Chapter 486: Too Much Titanium

The atmosphere was somewhat quiet.

Peng Yanzhi was absent-minded, his soul wandering beyond the heavens.

Seeing him holding the item without moving, his expression not quite right, Chen Shiquan misunderstood the intention: "Director Peng, is this Brush Washer not right?" "Ah, the Brush Washer?" Peng Yanzhi woke as if from a dream, "It's alright!"

After replying, he looked at it carefully again.

Wang Qi Zhi and Zhao Xiuneng exchanged a glance: this kind of situation was not the first time it had happened. Peng Yanzhi was not the first, and he would definitely not be the last.

One gets used to it.

After a rough look, the Brush Washer was indeed fine, so Chen Shiquan introduced another piece.

"Director Peng, look at this one: I picked this up in Quanzhou during the eleventh month, they say it's an authentic Jianyang Kiln Green Rabbit Hair Cup, please take a look."

Following the direction of General Manager Chen's finger, the three of them looked over, and then, their eyes lit up.

The so-called Jian Cup refers to tea cups with crystalline glaze fired at the Jianyang Kiln in Fujian during the Song Dynasty. Among them, the Kiln-transmutation Porcelain is the Hair Cup.

Song Huizong's "Grand View Tea Theory": "The color of the cup is prized for being blue-black, with jade-like hair streaks that are long and reaching being the best." To translate: blue with flashes of black, the streaks long and straight, each one clearly visible, reaching from the rim of the cup to the bottom, only then is it a top-grade piece.

If subdivided, the Tianmu Cup is the best; under strong light, it can present blue, purple, and gold halos, as if made of colored glaze.

There are only three in the world, all in Japan. The Japanese academic circle claims that during the Japanese Kamakura period (late 12th to 14th century), Japanese monks studying at Buddhist temples on Tianmu Mountain in ZJ Province, China, brought back tea bowls from Tianmu Mountain, and the name Tianmu was thus derived.

But Wang Qi Zhi did not believe a single word of it: it was one hundred percent looted from ancient halls or temples in the two Guangs or Jiangzhe regions during the Japanese invasion of China.

The Japanese ceramic academic circle has researched it for decades, hoping to reproduce the craftsmanship, but because kiln transmutation is uncontrollable, it has never been achieved.

Secondly, the Silver Oil Hair Cup: its characteristic is that the hair streaks inside the cup are oil-drop shaped; under strong light, the boundaries between the drops are clear, and it is named for looking like mercury floating on a mirror.

During the two Song Dynasties, it was Imperial Porcelain for the palace; the craftsmanship was lost during the Yuan Dynasty, and today there are fewer than two hundred pieces in existence.

The third category is the Rabbit Hair Cup, as the name suggests, the streaks are like rabbit hair. The highest grade among them is the Rainbow Gold Rabbit Hair Cup, meaning the hair streaks are gold with a hint of red, and show seven-colored halos under side lighting.

The next grade down is this one before them: the Green Rabbit Hair Cup.

The hair streaks are blue-gray, the color like storm clouds before rain, the glaze surface has a unique jade-like texture, and the ends of the hair streaks have frog-egg-like crystalline dots.

I don't know how many are in existence, it is said there are only a thousand or eight hundred in the whole world.

Of course, this is collectors deliberately hyping it up; the number in existence is definitely more than a thousand or eight hundred. But the "more" here is only relative, so the price for this category is not low.

Those with poorer quality are over a million, and those with slightly better quality are basically between two and four million.

The cup Chen Shiquan pointed to belongs to this category of quite good quality; if one were to estimate a price: over two million.

It is indeed rare; even someone as wealthy and imposing as Wang Qi Zhi hasn't seen it many times. The few were very curious and gathered around together.

Peng Yanzhi appraised it while looking: "The hair streaks are as fine as rain threads, the branching is natural, the ends are swollen like frog eggs, the boundary transition is like a misty halo."

"The body is like black gold, the pore walls are like sesame seeds, the bottom foot retains fine string patterns... the glaze luster is like old jade, the glaze surface is like rainbow colors..."

