Hello everyone, I take the time out of my busy schedule today to bring you the following article, welcome to taste it together!
Whenever knowledgeable tourists visit the Chinese Calligraphy Museum in the Shanghai Museum, everyone likes to first appreciate Wang Xizhi's calligraphy treasures, that is, the famous cursive "Shangyu Ti".
The reason for this is that after thousands of years of vicissitudes, there are very few precious calligraphy and paintings that Wang Xizhi can leave behind, and the vast majority of the existing inkblots are copied by the Tang Dynasty.
This kind of copying is also of great significance, the Jin Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty are close to each other, coupled with the fact that people have a kind of craftsman spirit, so it is difficult to distinguish between true and false for a time, even if it is not the real handiwork, the imitation is also of great historical significance.
However, there is a national treasure of calligraphy that was almost thrown into the trash.
The difference in a single thought almost made the treasure disappear
There is such a strange man in the academic world, his name is Wan Yuren.
In May 1916, he was born in a village in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, but at the age of 15, he met the famous collector Sun Boyuan through the introduction of relatives and studied art in Suzhou, and it was from that time that he came into contact with cultural relics.
For the next few decades, he was passionate about calligraphy and painting, and he also made a living by mounting calligraphy and painting.
Years of practical experience have also allowed him to practice good eyesight, and he can also count all kinds of rare treasures.
Since the 1950s, Wan Yuren has been introduced by others to the Shanghai Museum to participate in the work, and with his good eyesight, he has identified many celebrity calligraphy and paintings.
In 1969, a cultural relics team in Shanghai selected a batch of fine works from millions of cultural relics and handed them over to the Shanghai Museum.
If the grade is not enough, it will be disposed of at a low price to the Shanghai Handicrafts Import and Export Company in exchange for foreign exchange.
Regrettably, a Tang Dynasty facsimile of Wang Xizhi's Shangyu Ti was identified as a forgery and included in the processed goods.
From the perspective of cultural relics, once it is listed as a processed item, it cannot be overly valued.
According to the relevant disposal process, before processing this batch of cultural relics, it is still necessary for the Customs Export Cultural Relics Appraisal Team of the Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee to conduct a review and let relevant experts identify, which can also avoid the loss of some cultural relics.
Fortunately, this "Shangyu Ti" finally came to the hands of Mr. Wan Yuren, who also specialized in cultural relics appraisal and transmission business.
However, this painting, which has been identified as a forgery, has attracted great interest from Mr. Wan Yuren.
After years of experience and understanding, he felt that the words were heroic and did not look like the level that a fake could reach.
Moreover, from the perspective of historical relics, there are also some royal seals on this text, such as "Royal Book", "Zhenghe", "Yihe", etc., these seals are very rule-based, and they do not look like imitations at all.
Therefore, the painting was left by Mr. Wan Yuren, who decided to invite several experts to study it after he went back.
But at that time, the opinions of the two sides were exactly the opposite, so they could only hang up and say that this delay was another few years.
In 1975, the curator Shen Zhiyu was reinstated, and Wan Yuren also felt that the opportunity had come.
He immediately reflected the situation of the "Shangyu Post" to the curator and called for the re-organization of relevant experts to conduct research and appraisal.
If the experts here are really not authoritative enough, then they can also go to Beijing to find higher-level experts for identification, and they must return the truth of "Shangyu Post".
After hearing about the situation, Director Shen also felt that the stakes were very high, so he immediately agreed to the matter and issued instructions: If the museum could not be identified, it would be sent to Beijing.
Shen Zhiyu
Coincidentally, during this time, the expert Xie Zhiliu was also successfully reinstated, he is very authoritative in this regard, Director Shen was excited, so he sent this "Shangyu Post" to Xie Zhiliu's home, hoping that he could further identify.
Xie Zhiliu himself is also a celebrity in this area, he has been a professor of art at Central University since 1943, and before the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also held solo exhibitions in Chongqing, Kunming, Chengdu and other places.
In 1949, he was hired as a member of the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee, and later, he also served as a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, which has an important position in the entire industry.
Since 1962, he has participated in the Chinese calligraphy and painting appraisal group organized by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, reviewed many calligraphy and paintings, and brought his talents to the extreme, and his own calligraphy and paintings were very superb.
Xie Zhiliu himself had also seen the no-number painting and had a lot of experience, but when he saw this painting, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he felt that this was definitely a cultural relic worth cherishing.
He carefully looked at the body of the scroll, and also studied the collection imprint and decoration form, and also preliminarily judged that it was a Tang facsimile, which was not much different from the conclusion made by Mr. Wan Yuren.
After in-depth observation, Xie Zhiliu directly applauded the case and said with great excitement:
"Shanghai can even see such a good thing, so now we have Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi in the museum, although this is a Tang facsimile, it should also be regarded as a real manuscript."
For the next few days, Xie Zhiliu stayed with this "Shangyu Post".
Initially, he noticed a vague mark on the lower left side of the scroll, and to be on the safe side, he offered to study it for a few more days.
After ten days of investigation, he found that the vague content of this place was the "internal contract seal" Zhu Wenfangyin, which was definitely a major discovery.
Because in the upper left corner of the scroll, there is also a "Jixianyuan Imperial Book Seal" with the same inscription that is very clear.
To put it simply, with the support of these two seals, it is directly possible to determine the status of the Shangyu Ti in the cultural relics of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
In distant dynasties, it was regarded as an important cultural relic, not to mention the present, and its copying time should at least be deduced to the Tang Dynasty.
