Followed by literature and history researchers. Many calligraphy and painting works handed down from ancient times directly reflect real life and are precious and vivid historical materials for studying social life and cultural relics laws and regulations in past dynasties. For example, the transparent bronze mirror in Shanghai Museum, which is "clear the inner substance to make it clear", is an object in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty. When the light shines on the mirror, the patterns are corresponding, which clearly reflects the patterns on the front and back of the bronze mirror to the opposite wall. This exquisite craft and the scientific principles contained in it are amazing. At the same time, nearly a thousand stone reliefs and brick reliefs of the Han Dynasty were found, covering a wide range of subjects, except the life stories of the deceased. There are ancient myths and historical stories, such as Fuxi, Nuwa, Shennong, ancient sages, dutiful sons and virgins; There are Leigong, Rain Master, Fengbo, Beidou, Weaver Girl, pavilions, boats and horses. There are famous story paintings in Wushi Temple, such as Jing Ke Stabbed the King of Qin, Mu Wang Meet the Empress Dowager, and Dog Bites Zhao Dun. The portrait bricks found in Chengdu, Sichuan Province are "shooting" and "harvesting", which describe shooting geese and cutting rice at the water's edge. "Market" describes the production process of salt, and so on. However, in order to make use of these materials, we must first stop seeking truth. Otherwise, if the information relied on is false, then the research results are of course false, and its research work will be in vain.
If collectors don't understand calligraphy and painting identification, they will spend a lot of money to buy fakes. If the looters don't know the appraisal of calligraphy and painting, and don't know who is expensive and who earns, they can't achieve the purpose of making profits.
What is calligraphy and painting appraisal? What does it include? This is the problem that we must solve first.
Using scientific methods to analyze and identify the authenticity and artistic level of ancient calligraphy and painting is called calligraphy and painting appraisal. Including two contents: ancient calligraphy and painting often encounter these two situations: first, some authors have their own titles or seals; Second, some works have no seals. Judging from Gu Shuhua's evaluation, the former is to distinguish between truth and falsehood, while the latter is to distinguish between right and wrong. There is a difference between the two. In the process of circulation, calligraphy and painting without seals should be judged by future generations as being made by a certain generation or person. Some of these evaluations are correct and some are wrong. Of course, the correct ones are credible, but the wrong ones are not. So we need to distinguish whether these evaluations are true or not. This is called distinguishing right from wrong. Some of them have not been evaluated and need to be re-evaluated, but there are only yes questions and no no no questions. Even so, they belong to the category of distinguishing right from wrong.
The above is the general situation, but there are also some special circumstances. In the first case, although there is no stamp, there is still a distinction between authenticity and falsehood. Mainly refers to the fake antiques made by people before the Yuan Dynasty by imitating characters, paintings and dyes. For example, several so-called "Bodhisattvas" and "Statues of Water Officials" of Cao Zhongyuan, Qiu Han and Zuo Li in the Five Dynasties were photocopied from the Japanese Appreciation of Shuanglaige, and they are probably fakes made by people in the late Qing Dynasty outside Guangdong. This painting also imitates the title of Song Huizong and Evonne's thin gold body, saying that it was written by someone. For this kind of fake antiques, the essence of counterfeiting is mainly identified from the aspect of antique making. Therefore, although it is not stamped, it is still a question of distinguishing authenticity. There is a question of right and wrong about the title of Evonne.
In the second case, although it is recorded, it is a question of right and wrong. Mainly refers to some works imitated in ancient times, mostly calligraphy. At that time, it was only copied for widespread circulation, not for counterfeiting. For example, the Tang Dynasty's "Long Live Copy of Wang Tie" is the place where the original background is damaged and incomplete, marked with ink coils, which shows that it was not intentionally forged. For this kind of thing, we just need to know that it is really imitating the Tang Dynasty. As for the authenticity of the original, that is another matter. Therefore, although it is the payer's law book, it is still a clear dating problem.