"Facing the fire, it is blue with a hint of blue; with the back to the fire, it is blue-gray leaning toward green; the tea stains and patina are like a web, and the polished patina presents an amber glow..."

Turning it over and over, back and forth, Peng Yanzhi muttered while looking. As he watched, he suddenly stopped, a trace of suspicion flashing in his eyes.

As if there was something he hadn't looked at carefully, he took out a Magnifying Glass and scanned it back and forth.

This scan lasted for nearly ten minutes. Peng Yanzhi placed the Bowl on the shelf: "General Manager Zhao, you take a look too!"

Could there be something wrong?

Zhao Xiuneng was suspicious for a moment, said "Okay," and then picked up the Bowl.

It was indeed as Peng Yanzhi said: the hair streaks were even and fine, the boundaries clear, and the halo dispersion natural.

The body was correct, the hidden bubbles were also correct, including the fine lines left when trimming the bottom foot, and the subtle color difference produced by the fire-facing and back-to-fire sides during glaze setting were also correct. As well as the tea stains and skin crust unique to handed-down items, they were also correct.

But there was only one point: he always felt the body color was a bit light. It was not the "storm clouds before rain" recorded in ancient books, but rather a color sense of "gray clouds on a cloudy day."

Especially the transition area between the bowl wall and the bowl mouth: from blue to gray, from gray to brown, from brown to green, from green to yellow, and gray-white spots were faintly visible. But an authentic Green Hair Cup should turn from blue to Red Sandalwood, and then present an iron-gray color.

However, it was very subtle and did not affect the overall glaze color. Furthermore, Jian Cups are Kiln-transmutation Porcelain, which emphasizes ten thousand variations, and there is no strict standard. So it is hard to say, perhaps this one underwent unknown changes during the kiln-transmutation process.

After looking carefully, Zhao Xiuneng put the Bowl back.

Wang Qi Zhi propped up his chin: "General Manager Zhao, how is it?"

Zhao Xiuneng hesitated for a moment: "It's quite good!"

Wang Qi Zhi was stunned and stared straight at him.

Zhao Xiuneng did not dodge or avoid, but he didn't speak either.

Wang Qi Zhi turned his head back to look at Peng Yanzhi. Peng Yanzhi thought for a moment and also said: "It's quite good!"

Good is good, not good is not good, what is this "quite good" of yours?

Wang Qi Zhi is not an outsider; of course, he knows what these two words mean, and he couldn't help but stretch his neck.

But it was useless; he only understood porcelain at most and couldn't be considered proficient, so he really couldn't see anything.

Chen Shiquan was also not an outsider. Although his appraisal ability was not high, he had the advantage of rich experience. As soon as he heard both of them say "quite good," his eyelids jumped repeatedly.

What experts call "quite good" either means they are not sure, or the item has some flaws. Regardless of which it is, it shows that this item might have some problems.

Chen Shiquan is quite wealthy, but no matter how wealthy he is, he cannot let one or two million go down the drain without blinking.

In his astonishment, he grabbed Peng Yanzhi's arm: "Director Peng, what is our relationship? Consider it old Chen begging you, give me a straight answer..." "General Manager Chen, it's not that I'm fooling you, it's that I'm really not quite sure..." Peng Yanzhi shook his head, "It's my fault too, I have little experience, I really haven't appraised many Jian Cups..."

Old Peng, aren't you talking nonsense?

If even you have to say you've appraised few, where else in Guangzhou city can one find someone who has appraised many?

While secretly thinking, he looked at Zhao Xiuneng again. Zhao Xiuneng was blunt: "General Manager Chen, what Director Peng said is not entirely wrong: the more expensive an item is, the fewer there are in existence, and the rarer it is.

Consequently, the fewer people are willing to take them out for peers to play with and for experts to appraise. Having appraised few, naturally, there is little experience... People like me and Director Peng are a bit better, at least we have seen them and appraised them. If it were someone with less experience, they might not necessarily be able to tell..."

