To this day, the most controversial thing in the antique collection is that it should belong to "identification".
While the physical objects displayed in scientific archaeology and museums provide extremely important material for ancient jade, it is still possible to provide us with more detailed data by studying historical documents and previous old records.
Archaeological excavations can only let us understand the size and surface state of the object of the "jade", but the historical documents and records can let us understand the manufacturing background at that time and the "people" who used jade from the perspective of the ancients, especially from the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, when the jade was no longer used for funerals in large quantities, the written materials became more precious.
Finally, it should be emphasized that ancient written materials often start from the personal preferences of collectors. Under the principle of "there is demand and there must be supply", there is a direct relationship between what type of jade or counterfeit jade smiths of the same era will produce.
From the 10th to the 19th century, in the long history of China, there are only a few books on the theme of jade that can be handed down. Four of these are illustrated catalogues.
The earliest is the Archaeological Atlas, a ten-volume volume completed in 1092 AD, one of which records the jade collected by Li Gonglin (1049--1106).
The second is the Ancient Jade Map, which was originally a hand scroll, completed in 1341 AD, and printed into a book in the Ming Dynasty.
The third is the Ancient Jade Atlas, a hundred volumes, published after 1779 AD, and is said to be a catalogue of jade artifacts collected by Emperor Xiaozong of Song (reigned 1163-1189).
The fourth book is "Ancient Jade Tu kao", two volumes, published in 1889 AD, by Wu Dazheng (1835--1902).
This book is the most influential, and almost everyone at home and abroad who study ancient Chinese jade is well known.
In addition to these four books, many articles and notes about antiques mention "ancient jade".
Generally speaking, the Chinese people's interest in "new jade" is far inferior to that of "ancient jade".
Moreover, the concept of "ancient jade" is very general. Whether it is jade with a history of more than 100 years or jade with a history of thousands of years, they are all classified as "ancient jade".
Before the 20th century, the term "Neolithic" or "prehistoric" did not exist.
The common term is "three dynasties", that is, the Three Dynasties of Xia, Shang, and Zhou.
These terms are often used to express the idea of "ancient times" in general terms.
Modern scholars generally agree that the study of ancient jade began in the Song Dynasty, and the reasons behind it may be political.
The first achievement was found in Nie Chongyi's Three Ritual Diagrams, completed in 962 AD.
After referring to ancient texts, Nie Chongyi drew the styles of vessels used in the sacrifice of heaven and earth and other important ceremonies, including the "Six Rui" and "Six Instruments" mentioned in the book "Zhou Li".
More than two hundred years later, in 1175 A.D., a printed version of this book on state etiquette appeared.
It can be seen that people's interest in ancient artifacts and ancient jade at that time was strong, which led to an upward trend in the demand for such books.
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, the Song court, from the emperor down to the officials, became enthusiastic antique collectors.
Funerary objects in ancient times, such as bronzes and jade, whether found by farmers when ploughing the land or illegally excavated by tomb robbers, entered the royal inner treasury or the private collection of antiquities scholars.
Li Gonglin is one of the best. He can be said to have been a pioneer in the systematic compilation of collection catalogs.
He compiled a catalogue of 58 ancient bronzes and 16 ancient jade objects he had collected.
He gave a detailed description of each artifact, including its size, weight, where it was purchased, and so on. Prove that the previous collectors are also such a set of roads.
Most importantly, he also depicted the shape of the artifacts and copied the inscriptions.
Li Gonglin's catalogue is now lost. Fortunately, his collection was included in another book by his contemporary Lü Dalin (1046-1092), Archaeological Atlas.
Lü Dalin died shortly after compiling the Archaeological Map.
His book is largely based on Li Gonglin's catalogue. The 14 pieces of jade contained in the eighth volume of the book are all from Li Gonglin's collection.
These 14 pieces of jade have two layers of great significance for the descendants of ancient jade.
First of all, they are "real" artifacts, unlike the images depicted by Nie Chongyi in the "Three Ritual Diagrams".
Secondly, to a certain extent they represent the situation in the antique market at that time.
The 14 pieces of jade include a jade amber (li gonglin calls it a "tiger charm"), three sword ornaments, a jade wall, two hooks, an ear cup, and six jade pendants of different shapes.
Tell us that a thousand years ago, the number of ancient jade is not very large, is it not that we now have some collection of "everyone" shame, the kind of "ancient jade" that is always in a room, with a drawer all at hand?
None of the fourteen pieces of ancient jade that Li Gonglin had hidden was earlier than the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, judging solely from the form system.
Like all Confucian scholars, Li Gonglin was most interested in the "Six Instruments", but he only had a piece of jade and a piece of jade.
Other "four instruments" such as Yu Chun, Yu Gui, Yu Zhang, and Yu Huang are all paid for.
It can be seen that his jade collection is limited by objective conditions, rather than completely subjective choice.
Collecting antiques is an "encounterable but unattainable" activity, and there are inevitably factors of chance and coincidence.
