"Made in wei county" is an endless stream of skilled craftsmen who are good at carving patterns and inscriptions. Most of the vessels are cooked pits, but the castings are thick and heavy.
"Xi 'an Zao" also pays attention to inscriptions, not only fakes, but also some genuine products without inscriptions to raise its value. Weights and measures are often found in works, such as Qin Zhao Edition and Qin Liang.
"Made in Beijing" is mainly made of Shang and Zhou vessels, with gorgeous patterns, exquisite shapes and realistic rust spots, especially "ancient black paint" and "ancient blue paint", which can be accurately expressed.
Knowing the standard line and gasket is one of the keys to distinguish the authenticity of bronzes. The gauge line is the trace left by copper liquid when bronze ware is cast, and the gasket is a small steel piece left on the object to fix the wall thickness. They are not only the traces left by casting technology, but also the main method to identify the authenticity of bronzes from casting technology. It should be said that most ancient bronzes were cast by Fan Tao method. Fan Tao method is to make the model of the object to be cast with clay, which is divided into internal model and external model. When casting, the module is closed and molded, and the copper liquid is poured from the gap between the inner and outer molds, and then cooled and demoulded to make the bronze ware. Then, in the casting table, as long as it is the junction of closed blocks, there will be line marks. Although some obvious places will be polished after casting, the traces on the inner side or other hidden places such as ears, feet and soles cannot be sharpened. The foundry of that year did not have the habit of removing these lines at all.
Generally, forged bronzes are mainly cast by lost wax. Lost wax casting is a whole mold, without block, and the surface is clean and smooth. Therefore, fakes often can't see the gauge line, but there will be some tiny sand holes, which is the characteristic of lost wax casting. Looking at the gasket is another simple way to identify the authenticity of bronzes. As mentioned above, the washer is an effective tool to control the wall thickness of the casting machine. At that time, foundry workers often put some small copper sheets with uniform thickness but uneven size in the gap between internal and external fans in advance. After casting is completed, the copper gasket remains on the wall, some are easy to see, some are difficult to find, and some are very symmetrical. The bronze wares in the early Shang dynasty did not need washers, which was related to the underdeveloped casting technology at that time. But there will be no gasket marks on fake bronzes. There are also some counterfeiters who engrave inscriptions or patterns on objects, but only on gaskets. There are many examples of such self-defeating.
In the identification of bronzes, besides casting technology and physical modeling, there is also an important link that cannot be ignored, that is, the identification of decorative patterns. Decorative patterns are a major feature of bronzes. It is more complex and changeable than the shape of a vessel, rich in content and beautifully made, which is appreciated by the world.
There are many kinds of fake bronze decorative patterns, which are roughly as follows: First, the fake bronze decorative patterns are made by Zhou's workshop in Suzhou, and they are the most exquisite. Beijing also has masterpieces. These craftsmen have a deep skill in ornamentation, even if they are fakes, they can be regarded as exquisite handicrafts. But for the identification of authenticity, as long as you look carefully, you can still see the flaws. Because no matter how exquisite a bronze ware is, it is impossible to be perfect in shape, shell and rust color. The second is to carve patterns on plain objects. This technique is very common, such as adding patterns to plain ware without patterns, adding patterns to genuine ware with a small number of patterns, adding patterns when the patterns are rusty, and adding inlays to inlaid patterns. There have been such cases. When the wrong gold and silver swords were discovered, some counterfeiters carved patterns on the plain swords and sold them with gold and silver by mistake, but they were found out because of poor technology, which eventually made people laugh.
To identify these decorated or added decorative patterns, we can first compare whether the surface layer and the surrounding ground are consistent with other parts of the device, because if it is carved later, it must have destroyed the color of the original surface layer. Secondly, find out whether there are pattern marks at the seams of each group of patterns, because the patterns are engraved on the pattern blocks and cast together, and there is the possibility of counterfeiting without pattern lines. Then there is the forger's uncertainty about the decorative rules of Shang and Zhou bronzes. For example, decorative patterns, although generally divided into ground patterns and main patterns, are actually closely related. For example, the corner of the animal's face or the end of the hook tail is often connected with the small circle of the ground pattern like a concentric circle, but counterfeiters often ignore this subtle feature.
Distinguish between true and false bronzes, and pay attention to the weight, smell, sound and corrosion degree. For example, bronze watches in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are thinner than those in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. If the weight is the opposite, it is doubtful. Bronze unearthed smells of earth, and fake watches always give off sour taste. But it is more important to distinguish the copper sound from the rust color on the surface of the object. Because the bronzes of Shang and Zhou Dynasties are made of copper-tin alloy, the knocking sound is naturally crisp, and then the imitation bronzes are often brass or cast, and the knocking sound is turbid. If it is thin, it will become brittle and spread out. Some are repaired fakes, and the surrounding sounds will be inconsistent. Adding other materials to repair will make the voice hoarse. It is also important to observe the surface and rust layer of ancient bronzes, because when it is difficult to confirm its authenticity from the shape or manufacturing process, it can be judged by identifying the rust color on its surface.
