Riding the wind of rebirth

But Zhou Zhi had some doubts: "Master Ma, have we seen similar figurines in the big willow tree?"

"Isn't that different?" Master Ma looked at the two pottery figurines in front of him: "Isn't what we saw a dancer and a camel merchant?"

"Wait a minute!" Researcher Chen said, "We found this pair of figurines in Daliushu last week. How come there are two more?"

"It's not necessarily the same thing. We didn't take a closer look at it at the time." Master Ma lightly supported the warrior figurine to admire: "This thing is so beautiful..."

"Oh, it's like this. I went to the big willow tree with Mr. Ma this morning, and I saw a figurine of a dancer and a figurine of a barbarian camel at a stall." Zhou Zhi added.

"The Hu people's camels are similar to the open face of this figurine of military commanders, and the wide sleeves of figurines of dancing girls are similar to the wide sleeves of this figurine of civil servants." Speaking of this, Zhou Zhi also praised: "Such elegant wide sleeves, the workmanship is not good. As I said, it is indeed much more beautiful than the Han figurines..."

"What...is there any similarity?" What Zhou Zhi didn't notice was that when the two researchers asked this question, their faces turned a little pale.

"There is also the way of coloring. The degree of oxidation of the lead color is very similar... What is there on the animal head in the middle of the shield?"

"That's gold." Wang Shixiang said: "So this is a four-color figurine, which is very rare."

"This is the old craft. First use lead and mercury to adjust vermilion and brush on the parts that need to be decorated, then blow on gold leaf, brush it flat with a brush, and then burn it with fire. When the mercury turns into steam and volatilizes, the gold will firmly adhere to it." On the utensils..."

"So that's how it is." Zhou Zhi smiled at Wang Shixiang, "Thank you, old man, for clarifying the confusion. There is also this on the bell of the camel figurine of the Hu people. It is so mottled that you can't recognize it. It turned out to be painted with gold..."

"Oops!" Zhou Zhi slapped his forehead when he got here: "Then did we miss out on precious cultural relics?!"

"Elbow, the camel figurine you saw was also painted with gold?" Researcher Wang asked eagerly.

"That's right, the camel figurines of the barbarians and the figurines of dancing girls, are they from the same kiln as the figurines of civil and military figures?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"It's unlikely." Researcher Chen said, "We only took this pair after talking about [-] figurines apiece. At that time, we asked them if they had any in stock, but they said they didn't have any."

"Then this is a bit strange." Master Ma was trying to recall: "I really didn't look carefully at the time to see if there was gold on the luan bell... When such a large figurine appeared in the market, we directly regarded it as a fake coming."

The two researchers, Wang Shixiang and Wang Chen, were terrified by the word “counterfeit”. Wang Shixiang also felt that something was wrong. He picked up the magnifying glass again and walked in front of the two figurines: “The cinnabar is not refunded before the gold... It’s really unreasonable. ..."

"Is it possible that the technology of applying gold in the north was insufficient at that time?"

"Before the Ming Dynasty, the gold processing technology in the north was always superior to that in the south. This situation changed only after the Ming Dynasty established its capital in Nanjing." Wang Shixiang said, "But what you said is also reasonable. This is a minority government. It is inevitable that there will be some flaws in the technique of applying gold..."

Several people looked around the pottery figurines, but they couldn't feel anything wrong with the pair of pottery figurines.

Zhou Zhi can’t say anything about shapes, colors, and crafts. His research on northern pottery figurines is limited to Tang Sancai albums and papers, as well as his limited experience in the Shu University Museum. Authenticity is beyond perception.

In fact, even a master like Wang Shixiang is only a little wary of the continuous appearance of such figurines on the market. If you only look at the figurines, you can't find any faults except for the gold plating process.

"Our museum doesn't have any other means? For example, carbon fourteen or something..."

"Elbow's thinking is too simple." Researcher Wang frowned: "If it's silk fabrics and human residues, such a scientific analysis is feasible."

"But for ceramics, metal cultural relics, and organic remains are very rare, and there are not enough samples for analysis alone."

"The two pottery figurines are mainly made of cinnabar and lead powder. The carbon black is only on the eyebrows and eyes, as well as the leather crowns of the civil servants and the black boots of the generals. I am afraid that they are not enough to analyze if they are all scraped off."

"If the carcass is analyzed, the soil used to make the tire may also be an ancient soil layer. If it is fired in an electric furnace, the carbon pollution can be ignored."

"That's true..." Zhou Zhi thought for a while, "Actually, I think... there seems to be another way."

"any solution?"

"All fakes cannot escape a process, that is, making them old." Zhou Zhi said: "The aging marks of these two figurines are very natural. From top to bottom, the bases that are in direct contact with the soil are rich in soil flowers, and the higher the The slighter the traces of weathering, it is in line with the characteristics of the pottery figurines unearthed from the tombs with a very good preservation environment."

"Yeah, that's true, so we thought they were supposed to be genuine."

"If, I mean if." Zhou Zhi continued, "If these two figurines are fakes, there is only one way to achieve this level..."

"Pickling and soil aging." Master Ma was the first to react.

"I know a method." Wang Shixiang said: "Dig a deep pit, put it in, first adjust the acid soil to make the bottom layer, and then gradually reduce the acid concentration in the soil, and bury the figurines layer by layer. Normal loess, buried in this way for several years and then taken out, the soil, flowers and soil are very natural."

"But pottery has a strong adsorption capacity." Zhou Zhi said, "If it is fake, the soil flower at the bottom of the pottery figure will definitely absorb a lot of acidic substances!"

"That's right!" Researcher Wang said, "We can analyze this..."

"No, no, no..." Researcher Chen waved his hand: "The exquisiteness of this pair of tomb figurines far exceeds the pair of Northern Qi figurines unearthed in Wanzhang Village, Ci County. If they are authentic, they must not be destroyed..."

"That's right!" Lao Wang was a little numb: "It's better to find the person involved."

"I don't know if the person who sold your pair of figurines can be found, but the person who sold the figurines of a camel dancer to a barbarian yesterday, maybe he should be able to find them..." Zhou Zhi said.

"Really?!" Old Chen was surprised and delighted: "You have a clue, Elbow?"

"Master Ma, do you still remember that I said on the way back that someone was following us?"

"That Hebei Dafa?"

"Yes, didn't we stop and let them go first? When the car passed us, I found that the person in the passenger seat looked like the one selling camel figurines."

"Do you remember all this?" Ma Ye asked: "It's an old rule to treat goods but not people..."

"They use oil lamps!" Zhou Zhi and Lao Chen said together.

"Yes, the oil lamps they use, the light is scattered, so I can see their faces."

"Yes! The oil lamps they use are more like peasants driving a carriage into the city! Two of them, one is not tall, with wrinkled face when laughing, and the other is fat and honest, is it an elbow?"

Although everyone didn't want to hear Zhou Zhi give an affirmative answer, Zhou Zhi still nodded awkwardly: "Yes..."

"What a liar! It's over, it's over..." Lao Wang's voice was full of crying: "8 yuan, 8 yuan..."

"It's also possible that the figurines of camels and figurines of dancing girls are real, right?" Zhou Zhi was still hoping for another possibility.

"It's unlikely," Lao Chen said with a mournful face, "If this were the case, the two figurines should have been sold to us at that time..."

"This matter is also quite strange." Zhou Zhi couldn't figure it out, "Why didn't they lie a little more at that time?"