Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 575 Analysis
Although there are no words on this jade, the production date of this thing can be roughly judged through the production of the patterns on it.

The reason why it can be judged is that the engraving on this cup has chosen the gold and silverware patterns of that era, and through these patterns, the approximate time of the cup can be easily judged.

The development of gold and silver wares in the Tang Dynasty can be divided into three stages: the first period is from Tang Gaozu to the early Tang Xuanzong period. This period is the period of rapid development of gold and silver wares in the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the period most strongly influenced by foreign cultures.

The main types of utensils are tall cups, cups with handles, and multi-curved long cups with more than five curves.Belly-folding bowls and clam-shaped boxes are also common, as well as pots and bottles.

Among them, tall cups, cups with handles, and multi-curved long cups with more than five tunes are missing in traditional Chinese utensils, which should be the result of the influence of foreign cultures.Plates and boxes are mainly round, with some cunning flowers and a few sunflowers.

Most pots have three legs.Honeysuckle pattern, twig grape pattern, bead pattern, and rope pattern are popular in decoration, and the floor decoration technique is mostly used.In addition, pearl pattern, Baoxiang pattern, curly cloud pattern and cloud pattern are also more popular.

The decoration is more related to the shape of the utensils. For example, the Baoxiang pattern is generally decorated on round utensils, and the curly moiré and moire patterns are mostly used as side decorations.The gold and silver wares of this period were small in size but thick and heavy, and most of the wares were made by the hammering technique.

The second period is the late period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. During this period, the gold and silver wares of the Tang Dynasty entered a mature stage, got rid of the influence of foreign cultures, and completed the process of Chineseization of gold and silver wares.

Goblets, cups with handles, and multi-curved long cups with more than five tunes are rarely seen.Various pots have appeared.Cai flower-shaped plate is popular.The surfaces of various utensils are mostly four-curved or five-curved.

Honeysuckle pattern, grape pattern, triangle pattern, rope pattern, moiré pattern, and curly cloud pattern basically disappear, Baoxiang pattern is still visible, and folded branch pattern and group pattern are flourishing.

The pattern is more realistic, and the layout is divided into units, leaving more blank space.A few artifacts still have similarities with Western gold and silverware, but they are not directly influenced by Western gold and silverware, but inherit the characteristics of the previous period and develop to some extent.

The third period is from Tang Xianzong to the end of Tang Dynasty. This period is the period of popularization and diversification of gold and silver wares in Tang Dynasty, and the types of wares increased greatly.The tea set, Xiangbaozi, soup bowl, poluozi, warmer, chip tube, turtle box, etc. in the utensils of the Tang Dynasty all belong to this period.

The shapes of bowls, plates, and boxes have also undergone great changes. Bowls with a shallow flower mouth and oblique belly, four-curved or five-curved full silver plates with rings, and sunflower-shaped plates are popular.Folded branch patterns and group patterns continue to be popular and become more colorful.

Mandarin ducks, Tan Cen, swan geese, and Pisces have become people's favorite themes.At the same time, lotus leaf, ankle belt pattern, leaf petal pattern, small pattern and half pattern appeared as the main border patterns.

There are many large-scale gold and silver wares in this period, some of which are thin and rough, with clear and intermittent patterns engraved throughout.Inscribed utensils increased.

That is to say, the style change trend of gold and silver wares in the Tang Dynasty was a process of gradual localization and secularization.And this directly laid a foundation for the subsequent Song Dynasty style.

Now this jade cup is a stem cup full of Western style. It is mainly decorated with some deformed traditional Chinese patterns, but the basic patterns are folded branch patterns and group patterns, and there are no foreign patterns such as honeysuckle patterns and grape patterns. .

Therefore, Liang Liangen judged that this thing should most likely appear in the later period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, that is, the mature period of gold and silver wares in the Tang Dynasty. As for the shape of the stem cup, it may be related to the traditional style of the Western Regions.

You must know that the Western Regions in a broad sense are not limited to that part of China, and even include many areas in Central Asia, so it is normal to find such things in Central Asia.

It's just that there is one strange thing, that is, after careful inspection, Liang En found that there was a large area of ​​blood on the jade cup.

This is not a normal situation, after all, it is impossible to have such a thing on a normal handed down item, and even the bloody area on the funeral item is a bit too large.

More importantly, after careful observation, he found that the cup was actually a remnant. The original two handles on both sides disappeared for some reason, but they were skillfully repaired later.

Judging from the traces of trimming, it is obvious that the other party used a high-speed rotating modern tool, and this should obviously be the result of reprocessing by the person who dug out this thing after entering the 19th century.

At the same time, apart from this thing, Liang En also discovered that there are some patterns on the mouth of the cup and the edge of the cup, which are obviously added later, to cover up a series of scratches and blemishes before.

In addition, the entire jade cup has been re-polished and sorted, which proves that the person who obtained this thing in modern times should be a rich man, and rearranged this thing according to his own ideas.

This is not a rare thing, because at that time people did not have a consistent view on all kinds of antiques, so the antiques found were re-polished and decorated.

Especially those Europeans prefer to do this. They don't care about the things of other civilizations, and they transform those things according to their own ideas.

But the problem is that this practice often destroys those ancient cultural relics. To give the most famous example, the British Museum adopted the method of splitting and mounting on wooden boards a hundred years ago for the "Admonitions of the Female History".

According to the thinking at the time, this kind of mounting method made the surface of calligraphy and painting less prone to wrinkles and breaks, but in fact, after a period of display, the wooden board would crack, while traditional Chinese paintings in Huaxia are usually painted on silk or paper , will also crack with the cracking of the plank.

Another reason is that the British transformed this work according to the Western form.It should be hung on the wall like an oil painting, so he cut out this "Picture of a Female History Adverb" section by section.

When Liang En visited the British Museum last time, it happened that the "Admonitions of the Female History" was exhibited for a year and a month. After careful observation, he found that this masterpiece hidden in the museum for nearly a hundred years could already be seen clearly. "Symptoms" of cracking and powder dropping.

The same is true for this jade cup now, although such a treatment will definitely look much better than the one that was dug out before.But it seriously destroyed the original traces on the jade.

"I can feel that there should be a secret hidden behind this thing, not a small secret." After eating, Liang En gently touched the jade cup and said to Joan of Arc.

The reason why he was so sure was because of the divination. Since the result he sought in the divination was an extremely vague result, Liang En successfully obtained the result after consuming almost all the legend points.

"I trust you on this point, but are you planning to go to Central Asia this season?" Joan of Arc looked at Liang En and asked. "You know, the natural conditions in that place are not very good, especially in winter."

"If it's just exploration, I think it doesn't matter if it's over now." Liang En smiled and said, "As long as there is no large-scale excavation, the next work should be able to be carried out in winter, so we can go over now."

(End of this chapter)