Chapter 96: The Sky-High Price of Five Colors (Part 2)

  Wucai is a type of porcelain glaze, made by painting patterns with multiple colors on the porcelain and then firing it at a low temperature of 770-800°C in a color furnace. The finished Wucai has a glass-like hard texture, so it's also called "hard color".

  Qu Wen immediately took a chair and sat down beside Zhao Haifeng, still using his eyes to observe without releasing his spiritual awareness. He carefully examined a ceramic object on the table that resembled a flower vase with a spout.

  In terms of appearance, the whole vessel is about 30 cm high, with a wide mouth, long neck, flat round abdomen, and a trumpet-shaped foot that is slightly outward. The upper, middle and lower parts have three pairs of ear handles similar to halberds. The mouth and neck are painted with twining floral patterns, and from the middle of the neck to the middle of the abdomen, there are also dragon patterns through flowers. On the white glaze at the bottom, it is written in blue flower "Made in Ming Wanli year" six-character double-line regular script.

  "This should be the gourd, right?" Qu Wen said in a low voice.

  Gu is an ancient wine vessel used for holding wine, which was most popular during the Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty. Its shape resembles a long-necked flower vase but it is not a flower vase.

  Zhao Haifeng nodded: "En, if it really needs to be named, it should be a five-color dragon kiln with a spear-shaped flower mouth. However, this is a familiar pit, and the five colors and blue flowers on top have faded somewhat, so it's hard to tell which era the vessel belongs to."

  "熟坑" refers to items that have been unearthed and passed down through generations for a considerable period of time. Because they were once buried in the earth and later handled by others, they retain some residual soil marks on their worn surfaces, making them easily mistaken for "ancient artifacts".

  Apart from this, there is also "Sheng Keng", which refers to things that have just been unearthed. According to national regulations, reselling Sheng Keng cultural relics is a prohibited and illegal act. In addition, there are also "water pits" and "dry pits". Water pits generally refer to the burial site having a relatively rich water source, so the artifacts are often heavily eroded and corroded. Dry pits, on the other hand, refer to burials in places with relatively little water, and the patina of the artifacts is different from those found in water pits, mostly coming from the dry climate of the north.

  If judged by the printing pattern below, it should be a product of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. However, the five-color material and blue-and-white glaze on top have become dull after years of handling, making it difficult to determine the specific era based on the color tone of the materials used.

  The person who brought the horn for appraisal was an old man, about sixty years old, with a thin face and worn-out clothes, looking like he wasn't in good financial shape.

  The young man carefully examined the entire piece and asked the old man, "Sir, can you tell me about the origin of this porcelain?"

  "There's no particular origin, it was my father who drove for a family for thirty years and when he retired, the master of the house thanked him for his loyalty and let him choose an antique from the house as a keepsake. So this porcelain bottle became our family's possession."

  The old man simply replied, staring blankly at Qu Wen and Zhao Haifeng. These two young people looked for half a day without giving an accurate message, and their hearts couldn't help but feel some tension and anxiety.

  The old man seemed eager to know the answer, Qu Wen smiled and said: "Don't be secretive, old man, the thing is old, but which specific dynasty it belongs to still needs us to take a closer look."

  "You see, I showed it to people at Hollywood Road (Hong Kong's antique market) before, and two bosses said this piece is a Qing dynasty imitation of the Ming dynasty, so they didn't give a high price. But my father said on his deathbed that this piece is a treasure, if we want to sell, we can't get less than this amount." The old man said, holding up two fingers.

  Seeing the old man's outstretched hand, the people next to him laughed and said: "The old man wants to sell it for 200,000 yuan, it's too difficult. The work is meticulous, but the messy and disorderly arrangement makes people feel chaotic and incongruous."

  The old man seemed a bit stubborn, turned around and glared at the person who spoke: "What do you know? My dad helped that family with the car, they are a well-known wealthy family. If he casually took out one or two things, it would be worth a lot of money. If my dad didn't want to keep it as a memento, I would have sold it long ago. He said before he passed away two years ago that if this treasure is to be sold, it must be for at least 2 million."

  "Two million..." A loud burst of ridicule erupted from the crowd of onlookers.

  "With two million, I can buy thousands of them on the market at will."

