Some suggestions on the identification of jade articles in Liangzhu

A few tips for jade identification in Liangzhu once had a jade cong on his face.

People in China have always liked jade articles. The earliest jade found so far in China was made of a pair of white jade slips found in Xinglongwa Culture, Chahai, Inner Mongolia, indicating that China began to use and make jade articles in the late Paleolithic period 10,000 years ago. Among them, Hemudu culture, Luojiajiao culture, Majiabang culture and Songze culture all found jade, and jade carving gradually separated from stone-making industry, forming an independent handicraft department. China people's love for jade has never stopped.

By around 3000 BC, Liangzhu culture appeared. Liangzhu culture is named Liangzhu culture because it was discovered in Liangzhu Town, Yuhang, Zhejiang Province. Many precious cultural relics have been unearthed in Liangzhu cultural site, among which jade is the most striking (Yangshao culture is famous for its rich pottery). Liangzhu jade carvings are numerous, very dense and meticulous, neat and harmonious. Especially in Liangzhu jade, it is hard to imagine that the fine concave carved lines were made by humans 5000 years ago.

Liangzhu yuduo

Archaeologists have systematically excavated Liangzhu culture, so they have systematically and comprehensively summarized the characteristics of Liangzhu jade. There is not much debate (many people often spread a lot of wrong appraisal formulas and knowledge in various media to confuse the water, which is too gullible. Not only in the antique market, like medical knowledge, especially in the fields of traditional Chinese medicine and cancer, but also in the fields of divination and geomantic omen, a large number of fabricated information is hard to prevent.

Liangzhu Yuzengwen bracelet watch

Analysis on the characteristics of Liangzhu jadeware;

1. Type: There are generally two types, one is sacrificial jade; The other is jade ornaments.

2. Liangzhu jades are mostly assembled except for jade cong, jade bi and jade bracelet. The production technology of Liangzhu jade is relatively mature, with regular and symmetrical shape, uniform thickness, straight lines and clear outline.

Third, the volume of Liangzhu jade is relatively large (Hongshan jade is relatively small), and the bas-relief on it is common, and the line carving technique is almost unprecedented, which is the most remarkable feature of Liangzhu jade.

Fourth, Liangzhu jade is made from local materials, which conforms to the logic of that era. Tremolite produced in Zhejiang nephrite (Meiling jade in Liyang, Jiangsu) of actinolite series is impure, mainly cyan, with a little yellow, and it is milky white after being soaked in soil. In addition, there are fluorite, pyrophyllite, chalcedony, turquoise and other stones produced in nearby areas. The hardness of this kind of stone is 6~6.5 Mohs, which is higher than that of ordinary steel carving knives, so it can't be carved with this carving knife. Imitations are generally made in xiuyan jade.

Liangzhu jade turtle

There is literature that the jade in Liangzhu is carved by nephrite method. Because Liangzhu jade is made of high-hardness jade, there was no high-carbon alloy tool in ancient times, so it could not be carved with a metal carving knife. In the Qing Dynasty, Ye Erkuan recorded the method of nephrite in Imitation of Light Transmission Volume: jade is hard and difficult to carve, so several water chestnuts can be boiled with wood all night, then alum and toad venom are coated on the carved place, dried in the sun, and then painted until the medicine is exhausted; If you take fat from the frog in another way, if you apply decoction, it will become soft and sculptural. After nephrite treatment, the hardness of the jade surface will be reduced by one or two Mohs hardness, so it can be carved with a metal carving knife (Rubin knife). The nephrite method mainly softens the jade on the surface, which also makes the carving of Liangzhu jade not deep. In Jin Yong's The Condor Heroes, Wang Zhongyang and Lin Chaoying made a bet to see who could write on the stone tablet with his fingers, and Lin Chaoying used nephrite medicine.

Lin Chaoying, the founder of the ancient tomb school.

There are three common carving methods: direct, full coverage and semi-coverage. The direct method is to directly treat all jade articles with nephrite method, and then carve them on them. Full coverage is similar to dyeing cloth. Protect the whole jade with impervious material, then carve to remove the softer protective layer, and then treat the jade with nephrite method to remove the softened part. Half-covering is to use the protective layer on the painting to protect the place not to be carved, protect the place to be carved, and then carry out nephrite treatment, just like batik.