Chen Shiquan understood: the two of them had at least appraised them, at least they had experience. If it were someone else with insufficient experience, even if there were problems, they wouldn't be able to see them. Then, they would pat their chests and say: "General Manager Chen, don't worry, it's one hundred percent authentic..."

He let out a breath and cupped his hands again: "You two, where exactly are you not sure?"

Peng Yanzhi pointed: "The glaze surface is slightly light, and the transition area is too rich..."

Zhao Xiuneng also pointed: "The body is too gray, and the gray has a hint of..."

After a slight pause, he added another sentence: "It could also be that we are nitpicking. After all, Jian Cups are Kiln-transmutation Porcelain. As the saying goes, one color enters the kiln, ten thousand colors come out. It is not surprising that the glaze color and body color occasionally change..."

Chen Shiquan shook his head: "Jian cups are indeed Kiln-transmutation Porcelain, but no matter how they transmute, there is still a range."

"To determine if this is the best Gold-Red Rabbit Hair, the second-best Blue Rabbit Hair, or the lesser Gold, Brown, or Gray Rabbit Hair, one must first look at the hair patterns, second at the glaze luster, and third at the transition zone."

"Every type of cup has its own transition zones and characteristics; anyone who understands Hair Cups knows this. But if a new one suddenly appears, then this item naturally has a problem."

While pondering, Chen Shiquan picked up the Bowl and grabbed the High-intensity Flashlight.

Inch by inch, he was even more meticulous than Peng Yanzhi and Zhao Xiuneng. But it was useless; no matter how he looked, he did not discover the problems of "the body being too shallow and the transition zone being too rich" that those two had mentioned.

But Chen Shiquan at least knew: it was precisely because he could not see it that it showed there was a gap between him and those two.

After looking for a good while, he raised his head: "Director Peng, is there any other way to verify this?"

Peng Yanzhi shook his head.

It was not that there was no way, such as finding a more professional Expert.

But to tell the truth, if it were within the province, it was not that there were none better than him, but even if they were invited over, the result would be about the same as his: unable to be certain. There is more Artifact Research in Fujian, so perhaps there might be a discovery, but that is only a 'perhaps'.

If one wants to understand it thoroughly, it is best to use a machine. But there is a problem: out of ten machines, at least seven or eight require sampling for testing. It doesn't need to be much; at most three holes drilled, and this Bowl would be ruined.

What if one tries to be clever only to end up with a blunder, turning a real Bowl into a ruined one?

For an item worth two or three million, no matter how much money Chen Shiquan has, he still has to weigh it.

Seeing Chen Shiquan's conflicted expression, Zhao Xiuneng smiled: "General Manager Chen, how about letting my Junior Brother take a look?"

Chen Shiquan was stunned: "Who?"

Zhao Xiuneng pointed: "Junior Brother Lin, the one drinking tea!"

Chen Shiquan turned his head subconsciously: over by the tea, Lin Sicheng was holding a tea Bowl, not knowing what he was saying.

Ye Anning sat beside him, covering her mouth and laughing incessantly; as she laughed, she gave Lin Sicheng two punches.

No... how does this look like anything other than a young couple dating? You want him to look at it?

While he was suspicious, Wang Qi Zhi waved his hand: "Sicheng, Sicheng?"

Lin Sicheng raised his head: "Teacher?"

Wang Qi Zhi pointed at the Bowl: "Come over here and help General Manager Chen look at this Jian cup."

"Oh..."

Lin Sicheng responded, put down his tea cup, and walked over, with Ye Anning following behind.

After only ten steps or so, he soon arrived. Chen Shiquan looked him up and down: clean and refined, sunny and spirited.

He was indeed very good-looking, but in the appraisal trade, one does not look at who is handsome. The person in front of him was at most just over twenty, with a few traces of lingering childishness still hidden between his brows.

While he was suspicious, Peng Yanzhi gave a light cough and signaled with his eyes.

