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Chapter 117 Xuande Furnace, Wind Polished Copper

Yu Yao nodded secretly, this is much more intuitive than a verbal introduction!
It is said that there are four utensils, but they are actually four brocade boxes, but Yu Yao knew in advance that they contained high-quality imitation heavy utensils.

These four brocade boxes are all square boxes, big and small, high and low, obviously tailor-made according to the size of the utensils.

The tallest brocade box is more than half a meter high and more than a foot long on each side.

The widest brocade box is only about ten centimeters high, but its sides are more than 40 centimeters long.

The smallest brocade box is about the size of an ordinary cigarette case.

There is also a brocade box, square and square, with a side length of more than ten centimeters.

"With the method of the old man, this is almost the same as appreciating the real thing! Today I can feast my eyes!" Yu Yao rubbed his hands, "Which one should I look at first?"

"Again! How can this be the same as the real thing? Especially, I am best at bronze, but there is a piece of copper in it that is very special, it is difficult to characterize it, and I don't have a secret recipe. I feel that the appearance is not bad, but the copper quality and weight Certainly not!"

Teng Kunwu was rarely in such a state of speaking before, but in this gesture, everyone's style was revealed.

"The copper is special?" Yu Yao asked, "This copper ware is nothing more than bronze, brass, cupronickel, and red copper. Could it be that they are all of these?"

Nowadays, the copper we usually see is mostly brass, which is actually a copper-zinc alloy.

Bronze, on the other hand, is copper with tin or lead added.

Cupronickel is relatively rare and the main addition is nickel.

As for red copper, it is actually pure copper. It is called red copper in the folk, and red copper in the industry.Pure copper, a purple-red color.

"Purple copper is also fine, but gold and silver are added, which is called wind-milled copper in history!" Teng Kunwu replied.

"Xuande Furnace?!"

When you mention wind grinding copper, you must think of Xuande furnace!

Upon hearing this, Yu Yao immediately picked up the square brocade box with a side length of more than ten centimeters. The size of this brocade box is suitable for a small incense burner.

Teng Kunwu nodded: "Exactly!"

Speaking of Xuande Furnace, the most important thing to ask is: Is there a real Xuande Furnace handed down to the world?
At present, there are two in the Forbidden City and four in the Forbidden City in Taiwan.Are these six pieces authoritative enough?But even for these six pieces, some experts still suspect that they may not be genuine products from Xuande three years ago.

In the third year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Zhanji of Xuande imported a batch of red copper from Siam (now Thailand) for further smelting by Wu Bangzuo, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Lu Zhen, an imperial craftsman. Style, and referring to various historical books, designed and manufactured a batch of incense burners.

This batch of incense burners eventually produced more than [-] pieces.Emperor Xuande personally participated in the production.

Although imported red copper was close to pure copper, Emperor Xuande still required further refining.After refining six times, Lu Zhen played once, saying that he had refined six times, and only half of the raw materials were left!

Emperor Xuande didn't take it seriously, because he was pursuing high-quality goods this time, and spared no expense!

Continue to practice!At the same time, it is not enough to just remove the miscellaneous, but also to refine it!
Therefore, Lu Zhen refined it another six times, making a total of twelve times, and added more than a dozen precious metals such as gold and silver at the same time.

In the third year of Xuande, more than [-] incense burners were finally successfully cast.

This batch of incense burners in the third year of Xuande has become a swan song, and has never been cast since then.

This kind of copper that has been refined twelve times and added precious metals such as gold and silver is called wind-milled copper.

Therefore, if Jinzikou of Guiyanmen obtained a genuine incense burner from Xuande three years ago, it must be made of wind-polished copper.

However, no matter how high the level of Teng Kunwu is, there is no secret recipe, but it is only cast according to the map, the texture must not be completely consistent, so there should be a difference in weight.

Yu Yao carefully opened the brocade box.

Tianji ear gui-style stove.

Gui is a kind of food utensil, usually with a round mouth and two ears, with a classic shape.The gui-style stove is naturally an incense burner made according to the shape of the gui.

This Tianji-eared gui-style furnace has a small furnace body with a diameter of less than ten centimeters. The wall thickness is average, but the bottom of the furnace is very thick.

The two furnace ears are raised Tianjijishou ear buttons.At the same time, there are auspicious cloud patterns on the lower edge of the outer edge of the furnace mouth.

Half of the wall sees the sea and the sun, and the sky smells of chickens.

Tianji is a divine bird in ancient legends. It can swallow fire, so it is suitable for pictograph casting furnaces.At the same time, Tianji can also imply Luanfeng, and incense burners with Tianji ears often appear in the palaces of queens and concubines.

The copper color of this Tianji-eared gui-style furnace is black and yellow and red, and the outside of the furnace is the same color, moist and thick.

"This, is the color of Buddhist scriptures?" Yu Yao caressed the censer lightly, feeling delicate and soft.

"The atlas is drawn with ink and has no color, but there are annotations. It is indeed marked with the color of the Buddhist scriptures. However, there are also various subtle changes in the color of the Buddhist scriptures. This is just one of my ideas."

According to historical records, there are more than 40 colors of Xuande stoves, such as classic Tibetan scripture color, eggplant skin color, Tangli color, pig liver color, amber color, crab shell green and so on.

Yu Yao nodded and looked at the bottom of the furnace.Made in Xuande of the Ming Dynasty, the engraved six-character regular script was carved with a knife after it was cast.The font is handsome and elegant, which has the spirit of Wei Bei.

"This Xuande stove, even the one in the Forbidden City, is suspected to be not the authentic product of Xuande three years ago. In the secret collection, there is a Xuande stove!" Yu Yao thought, the three pieces of porcelain in Huozikou before are already priceless!Zizikou is not too far behind!

"I haven't seen the real thing, but judging from the shape map and notes, I believe it's the real thing!" Teng Kunwu was decisive, and then sighed, "It's a pity, there is no secret recipe for wind grinding copper!"

While continuing to admire, Yu Yao asked, "Old man, this wind grinds copper, and the world has passed it on like a god, how did this name come about?"

"The origin of the name is still a mystery now. However, there should be two meanings in it."

Teng Kunwu explained, "First, from the perspective of copper smelting, a large bellows is used, and the wind is strong enough, so the firepower is sufficient and long-lasting. Second, it reflects the skin color of the copper after 'seeing the wind', that is, Oxidation and skin color after use."

"Oh, it's no wonder that the color of the Xuande furnace is the most wonderful. That is to say, this special copper will have different colors in different environments, with different contacts, and after different lengths of time?"

"It can be understood in this way. However, it is not only due to external factors. It is said that when the wind-milled copper was refined, more than ten kinds of precious metals such as gold and silver were added. Such a large amount of copper materials and so many added metals cannot be completely smelted. Uniformity, combined with different environments and time changes, will inevitably form different color manifestations."

Teng Kunwu pointed at the censer, "For example, I added the largest proportion of gold to this piece, about 5.00%, which is more than the total amount of other metals combined. After the furnace is engraved, the old leather shell has to be made. The color change, mainly due to the gold."

"Old man, if I let you get the secret recipe of wind-milled copper, it will be as good as the real thing!"

　This chapter is a bit late, sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)