Problems in nephrite method: In 2000, Mr. Wu Jingshan used "reagent mixed with calcium fluoride and various acid-base solvents" to treat jade materials with direct, full coverage and semi-coverage nephrite methods, imitating the carving effect of Liangzhu jade, and published the article "Trying to solve the carving mystery of Liangzhu culture jade". However, Wu Jingshan's article has been questioned by many people because of the small possibility of obtaining strong acid reagents in ancient times and the different characteristics of corroded imitations from the actual Liangzhu jade.

In fact, all the above are wrong, hahahahaha. The concave lines of Liangzhu jade are repeatedly carved, and the hardness of metal carving knives is not enough, but the hardness of many stone tools is higher than tremolite. We will discuss the specific methods below. But as I said above, some people who have never been in contact with it will believe it, and once it appears, it will be quoted repeatedly, so that many people will look for it online now. The foreshadowing of this information is actually to prepare for forgery.

Because Liangzhu culture is widely distributed, we can't completely protect it. From the discovery of Liangzhu culture to the present, there have been many poaching phenomena, and a large number of Liangzhu jade articles have flowed into the hands of private collectors and even overseas collectors, among which there are many fine jade articles. However, more Liangzhu jade in the market is imitation, because collectors' pursuit of Liangzhu jade has created a lucrative market, and there must be imitation where there is profit. Since 1990s, Pingyao Town in Yuhang has many workshops imitating Liangzhu jade. Most of them are sold to Hong Kong and Japan (so there are many fakes in Japan).

This golden pavilion is a fake antique, a replica, and it was really burned.

It is essential to distinguish the authenticity of these Liangzhu jades and understand Liangzhu culture, as well as the origin and background of these jades.

First, the jade material:

As mentioned above, the jade material of Liangzhu jade mainly adopts tremolite-actinolite nephrite series. One is translucent lake green jade when it is not dark, and it turns chicken bone white after soaking (better than the same piece of jade). This jade material is mainly used to make valves, cymbals, trident ornaments, crowns and so on.

The other is dark green without Qin Wei, and becomes five-color variegated after Qin Dynasty, and sericite-like cross fiber structure can be seen on the jade surface. This kind of jade material is mainly used to make large jade bi, which has been used from early to late Liangzhu. In the late Liangzhu period, this dark green jade material was also used to make high-node jade cong. However, the early jade cong were generally made of the first kind of jade material, but there was no such high-quality jade cong in the early days. This is the change law of jade reserves and the evolution law of jade shape from simple to complex.

Now the technology of counterfeiting has improved, but the jade material is different from before, which is a big defect. Because counterfeiting is bound to get high-priced things with cheap things and cheap ways. They won't do such a thing as spending 0.2 million/200 thousand on 10 million fakes.

Xiuyan jade stone

Cheaper and easier-to-get fake materials are xiuyan jade, which is still produced in large quantities in Liaoning. The hardness of xiuyan jade is 4.8-5.5 degrees, and that of Liangzhu jade is 6.6.5 degrees, which is relatively hard. The color and workmanship can be similar, but the hardness cannot be imitated.

Other jade materials can also be counterfeited with dushan jade and local miscellaneous jade with similar hardness and color. 1982 Xiao Meiling jade found in Liyang, Jiangsu Province was also used for counterfeiting. These are all new jade, and they need to be dyed and imitated after they are made. The differences in these processes have also become the basis of our judgment.

dushan jade

Second, Qin color

The jade in Liangzhu is mostly chicken bone white. Chicken bone white is a state in which jade loses its color after soaking. The actual colors are yellow-white, white, bluish white, light yellow, etc., which vary according to the jade itself. The jadeite with white chicken bones is deep in color, and it goes deep into the musculoskeletal bones. Because jade is an aggregate of various minerals, the calcification degree of different components of the same jade will not be consistent. There will be some relatively stable substances on the surface of chicken bone white jade without soaking, and crystal points of different sizes (as small as sesame seeds and as big as watercress) will be left on the surface of jade. These crystals are usually reddish brown and transparent when they are attached to the jade surface with a flashlight. Because the imitation chicken bone white is evenly whitened by fire or corrosion, this crystal point is not easy to cause and can hardly be seen on the imitation.

