Chapter 2067: Tian-Character Jar

Zhou Andong took the jar and placed it in his palm very casually, which scared Old Cricket, who hurriedly hugged it with both hands.

"Oh, my ancestor, you have to be careful. If this falls, you will spend your whole life in regret."

Old Cricket sent so many antiques, no matter how casually he held them, he had never been so nervous. It seems this jar is really not simple.

Old Cricket carefully placed the jar on the coffee table, with a very serious expression on his face.

"This is a Dragon Pattern Chenghua Doucai Tian-Character Jar."

"This is the Tian-Character Jar?"

Zhou Andong widened his eyes. This time when he picked it up, he was much more careful.

He doesn't understand antiques, and he hasn't seen this thing, but it doesn't mean he hasn't heard of it.

Because Jiangzhou has an antique market, and it is one of the top ten antique markets in the country.

In his previous life, he opened a bar and made many friends from all walks of life, and several of them were collectors.

Although these so-called collectors had a lot of water, it didn't prevent them from bragging together.

It is said that there are less than ten of these things in the world, only three are in the private sector, and the rest are all in museums of various countries.

And among the three in the private sector, only two are in the country, and one is in the hands of foreigners.

The two in the country are not complete either. One has no lid, and the other is in the hands of Old Ma, and it is a repaired remnant he bought from abroad.

It can be said that the Tian-Character Jar is the rarest variety in the history of Chinese ceramics. A British auction house auctioned a remnant of a Tian-Character Jar in London.

It is an incomplete repair, the mouth and neck of the vessel are polished flat, missing the lid, but the value is astonishingly high, with a transaction price of nearly 12 million.

Zhou Andong held the Tian-Character Jar, looking left and right, muttering in his mouth: "This thing, I don't see how good it is, how is it more valuable than blue and white porcelain?"

Old Cricket laughed: "The Chenghua Tian-Character Jar is famous among Chenghua Doucai porcelain, it is an imperial object of the imperial palace, and is worth a fortune."

"Because it has been more than 500 years, the years are vicissitudes, society is turbulent, and it is not easy for a complete Tian-Character Jar to circulate to this day, especially some covered jars, whose lids are rare to match."

"So, the Tian-Character Jar is not precious today, it was especially precious in history. During the Qianlong period, there is a text record."

"On June 19, the ninth year of Qianlong, a Chenghua Tian-Character Jar missing glaze was sent from the Yangxin Hall Manufacturing Office, and an imperial decree was passed: 'Have Tang Ying repair the glaze of the missing glaze Tian-Character covered jar. If it can be repaired, send it back after repairing. If it cannot be repaired, do not repair it, send it back as it is.' Respect this."

Tang Ying was very nervous after seeing the imperial decree. He took this jar back to Jingdezhen and pondered how to repair the glaze. After a few months, he remade three pairs and brought them back to the emperor together with the original jar.

He wrote a memorial: "Your servant carefully examined the sent Tian-Character covered jar, which belongs to the Chenghua kiln. It has been many years, and the fire has faded. If the missing glaze is repaired, it must be put into the furnace and fired again."

"I am afraid that the furnace fire will be forced, and it will not be suitable for the texture of the old kiln, so I dare not rashly repair the glaze. I carefully brought it to the kiln factory, imitated the original jar style and size, made three pairs, respectfully folded and sent to Beijing, and served the original jar together, praying for the emperor's wisdom. Respectfully play."

Zhou Andong sucked his teeth. He knew this thing was very valuable, and he also knew this thing was an imperial object. He really hadn't heard of Qianlong decreeing to repair the glaze.

"Since those emperors like this thing, why don't they burn more themselves."

Old Cricket said with a smile: "Actually, after Chenghua, Wanli to the Qing Dynasty all imitated the Tian-Character Jar, but only the Tian-Character Jar made during the Chenghua period is the real big brother level."

"For example, the Kangxi imitation has a thick body, and the Yongzheng and Qianlong imitations have thin bodies and fine quality, but the blue and white patterns and contour lines on the lid and the body."

"And the filling of colors on the objects, the ratio of glaze color and pigment, plus the small pores of kiln change, never reach perfection. So, Qianlong decreed to repair the glaze, because the Chenghua Tian-Character Jar is too precious to be imitated."

Zhou Andong carefully placed the jar on the coffee table: "This thing is really heavy."

Old Cricket laughed, picked up the lid of the Tian-Character Jar: "What do you see inside?"

"Grass, such a big pearl."

Zhou Andong leaned over to look, and the whole jar was full of pearls, white, gold, and black, and they looked the same size, very uniform.

Zhou Andong picked up a black one, pinched it with two fingers, lifted it up, and looked at it against the sunlight shining through the window. Then, the black pearl turned bronze under the sunlight.

"Black pearl, this is the first time I've seen it."

Old Cricket said with a smile: "This is Dongzhu."

"Dongzhu?" Zhou Andong blinked: "This is the legendary Dongzhu?"

"Yes!" Old Cricket nodded: "This jar of Dongzhu was collected by my old brother's family for generations."

Zhou Andong was a bit puzzled: "Isn't this thing a court bead? They are all in a string, why are they single?"

Old Cricket curled his lips and reached out to take one out: "You look carefully, such a big Dongzhu, without any flaws, is a first-class Dongzhu."

"The Qing Dynasty crown clothing system only allows the emperor, empress dowager, and empress to wear Dongzhu court beads, and the number of Dongzhu embedded in hat tops is also strictly limited according to the ranks of princes, dukes, and beile."

"As for the court beads of ministers, they are all beads below the third grade, and how many to wear for each grade is also strictly graded."

Zhou Andong reached out and grabbed a handful: "This jar, there must be two or three hundred, it's not bad to make necklaces for my daughter and Old Four and Xiao Qin. When you have time, send it to the gold shop and wear it with gold thread."

Old Cricket's mouth twitched violently: "Chairman Zhou, I know you don't lack money, but using Dongzhu to make necklaces, is it a bit..."

"Old Cricket!" Zhou Andong laughed loudly, and then sighed: "I collect antiques not because I love them personally, and certainly not to wait for appreciation in the future. My original intention is to prevent these precious cultural heritages from flowing abroad."

Saying that, he gently put the beads in his hand into the jar, and then sighed again: "You know better than anyone, if I didn't accept the things you sent me, how many of them could be spared?"

Old Cricket also sighed heavily and nodded heavily: "Indeed, I know these things are good, but they can't sell for a price in the country."

"Most of the items I sent were originally intended to be smuggled abroad, but they were intercepted by me. Only you have the financial resources to buy them."

"Yes!" Zhou Andong slowly stretched out his hand, picked up an exquisite little bowl from the wooden box, and looked at it carefully. The little bowl exuded an ancient atmosphere, seemingly carrying the vicissitudes of years and the precipitation of history.

"These are the precious wealth left to us by our ancestors. Since the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, countless cultural relics have been looted, and now there are very few left. Losing one means our history and culture lose one witness."

Old Cricket fell silent. He could feel the heavy responsibility and commitment in Zhou Andong's words.

In such an era where interests come first, there is still someone like Zhou Andong who silently adheres to the awe of history and the persistence of cultural inheritance, which is admirable. ===== CHAPTER 2068 =====