He was reluctant to eat 1 yuan of meat, but donated to the collection of more than 20 trucks in the Forbidden City!

Sun Yingzhou and colleagues from the Palace Museum took a group photo next to the Zhonghe Hall

(Hu Youchang and Li Huishan in the front row from left, Ye Peilan in the front row on the right, Geng Baochang, Liu Bokun, Chen Baoduo, Feng Xianming, and Liang Kuangzhong in the back row from the left, and Wang Liying, Xu Jingxiu, and Sun Yingzhou in the back row from right)

A peasant boy in Jizhou, Hebei Province,

After more than ten years of "North Drift" career,

From an apprentice in an antique shop to a savvy antique dealer,

Then go to The Cultural Museum to work in the Forbidden City,

It has left a lot of precious documents for future generations.

Glass tire painting enamel flower butterfly poetry intends straight neck bottle

Although the net worth is tens of millions,

But it is so simple that I am reluctant to eat pork for 1 yuan.

He was very frugal in his self-esteem, but he had a generosity that no one can imagine today,

- In his later years, he will collect it for a lifetime

More than 3,000 antiques were donated to the state free of charge,

What is this concept?

It is said that at that time, the Forbidden City dispatched more than a dozen experts

Counted for more than 1 month,

More than 20 trucks were used to complete the collection.

Zhang Boju (left) Sun Yingzhou (right)

This person is Sun Yingzhou.

Zhang Hongwei, president of the Forbidden City Publishing House of the Forbidden City, once sighed,

"There are two people who have made the most top contributions to the Forbidden City donation:

One is Zhang Boju, who donated calligraphy and paintings,

One is Sun Yingzhou, who donated porcelain. ”

Sun Yingzhou (1893~1966), a native of Jixian County, Hebei Province, was one of the outstanding pioneers in the mainland cultural and cultural circles, a famous collector and appraiser of ancient ceramics.

Sun Yingzhou's life trajectory is like a legend.

1. From an apprentice in an antique shop to an antique shop owner

Originally a peasant boy in Jizhou, Hebei Province, he went to work as a partner in a furniture store in Beijing at the age of 14 to make ends meet. Subsequently, he went to the antique shops such as "TongChunyong" and "Baojuzhai" as an apprentice at that time, and after the expiration of the apprenticeship, he served as a purchaser and accountant. He was intelligent and studious, and he was hard-working, and he learned a lot of antique appreciation knowledge with the old man, and carefully learned to do business and trade. After more than ten years of hard work and accumulation, Sun Yingzhou finally founded his own antique shop in Dongsi South Street, Beijing, "Dunhuazhai", to operate, identify, collect and study Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain.

Under the management of Sun Yingzhou, Dun Hua Zhai became one of the best antique shops in the Beijing area within a few years, visiting the door every day to enjoy the game, countless shoppers, and hot business. According to Sun Yingzhou's son Sun Hongqi, there were more than 20 optical apprentices in Dunhua Zhai at that time, and tens of thousands of antiques entered and exited every month. The silver dollars and gold bars obtained from the profits were carried to the bank every month in wooden boxes, and the Sun family became a large account of the bank.

Although he has tens of millions of family wealth, Sun Yingzhou has always maintained a style of thrift and thrift. On weekdays, she wears plain clothes, so does her family, and even the gloves worn by her daughter in winter are changed by her wife with socks. The Sun family's three meals a day are extremely simple, he also stipulates that the whole family can only eat meat once a week, and each time they are reluctant to eat 1 yuan (half a pound), only eat 2 two, but also must be cut finely, so that you can clip a few more chopsticks. He rarely eats outside restaurants, and when he goes out to run errands, he only eats bowls of noodles on the stall to fill his stomach. During the Spring Festival, make sugar gourds for the children to eat.

2, from the antique shop owner to the collector

Sun Yingzhou

1 yuan of pork is reluctant to eat, but he is willing to buy cultural relics worth dozens of gold bars. Once, Sun Yingzhou looked at a pair of Sanqiu cups from the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, which were extremely rare and precious, and Sun Yingzhou immediately bought them with 40 gold bars and took them back to his home. According to the purchasing power of the time, these 40 gold bars were able to buy 2 sets of high-end courtyards in Beijing.

