Reborn Treasure Appraiser: I Really Didn’t Want to Be an Expert

Chapter 87 Dugang Building

At most, there are six of them.

And which one of them is not regarded as a saint in the calligraphy world and has his name recorded in history?
As the saying goes, handwriting reflects the writer's character. Even if it is an imitation, the writer's personal writing habits and style will inevitably be left between the lines.

Looking at the words again, Lin Sicheng suddenly saw the light, as if the clouds had cleared and the sun had broken through.

The brushwork is light and unrestrained, the lines are round and smooth, the line spacing is sparse, and the structure is flexible.

The brushwork is natural and vivid, simple, quiet and elegant. It looks soft, but in fact it is strong and powerful. The outer layer is handsome, the inner layer is solid, and each character has both hardness and softness.

The word "guan" is only one of the reasons. There is also a second reason: even if it is a fake, there are differences in quality.

Like this one:
The imitation is exactly the same as the original: if he were to stand in front of Zhao Mengfu, he would probably hesitate and wonder when he had written this calligraphy.

And, without any fake Yuan Dynasty palace decoration, it is almost indistinguishable from the real Yuan Dynasty imperial paper...

Not to mention putting it together perfectly, just finding and putting these parts together is something that not everyone can do.

The most crucial point is that the person who imitates the calligraphy must have the original copy of Zhao Mengfu's "Heart Sutra" which is now treasured in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and must have copied it hundreds of times, otherwise it would be impossible to imitate it so closely.

Combined with the time node of "Mid-Late Qing Dynasty", Lin Sicheng's eyes lit up: a huge "Xiang" character suddenly popped up and swayed in his mind.

In an instant, the first five of the six famous artists disappeared, leaving only the last one: Dong Qichang.

Because the word "Xiang" popped up in my mind: Xiang Yuanbian Mingwan, whose name is Molin.

He was the top appraiser and collector in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, as well as the largest and most professional antique dealer and counterfeiter.

The Xiang family’s collection is half of the Forbidden City… This was not said by Lin Sicheng, but by a certain leader after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The Xiang family’s treasury was so abundant that it was the most abundant at that time… This was what Wanli said.

In the second year of Shunzhi's reign, the Qing army captured Jiaxing, looted all of Xiang Shi's collections, and transported them to the capital... Among them were more than 40,000 books, calligraphy, paintings, inscriptions, and rubbings by famous artists of all dynasties.

Because of this, we had "Tianlinlang (the library of the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty)" and "Shiqu Baoji" (the records of the Qing court documents)... So the leader's words were not exaggerated at all.

The key point is that the original work of Zhao Mengfu, now in Taipei, is among them.

Xiang Shi’s exquisite collection and his imitation of ancient times are the best in the country... This is what Qianlong said.

How similar is the imitation?
After the Palace Museum was established in 1925, experts began to study collections from the Xiang family, such as Gu Kaizhi's "The Goddess of the Luo River" from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi's "Letter to a Clear Sky after Snow" and "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", the Maogong Ding, and countless seals and inscriptions, to determine whether these collections were authentic or imitations by the Xiang family.

Even today, research is still ongoing.

Just like Huang Gongwang's "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains": there are six paintings in total, one in the National Palace Museum in Beijing and the other in Taipei, as well as the Zhejiang Museum and the Shanghai Museum.

Anyway, they all claim to be authentic works, but five of them were written by Qiu Ying on Xiang Molin's behalf, with inscriptions imitated by Wen Zhengming and Dong Qichang.

He and Wen Zhengming were close friends regardless of age difference. One-third of Wen Zhengming's works collected by the two Palace Museums bear his seal.

Dong Qichang and his son were close friends. Before he passed the imperial examination, he lived in Xiang's mansion for eight years, practicing calligraphy for eight years and copying calligraphy for eight years.

"Mochanxuan Shuo" (Dong Qichang) Inscribed: Traveling to study under Li, I unearthed all the calligraphy works of the Jin and Tang dynasties collected by Xiang Taixue Zijing. Only then did I realize that all my previous painstaking efforts had been in vain...