  "Over a thousand can't be bought, didn't Master Qu just say that this is an old thing, but it shouldn't be worth this price either."

  Some people's words are quite pertinent, and as they discuss the crowd turns their attention to Qu Wen, who will ultimately give the answer as to whether this colorful flower-shaped wine vessel is worth that amount.

  He didn't mind the gossip of the crowd, secretly releasing his spiritual awareness to observe the spiritual energy on the colorful flower pot, and as his spiritual awareness was released, Qu Wen's eyes also followed suit and brightened slightly.

  On the colorful flower-shaped cloud, there is not only a blue mist surrounding it, but also tiny sparks of light constantly flashing.

  Needless to say, this is definitely a Ming dynasty masterpiece.

  "This piece... " Qu Wen dragged out his voice, satisfying the cravings of the onlookers. "It's indeed a five-color porcelain from the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty, and it's an authentic imperial kiln porcelain."

  One word spoken, all around is silent.

  It's actually a genuine Ming dynasty piece, and it's from an official kiln. Even with some wear and tear, its value should be quite considerable.

  The audience was quiet for a moment, then someone couldn't help but ask: "Master Qu, how are you so sure this is a Ming dynasty official kiln piece? If it's real, what would its value be?"

  If it were someone else, I wouldn't be so sure, but Qu Wen has a spiritual awareness in him. With his spiritual awareness, he can tell at a glance what is true and what is false. All that's left is to find some theoretical knowledge that will convince others as evidence.

  "Wucai originated from the development of Jingdezhen kiln's colored glaze on the basis of Song and Yuan dynasties' colored glaze. In the Hongwu period of the Ming dynasty, there were already blue and white glaze with red and green colors. During the Xuande period, underglaze blue and white combined with overglaze five-colors were adopted, gradually forming what we see today as Wucai, also known as 'hard color' and 'ancient color'. In terms of tone, it mainly features red, yellow, blue, green, and purple, sometimes with gold added, or only using red, green, and yellow as the base, not necessarily all five colors. Currently, the earliest Wucai can be divided into two types: underglaze blue and white Wucai and pure overglaze Wucai. This piece is a typical example of underglaze blue and white Wucai."

  "In terms of appearance, Jiajing wucai is often large pieces such as large jars, large pots, large plates and large bowls. The patterns are dense and the lines are fine, but the body of Jiajing large pieces is relatively thick due to poor forming techniques, and irregularities often appear. In contrast, the small pieces from Jiajing official kilns are exquisitely made, with thin bodies, compact and delicate porcelain, and bright and vivid designs. Therefore, when collecting Jiajing wucai, it is recommended to focus on medium to small-sized pieces."

  "Wanli's five-color porcelain, although similar to Jiajing's, has more varieties and brighter, thicker colors. From tripods, vases, basins, bottles to the Four Treasures of the Study, everything is available, especially with many bold innovations in bottle-making. During this period, most of the five-color porcelain was dominated by blue-and-white five-color, and there were few glaze-five-color pieces handed down through the ages. In terms of overall color tone, it is somewhat similar to the early Qing dynasty's five-color blue-and-white, so it is easy to cause confusion."

  "Finally, let's talk about the Wanli five-color kiln marks. During this period, there were two types of five-color porcelain kiln marks: one was the current dynasty mark, and the other was the imitation of previous dynasty marks and auspicious language marks. The current dynasty mark mostly used the six characters 'Da Ming Wan Li Nian Zhi' in double lines and double circles, and the materials used were mostly blue and white glaze. Take a look at this piece." Qu Wen said, lifting up the bottom of the five-color flower-shaped ewer to let everyone take a closer look. "That's why I can be so certain that this is a Ming dynasty official kiln-produced five-color dragon-patterned ewer. As for the price..."

  The tune dragged out another long, drawn-out note.

  "If it's put up for auction, it should be able to sell for 20 to 30 million."

  "Ah......, it's really worth this much money."

  Among the crowd's gasps of surprise, the old man finally revealed a happy smile.

  "Thank you, Master Qu. You're a good man, an honest person. Unlike other antique dealers who would cheat me by saying this is a Qing dynasty imitation of a Ming dynasty piece and then pressuring me to lower the price to cheat me. If it weren't for you, I might have really sold it to them at a low price."