The general direction is determined, and it is time to do some other research.
Eye identification is the first step in the identification of cultural relics.
Next, Xie Zhiliu consulted a large number of documents and compared the facsimile of the Chunhua Pavilion to see what kind of relationship existed between the Shangyu Tie and the Chunhua Ge Ti, and finally argued that the Shangyu Tie was a tang Dynasty hook facsimile.
During the Southern Tang and Northern Song dynasties, this post was hidden in the Inner Province, and it was also the ancestral copy of the Chunhua Ge Ti.
This research is also of great value, and Mr. Xie Zhiliu wrote this discovery into the paper "Explanation of the Facsimile of the Yu Tie Tang Dynasty above the Jin Dynasty" and published it in the third issue of "Cultural Relics" in 1977, and published the existence of this "Shangyu Ti" in the world.
This has also caused a huge shock in the cultural and cultural circles at home and abroad, and the value behind it is simply immeasurable.
Mr. Xie Zhiliu once said before his death:
"After thousands of years of vicissitudes, the "Shangyu Thesis" has finally reappeared in the world today, and the inkblots of Xizhi have long been extinct in the world, and only Tang G is enough to operate as a cultural relic, so that thousands of years later, Judas will make people think of seeing Wang Xizhi's fifty years of Han mo flow."
He also specially thanked Mr. Wan Yuren, and it was because of his insight that this precious cultural relic was finally preserved.
If it had really been disposed of as "garbage" at that time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
In other words, Mr. Wan Yuren can be said to have picked up this "sick leave note with a stomachache" in the garbage heap, and after years of treasure, it finally made its value affirmed, and finally became the treasure of the town hall.
"Shangyu Ti" eventually became the treasure of the town hall
After Mr. Xie Zhiliu's careful study, he wrote a "Explanation of the Tang Facsimile of the Yu Tie above the Jin Dynasty", which not only restored the discovery process of the Shangyu Tie, but also restored many contents of the Shangyu Ti.
"Shangyu Ti" is a Tang facsimile, which was later collected by the Northern Song Dynasty And still maintains its original packaging.
It is a hard yellow book, about 23 cm long and 26 cm wide, with seven lines of cursive content.
The content of the talk is that Wang Xizhi did not see a friend because of illness, which is a "leave of absence", and the letter also mentions the recent situation of other relatives and friends, and the style of the work belongs to the style of Wang Xizhi's later years.
The general meaning of the writing is: I originally wanted to see you, but because my stomach was too painful, I couldn't go, so I was very sorry.
Due to its age, the original of the Shangyu Ti should be difficult to find again, but this facsimile almost completely restores Wang Xizhi's feelings, so it also has extraordinary significance.
In this "leave slip", most of them are written in the form of answers, and three people are also mentioned, among which "Xiu Ling" is the word of Wang Huzhi, the son of Wang Pi, who is guided by The King of Jin, and Wang Xizhi is a subordinate brother.
"Chongxi" is the character of Zheng Yan, the son of Junjian, who is Wang Xizhi's brother-in-law, and another An who "does not know where An is", when it is Xie An.
Calligraphy and painting works have their own physical appearance, personality and era style, and these ancient facsimiles can also express the spiritual outlook of the original, and from the overall appearance of the facsimile, they can also feel the age.
From the perspective of the line of writing, its weathered appearance has been thoroughly displayed, although its age is very long, but there are still Gold inscriptions and Zhu Seals of Emperor Huizong of Song, which also proves the importance of "Shangyu Ti" in the process of circulation.
The Zhu Mo mark of the Southern Tang Dynasty can also prove its upper limit of circulation, indicating that it has a very long history.
Mr. Xie Zhiliu believes that if all the evidence circulating in the Shangyu Ti is erased, and it must be obeyed by the Chunhua Ge Ti, so it is concluded that it is a forgery, then it is a little difficult to explain.
From a cultural point of view, the engraving needs to go through at least four procedures, and the facsimile only needs one copy, so that the facsimile is more realistic to the original than the engraved.
After such a long time, the original handwriting of "Shangyu Post" still has not appeared, and Mr. Xie Zhiliu regrets that this post may have long been extinct.
Otherwise, the southern Tang and Jin dynasties were not particularly long apart, and it was difficult for a copy to receive such attention.
Moreover, Song Huizong was able to attach so much importance to this copy, and from his point of view, it should also be the original manuscript that should be valued, so he could attach so much importance to this copy, naturally with a deep intention.
Emperor Huizong of Song
It is precisely because Mr. Wan Yuren has unspeakable feelings for this character that he did not discard it casually, leaving an extremely valuable cultural relic for future generations.
If he could not discern the pearls with his eyes, this copy of this copy would have been forgotten by others long ago.
Today, this "Shangyu Ti" is still preserved in the Shanghai Museum, and has become one of the treasures of the town museum, all of which is also thanks to Mr. Wan Yuren's "golden eye of fire".
Through the facsimile of "Shangyu Ti", it can also help experts continue to study Wang Xizhi's flowing water.
reference
Sun Weichang. Rescue of the national treasure Jin Wang Xi shang Yu Ti Tang facsimile of the beginning and end[J]. Collector, 2016(03):25-26.
Xie Zhiliu. Description of the Facsimile of the Yu Thesis tang dynasty on the top of the Jin Dynasty[J]. Cultural Relics, 1977(03):61-64.
[3] Thinking. The Discovery of Shangyu Ti in the Cursive Book of Wang Xi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty[J]. Cultural Relics World, 2000(04):35-36+52.