During this period, Dong Qichang himself could not count how many times he had helped Xiang Molin write and how many times he had imitated the works of famous artists.

The key point is that Dong Qichang did indeed imitate Zhao Mengfu's original work, which is now in the collections of both the Beijing Palace Museum and the Taipei National Palace Museum, and bears Xiang Molin's seal. He also did copy the Heart Sutra, although the original has been lost and only rubbings remain.

Therefore, when you look at this calligraphy again now, it is no longer an image, but the original state.

Of course, Lin Sicheng’s words don’t count, he needs to prove it.

If it were in the past, it would certainly be extremely difficult because it would have to be compared with the originals and rubbings collected by the Palace Museum.

But now, it is very easy... not because of Wang Qizhi, but because of the seals that have not been seen yet.

First, there is a circular stamp in the upper right corner of the painting, which is about the size of a finger, but is extremely intricately engraved: a cluster of flowers and dense decorative patterns surround a relief-engraved Chinese character "人".

If it were before, Lin Sicheng would have been completely bewildered. But since he had determined that this was a Xiang forgery, written by Dong Qichang, the origin of this seal was clear: Xiang Molin used this seal specifically to prevent others from imitating his work, or to prevent others from selling his imitations as authentic.

The reason is exactly the same as why Baoli did not accept this calligraphy: he was afraid of damaging his reputation.

It is also known as the "Thousand Character Classic" chapter. It takes characters from the Thousand Character Classic and is engraved with patterns that contain hidden codes.

For example, all five of Huang Gongwang's "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" paintings in Beijing, Taipei, and major museums have this kind of seal.

With this seal, there is no need for Wang Qizhi to say hello, nor for his master's wife to call. As long as he takes it to the Palace Museum, the leaders will definitely open the Wenhua Hall as soon as possible and take out Dong Qichang's original work for comparison.

Because the Palace Museum has over 4,000 pieces of calligraphy and painting with this kind of seal, all of which are imitations of famous artists. Therefore, the Palace Museum wants to find out who wrote this forged work more than anyone else...

Let’s look at the remaining two: one is slightly smaller, stamped on the lower left side of the painting, and the other is slightly larger, stamped directly above the inscription.

The handwriting is neat and solemn, with the marks of uniform depth, but unfortunately, it is all in Sanskrit, and it is the Brahmi script that existed before the fourth century.

To put it simply, it is similar to the Chinese bird-insect seal script and is only used in stone carvings and inscriptions.

According to the teachings of Esoteric Buddhism, it was created by the supreme god Vairocana Tathagata, so important scriptures and Buddhist texts are stamped with seals in this font to bless the magic power.

At the same time, it is also a collection seal.

But it was extremely difficult to recognize, no less difficult than translating insect-bird seal script into modern Chinese characters. Lin Sicheng could only write it on paper and translate it letter by letter.

When the first translation came out, Lin Sicheng narrowed his eyes: Tsokchen of the Highest Yoga Tantra?
Anuttarayoga is the highest secret method of Tantra, and Tsokchen refers to the scripture hall.

The so-called temple, if understood literally, refers to the place where Buddha and Bodhisattva practiced. But in the Yuan and Qing dynasties, it only referred to one place: the imperial palace!

To put it more bluntly: it is the place where the emperor practices secret yoga.

The key point is that the color of this seal is obviously redder and brighter than that of the "人" seal, which means it was stamped much later. Because it has been oxidized for a shorter time and has a lower degree of fading, the color difference occurs.

Roughly speaking, the difference is about two hundred years.

Two hundred years after Xiang Molin and Dong Qichang...mid-Qing Dynasty?

Lin Sicheng's pupils couldn't help but shrink: Dugang Tower in the Forbidden City, Yoga Temple.

A place dedicated to Emperor Qianlong's practice of Tantric Buddhism...

(End of this chapter)