Chen Baisen, a Famous Poet in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and Furniture Collection

Chen Baisen, a famous poet, is a contributing author of Our Writer's Life. He has supported our work for a long time and has written many famous collection articles. Recently, he died suddenly because of long-term overwork. We send this article in memory of him.

Some experts say that there are two kinds of Ming and Qing furniture worth collecting: one is Ming-style Huang Huali furniture in the middle and late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty; The other is the court rosewood furniture of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong in Qing Dynasty.

This is good only from the perspective of investment. The former is mostly made with the participation of literati, while the latter is often made under the personal supervision of the emperor and the guidance of court artists. These hardwood furniture are not only old, but also accurate in design, excellent in materials and exquisite in workmanship, which has the most room for appreciation. However, the significance of investment only accounts for a small part of "collection", and the third place of "collection" lies in the pleasure of appreciation and possession. Even a brief appreciation and instant possession, its pleasure is indescribable.

In 2002, a Song Huizong's Sketch of Rare Birds was lucky enough to "flow" back to China Guardian auction. At that time, the conservative valuation was within 6,543,800 yuan. An old man dreamed of it and tried his best to buy it back. When the host offered 6.5438+0.3 million yuan, the old man raised his hand, but was immediately covered, and was finally taken away at a price of 25.3 million yuan including commission. Unfortunately, the painting once again "flowed" abroad!

According to Mr. Ma Weidou, a famous collector present, when the old man raised his hand, he clearly saw a glimmer of light in his eyes. That is the joy that the old man can't restrain when he owns this famous painting instantly, and it is also the joy when he appreciates this painting instantly!

Although this story is about ancient paintings, isn't it the same with Ming and Qing furniture?

Ming and Qing furniture is a kind of material wealth and spiritual comfort. A masterpiece can be priceless, but it is impossible for a collector to give him emotional pleasure.

There was a disciple named Zhou Gongxian in Wen Zhiming. On the rosewood armchair he used, there is such a five-character quatrain: "If there is nothing to sit still, one day is like two days. To live for seventy years is one hundred and forty. " Although this poem is exaggerated, it fully reveals his fascination with rosewood armchairs! On another desk made in Wanli, there is also a four-character poem engraved with "Beautiful materials, simple research, pretending to be rich (Germany) and escaping from me for a hundred years", which vividly shows the overwhelming joy of its owner when he owns it!

Cultural relics collection is not only an investment, but also a culture. Ming and Qing furniture is not only a kind of material, but also contains a kind of spirit.

Therefore, Huang Huali and rosewood furniture in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties are certainly worth collecting, but chicken wings, sour branches and rosewood furniture in the Qing Dynasty, beech and nanmu furniture before the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and Huang Huali and rosewood furniture after Qianlong are equally worth collecting as long as they are beautiful. The so-called beauty should be like a beautiful woman, impeccable, adding one point is too long and subtracting one point is too short; It is also like a composition, flowing, doing what should be done, and stopping here. Beautiful furniture, clearly bearing the designer's ideas, silently telling its profound connotation, similar to masterpieces, is "made of diamonds and wrapped in colorless and transparent crystal paper". As for the dispute over the quality of furniture in Ming and Qing dynasties, it is even more meaningless. Just as poetry developed into Ci in Tang and Five Dynasties, Su Shi's Ci evolved into Ci, we can't demand Ci by the aesthetic standards of poetry, nor can we compare Ci by the requirements of Ci, let alone measure qing-style furniture by the standards of Ming-style furniture. Qing-style furniture should and can only be "different"! The significance of this is just as the good master said: "The dew of the wild newspaper has not disappeared, and the smoke of the bird mountain has not disappeared. Life can last forever, and I'm afraid the world is even more boring. " Ye Qiu is the name of the cemetery, and Bird Mountain is the location of the crematorium. Imagine that it would be too monotonous if the furniture art in Ming and Qing dynasties did not have a distinctive style of seeking novelty and beauty, but only a Ming style of "simplicity without carving, that is, carving, which is also the wind of Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties". !

As daily necessities, furniture can also become an aesthetic object, leading people to cultivate self-cultivation, cultivating people's leisure, getting rid of impetuousness and calming anger, which is incredible. No wonder a western research expert called China Ming-style furniture "unique art" in the world.