Because bronzes have been buried in the soil for thousands of years, they will emit copper rust layer by layer, but the rust color of bronzes in different areas is not the same, which is related to different underground water quality and other organic substances corroding their surfaces to produce different chemical reactions. For example, bronzes unearthed in Anhui have a gray-green rust layer; Bronzes unearthed in Hunan have a bright emerald rust layer, which is called "puddle". Bronzes unearthed in the Central Plains are rich in rust layers, with different rust colors, or dark gray, or jujube skin red, or gray-green, or silvery white. So experts call these rust layers "black lacquer ancient", "jujube skin red", "green lacquer ancient" and "mercury infiltration" respectively. These rust layers are very hard, even if they are scratched with a knife, only some rust spots fall off, which is completely different from the rust layers of fake devices. There are many ways to fake the rust layer, such as salting sand, soaking the rust color with hydrochloric acid water, or mixing copper sulfate, green pigment and ammonia water. However, the new rust produced is monotonous in color, unlike the rich, changeable and moist rust layer unearthed. Some antique bronzes seen in the market are mostly pink-green, with poor feel, but some feel sticky and fall off. Everything else is black and shiny, like a cooked pit, but there is no feeling of wet color on the surface.
1. Antique method. Forgery of bronzes. Forgers generally have their own roots, either according to the real thing or according to the catalogue. The imitator is basically similar to the real thing in shape and size. Imitators are generally accurate, and it is difficult to judge the authenticity without careful observation. But no matter how accurate and lifelike the imitation is, its copper, pattern and color are different from the real one, and its style is also very different. At the same time, imitators are heavier than real ones and feel oppressive, which is a universal law.
2. patchwork method. Also known as "helping the car". Forgery of bronzes. Or use the remnants of several old devices to piece together a new device; Or a minute or several parts are missing in the real device, while the patterns of other devices are intact; Or there are no parts in the real instrument, but branches and leaves are added to make a new instrument.
3. Reform methods. Forgery of bronzes. In other words, the old equipment is modified into a new equipment with a unique style. Forgers transform some hard-to-sell or cheap utensils into new shapes. If the original equipment has no beam and cover plate, it will be replaced with new equipment with cover plate; Or that remain part of the original device, and change it into another new device.
4. Flower adding method. Copperware imitation method, that is, the original simple decoration on the real object, the imitator chooses the appropriate light element part and carves the appropriate pattern. Generally speaking, the carved pattern is consistent with the original pattern.
5. flower picking method. Forgery of bronzes. That is to say, the original object without patterns is carved with patterns, and then the part without flowers is dug out or hollowed out along the patterns, so that the original object becomes a hollowed-out object. This fake flower digging method not only has obvious knife marks, but also does not conform to the characteristics of utensils.
6. Inscription. Forgery of bronzes. That is to say, the real thing has no inscription, and then a fake inscription is carved on it. The inscription on the back is even, the font is plain, loose and unnatural, and the mouth is wide and the bottom is narrow. There are also gouges. Sometimes when forging, brush it off with copper wire, but it will leave brush marks and affect the pen tip of the word. Although the font and content of the inscription can be imitated, the charm of brushwork is difficult to imitate. In addition, those who forge inscriptions on genuine vessels all hurt their skin color, and the surface of the vessels is rusted, but the mouth of the vessels is not rusted. Even if the mouth of the vessel is coated with fake soil and rust, the color of the soil and rust on the surface of the vessel is inconsistent.
7. Inscription. The forgery method of bronze ware means that the original inscription on the genuine article is simple, and the forger adds a fake inscription before and after the real inscription; Or the inscription should be written on the genuine vessel, and the inscription is incomplete because of the lack of a part of the vessel. When the vessel is repaired, the edge inscription is also engraved. After adding a false inscription on the vessel, the rust color, ground and mouth of the false inscription are different from those of the real inscription, and the characters are obviously different. Moreover, since the inscription on the vessel was not written by one person at a time, the basic pen style and charm naturally do not match, especially the casting inscription is different from the engraving inscription.
8. Inscription. Forgery of bronzes. That is, the original inscription on the real instrument, but the inscription lacks words, so the pseudo-author supplements it; Or there is no inscription on the real document and then it is engraved with a fake inscription. For some reason, the words disappeared and were later engraved.
