A pair of eyes that can see is the most valuable
When you go to the antique market during the holidays, you will meet many antique connoisseurs, and occasionally you will encounter your favorite treasures. After a long time, you get to know some antique vendors and some antique collectors, and you will gradually find that the people who sell antiques are more knowledgeable than the people who buy antiques, and many people who buy antiques even know nothing about antiques.
Once, when I was squatting in front of a stall with an antique buyer looking at a bronze Buddha, he suddenly said to me solemnly, "Seriously, our eyes are the most valuable!" ”
"Because only the eyes can distinguish between serious and false, distinguish the age, and distinguish between beauty and ugliness, so people who buy antiques must first exercise their eyes, and with good eyes, they will not be deceived."
Collecting is a process of constant verification and exercise of eyesight
On the issue of how to treat antiques, there are two completely different understandings at present: on the one hand, a small number of people working in the cultural and museum system insist that "folk cultural relics are scarce, imitations and fakes are many"; on the other hand, there are a large number of folk collection enthusiasts, who admit that there is a phenomenon of antique counterfeiting, but also realize that the antique art works that have appeared in recent years are so vast that they cannot be lost on the streets and lost overseas like orphans without parents, and they must first collect them.
The diversity of information exchange has made many people no longer blindly believe in the so-called "words" of a "family", and they are no longer silent in the face of the erroneous appraisal views of some "appraisal authorities". In recent years, the courts in Hangzhou and Beijing have accepted rights protection lawsuits, reflecting sharp contradictions between the two sides.
Over the years, a small number of cultural relics workers and social stragglers have been packaged as "experts" in the appraisal of cultural relics, traveling all over the country and using the media to publicize to society at a high decibel level that "there are many fakes in China's current collection circles, really few" and "high-tech counterfeiting is omnipotent," implying that people "collect genuine works and find experts" so that most Chinese when they see cultural relics know to ask "true and false" and "how much is it worth," while the cultural connotations of cultural relics themselves are artificially distorted and interpreted, or intentionally or unintentionally ignored.
Out of trust in the government media, the people blindly believe in the so-called "experts", believe that antiques are worth "money", and collect one piece to make a fortune. As a result, the snowball of folk collectors has become bigger and bigger, and some people have boasted that the collection army is nearly 100 million people. As a result, all dreams of getting rich by collecting antiques must be shattered one by one. Because ordinary people do not understand that antiques are used to record that period of history, and that the collection of antiques is to inherit culture, not to get rich. Therefore, there are many family conflicts and social conflicts caused by collections.
Mr. Zhang Wuchang, a famous economist, once said: "Theories can never be confirmed by facts, but can only be recognized." This statement cannot be more apt to illustrate the multitude of collection processes. For example, collectors get a collection, according to the views of individual so-called "experts", these collections are "wrong", but collectors are not in a hurry to affirm or deny, they immerse themselves in research, investigation, visits, exchanges, looking for evidence that the "experts" say that the collection is "wrong". As a result, repeated practices have failed to find evidence to support the collection as "fake". Therefore, this proves that many of the things in the folk collection are genuine, and many of them are very exquisite ancient works of art.
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In the past, there was nothing wrong with the academic research theories of cultural relics workers on "a certain piece" of antique artworks, but if individual "theories" were used as theories of universal significance to guide the collection, it was contrary to the principles of logic. Using the collection of artifacts as a "standard" to measure any similar collection is bound to lead to the wrong conclusion. Because antiques are mostly handmade works of art left by the ancestors, there are no identical, undifferentiated two pieces of porcelain, two paintings and calligraphy, two pieces of jade.
In the face of an antique work of art, everyone has their own understanding and opinion, but the depth of understanding is related to their own academic aesthetic level and ability, and "opinion" is not evidence to prove that the antique itself is genuine and fake. If there is no convincing evidence that an antique work of art is "fake", then in fact it is proved to be true, which is a scientific principle that has been proved by countless facts.
The traditional virtues of the Chinese nation are based on a broad and profound history and culture, and the carrier of excellent history and culture is the non-replicable antique artwork left by the ancestors. Friends who like to collect do not easily listen to his words and deny our unknown and little-known historical relics. Because collecting is a process of continuous verification, but also a process of constantly understanding their own national culture, which is worthy of everyone's respect.
Every collector deserves respect
Collecting is not only an act made by an individual for interest, but also a practice that can affect society. Why collectors deserve the most respect, because they have played a unique role in history, allowing civilizations and cultures to be protected and passed on.
Sui Zhan Ziqian "You Chun Tu"
Zhang Boju sells garden treasures
In 1948, in order to avoid the flow of the national treasure "You Chun Tu" overseas, Mr. Zhang Boju, a large collector, sold his beloved mansion garden, Xiang Yuan, and finally bought "You Chun Tu" for a high price of 220 taels of gold, and donated it to the state shortly after the founding of New China. At that time, Zheng Zhenduo, vice minister of culture, was ready to give some remuneration, but Zhang Boju firmly refused, saying: "Things are in my hands, that is, in the hands of the state, how can I divide you and me with the country, I must hand over to the state and donate free of charge!" Mr. Zhang Boju has devoted his life to protecting cultural relics and preventing the outflow of precious cultural relics, so that a large number of precious calligraphy and paintings have survived.