However, since the Republic of China, especially after the end of 1980s, the furniture market in Ming and Qing dynasties, like other art markets, was flooded with imitations and fakes. The publishing industry has added fuel to the fire, making fake books and books compiled by people with little knowledge or even complete "amateurs" popular. The so-called "when it is false, it is true, it is true and false", which confuses the audience and confuses black and white. Some expert editors' appreciation introductory works are not rigorous enough, which are as follows: first, the content introduction is similar, the physical pictures are similar, and they are copied everywhere; Second, the price evaluation is chaotic, and some take the highest auction price of similar items as the evaluation reference, which is completely contrary to the current market circulation price; Some put the auction transaction price (or valuation) several years ago and the current auction transaction price (or valuation) in the same book, and do not indicate the date of transaction (or valuation), so that a book case of Huang Huali in the late Ming Dynasty (94cm× 194cm× 87cm) is only "estimated at 32,000-38,000 yuan". And a small mahogany four-in-one folding leg coffee table (47.5cm× 47.5cm× 75cm) in the Qing Dynasty is "valued at 70,000 yuan" ... This pushes the furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties from the quiet "Jianghu fork port" of research, collection and temperament to the noisy "Yangtze Sea" of investment, money making and speculation.

At the beginning of 2006, I learned that the Shanghai XXX auction house had the information of "free appraisal, expert appraisal", so I took a pair of mid-Qing mahogany Yin He to make an inquiry. It was the famous expert who often taught porcelain and wood identification knowledge in college classes and social training classes that day. He put Yin He under a magnifying glass and looked at it again, then opened the lid and patted him on the ear. Then he glanced at several young people around him (maybe students who followed him as interns). Without such kind words as "I can't read well", he handed Yin He back to me in an ironic tone: "This thing is a modern synthesis!"

This "famous artist" actually regarded the finest rosewood as a synthetic material, which is as black as paint and as moist as a horn!

Similarly, there are many "experts" who regard high imitations as real antiques. In 1980s, Mr. Mao Xiaohu saw a broken flowerpot with prominent patterns produced by a modern porcelain factory. Because it was in good condition, he took it back to his studio for repair and old treatment. It is this cultural relic that was collected by the acquisition office of the Palace Museum after collective research by experts of the Palace Museum, and then appeared in a certain issue of Collection magazine of 1993.

There is also a story about the dispute over the authenticity of Dong Qichang's A Stack of Smoke and Rivers: there is one in the National Palace Museum and one in the Shanghai Museum. The former has the imperial seal of Emperor Qianlong and Jiajing and the seal of the appraiser, while the latter has the seal of Xie, the master of painting and calligraphy and the appraiser. Who is true or false is still in doubt!

The authenticity of porcelain and calligraphy and painting is so difficult to distinguish, and so is wood. Therefore, it takes decades of accumulation or even a lifetime of energy to truly understand the appraisal.

There are many keys to recognition. The most basic thing is to look at the real thing, not only the standard musical instruments, but also the old imitations, high imitations and restorers, and then ask the master to point out and analyze their similarities and differences in shape, texture, pattern, technology, feel and patina through the "comparison method". Identification, also known as "ophthalmology" or "visual inspection", is actually an empirical study. Throughout the world, the identification of cultural relics is mainly based on visual inspection. This insight is subjective rather than rational cognition; The way to get it is to ask questions from the heart, give them fire and spread them to the light, not to be humble and poor, and to be prescribed by the college. Because some experiences cannot be expressed in words or accurately, that is, they can only be expressed in words, and it is even more difficult to resort to language. For example, the "charm" in the appraisal of calligraphy and painting, the "feel" in the appraisal of porcelain and the "good start" in the appraisal of wood products. Some people believe in scientific means too much, but it is said that Jun porcelain was detected by thermoluminescence, and the conclusion is "300-700 years ago", that is, the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention the difference between it and visual science "recognized as Song Dynasty", this conclusion itself is 400 years behind. Therefore, familiarity is a necessary condition for recognition. First, we should be able to grasp the basic characteristics macroscopically, and whoever is wrong about the basic characteristics is false; Second, paying close attention to details, which is composed of technology and culture, is indispensable. Fake goods pass the first level, but often fail to pass the second level. Clues are often revealed in the details. Wang, a modern scholar, said: "Anyone who appraises antiques can't be false unless he has seen it with his own eyes. Take falsehood as truth, and if you encounter truth in the future, you will recognize falsehood. " This is from experience.