Even if Li Gonglin was full of knowledge, if there was no Excavation of Qiu Guizhang at that time, his Treasure would not have had those varieties.
Therefore, what kind of goods circulate in the antique market is an extremely important objective condition, which directly affects the understanding of the material culture of ancient times by future generations.
After "Archaeological Map", it is "Cloud Smoke Passing Through the Eyes". It was an essay book. The author, Zhou Mi (1232 –c. 1298), was an official in the Song Dynasty. In 1279, the Yuan Dynasty was founded, and he lived in seclusion and concentrated on writing.
He was very passionate about all kinds of antiques, including jade.
He owns a batch of antiques, probably not very large. However, he made very detailed notes on every calligraphy, painting, bronze, and jade he had ever seen, and compiled it into a book called "Clouds and Smoke Over the Eyes".
It is in this book that the first story about jade fakes is recorded:
"The Cang Jade Charm hidden by Liu Zhe Cao Boyi is one foot wide and three inches thick to half an inch. The two sides are made of double whips, and the seven seal characters in the middle are like Wenzhi Water Sage. He thought that Yu Zhishui was very precious. Yu thought that the fake thing was also... And three generations as Zhong Dingwen, but as a small seal. The moment is not surprising enough to work either. ”
Liu Boyi is not the only bookworm. Before him, Nie Chongyi was also a Confucian who enshrined ancient texts as golden rules. Obviously, during the Southern Song Dynasty, many literati believed in the legend of "Yuan Gui Xiyu".
The gist is that Dayu has meritorious service in controlling water and has been given Yugui. Because there were many people who believed in this legend, the jade craftsmen saw that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, so they created the "Great Yuzhi Water Charm" (the shape of the Guihe Charm is similar).
Liu Boyi naively thought he had bought a piece of ancient Jade from the Xia Dynasty. Careful and careful, he saw the flaws in the text, pointing out that the small seal had not yet been invented in the Xia Dynasty.
Strictly speaking, Liu Boyi's jade card is not a fake.
Because it's not imitating a genuine piece. It can only be regarded as a "fabrication" of "out of nothing", created by opportunistic jade smiths to deceive people.
Carefully recorded the antiques he had seen in writing. The painter Zhu Derun used his painting skills to depict the jade objects he had seen. In 1341 AD he created a 10-foot-long scroll with 26 pieces of jade painted on it.
He followed the format of the Archaeological Map and gave a brief text introduction to each piece of jade. Since none of the jades were in his own collection, he didn't know where they had come from and could only provide the owner's name.
Zhu Derun named the hand scroll "Ancient Jade Map", indicating that he believes that all the jade in the picture is ancient.
His text introduction often mentions "the color is like red and the inner matter is white", "the ancient color is like a red date", "the black ancient lan spot", "there is water silver" and so on. Other criteria for judging ancient jade include "carvings that are ancient and simple.". "There are soil flowers erosion" and "fumiga erosion exhaustion".
From today's point of view, these standards are clearly too subjective and not scientific. But on the other hand, Zhu Derun seems to be saying that the new jade will not have an ancient red color, and the workmanship of the new jade is obviously different from that of the ancient jade.
One of the notable items in the Ancient Jade Map is the "Xuanyu Ring", which contains five images of animals between insects and beasts.
Xuan You is a tribal leader who fought against the Yellow Emperor of Xuanyuan in legend, and was defeated by the Yellow Emperor of Xuanyuan.
The Xuan You ring that appears in the "Ancient Jade Map" is very similar to a Neolithic jade ring in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Another jade ring engraved with similar figures was excavated in 1987 in Yuhang Yao Mountain, Zhejiang Province.
In fact, it does not matter whether the animal carved on the ring is a clam or not.
Whether the existing piece of the Xuan You ring in the National Palace Museum in Taipei is the one in the "Ancient Jade Map" is an interesting question.
But most importantly, in the Yuan Dynasty, prehistoric jade began to appear sporadically in the antique market.
Collectors may mistake new jade for ancient jade, but they will not look at it in the face of ancient jade.
No one in Zhu Derun had mentioned the matter of "Xuan Youhuan" before. Since no one mentioned it, there would be no imitations, so it can be inferred that what he saw was the real ancient jade.
Comparing the expositions written by Li Gonglin and Zhu Derun, we can find that connoisseurs of different eras have different understandings and concerns about jade.
Li Gonglin never felt the need to explain why he called his 14 pieces of jade "ancient jade."
During the Northern Song Dynasty, no one carried a sword with him, and the jade sword ornament was naturally an ancient artifact.
Ornaments such as water pendants and jade cockroaches were not popular styles at that time.
Therefore, Li Gonglin believes that his jade is an antique that can be seen.
What he was concerned with was examining the use of those jades through ancient books such as the Zhou Li and the Book of Poetry.
These ancient collectors have drawn their own collection patterns through their own cognition and understanding, and have continued to this day, which not only allows our descendants to understand the collection environment and concept of the ancients, but also has more respect for the inheritance of jade culture.