My system is not decent

Chapter 1836 Magnificent and magnificent, a rare treasure handed down from generation to generation

"At the end of the day, the mirrors of the Ming and Qing dynasties turned out to be the best."

Chen Wenzhe was a little bit emotional. Generally, the older the bronze, the more precious it is, but this time the bronze mirror he saw in the cellar was an exception.

Because the last two mirrors he saw were colored enamel mirrors.

These two enamel colored mirrors should be cloisonné enamel imperial mirrors.

The one below is the one from the Ming Dynasty, and this mirror was used by the royal palace with cloisonné enamel and grape patterns in the Ming Dynasty.

It has a diameter of 44 cm, a weight of 9040 grams, a round shape, and a cloud pattern.

The mirror body is integrally cast, and the edge of the mirror back is cast on the mirror body. The copper is precise and the mirror body is thick.

The cloud pattern button in the middle of the back of the mirror is welded flower craft, and the back is made of turquoise green enamel that appeared in the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty as the background color.

In addition, there are cloisonné enamel grape vine leaf patterns, the composition is delicate and vivid, and the enamel color materials filled are classical and elegant.

The edge of the back of the mirror is decorated with lotus patterns, the patterns are regular and detailed, and the colors are rich and colorful.

The mirror surface was originally gilded, but with the passage of time, most of the gilt has been worn away, but it still retains its former glory.

The gilt decorations on the moiré button and the edge of the mirror are still well preserved.

Such imperial mirrors are very rare because of the enamel process on them.

So far, there are only two similar cloisonné enamel mirrors known to exist.

Chen Wenzhe knew about these two pieces, one was hidden in the Palace Museum, and the other was in the hands of a private collector in Ruiguo.

However, the size and state of preservation, as well as the mirror decoration, are far from the two sides seen by Chen Wenzhe.

These two sides can be said to be the most magnificent and magnificent, and they can be called rare treasures handed down from generation to generation.

With these two mirrors, Chen Wenzhe can easily distinguish which one is from the Ming Dynasty and which one is from the Qing Dynasty.

Because the current method of filigree enamel in our country is a new technology brought back to the Central Plains after the Mongols conquered Central Asia.

However, the cloisonné enamelware that can be confirmed today can only be as early as the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and products from the early Yuan Dynasty are still difficult to see.

The copper-bodied cloisonné enamelware of the Ming Dynasty is quite different from the Qing Dynasty and modern cloisonné enamelware in terms of scientific and technological testing.

Of course, the most important thing is the difference in the carcass production process.

The copper tire blanks in the Ming Dynasty were made by beating or inlaying thin copper sheets.

Only the rim, base or ear accessories are cast.

In the Qing Dynasty, except for the gold and silver tires, which were made by beating and inlaying, most of the copper tires were molded, so they looked thicker.

The material and method of filigree are different, and they are also different.

The filigree materials of the Ming Dynasty are mainly flat bronze.

This kind of copper wire used to pinch patterns is made of beaten flat copper wire.

Because the bronze wire is brittle and hard, the cracks that appear in the filigree lines can often be seen under the microscope.

The filigree in the Qing Dynasty was first pressed into very thin copper sheets, and then the filigree was cut out one by one like cutting noodles.

Therefore, under the microscope, the finished product cannot see any cracks on the filigree.

That Qing Dynasty mirror is a Qing Dynasty cloisonné enamel Kui dragon pattern mirror.

It is 2.0 cm thick and has a mirror diameter of 13.1 cm.

Such a mirror must have been used by the imperial court.

The decoration on the back of the cloisonne mirror is centered on the raised round button with the picture of Tai Chi, and spreads outward from the four treasure-faced flowers.

Eight flower-tailed Kui dragons surround the edge of the mirror, and the smooth filigree lines make the Kui dragons appear vivid.

The front of the Kui dragon pattern mirror is inlaid with glass mirror, which is different from the ancient traditional bronze mirror.