Ming Chenghua Doucai Sanqiu Cup

Another time, Sun Yingzhou found a Song Dynasty Longquan kiln blue glazed bottle at an antique stall. The stall owner is a man who knows the goods, and he wants 20 taels of gold for life and death, and Sun Yingzhou finally bought it for 15 taels. Such things have happened a lot, and every time, Sun Yingzhou does not hesitate to spare his own money, as long as he can see it, he will definitely buy it.

Go kiln blue glazed string pattern bottle

surname

As a well-known ancient ceramics operator in Beijing, Sun Yingzhou often personally travels to various places to find and buy, because he is honest, easy-going, and fair,000 people in the industry are willing to deal with him. Therefore, Sun Yingzhou has received many high-quality ceramic products with good popularity, from Jin and Tang dynasty famous porcelain, Song Dynasty five famous kiln porcelain to Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain, all-encompassing, self-contained series.

3. From collectors to cultural relics appraisal experts

"Han Baosai Wuhuan leads the elders" camel button copper seal

Sun Yingzhou is a cultural relics idiot, and cultural relics and antiques are his life.

Sun Yinzhou's children once said that they felt as if their father had come to this world because of cultural relics and devoted himself to cultural relics. For the cultural relics he handled, he must carefully observe, record, and make comparative studies, especially for Ming and Qing porcelain, and even in order to deeply study the ming and qing porcelain production process, to find out the law of identifying authenticity and forgery, he has repeatedly gone to Jingdezhen to imitate ming and qing porcelain.

Red glaze print cloud dragon pattern high foot bowl

Ming Hongwu

Because there are few porcelain excavated from tombs in the Ming and Qing dynasties, there are even fewer with chronology; the shape is not as fixed as that of the Tang and Song dynasties and earlier porcelain; coupled with the fact that the age of each dynasty is not long, the varieties of porcelain are complex and continuous, so the identification of Ming and Qing porcelain has its own particularity, and it is very difficult to accurately break the generation.

A treasure donated by Sun Yingzhou

Sun Yingzhou used the official kiln porcelain with the Ming and Qing dynasties as the standard instrument, compared the different era characteristics of the porcelain of different dynasties, and after research and induction, these "appraisals" were mentioned as theorized senior engineers to guide the appraisal practice, laying the foundation for the scientific appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain. Therefore, he became the first person in the mainland to adopt typological methods to conduct comparative research on Ming and Qing porcelain, making the identification of Ming and Qing porcelain move from obscurity to clarity.

Blue and white folded branches floral pattern folding along the plate

Ms. Ye Peilan, a ceramic expert and disciple of Mr. Sun, still remembers such a thing: during his work at the Palace Museum, once Mr. Sun asked people to put together the Song Dynasty official kiln, ge kiln, Ru kiln porcelain and some Ming and Qing imitations, he turned his back, people disrupted the order of placement, he closed his eyes, turned around and touched it with his hand, and he could accurately say their names one by one.

4. From cultural relics appraisal experts to donors and educators

In addition to being willing to buy, Sun Yingzhou is also willing to donate.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Sun Yingzhou actively supported the Anti-Japanese Resistance, funded the purchase of a large number of guns, ammunition, cannons, etc. to send to the anti-Japanese front, and spent hundreds of thousands of silver dollars to support the Anti-Japanese Resistance. In 1950, in order to support the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and defend the country, Sun Yingzhou took out the antique porcelain in the shop and sold it for millions of yuan to the state. In addition, he also sent his two sons to the Great Northwest to support the construction of the frontier.

Photographs of cultural relics workers counting antiques at Sun's house

In 1956, Sun Yingzhou responded to the call to "support national construction and contribute to the country", and nearly 3,000 antiques were donated to the state free of charge. At that time, in order to transfer these cultural relics, the Palace Museum dispatched more than 10 experts to Sun's house for more than a month, and used more than 20 trucks before and after. The donated antiques include: 2375 pieces of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing porcelain, 32 pieces of rhino horn cups, and 497 pieces of porcelain materials.