Following Peng Yanzhi's gaze downward, Chen Shiquan's pupils constricted: No... why are this kid's hands like this?

Colorful and mottled, multicolored and brilliant...

Chen Shiquan had seen hands like this before, but without exception, they were all Grave-robbing.

Just as he was shocked beyond belief, Wang Qi Zhi pointed: "Sicheng, General Manager Zhao is a bit unsure, come over and take a look!"

Lin Sicheng was surprised: Senior Brother Zhao has played with porcelain for most of his life; if even he is unsure, how strange must this object be?

If one is unsure, one is unsure; in front of Lin Sicheng, there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

Zhao Xiuneng held the tray and brought the Bowl over.

Lin Sicheng did not touch it, but first took a glance.

He had seen this Bowl before, but only gave it a passing glance; seeing it was a Hair Cup, and it had nothing to do with the samples he was looking for this time, he hadn't paid attention. Now looking at it again, it was indeed a bit strange.

The body was too shallow, and there was too much transition glaze at the rim of the Bowl: black, blue, brown, yellow, green, gray... there were actually as many as six types?

A normal Hair Cup basically has three to four types.

Secondly, the glaze color was distorted: the genuine Blue Rabbit Hair has a glaze color that is black with a hint of blue, similar to dark cyan. But this one was similar to blue with a hint of green, as if the Base Glaze had been diluted.

Third, the luster was too foggy: the characteristic of Blue Rabbit Hair is that the glaze surface presents a warm, oily, jade-like luster, hence the saying "glaze luster like cold jade." Although the refraction effect is not as strong as a Silver Mirror Cup or an Iridescent Cup, it is not this weak either.

This one was like being covered by a thin mist; although it was reflecting light, the effect was discounted several times over. In professional terms: matte. Furthermore, under the Magnifying Glass, the hair patterns were too neat, and the pore walls were too clean and bright. To put it simply: the reason why a Jian cup undergoes kiln-transmutation is that the impurities like iron in the body and glaze do not fully crystallize, forming a unique crystallization phenomenon.

Since there are impurities, there must be impurity spots; this is also one of the important bases for identifying the kiln-transmutation effect and grade of a Jian cup.

But this cup had extremely clean pore walls, with almost no impurity spots visible?

After looking for a long while, Lin Sicheng held it in his hand. As soon as he touched it, his brows could not help but furrow: it felt a bit light?

After weighing it twice more, Lin Sicheng picked up the Magnifying Glass: "Senior Brother, help me shine a light!"

Zhao Xiuneng hurriedly picked up the Flashlight and turned it to maximum power. Lin Sicheng held the bowl in one hand and the Magnifying Glass in the other, constantly changing the angle.

After looking for about five minutes, he straightened his back and let out a breath: "Good craftsmanship!"

The three of them were stunned in unison: what does that mean?

It couldn't be that there was nothing wrong with the item, could it?

While they were suspicious, Lin Sicheng smiled: "General Manager Chen, let me state my conclusion first: if nothing goes wrong, this Bowl should be an imitation!" With a "whoosh," Chen Shiquan's two eyeballs bulged straight out.

Just as he was about to say something, he felt a pain in his lower leg; Peng Yanzhi kicked him on the leg, meaning: what are you panicking for?

Chen Shiquan steadied himself and squeezed out a smile: "And then?"

"And then, although it is an imitation, it is a Ming Imitation, so it is not necessarily worthless!"

Chen Shiquan was stunned: what the heck, a Ming Imitation?

He had never heard that Jian cups were fired in the Ming Dynasty?

But even if it is a Ming Imitation, it is still an imitation; how valuable could it be?

Lin Sicheng held the bowl, revealed the bottom of the bowl, and then turned it around: "Let me explain why the body is so shallow, why the glaze luster is a bit foggy, and why the transition zone is so messy."

"To put it simply: the impurities were not removed cleanly. Or perhaps when kneading the clay or mixing the glaze, the ingredients deviated from the original formula... actually, it's just four words: too much titanium was added..."