When they were about to enter the house, Du Dayuan handcuffed the gemstone case to his wrist again. He looked very cautious, not taking it off even after entering the house.
Back at home, Li Du poured them the fruit juice and coffee he had prepared, and then took out the pastels he had brought back from Page.
Seeing the porcelain, the three of them could not care less about their drinks. They each took one and looked at it in their hands.
Hans waited expectantly for their conclusion, but Li Du did not care. He knew that these things were fake.
Sure enough, after the three of them looked at the porcelain and discussed it in low voices for a while. Ma Cheng raised his head and said, "Li, you might be disappointed."
Hans cried out, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with these porcelain?"
Ma Cheng sighed and did not give a direct answer. Instead, he said, "How about this, I'll tell the two of you about pastels first."
Li Du nodded. "I'd like to hear the details."
Ma Cheng said, "Pastels were created in the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory during the late Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. They were popular in the Qing Palace, hence the term 'Qing Palace Secret Treasure.'
"True pastels use five-colored raw materials, mixed with some glass white, and use its opacity to give the color a gentle and elegant feeling."
As he spoke, he raised a plate for the two to see. "Look here, this white glaze plate has patterns of alum red, lake green, ochre, and other colors. Isn't the color a little too rich?"
Hans hesitated and asked, "Is it?"
Ma Cheng smiled again. "Alright, continue. The color of pastels is gentle and elegant, but the patterns are often rough. The material is rough, and the surface of the porcelain has color stripping.
"The reason for this is that the porcelain has to be baked in a low temperature at the beginning of baking. This way, the combination of the color and the glaze is not tight, and this is the special feature of Kangxi pastels.
"But look at these porcelain, where is the color stripping? The baking is very good, and the combination of the color and the glaze is very tight. It's very beautiful, but it's too beautiful! "
At this point, he paused and said, "Do you know why I've been using Kangxi pastels to explain? In fact, there was Yongzheng pastels in the later period, but the style has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. "
Hans shook his head. Li Du nodded. "The plate has the words' made during the Kangxi era '."
Ma Cheng smiled and said, "That's right. The words on this plate indicate its age, but coincidentally, from this point, we can also see that it's an imitation. There's a flaw here."
The Qing Dynasty was a period of great achievement in the history of porcelain in China, and the level of porcelain reached an unprecedented peak.
Influenced by the hierarchical feudal ruling system and the historical tradition of porcelain making, there was a certain convention in the inscription of the official porcelain and folk porcelain of the Qing Dynasty.
Among them, Kangxi's reign lasted for 61 years and had the most styles. However, most of the official kiln styles were "Made in the Kangxi period of the Great Qing Dynasty" with six characters and two or three lines of blue and white regular script. Only in the later period were there a few seal script styles.
In addition, it was common in the early period to mark the years, such as Kangxi, Xinhai, Zhonghe, Tang, etc.
Ma Cheng explained his knowledge of antiques to Li Du and Hans. When Li Du and Hans nodded to show that they understood, he continued.
"Look, what's written on this plate? 'Made in the Kangxi period' — this kind of writing is quite unconventional. If you want to write something, you should write 'Made in the Kangxi period'.
"Even if there was an official kiln that dared to write something like this, then look at these four characters. What style is it? Blue and white regular script! From this, you can tell that this porcelain was fired during the early period of the Kangxi period.
"However, look at the handwriting. The characters of the early period of the Kangxi period are broad and thick, with thick strokes and obvious pauses. But what about here? These four characters are delicate and elegant, which doesn't match the real history.
"If you continue to look at it, there are more problems. The four points of the character 'Xi' are straight or smooth, but what about here? Reverse the point! This can't be done. Literary inquisitions were prevalent in the Qing Dynasty. Doing this would be seen as treason, and you would have to go to jail!
"Also, look at this' Nian 'character. Among the authentic pieces, this character has three horizontal lines: the first two are shorter, the third is longer, and it's closer to the top. But what about the plate? The third and second horizontal lines are too far apart! "
Du Dayuan pushed the computer to them. On the computer was a webpage for an auction. There was a group photo of several Chinese people, including the three of them.
Li Du was stunned. "What is this?"
Ding Xiaofeng looked at it and smiled. "Old Du, you're mistaken. This is a news photo of us from the Los Angeles spring auction a few months ago. Why are you showing them this?"
Du Dayuan quickly changed the page and smiled bitterly. "Just now, Phoenix asked for our publicity photo. I randomly found one online and sent it to them, but I forgot to change it back."
The new page was a PowerPoint with many photos of porcelain from the Kangxi period, including a close-up of the inscription.
Du Dayuan said, "You can compare these inscriptions, and then look at the inscriptions on these pieces of porcelain. You should be able to see some problems."
Hans did not understand. He looked at Li Du. Li Du smiled bitterly and said, "They are right, these things are fake …"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden knock on the door.
Ding Xiaofeng, who was closest to the door, went to open it. As soon as he opened the door, someone suddenly grabbed him and pushed him against the wall, yelling, "Police, don't move!"
Ding Xiaofeng's face suddenly turned pale. His legs turned to jelly and he almost slid down the wall.
At the same time, Ma Cheng and Du Dayuan's expressions also changed, and they subconsciously stood up.
Du Dayuan swept the small box in his hand, and the coffee cup fell onto the table. There was a commotion!
A few police officers walked in, and then the female officer who grabbed Ding Xiaofeng was stunned. "Uh, who are you? Oh, sorry, I got the wrong person. "
Li Du was shocked and angry at the same time. He shouted, "Luo Qun, what are you doing?"
The female officer was naturally Luo Qun. Only she would have such a childish temper and love to joke around.
Being questioned by Li Du, her pretty face showed an awkward expression. She said, "Sorry, sorry, I thought you were the one who opened the door. I was just joking with you. Who are these people?"
Li Du quickly went up to help Ding Xiaofeng, who was in a sorry state, and apologized profusely, "I'm sorry, Mr. Ding, I'm really sorry. This is my landlord, and she's also our compatriot. I'm really sorry for being impolite!"
Ding Xiaofeng quickly waved his hands and said, "It's okay, it's okay, I … I was just shocked by her."
Ma Cheng and Du Dayuan supported Ding Xiaofeng from both sides, and said, "Don't worry, Xiao Li. Mr. Ding is a timid person. He's probably scared."
Luo Qun could understand Mandarin, so she apologized again. The other police officers also apologized with her.
With their colleagues around, Li Du did not want to embarrass Luo Qun, so he asked in a low voice, "What are you doing? Why are you back at this hour? "
Luo Qun also said in a low voice, "Coming back for lunch. We happened to be investigating a case in the area, so I wanted to invite them back for lunch. Who knew there would be so many of you at home."
She paused at the end. "These friends of yours, they don't seem quite right."
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