A rhino horn cup donated by Sun Yingzhou

Mr. Sun's eldest granddaughter, Li Run, still remembers when her grandmother talked to her about the rhinoceros horn cup. At that time, there was a saying of "one or two rhino horns, ten or two gold", and her grandmother told her that at the beginning of the liberation, "the rhino horn cups in Beijing were all in our sun's house." ”

Rhinoceros horn carved lotus leaf cup

At the beginning of 1957, Sun Yingzhou donated 10 pieces of Kangxi and Qianlong porcelain of the Qing Dynasty; in 1964, he donated 64 pieces of porcelain and 9 pieces of porcelain materials, a total of 2987 pieces. This is archival data, plus some small pieces of cultural relics as many as more than 3,000 pieces.

Xing kiln white glazed jade bi shaped bottom bowl

Tang Dynasty

From the perspective of cultural relics, the cultural relics donated by Mr. Sun Yingzhou are also very rich, in addition to ceramics, there are rhino horns, lacquerware, enamel, sculpture, Buddha statues, furniture, material utensils, ink, bricks, bamboo and wood tooth bones, bronze, seals and other categories. Among them, 25 pieces have been designated as national first-class cultural relics and included in the permanent collection of the Forbidden City. Of course, the most precious and most precious is the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing porcelain, which includes the Song Dynasty Longquan kiln blue glazed bottle that cost 15 taels of gold, and the Ming Dynasty Chenghua Sanqiu Cup with 40 gold bars.

Ming Dynasty Chenghua Doucai Sanqiu Cup

This pair is only two inches high, the tire glaze is as thin as a cicada wing, and the cup body is composed of autumn chrysanthemums, butterflies and grasses, showing the autumn scenery of the "Ming Dynasty Chenghua Doucai Three Autumn Cups" has now become one of the treasures of the Forbidden City. This cup is of extraordinary origin, according to legend, the Ming Chenghua Emperor was very fond of Wan Guifei, who was 17 years older than himself, and in order to please her, he ordered the Jingdezhen craftsmen to make a special imperial wine cup, which was already a treasure by the time of Ming Jiajing. According to the descendants of the Sun family, Sun Yingzhou, who regarded the treasure as his destiny, did not hesitate to buy it with 40 gold bars, and he kept the secret of the family secrets until the day before he donated it to the Forbidden City...

Doucai Sanqiu Cup Ming Chenghua

Height 3.9cm, caliber 6.9cm, foot diameter 2.6cm

Sun Wendong, the daughter of Sun Yingzhou, still remembers the scene before her father donated the unique "Doucai Sanqiu Cup".

"In 1956, I was a junior high school student wearing a red scarf. In those days, many people came to the family, and the donated cultural relics were registered in the North House every day. After that, it's time for the Forbidden City to pack the boxes. The day before, my father had summoned the whole family to the East House, and he stood on the kang, and among the hundreds of boxes of precious cultural relics to be donated to the Forbidden City, he opened a delicate small box and carefully took out two small porcelain cups to show the whole family. He said, 'This is the most valuable thing in our family, and there is no such thing in the Forbidden City.' Tomorrow I will donate it to the Forbidden City, let you see it today'. ”

According to Ms. Sun, my father, who regarded antiques as his life, never let his family see his treasures," he said with a smile on his face, even full of pride. ”

Sun Yingzhou's patriotic and astonishing act was beyond the reach of ordinary collectors, and he also won the reward of the state. Beijing once hung his "Dun Hua Zhai" sign in 1923 on Liulichang Culture Street, showing future generations with a long-established famous store.

Sun Yingzhou's work permit in the Forbidden City

After that, the Palace Museum hired Sun Yingzhou as a researcher to work in the Forbidden City. After being hired at the Palace Museum, Sun Yingzhou tried his best to display his talents, showed a high sense of responsibility, and led the ceramic professionals of the Palace Museum to do a lot of collation, appraisal and acquisition work. He summarized and published his appraisal experience, and wrote a large number of incisive papers expounding the identification and identification of cultural relics, which has important guiding significance for the identification and research of ancient ceramics.

What is even more commendable is that Sun Yingzhou is also an excellent educator.