Jin Lu Ji "Ping Fu Ti"
The precious calligraphy and paintings collected by Mr. Zhang Boju were finally all returned to the state. In 1956, he donated 8 national treasure-level calligraphy and paintings to the Ministry of Culture. The 8 treasures are: Jin Luji's "Ping Fu Ti", Tang Dumu's "Zhang Haohao's Poems", Song Fan Zhongyan's "Daofu Zan", Song Caixiang's "Self-written Poems", Song Huang Tingjian's "Theravada Posts", Song Wuju's "Miscellaneous Books and Poems", Yuan Zhao Mengfu's "ZhangCao Thousand Character Text", and Yuan Yu and Kai Shu Ti, and soon after that, Mr. Zhang Boju donated a large number of calligraphy and paintings such as Song Yang Jieyu's "Hundred Flowers Map", Song Zhao Boxiao's "Xianyao Baiyun Tu", Yuan Zhao Mengfu's "Seal Book thousand character text", and Tang Ren's "Da Prajnaparamita Sutra" to the Jilin Provincial Museum. Zhang Boju and his wife donated as many as 27 kinds of paintings and calligraphy to the country, all of which are rare and rare treasures.
Xu Xi's "Snow Bamboo Diagram"
Collectors donate to the country
In the more than 30 years since the founding of New China, Mr. Qian Jingtang, another major collector, has donated his collection to the state more than 10 times, and the number of more than 3,900 pieces has reached more than 3,900. Xu Xi, Dong Yuan, Fan Kuan, Tang Yin, Shen Shitian, Wang Shigu, Zhao Zhiqian, Jin Shengsi, Ren Bonian, Xu Gu, Wu Changshuo... The famous works of many famous artists in the history of Chinese painting and calligraphy are among them. The "Snow Bamboo Map" of the five generations of Xu Xi, the "Landscape Map" of the Fifth Dynasty Dong Yuan, the "Evening View Map" of Fan Kuan of the Song Dynasty, and the "Fishing Map of Chen Yuanlong Bamboo Island" of Wang Shigu of the Qing Dynasty have been collected by the Shanghai Museum and the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, all of which are rare treasures and works that shake the world.
Dong Yuan's "Xiaoxiang Diagram"
There are not only the above two collectors who donate their beloved collections to the country, Zhu Wenjun is also a famous collector in the mainland. In 1953, Zhu Wenjun and his wife instructed their son Zhu Jiayu to donate all of the 706 kinds of stele he had worked hard to donate to the state. Most of these stele extensions from the Stone Drum Texts of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, including the Fa Ti of later dynasties, are mostly the Tuoben of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, and the handwriting is clear, and they are all the top products in the stele. Since then, more than 20,000 rare books have been donated to the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, all the calligraphy and paintings have been donated to the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, and all the Ming and Qing furniture has been donated to the Chengde Summer Resort Museum.
Fan Kuan's "Evening View"
Overseas Chinese collector Zhou Rui donated 10 pieces of ancient porcelain from his collection to the Shanghai Museum on the occasion of his 60th anniversary of his stay in San Francisco. Xu Sihai, who is famous for making and collecting purple sand pots at home and abroad, has a masterpiece of the Qing Dynasty pot maker Shao Tycoon's masterpiece "Tycoon Pot" in his collection. A foreigner wants to buy it for $70,000. Xu Sihai smiled and said, "This is Chinese treasure, I don't collect it for sale, you just pay $1 million, I won't be moved." ”
Perhaps in the eyes of those who are only interested in profit, these big collectors are some big fools who do not know finances, who have the reason of holding valuable treasures in their hands, selling them without waiting for prices, and changing hands for profits, but donating them free of charge. This just shows that the fundamental difference between collectors and most ordinary collectors is that the former is "hiding" and the latter is "hiding money". For the above collectors, money is not important, personal gains are not important, what is important is how to benefit the collection, how to carry forward those precious cultural heritage, as Zhang Boju once wrote in the "Preface to Cong Bi Calligraphy and Painting":
"Yu Sheng is in turmoil and hates to read less." Thirty years later, he became addicted to calligraphy and painting, and saw that he was famous and huge, and although he used debt sparingly, he still collected money. People may have a smile and no regrets. "The smoke cloud of giving has passed, and there has been a lot of gain." Therefore, it is not necessary to give to the body and to have. But to make it eternal to me, and to pass it on through the generations, is to give what I want!" In these few short words, Mr. Zhang Boju clearly stated that the purpose of his collection of calligraphy and paintings is to keep these treasures in China forever, prevent them from being lost overseas, and pass them on from generation to generation for future generations to appreciate. As for him personally, it was just a cloud of smoke passing through his eyes.