Recently, a video of a teenager dribbling went viral. Careful netizens found that the positioning of the video was in Wanliu Academy, with a unit price of nearly 300,000 per square meter. It can be said that he is a veritable "young master". Some people pointed out in the comment area that the painting on the wall behind him is the authentic work of Qi Baishi, a famous modern painter on the mainland, with an estimated value of about 420 million.
As soon as this remark came out, it caused extensive discussion among netizens. The incident gradually fermented, and more and more "Young Master Wan Liu" was discovered. Let's not discuss whether Qi Baishi's painting is worth 420 million. We will not dwell on the series of social impacts caused by this incident. It is worth discussing that Qi Baishi's paintings still need to be carefully identified, and how should antiques older than Qi Baishi be identified?
General approach
When identifying antiques, antique experts will first look at the pulp shell outside and preliminarily determine whether it is an ancient product or a new imitation. Secondly, for an antique, it is necessary to investigate its shape, texture, pattern, craftsmanship, etc. For ancient paintings, seals are also considered, as well as the inheritance of collectors. Detailed comparative research is often required to determine the exact age of the antique. It can be seen that antique identification is a science that requires professional antique experts to identify.
The scientific method determines the age of antiques
The weapon used to determine archaeological dating is carbon-14, which is also the most commonly used method in archaeological work.
Carbon 14 is one of the isotopes of carbon. Cosmic rays irradiate nitrogen to produce carbon-14, which eventually becomes carbon dioxide and enters the ecosystem's carbon cycle.
Carbon 14 has a half-life of 5730 years. In nature, carbon 14 is constantly produced and decayed, maintaining a relatively balanced value. Therefore, the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 in nature is basically unchanged.
Organisms in nature absorb oxygen, exhale carbon dioxide, and participate in the carbon cycle. But when these animals and plants die, they will not cycle carbon with the outside world, and the carbon 14 in their bodies will begin to decay. The age of the remains can be judged by measuring the amount of carbon 14 in the organisms of the archaeological site.
Non-destructive testing technology
Different from ordinary visual identification and carbon-14 detection. Non-destructive testing is what cultural relics identification has always pursued. X-rays are generally used for non-destructive testing. It mainly uses X-ray diffraction. X-rays have fluctuations, their essence is electromagnetic waves with wavelengths of tens to hundreds of wavelengths, and they have diffraction ability.
Therefore, when a beam of X-rays hits an object, because the atoms of the object are evenly distributed and the distance between them is the same order of magnitude as the X-ray diffraction analysis of the X-ray wavelength. Therefore, the scattered X-rays of different atoms interfere with each other, and some special directions can produce very strong scattering. In this way, the composition of the physics can be determined.
It can identify the composition analysis of antique corrosion products, and can also be used to analyze inorganic cultural relics such as ceramics and stone tools. Using this method, it is possible to grasp the structural composition of the antiques very accurately and comprehensively, so as to determine their authenticity and age.
In addition to these methods, energy dispersive X fluorescence analysis, devitrification structure analysis, microscopic observation analysis and other methods are gradually used in the detection and identification of antiques. The use of scientific and technological methods has made the age and time of cultural relics more and more accurate. People are also more and more aware of their structure, craftsmanship and techniques.
Of course, with the development of society and the continuous advancement of technical means, more and more methods are used in the identification of cultural relics. But modern technology is only a means, and cultural relics themselves represent a culture, a kind of inheritance. Therefore, the most primitive direct observation methods need to be learned and inherited. The combination of history and culture and modern means can more accurately understand cultural relics and let the true value of cultural relics be reflected.