The third situation is that in one thing, distinguishing between true and false is mixed with distinguishing between right and wrong. For example, the preface to the collection of Lanting, the old volume titled Liu Gongquan's book, is an authentic copy of the Tang Dynasty, which was arbitrarily classified as a willow pen by later generations, and the inscription, postscript and collection seal are also true and false. In this case, we should analyze it in detail, and we can't say it is true or false in general, or it is not.
The above shows that it is not an easy task to "distinguish between true and false". We need to accumulate experience step by step and have rich experience in distinguishing Gu Shuhua, so that we can be more sure.
2. Authenticity and advantages and disadvantages
When identifying the authenticity and dating of Gu Shuhua, should we distinguish it from the artistic point of view and measure its artistic level? As far as the appraisal itself is concerned, we should first start with the artistic forms and techniques of the works, such as using pen, ink, color and composition (composition), and there is no other way. But the paintings and calligraphy made by those masters are indeed superior to ordinary painters in artistic techniques and pen and ink skills. Forgers can't copy. Some painters have lived for a long time, and their artistic skills and level are constantly developing. Therefore, judging the authenticity from the perspective of artistic skills, we must set several standards according to the artistic development of a painter's works, rather than sticking to one standard in general. Otherwise, immature early works will be regarded as fakes.
The standard of the quality of works is a difficult problem to explain clearly. Secular people often stay at the judgment level of "work" and "clumsiness", thinking that "working ability" is always superior, and "clumsiness" should be inferior. Painting is realistic and skillful, which can be said to be a work. But it pays attention to truth and lacks artistic originality, and is just a specimen wall chart; Skilled to the point of glib, but turned to the opposite side and became vulgar and disgusting. Writing steadily is the basic condition of calligraphy, but although it is hard, it can't be called a beautiful "calligraphy book". For the ancient "literati painting", we can't unilaterally talk about whether the object is realistic or not, and whether the description is meticulous. They tend to pursue stupid interests instead of being good at their jobs. The same is true of calligraphy. These problems are so complicated that it is difficult to explain them clearly in abstract terms. To get a correct judgment, only by reading a lot of works repeatedly can we gradually get familiar with them and gain a clear understanding.
Moreover, appraisal and appreciation are two different things, and we must never equate good or bad with true or false. Simply thinking that the good is true and the bad is false will make mistakes. For example, Wang Yi in Qing Dynasty had many imitations of Song and Yuan Dynasties in the early and middle period. At that time, his painting skills were already quite high, and his imitation of Song and Yuan Dynasties was not necessarily under Song and Yuan Dynasties. If we don't study whether his imitations are like those imitated works, only from the aspects of good painting and high skill, it will inevitably be considered as the original works of Song and Yuan Dynasties. There are also some art masters who encounter unfavorable objective conditions due to accidental reasons, such as poor paper and pencil tools, or mental fatigue and lack of interest when writing. , and can't maintain their original level; However, this decline will never be too far from the original level, or just a partial defect. When we come across such a work, we must carefully observe and study it from all aspects, find out the reasons and make a correct judgment, otherwise it will easily be mistaken for a fake. There are also some works by social celebrities, who are not famous painters and painters, and their artistic level is not high. Their works may be of cultural value, but they are not important in art, and some painters are not good at writing, and their calligraphy is often poor. Wait, you can't judge its authenticity only from its artistic merits. But we should also prevent excessive leniency and show mercy everywhere. If the inscription is a famous work, only a small part of it is better, and most of it is useless. It is also wrong to regard it as the original. In fact, it is too strict and too wide because there are no correct standards and models in my mind. In this way, it is impossible to produce a correct judgment of authenticity and right and wrong. Determine that Gu Shuhua's archenemy is partiality and cunning. If we only rely on our own subjective standards, what we like is good and what we don't like is bad. It is difficult to draw a correct conclusion by distinguishing authenticity with this attitude. Without a correct appraisal conclusion, the country's cultural relics will be lost, even to an irreparable extent. Therefore, when distinguishing ancient paintings and calligraphy, we must prevent the phenomenon of being too wide and too strict and biased towards evil.
