Chapter 38: Am I Still a Miscellaneous Expert?

The jeans had become shorts, and Lin Sicheng held the dog in one hand while carrying the Dog Basin wrapped in the cut-off pant legs in the other.

Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin followed behind, glancing at the dog, then glancing at the Dog Basin in Lin Sicheng's hand.

"Lao Guan, what is that thing?"

"Looks like an enamel basin?"

Hao Jun rolled his eyes: "Are you kidding me?"

Is an enamel basin worth Lin Sicheng spending two thousand yuan to buy a dog?

And even going so far as to cut his pants just to take away a Dog Basin covered in dog shit?

"Then what do you say it is?"

Hao Jun choked: he looked at it... and it also looked like an enamel basin?

But it definitely wasn't an enamel basin.

Lin Sicheng wasn't someone with money to burn, was he?

Just as they were guessing wildly, Lin Sicheng stopped and looked left and right.

They had just exited North Lane, with the road ahead and Sajin Bridge right beside them.

The roadside was packed with cars, ivy climbed all over the railings, and the sprinklers in the grass were hissing as they sprayed water.

Looping the dog leash around the railing, Lin Sicheng stepped into the green belt. With a few quick movements, he unwrapped the denim and aimed it right at the sprinkler.

Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin exchanged a look and stretched their necks.

The basin was dirty, and not just ordinarily dirty; black mud was caked with all sorts of things, being washed away layer by layer.

Lin Sicheng didn't mind the filth, using the denim to wipe it gently. His movements were very slow and very careful.

Then once, twice, three times... the Dog Basin became cleaner and cleaner, gradually revealing its original color.

Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin's eyes grew wider and wider, and wider still.

First the rim, bumpy and dented, pitted and scarred, in a state of utter disrepair.

There wasn't much enamel left, with the remaining bits showing the unique water-drop patterns left after enamel is chipped away, looking exactly like raindrops bursting in an instant.

But the strange thing was, the exposed edges weren't the low-carbon steel that turns black after enamel chips off, but red—and a red with a hint of purple?

What is this, copper?

Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin were invigorated: strictly speaking, any metal vessel encased in enamel belongs to the enamel category. But due to the scarcity of raw materials and the state of industrial standards, mass-produced copper enamel has basically gone extinct.

Even if it exists, it is purely handmade. And it is old enough, at least from before the founding of the country.

So, is this a Republic of China-era copper enamel basin?

Haha, I knew Lin Sicheng couldn't have spent two thousand yuan just to buy a dog. Looking at it now, this basin is easily worth two thousand; it's like the dog was free.

Secretly pondering, Hao Jun leaned in a little closer, but then he froze as if turned to ice.

No, how did it turn blue?

Right at the rim, as Lin Sicheng washed it, the intact parts of the outer enamel slowly revealed themselves. A touch of deep blue caught their eyes.

Thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him, Hao Jun blinked hard, and when he opened them to look again, his pupils shrank bit by bit.

Blue as a furnace fire, clear as the azure sky, bright as the firmament... Peacock Blue?

But that wasn't the point; the point was the pattern gradually being washed out on the bottom of the basin:

Two three-tailed goldfish, the enamel on the fish bodies mostly gone, with only the glaze on the tails remaining: one pink, one golden yellow.

The floating leaves between and around the two fish were mostly intact. At a glance: the pink was pink, the gold was gold, the green was green; the glaze was even and rich, the colors moist and beautiful.

The most crucial part was the craftsmanship visible where the enamel had fallen off the fish bodies: it was clearly copper wire Cloisonne, where the enamel was applied after the wires were set, fired in a kiln, polished flat after coming out, then re-applied, re-fired, and re-re-applied, and re-re-fired...

Hao Jun couldn't deduce how many times the color had been applied or how many times it had entered the kiln, but he dared to conclude at least that this was no ordinary copper enamel basin—it was Cloisonne.