9. Corrosion method. Forge bronze inscriptions. This method is to paint wax on the parts of the bronze ware that need carving, carve words on the wax, then bite the carved words with ferric chloride, and finally remove the wax, so that a concave word will appear.
Second, the identification of bronzes The bronzes before the Warring States Period were all bronzes of copper, tin and lead alloys. The more tin there is, the lighter the gray of copper is. Bronzes from Shang Dynasty to Warring States Period, copper is pure, and there are few grains of sand. Bronze imitation in Song Dynasty, the alloy composition is copper, tin, lead and a small amount of zinc, and the color of copper is yellow and red. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, tin composition was less, lead and zinc composition increased, and copper color turned yellow. However, in the Ming Dynasty, the color of utensils was yellow and white, while in the Qing Dynasty, it was yellow and yellow. Therefore, to identify the authenticity of copper, we should look at the quality and color of copper exposed at the foot, mouth and bottom.
Third, the dating of bronzes.
Bronzes before the Tang Dynasty are customarily called ancient bronzes, with a long history and great changes. From Shang Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, bronzes in different periods have their own characteristics in casting technology, ornamentation and inscriptions. For example, the patterns of Shang bronzes are mostly plain patterns, two-layer patterns and three-layer patterns; Patterns are exaggerations and modifications of animal images, such as quadrupeds, which are changed into two legs in some bronze patterns, and feathers of some animals are replaced with seal patterns. The gluttonous lines of plain bronzes are mostly filled by palindromes between images, with large spaces filling large square spaces, small square spaces filling small square spaces, small square spaces filling small square spaces and small rectangular spaces filling small square spaces. The decorative patterns of the two layers are mostly narrow and convex, often real dragon patterns, and the space is full of fine palindromes. The decorative pattern of the three-layer pattern is raised on the object, and the concave space next to it is filled with fine palindromes, which is the characteristic of the three-layer pattern. Three-layer bronze vessels are mostly ridged, such as ding, with gluttonous lines on all sides, Kui Wen under the mouth, ridged in the middle, ridged in the four corners and gouges where whole pieces were missing.
Most Shang bronzes have plain lines on the abdomen, and there are kuiwen, grass dragon lines or raised face lines on the edges, as well as animal lines, horn leaf lines, cicada lines, owl lines and so on. Another feature of the bronze pattern in Shang Dynasty is that the vagina is deep and flat, and the pattern is very regular and powerful. Bronzes in the early Shang Dynasty were rough and simple, mostly thin-walled bronzes. By the middle stage, the master mold was perfectly molded, with very fine patterns, with fine stripes filling the gaps and some as fine as bristles. The large space of sesame seeds is also filled with small long or square fine palindromes. Another feature of Shang bronzes is, fur, GUI, pot and so on. , mostly flat-bottomed, with raised reticulation, and the reticulation is a diamond combination.
There are many copper nails on Shang bronzes, which are made by filling holes with copper water after casting. Bronzes of Shang dynasty were also cast separately, but few. For example, the ears and animal heads on utensils can be cast separately and then placed on the casting mold. When casting a body, copper water will connect it with the body into a whole. There was no large and small welding technology in Shang dynasty, and brazing copper (that is, large welding) was only available after the Warring States period. From the perspective of casting technology, the bronze wares of the Zhou Dynasty are rougher than those of the Shang Dynasty, and there are more inscriptions, such as the white plate of Polygonum viviparum, the animal head ring and the flat and rough grain in the Zhou Dynasty, with the inscription 100 words. Yu Ding has a plain belly and an animal face with an inscription of more than 200 words. In addition, most copper reeds, beans and so on. They are all rough, and the inscriptions on two or three crosses are too numerous to mention.
Bronzes in the Spring and Autumn Period are similar to those in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but the patterns have evolved, such as ridge pattern, fish scale pattern, snake pattern and reptile pattern.
The bronzes in the early Warring States period were similar to those in the Spring and Autumn Period, but the bronzes in the middle and late period were quite different. During the Warring States period, our ancestors had mastered the technology of gold plating and gold and silver inlaying. At this time, the bronzes found have traces of screwing, rivets and drilling, as well as carved patterns and inscriptions.
Judging from the casting patterns and inscriptions of ancient bronzes, there is an obvious inheritance relationship between the artifacts of alternate dynasties, but in the middle and late period, they gradually parted ways. Many bronzes in the Han dynasty were plain, most of them were cast, and some patterns and inscriptions were carved with chisels. For example, the patterns on gold-plated cups, plates, boxes, bowls and other utensils in the Han Dynasty are mostly carved. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, there were many patterns cast on bronzes, including copper, gold and silver, as well as large and small welding techniques.