Although there are the above two aspects in calligraphy and painting appraisal, it is the first level to distinguish between authenticity and right and wrong. Evaluating the artistic level, fineness and beauty of a work is of course part of the appraisal work, but compared with the first content, it is in a subordinate position, so the emphasis here is on "distinguishing truth from falsehood and distinguishing right from wrong", rather than the fineness and quality of calligraphy and painting. In the field of identification, I think authenticity comes first, and advantages and disadvantages come second. Criticizing the pros and cons is after judging the authenticity, not before judging, that is to say, it is impossible to know the pros and cons without knowing the authenticity of calligraphy and painting itself.
Paintings and calligraphy in past dynasties have a long history. According to Mi Fei's History of Books and Paintings in the Northern Song Dynasty, there are almost all forgeries in the works of his former famous painters and painters, and there are quite a few of them. For example, Li Cheng forged as many as 300 works, and he lamented that there were no lies. These records are only seen by Miffy. In fact, they are not limited to this number. These fakes have caused confusion to the authenticity of calligraphy and painting, and calligraphy and painting should be appraised to eliminate the false and retain the true. It shows that the history of calligraphy and painting identification has developed with the history of calligraphy and painting forgery.
In the old society, most ancient paintings and calligraphy were possessed by feudal emperors, bureaucrats, landlords and the bourgeoisie. They usually start from their personal hobbies, and some even regard Gu Shuhua as a tool for individuals to compete for strength and wealth. Therefore, their evaluation of Gu Shuhua sometimes can't proceed from objective reality and can't draw scientific conclusions. Although there are many experiences and materials for us to learn from in various works of calligraphy and painting appraisal and comment. However, most of these experiences and materials are scattered, and there are often many fallacies and inaccuracies. Due to the limitation of class and times, in China feudal society, no one has written a systematic and comprehensive monograph on calligraphy and painting appraisal.
Traditional appraisal methods mainly take seals, inscriptions, descriptions, other characters, dates, taboos and calligraphy as the main basis for calligraphy and painting appraisal. The disadvantage of this appraisal method is that it abandons the painting and calligraphy itself, but mainly uses the periphery of the painting and calligraphy, forcing the painting and calligraphy itself to be in a passive position. I never realized that this method is based on circumstantial evidence, one-sided and dangerous. Therefore, this appraisal method can not only solve the contradiction, but also cause more serious contradictions, and finally lead to the consequences of confusing the fake with the real and confusing the fake with the real. The conclusion is that calligraphy and painting are not epistemological. In fact, the power of circumstantial evidence does not play a decisive role in the authenticity of calligraphy and painting itself. Because it is the same as the relationship currency of painting and calligraphy, it is only subordinate to painting and calligraphy, and can only play an auxiliary role in painting and calligraphy. And sometimes it doesn't work or even backfire. Only after a concrete analysis of calligraphy and painting itself can we know whether it can play a role within its specific scope and to what extent. Therefore, calligraphy and painting itself is the subject of appraisal and the most exact basis. Only if this basis is independent, it is possible to use all circumstantial evidence. Otherwise, these circumstantial evidences, no matter how lovely, are all roses with thorns. Unify the objective conditions of painting and calligraphy with the external conditions of painting and calligraphy, and then analyze and study with the viewpoint of materialist dialectics. This is the theory and method of ancient painting and calligraphy appraisal to be expounded in this book.