Officially known as Cloisonne, it was monopolized by the Imperial Household during the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. It wasn't until the Guangxu era, due to a lack of funds and a break in technical lineage, that it shifted to a "government-established, privately-fired" joint operation model.

Based on this, even if this basin was from the Republic of China era, and even if it came from a private workshop, it was at least from an old, established imperial merchant brand from the Great Qing.

If one had to estimate a price, it was worth at least ten golden retrievers.

Tsk, this luck of Lin Sicheng's?

Just as he was secretly amazed, Guan Xingmin poked him: "Lao Hao, look!"

"No need to look, it's Cloisonne!"

"Do you think I don't know it's Cloisonne? I'm telling you to look at the mark..."

"What thing?"

Hao Jun turned his head sharply: Lin Sicheng had finished washing the inside of the basin and was now washing the outside. Just like before, the glaze was deep blue, crystalline, and rich.

When he washed to the bottom of the basin, as the grime was washed away, a stamp about the size of a beer bottle cap, perfectly round, with a deeper, bluer color approaching navy, was revealed.

The characters were in regular script, the impression was uniform in density, the spacing between strokes was well-proportioned, and the thickness was even.

Unfortunately, only half remained: "Daozuo"... Daozuo what?

He had no impression of it, but that didn't stop the price of this basin from skyrocketing.

Without a mark, it was worth ten golden retrievers, but with a mark, even if it wasn't recorded in history, the price would at least double.

He subconsciously looked at the dog tied to the railing: what was this, sheer dumb luck?

Before long, it was mostly washed clean. Just as Lin Sicheng stepped out from the railing, Guan Xingmin reached out: "Give it here, let me take a look!"

Hao Jun gave a "hehe" laugh: "You don't mind the dirt?"

"Dirty? If you threw thirty or fifty thousand into a latrine, watch me fish it out."

"Nonsense!"

Hao Jun retorted, but he also leaned in.

But after just one look, both of them were suddenly stunned.

Looking from a distance was one thing, but looking at it right in front of their eyes was another thing entirely.

First, look at the vessel shape: the rim was indeed chipped, but more of it was intentional: seven indentations, forming a wavy, undulating line, which, when combined with the straight lines of the belly, looks exactly like a flower at first glance.

So, this is no basin at all; it is clearly a Sunflower-mouth Plate.

Then look at the circle of green leaves on the bottom of the basin and the two fish in the center: the copper base is as thin as a page, the copper wire as fine as silk, the thickness identical, the fineness uniform.

Just looking at this exquisite and extremely rigorous craftsmanship, one feels that this basin... oh no, this plate, does not seem like something a folk workshop could produce?

Then look at the glaze color: it is clearly sky blue, but when tilted slightly toward the light, it unexpectedly reveals a faint layer of purple halo.

Subconsciously, the two of them thought of that bluish Purple Clay Teapot.

Cloisonné does indeed undergo kiln transmutation, but this basin is definitely not that. The reason it has this glaze color is simply because Huiqing Cobalt was used during the Blue Pointing (coloring before firing).

The key is that this thing is ridiculously expensive, and during the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was supplied exclusively to the imperial family.

It is even less likely to be from the Republic of China; at that time, whether firing porcelain or firing Enamel, they uniformly used Foreign Blue imported from Europe, which was cheaper.

And don't even mention the Republic of China; by around the Tongzhi era, Huiqing Cobalt had basically gone extinct.

Combined with the fact that "Enamel-colored was not fired after Qianlong," this basin could only have originated from the mid-Qing period or earlier... but then again: where would a folk workshop come from in the mid-Qing?

Hao Jun's eyelids twitched as he flipped the basin over: although only half of the mark remained, one could see the seal was a double-ring, inner and outer. The font was slightly soft, with a faint trace of cursive script...

But precisely because it is a bit soft, it is extremely recognizable: this is the style of the Official Kiln marks from the early Yongzheng period.

Damn it, am I really an Expert in miscellaneous items?

Hao Jun stared at the golden retriever lounging lazily under the railing, not knowing what to say.