Dushan jade imitation chicken bone white with high hardness, because of high hardness, the surface of jade is chicken bone white, but it does not penetrate into jade, and it is still transparent under strong light.

As we said above, there is a dark green jade in Liangzhu jade, which is mottled with five colors after soaking. This kind of imitation is difficult, too easy to expose and rarely imitates.

Liangzhu chicken bone white

Third, Bao Guang.

Liangzhu jades, especially those unearthed in Fanshan, Yaoshan, Guanhui and Hengshan, will have a thin and dense glass-like optical film. Make jade present what we traditionally say: Bao Guang, which is a strong and soft luster. This is not reflected by the polishing and waxing of imitations. The glass light of imitations often looks a bit dazzling. Dushan jade imitation Liangzhu jade is generally not polished, because the surface structure of dushan jade is uneven, and once polished, the surface is often uneven.

The twelve-story jade cong is 40cm high and 8cm in diameter, which is very big, but it can still be carried by one person.

Fourth, cut marks

The cutting methods of Liangzhu jade are: wire cutting and sawing, and it is also found that uneven or arc-shaped cutting marks will be found on the jade surface when cutting marks with a heavy hammer.

The decorative pattern of Liangzhu jade is made of stone tools such as flint, timely and agate, jade sand and water, and the intaglio lines are tall and powerful. Drilling methods are solid drilling and pipeline drilling. Most of the holes in the middle are drilled from both sides, leaving surface marks, while there are spirals on the holes, and fakes are often polished and smooth. Under the magnifying glass, it can be observed that there are smooth fine concave lines with uneven thickness on the polished surface of jade.

There will be problems in adding jade sand with stone tools. That is, the hardness of a stone knife is not much bigger than that of jade, so you can't draw a long line at a time. Now you have to draw what you want to carve on the jade material, and then use a stone knife to draw a little along the previously drawn pattern, so that the depth of the same line will be different. The straight line can basically keep smooth, but the curve is easy to deviate from the original planned pattern, and there will be traces of deviation in the corner.

Observing with a magnifying glass, the yinxian on Liangzhu jade will be intermittent and filiform, and there will be traces of broken teeth on the edge of the line. Corroded jade can't have broken tooth marks. The thickness of the same line also changes slightly, and the distance of change is generally within 4cm. On the one hand, the hardness of jade is slightly lower, and on the other hand, in order to quickly copy in large quantities, counterfeiters will use a diamond cutter with higher hardness (it is easy to get a glass cutter), and the carved line marks will never imitate the traces of the real thing. Although many imitations will deliberately imitate the seemingly scratched lines, it is not difficult to distinguish the authenticity by carefully comparing the things made because of the different materials and tools.

Because the stone tools used for carving will also wear out, the blade of the tool itself will not be too sharp. Observing with a magnifying glass, the trace on the bottom of the chord pattern is round, while the imitation is carved with a diamond knife, and the bottom of the carving pattern is sharp.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) shape

Liangzhu jade articles are handmade, each piece is different and will not appear in pairs.

Because the catalogue of Liangzhu culture jade articles is easy for everyone to see, the imitation covers almost all shapes, but in the process of imitation, we don't pay attention to details. In order to pursue higher profits, imitators often choose beautifully decorated valves and bracelets with three forks to imitate, and in order to increase aesthetics, they will do a lot of gilding the lily. For example, in Liangzhu jade unearthed at present, there is no animal face decoration of God that combines bas-relief and underlined lines. The imitators ask about the pursuit of wealth and prosperity, but they are just gilding the lily. There is also the pursuit of height, so that jade, shovel and hook are getting bigger and bigger. The higher the system, the higher the people. The columnar tall valves, triangular and hexagonal valves, engraved with God's emblem, cymbals, bracelets, hooks, tridents, semicircles and valves in the market are all imitations, with large output.

Liangzhu Yu Cong

The jade cong is 5 cm high and has a shooting diameter of 7. 1 to 7.4 cm. In fact, it is very small and can be held in your hand. If it is too heavy, the jade cong will lose its practicality.