the same utensil is also different, and the opening of some places is uniform and very fine, and the opening of the thin glaze is fine but not broken, and the texture is slightly longer.

In short, if you use one sentence to summarize the difference between the genuine Tang Sancai and the high imitation Tang Sancai glaze, that is, the high imitation opening is small, the genuine opening is extremely small, the difference is in a "extreme" word, which is not difficult to compare and difficult to explain who is fine, who is more fine.

After a hundred years, it can penetrate the glaze, bring some impurities such as brown and black into the glaze, and condense on the underglaze surface, which will occur under the glaze of some genuine products. Although the opening piece of the glaze is not very fine, but the texture is very tight, there is no phenomenon of separation to both sides, but the impurities penetrate the texture and penetrate into the glaze to slowly accumulate to form black-brown deposits, the more impurities deposited under the glaze, the darker the surface of the tire under the glaze, and the lighter it is, and it is clearly visible under the transparent glaze.

This is not surprising, as long as it lasts long enough. The reason why there is no such phenomenon in the high-imitation underglaze tire table is because it does not have a time of more than 100 years, and the short-term "quick production" is fruitless, even if there are impurities invading, it will not penetrate the texture.

Tang Sancai, is no longer the three-dimensional object in people's imagination, nor is it a funeral object, has gone from the ground to the ground, into people's daily life, the above introduction of Tang Sancai when its history is also explained in detail, Tang Sancai gradually to the plane Sancai development, that is, Guo Aihe and some other masters research and development of plane glaze painting, and the development of Sancai art this brand.

The production process of ancient ceramics is an important basis for the identification of ancient ceramics, but general collectors are often prone to ignore this problem. On the one hand, this neglect is because we often focus on the external factors such as the shape, glaze color and opening of ceramics; On the other hand, the reason is that for the general collectors, it is impossible to come to the scene to understand the production process of ceramics, they rarely go to the production place of modern ceramics, and even less have been to the pottery sites left in various parts of our country, they do not understand the structure of various furnaces in the ruins, therefore, they have left traces on the ancient ceramics in the pottery process, pay little attention, so that some traces that are very effective in identifying the authenticity of ancient ceramics are ignored, which can not but be said to be a shock.

The fingerprints on the inner wall of the Tang San painted pottery figurines are such traces. It is the pottery imprint left by the pottery craftsmen of the ancient Tang Dynasty, and it is a sign of the authenticity of Tang Sancai identified by today's people. The two photographs of Figures 6-27 and 6-28 are of the inner wall of the Tang Sancai female figurines, and the fingerprints on the inner wall can be clearly seen from the photos.

The reason why two photos are provided is to show that this kind of Tang Sancai leaving fingerprints is not an isolated phenomenon, but a feature that careful collectors can often find on various figurines, so this feature can be used as a basis for identifying the authenticity of Tang Sancai.

Readers are invited to analyze these two photos, and they can find that the fingerprints on these two photos are not traces left by one finger, but more than two fingerprints, or multiple fingerprints formed by overlapping the same fingerprint. This phenomenon shows that the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty constantly pinched the plastic blank with their fingers when making Tang Sancai, thus leaving this overlapping fingerprint trace on the inner wall.

Judging from the Tang Sancai products unearthed from the Huangye kiln site, the production of Tang Sancai is the use of molding technology, this process, has strict modeling requirements, therefore, Tang Sancai products, especially some figurines with open bottoms, after demoulding, its details, especially the seams, will be processed by hand.

This special process not only has a strong characteristic of the times, but also requires very superb craftsmanship, which has left a deep imprint on Tang Sancai products, and finally enables modern collectors to see the fingerprints of these unknown Tang Dynasty craftsmen.

These fingerprints are not only the basis for us to identify the true and false Tang Sancai, but also make us worship the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty.

This kind of collectible can be reinforced by the collector himself. Before treatment, it is necessary to observe the degree of damage to the utensils, do not blindly use various chemical materials, and formulate a repair and maintenance plan first. If the glaze color is not loose and falls off, but the surface is covered with white velvet and the glaze cannot be knocked off by hand, indicating that the glaze is relatively strong; On the contrary, it means that the glaze blank is crisp and loose. Depending on the situation, the maintenance methods taken are also different.

Two methods can be used for the glaze surface is relatively firm, and the billet tire is relatively dense and hard:

The first is the distilled water immersion and desalination method: soak this kind of utensils in distilled water, change the water once in two or three days, soak it three or four times and then take it out to dry, and the surface can be protected by a protective layer.

The second is the pulp paste method: the paper is shredded and soaked in deionized water, replaced once a day, and can be used after 3 days. Apply the pulp paste on the utensils to remove salts, change the pulp once every 2 days, after 3 times, and dry the surface to coat the protective layer after removing the pulp.

The glaze blank is not good, the blank carcass is crisp and loose, and this kind of glazed pottery can not be easily washed with water. If conditions permit, the decompression infiltration reinforcement method can be used, and the utensils can be placed in the vacuum dryer for penetration and reinforcement, and the formula and ratio of the reinforcing agent should be matched according to the crispness of the pottery tire, the thickness of the particles, and the thickness of the ceramic tire.

After the reinforcement is dried, the reinforcing agent should not be allowed to shine on the surface, and the color of the item should not be changed. It can also be reinforced by spraying, brushing, dripping and other additions, and after the reagent is prepared, it is reinforced by air pump spraying, brush painting, and needle dropping inside and outside the utensils.

Don't be in a hurry when reinforcing it, and proceed slowly according to the absorption of the utensils, from part to whole. Reinforcement is baked with an infrared lamp until the solvent evaporates. Excess liquid on the reinforced surface can be wiped with acetone.

Impregnation and surface reinforcing agent can be used: 3% trimethyl resin acetone solution; 5-15% polyvinyl acetate alcohol solution; 3% alcohol solution in cellulose; 2% nitrocellulose acetone solution; 5% polyvinyl alcohol solution and so on.

To remove the dirt on the glaze, the calcareous covering can be scrubbed with a 2% dilute hydrochloric acid solution; Gypsum covering, ammonium sulfate solution can be used for hot foaming; Siliceous covering, which can be wiped with 1% hydrofluoric acid solution; Food spoilage and smoke stains can be scrubbed with ether, acetone, toluene, sodium carbonate solution, etc. All artifacts that have been chemically reagent used should be soaked in distilled water.

Tang Sancai is the characteristics of this handicraft, it has the characteristics of the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures, this shape is a chicken head vessel, from the research it was a kind of wine vessel in the Western Regions and even the Middle East countries, but in the Central Plains it is made as a handicraft, and from the use of people can see the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures at that time.

Tang Sancai is the essence of Tang Dynasty pottery, which reached its peak in the early Tang Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion, with the gradual weakening of the Tang Dynasty and the rapid development of porcelain, the production of three-color ware gradually declined. Later, it produced "Liao Sancai" and "Jin Sancai", but in terms of quantity, quality and artistry, it was far inferior to Tang Sancai.