He has brought forward many old, middle-aged and young professionals, including many authoritative experts in the field of ancient ceramic identification such as Mr. Geng Baochang. As a highly respected expert in the field of ancient ceramics, Sun Yingzhou never put up a shelf, enthusiastically cultivated the young generation, and unreservedly passed on his knowledge and experience to his peers. Sometimes sick people rest at home and let students come to their homes to listen to lectures. Ms. Ye Peilan recalled that Sun Lao had encouraged her and her colleague Wang Liying: "You will be the first generation of female ceramics identification experts in New China in the future." They were also encouraged to break their fear of doing academic work and pick up a pen to write a paper.

On September 11, 2013, when Mr. Geng Baochang visited the "Exhibition of Cultural Relics Donated by Sun Yingzhou" held at the Jingren Palace of the Palace Museum, he took a group photo in front of the statue of Mr. Sun Yingzhou

During the Cultural Revolution, Sun Yingzhou suffered from turmoil because of his experience as an antique shop owner, and eventually died at the age of 74 due to persecution and injustice. Afterwards, he was hastily carried to the crematorium with only a door panel, and no ashes were allowed to be left, and the family members were not allowed to look at it for the last time. The daughter pleaded with the driver to leave ashes for her father, and the master said to her, "You can rest assured, girl." For this reason, the descendants of the Sun family will always remember the driver master surnamed Bai.

Official kiln sunflower petal washing

Thinking about the "scenery" of Sun Yingzhou's lifetime, and comparing the desolation after his death, one can't help but think of Mr. Zhang Boju, both of whom collected everyone, poured out their family wealth to protect national treasures, and selflessly donated to the country, but in the end they both ended up with a miserable ending.

Ming Yongle blue and white tangled lotus pattern bowl

Some people say, so patriotic,

To exhaust oneself is to be pedantic;

Some people say that good people can't be rewarded,

Under the unknown nine springs, is it repentant?

But Mr. Sun's descendants said:

"If it wasn't the donor country that year,

These treasures will surely suffer bad luck during the Cultural Revolution. ”

Perhaps, this is the real voice of the old man.

In the eyes of these truly great collectors,

Artifacts do not mean wealth,

It's about career and faith.

Bright red glazed plate Ming Xuande

It's hard for us ordinary people to understand,

This kind of love that fights with life, and the moth fights the fire.

In the eyes of Sun Yingzhou Zhang Boju,

For the real heart,

Not possession,

Instead, it is to keep it at all costs.

Porcelain donated by Sun Yingzhou to the Forbidden City

Blue and white tangled twig pattern bowl

Ming Yongle

Sweet white glazed dark flower dragon pattern bowl

Blue and white dragon pattern plate (pair)

Ming Chenghua

Broodstock algae plate (pair)

Ming Jiajing

Ming Xuande blue and white dragon pattern jar

Ming Chenghua yellow glaze plate

Ming Zhengde white glaze green color cloud dragon pattern plate

Ming Jiajing blue flower alum red seawater cloud dragon pattern plate

Qing Yongzheng imitated the chemical bucket color lid jar

Qingqianlong pastel folded lotus eight auspicious pattern bottle

Blue and White December Order Floral Pattern Cup (pair)

Qing Kangxi

Glazed red three-fruit pattern bowl

Glaze red cloud dragon pattern wash

Glaze red with colored folded branches pattern water beggar

Multicolored lantern pattern reclining foot bowl (pair)

Doucai pheasant peony pattern bowl (pair)

White glazed alum red color "Hong Fu Qi Tian" inscription plate

Glazed red folded branches three-fruit pattern bowl

Qing Yongzheng

Colorful dragons and phoenixes wear patterned bowls

Pale yellow glaze plate

Doucai River Tuluo Book Plate

Pastel baby play bowl (pair)

Qianlong

Green pastel lotus pattern teapot

Rouge pastel baby play pattern petal tea saucer (pair)

Holly glazed drum jar

Green pastel folded branch lotus eight treasure auspicious pattern furnace

Qing Jiaqing

Of course, space is limited, and Mr. Sun's donation is far more than that. If friends have time to go to the Forbidden City to take a look at these porcelains, they may be able to feel the selfless dedication of these collectors!