The Qing Dynasty cloisonné enamel mirror with Kuilong pattern is made of copper, with a chrysanthemum petal-shaped edge, a glass mirror inlaid on the surface, and a blue ground on the back of the mirror decorated with Kuilong and Baoxiang flowers.

There is also a red sandalwood mirror frame attached to it. Such a mirror should be a cultural relic in the late eighteenth century.

The last two mirrors must be the most precious among the several bronze mirrors in the cellar.

Seeing this, Chen Wenzhe was naturally very satisfied, and he also knew that this must be a hoard from the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

A small cellar, it's impossible to hide just a few mirrors, right?
"I don't know if there are other things?" Chen Wenzhe thought a little greedily.

After all, it is a cellar, and it must be the cellar of a knowledgeable collector. In such a cellar, as long as there are things that appear, they should be genuine.

"Hey, is there really one? Is this a black plate?"

"It seems a bit wrong, is this a black ground enamel color?"

After looking carefully for a while, Chen Wenzhe finally discovered that it was a small dish that was pressed under a mirror.

And this small dish is very special, it is black, and it is also black enamel, which is not easy.

Chen Wenzhe thought about it carefully, it seems that this kind of enamel color has really been unearthed, but the unearthed one is a broken artifact.

Thinking of that piece, Chen Wenzhe went back a little and saw the deposit on this small plate, which was indeed made in the Yongzheng period.

That's right, the remnant found in China was also made in the Yongzheng period.

Enamel colored porcelain is the top class of official kiln wares, the reason for which is the high cost of enamel colored glaze;
Exquisite craftsmanship, the importance of the emperor, and the low rate of finished products all gave rise to the preciousness of enamel.

Generally, when enamel colored porcelain is made, a layer of transparent glaze is first applied on the inside and outside of the plain body, which is pure white like snow and thin as paper.

Then, on the surface of the utensils, the outline of the pattern is outlined with ground glaze color material.

Taking yellow ground glaze enamel as an example, first use yellow glaze to outline the pattern to be painted, and then paint other colors in the pattern.

Then the pattern is covered with yellow glaze, and the finished product is named "yellow ground enamel xxxxx" based on the combination of painted patterns and the shape of the object.

Enamel colored porcelain began in the Kangxi period, prevailed in the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, and gradually declined in the late Qianlong period.

In the enamel colored porcelain that was abundant in the Kang, Yong, and Qian dynasties and has been handed down to this day, the base materials used are mostly bright colors.

For example, the yellow ground enamel that represents the royal family, and the Qing court loves the blue ground enamel.

Others include pink ground enamel, purple ground, purple red, carmine enamel and so on.

There are also those that directly apply transparent glaze with a white body, and it is rare to see enamel colored porcelain wares with a darker color base, such as black ground enamel.

However, in 2014, during the archaeology of the Nandaku of the Forbidden City, people dug pits in the palace to bury the accumulation pits used to dispose of the waste at that time, and found some rare black-ground enamel colored porcelain fragments.

Afterwards, it was pieced together into an open small plate with only the bottom payment of "Zheng, Nian, and Zhi".

The whole white body of the small plate is covered with transparent glaze, and the outer wall is grounded with black color.

There are plum and bamboo patterns painted on it, and the patterns are filled with various colored materials such as green color, yellow color, white color, and red color.

Although the color material of the bottom payment has completely fallen off, there are three characters of "Zheng, Nian, Zhi" on it, so it is not difficult to identify it as Qing palace colored porcelain made in the Yongzheng period.

The most important thing is that this small plate is similar to the materials used in the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty.

In addition to the fact that the structure of the bottom body and the color material layer is consistent with the enamel color porcelain process, the archaeologists have also analyzed the chemical composition of each color material. Except for the white material, the color materials on the color porcelain are all low-temperature lead glazes, which are consistent with The enamel color materials of the Qing Dynasty are similar.

(End of this chapter)