My system is not decent

The horns of this topaz color-enhancing chilong holding the pot are tucked behind the head, and the mane and hair are draped over the shoulders, majestic and heroic.

The dragon body is deformed, vigorous and powerful, and perfectly combined with the pot body;

The bottom foot is carved with a simplified Kuilong pattern, and it is also decorated with Ruyi head pattern, with Yang lines on the edge to outline the shape.

The carving of the chilong in the jade pot is realistic and vivid, and the knife technique is bright and precise. With only a few strokes, the flexible and unruly appearance of the chilong emerges vividly.

It complements the overall shape and charm of the pot body, not only showing the luxury and delicacy of the jade material, but also revealing the thick, steady and simple charm.

Borrowing the objects of the present and revealing the meditations of the past, the ingenious combination of the two is indeed a rare masterpiece among similar artifacts in the Ming Dynasty.

Here we must focus on a process, that is, color improvement.

Color enhancement, here is "lifting oil", which is a method to make the skin color of jade.

This method is to use natural plant dyes that are naturally produced in nature, and dye them after physical heating.

Due to the organic nature of the raw materials, coupled with the mild coloring technique, the internal crystal structure of the jade was not seriously damaged.

Moreover, the final finished product is oily and pleasant, on the contrary, it feels more delicate than real ancient jade.

The oil extraction method of jade is not difficult. This is a method of coloring with the method of extracting jade, which is called oil extraction.

Among the various methods of oil extraction, sand extraction is the best, its color penetrates into the jade, and the ashes cannot be caught, and it is very similar to its color.

However, the color is brighter when the sky is sunny, and the color is cloudy when it is not sunny, which is not the case with true color.

In addition, there is another kind of old oil extraction. It is said that this method is very ancient.

During the reign of Xuanhe and Zhenghe in the Northern Song Dynasty, some people used a kind of red light grass produced in the deep mountains of Sugan.

Take its sweat and add a little sand, and marinate between the textures of newly carved jade.

Use fresh bamboo sticks to ignite and grill, so that the red color enters the jade skin, and its color is deep, red like chicken blood.

Famous appraisers often don't notice the color produced in this way, but buy it with a lot of money.

Therefore, there are also two methods of oil extraction, which are divided into old oil extraction and new oil extraction. This is a method of artificially coloring jade wares.

People's work colors began in the Song Dynasty. Before the Ming Dynasty, the jargon of people's work colors was called "old oil", and after Ming it was called "new oil".

Under normal circumstances, the so-called oil extraction refers to the old oil extraction.

This kind of antique method, which uses natural plant dyes to physically heat and dye jade objects, has been lost.

Because, it is said that the plant raw materials for dyeing in nature have been consumed.

Using the old oil extraction method, because it is dyed with organic matter, does not harm the jade, and can even maintain the integrity of the crystal structure of the jade.

Therefore, using the old method of oil extraction to process jade, the color formed is natural and moist.

This topaz color-enhancing chilong pot has obvious color-enhancing marks on it.

In this way, at least during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, this old dyeing method of oil extraction has not been lost.

This makes this piece of jade even more precious, not to mention that it is still a piece of topaz carved.

Among the antique jade wares of the courts of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, topaz is rarely seen, so rare things are considered valuable.

Even now, this kind of topaz works can be compared with suet white jade.

Chen Wenzhe had seen the current price of suet white jade before, so he naturally knew that it was really sky-high.

What's more, the topaz work in front of me is not ordinary yellow, but steamed millet yellow, which is sweet yellow.

As I said before, the ancients have clearly expressed the best beautiful jade.

I saw a jade book calling it beautiful jade, white as fat, black like pure lacquer, red like a cockscomb, yellow and steamed chestnut.

"Steamed chestnut" is used to compare topaz with the best color, so topaz is as expensive as millet, which is called sweet yellow;

Such top-quality topaz may be considered inferior to suet white jade by modern people.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, it surpassed suet white jade.

For example, Gao Lian, a scholar at the end of the Ming Dynasty, said in his discussion of ancient jade wares that, "Jade is dominated by sweet yellow, followed by mutton fat, yellow is the middle color, and it is not easy to obtain, and white is the partial color, which is why it is sometimes available. Today People look down on yellow and value white, so it’s rare to see.”

It can be seen from this that Huang Yu has a historical allusion of disdain for suet jade.

This work is one of the classic representatives, and it should belong to the color of "steamed chestnut" in the literature, which is really not easy.

Looking at this topaz ewer, Chen Wenzhe really didn't know how many treasures were lost from China to foreign countries in the five or six hundred years of Ming and Qing Dynasties?

Putting down the holding pot and looking through the jade wares, Chen Wenzhe just glanced at them casually, and once again saw a superb topaz work.

"Auspicious Beast Dragon Cup? There seems to be a topaz cup like this in foreign museums?"

After thinking about it carefully, Chen Wenzhe immediately remembered that there was already a Mingrui Beast Dragon Cup in the National Victoria and Albert Museum in England.

However, it is slightly different from this one, as can be seen from the name.

The one hidden in the British Museum is a simple cup.

The one in Chen Wenzhe's hand, although it has a handle, is also a cup, but its shape is obviously different.

This piece of jade is in the shape of a very high-grade pot, with a cup carved out of it. This type of vessel is very rare.

In addition to this cup, there is another topaz work, which is a bottle.

This jade vessel is also decorated with dragon motifs, and is a Qianlong topaz chilong vase.

Among this pile of jade, there is only one piece from the Ming Dynasty, and the rest are from the Qing Dynasty.

This time, Chen Wenzhe has learned a lot, because the topaz works in his hands are Hetian jade topaz, which is more precious than suet jade.

It turned out that he had only heard about it and knew that Hetian jade topaz is a very scarce jade.

And there is a lot of room for growth in the market, especially those with pure color and high quality, which are more precious than suet jade.

But this level of jade is definitely not seen by ordinary people.

Especially now, no matter where the jade resources are, they are facing the danger of being exhausted.

If it weren't for the advancement of modern technology, which allowed human beings to quickly excavate resources that could not be reached at all, then where would so much jade flow into the market now?

It's just that the faster the technology advances, the faster the excavation speed will be, and the faster the resources will be exhausted at that time.

Thinking about it now, it was easier to obtain jade in ancient times.

At that time, the transportation was inconvenient, and as long as the country was strong and could reach the jade producing areas, it would not be difficult to obtain some top-quality jade.

"Boss, look at these stones, they feel rather strange!"

At some point, Gao Qijing came to the cabin where Chen Wenzhe worked again.

"Stone? What kind of stone?" Chen Wenzhe looked at Gao Qijing strangely.

They are on a boat, where did they come to the stone?

"We found it from the wreckage of the shipwreck. If it hadn't been put together with some jade and gold, we would have thought it was a ballast stone, but after a little inspection, we found that it looked a bit like jade!"

As he spoke, Gao Qijing handed over a yellow stone the size of a fist.