To identify Gu Shuhua, we must make use of the contrast between things, mainly through the visual inspection of things, that is, to observe and identify the artistic expression characteristics of a certain kind of works, the times style of calligraphy and painting characters and the personal style of painters and painters. However, there must be a premise for visual inspection, that is, a person or an era has seen more works and can compare them in kind to achieve the goal, otherwise there is nothing to do. Therefore, it is often necessary to combine literature and materials to make up for the lack of "eye-catching". When a painter has many works handed down from generation to generation, he can really solve the problem by fully comparing them. There are many works handed down from generation to generation in Ming and Qing Dynasties, so it doesn't matter if there is no contrast condition. When the comparative conditions are insufficient, the examination may also play a leading role. Textual research relies on visual inspection to determine which paintings and calligraphy are copied, copied, or fake copied without reference. On this basis, it can be further revised and explored to achieve a more comprehensive understanding and understanding, otherwise the revision will be of no help. Therefore, the examination is second only to the visual inspection. In fact, visual inspection and inspection complement each other. Both are indispensable. For exams and review, most of them have to look through the literature. But don't forget that there will be mistakes in the literature itself, so beware of being fooled. Seals and calligraphy and painting are the most difficult to identify among antiques.
Some people collect seals mainly from stones, while others mainly from seals. Both can be used. If you want to collect a good seal, the seal is very old, and the famous seal cutting is the first choice. Of course, the quality of Zhang Shi is also one of the factors to consider.
To distinguish between calligraphy and painting, we should know how to use pen and ink, distinguish between seal and seal cutting, knife cutting, composition, schools of the times, calligraphy skills and so on.
Tibet and India should mainly consider seal cutting; A person who collects seals should have a deep study of calligraphy art, otherwise it is difficult to have a correct understanding of the quality of seal cutting.
The old seal has a rounded outline, a smooth surface, natural wear and no artificial traces, and long-term weathering has left historical traces. The surface of the engraved line of the seal is smooth because the strokes turn round after long-term use or natural weathering, and there is no obvious knife mark at the bottom of the seal (that is, the gap between the strokes). The surface is clean and there is no man-made dirt.
Good seal cutting, proper seal cutting, reasonable composition, proper knife cutting, and true grass seal cutting in the border section are all related. Everyone has their own style, and a small family has its own characteristics. It is by no means mystifying, flying tricks, bluffing and fooling amateurs.
How to determine the age of the seal? It is particularly important to know the history of India. Knowing what era and style, judging the situation, can distinguish right from wrong. Generally, the ancient seals in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties were mostly bronze seals, while the seals in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were mostly lithographs. Copper seals are mostly cast seals, and lithographs are mostly engraved. The style of ancient seals is extremely steep, the style of China seals is simple and bold, and the styles of genre seals in Ming and Qing Dynasties are also different. Wen Peng's beauty in Ming Dynasty, He Zhen's fierce interest, Ding Jingzhi's heroic and far-reaching in Qing Dynasty, Deng's graceful and graceful, graceful and elegant, Zhao's colorful, Huang Di Mausoleum's vigorous and elegant, and Wu Changshuo's simple and vigorous. In modern times, Qi Baishi was strong, and his adventures in Chu were endless.
Celebrities can't cheat, and cheating is by no means a celebrity. Only people with half a bucket of water copy famous works and profit from them. At present, the fraud methods are complex and varied, and they are skillful. They are summarized as follows for vigilance.
It is far-fetched to impersonate a famous artist. There are new stones and new prints, old stones and new prints, old stamps and old stamps. All these should be carefully examined from the author's style and characteristics. Only discerning people can see the flaw, and it is difficult for those who are not familiar with Samadhi seal cutting to understand it. There is no doubt that the calligraphy seal cutting level is not high.
The seal is imitation of the old, and the techniques are diverse. Deliberately knocking, breaking edges and corners, smoking and baking, boiling tea and soaking medicine, gluing and oiling (smearing black leather shoes oil, mud, etc.). ), polishing and grinding (polishing in a polishing machine, grinding the blade with a brown brush), inkpad plastering (plastering between gaps after stamping) and so on. As long as it looks like any of the above situations, or it is covered with grease and mud, there is no doubt that it will be fake.
Hindi is fabricated and full of loopholes. Counterfeiters are often low-level, and sometimes have defects, such as misprint, unclear positive and negative, reverse arrangement, and reverse word engraving. , are all forged.