Chapter 85: Dugang Building

Counting them all up, there are exactly six.

And which one of them is not a sage of the calligraphy world, with their name recorded in history?

There is a common saying that the calligraphy reflects the person; even if it is an imitation, one will inevitably leave behind personal writing habits and style between the lines.

Looking at the calligraphy again, Lin Sicheng felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun; he was suddenly enlightened:

The brushwork is gentle and unrestrained, the lines are rounded and fluid, the line spacing is sparse, and the structure is lively.

The brush intent is natural and vivid, simple and elegant; it appears soft, but in reality, its strength and structure are fully realized. The exterior is handsome, the interior is solid, and every character possesses both hardness and softness.

But observing the calligraphy is only the first part; there is a second: even among forgeries, there are levels of quality.

Like this piece before him:

The imitation brushwork is identical to the authentic work; even before Zhao Mengfu himself, he might hesitate, wondering when he had written this piece.

And, the Yuan Dynasty palace mounting, which contains not a hint of falsehood, and the Yuan Dynasty Inner Palace Paper, which is nearly indistinguishable from the real thing...

Not to mention putting it together seamlessly, just finding and gathering these accessories is something no ordinary person could do.

The most crucial point is that the person who did the imitation must have possessed the authentic Heart Sutra by Zhao Mengfu, now treasured in the Taipei Palace Museum, and must have copied it hundreds of times; otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible to imitate it this closely.

Combining this with the "mid-to-late Qing" timeframe, Lin Sicheng's eyes lit up: a massive "Xiang" character suddenly popped up and swirled around in his mind.

In an instant, the first five of those six famous masters vanished, leaving only the last one: Dong Qichang.

Because of the "Xiang" character that appeared in his mind: Xiang Yuanbian of the late Ming Dynasty, courtesy name Mo Lin.

He was the top appraiser and collector of the mid-to-late Ming period. And the largest, most professional antique dealer and manufacturer of forgeries.

The Xiang collection makes up half of the Forbidden City... This wasn't said by Lin Sicheng, but by a certain leader after the founding of the nation.

The abundance of the Xiang collection is the peak of an era... This was said by the Wanli Emperor.

In the second year of the Shunzhi reign, the Qing army broke through Jiaxing, seized the entire Xiang collection, and transported it to Beijing... Among them, the calligraphy, paintings, stele rubbings, and stone rubbings by famous masters of past dynasties alone numbered over forty thousand.

Because of this, there came the "Tianlinlang (Qing Imperial Household Department Library)," and the "Shiqu Baoji (Qing Palace Cataloging Document)"... So the leader's words were not an exaggeration at all.

The key is that the authentic Zhao Mengfu work now in Taipei was among them.

The refinement of Xiang's appraisal and collection, and the likeness of his imitations, are the best in the world... This was said by Qianlong.

How like the original are the imitations?

In 1925, after the Palace Museum was established, experts began to research whether items like the Eastern Jin Gu Kaizhi's "Admonitions of the Court Instructress," Wang Xizhi's "Letter on the Snow Clearing," the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," the Mao Gong Ding, and countless bronze and stone seals, all coming from the Xiang collection, were authentic or Xiang-made forgeries.

They are still researching them to this day.

Just like Huang Gongwang's "Fuchun Mountain Dwelling Map": the Beijing and Taipei Palace Museums, plus the Zhejiang Museum and the Shanghai Museum, add up to a total of six versions.

Everyone claims theirs is the authentic one, but five of them were ghostwritten by Qiu Ying at the request of Xiang Molin, with colophons imitated by Wen Zhengming and Dong Qichang.

He and Wen Zhengming were close friends across generations; one-third of the works by Wen Zhengming collected by the two Palace Museums bear his seal.

Dong Qichang was a close friend of his son; before passing the imperial examinations, he lived in the Xiang residence for eight years, practicing calligraphy and copying model books for eight years.

In "Mo Chan Xuan Shuo" (Dong Qichang), he wrote: "While studying in Youli, I exhausted the Jin and Tang ink works collected by the scholar Xiang, only then realizing that my previous hard work had wasted years..."

During that time, Dong Qichang himself lost count of how many times he ghostwrote for Xiang Molin and imitated the works of famous masters.

The point is that Dong Qichang really did imitate authentic works by Zhao Mengfu; both the Beijing and Taipei Palace Museums have collections of them, and they even bear Xiang Molin's seals.

He also indeed copied the "Heart Sutra," though the original has been lost, and only rubbings remain today.

Therefore, looking at this calligraphy now, it is no longer just "like" the original—it is the original.

Of course, Lin Sicheng's word is not enough; it must be proven.

If it were before, it would certainly be extremely difficult, because it would have to be compared with the authentic works and rubbings treasured in the Palace Museum.

But now, it is very easy... Not because of Wang Qi Zhi, but because of the few Seal Marks he hadn't looked at yet.

First, a circular stamp in the upper right corner of the painting, about the size of a finger, but carved extremely intricately: amidst a dense cluster of decorative patterns, it surrounds a "Ren" (person) character carved in relief.

If it were before, Lin Sicheng would certainly be confused and clueless. But since he had concluded this was a Xiang-style forgery ghostwritten by Dong Qichang, the origin of this seal was obvious: it was a secret code seal used by Xiang Molin to prevent others from imitating his forgeries, or to mark the forgeries he produced so they wouldn't be sold as authentic.

The logic is exactly the same as why Poly Auction would not accept this piece: they are afraid of ruining their reputation.

Also known as the "Thousand Character Classic" seal, it takes characters from the Thousand Character Classic and incorporates them into patterns that contain secret codes.

For example, the versions of Huang Gongwang's "Fuchun Mountain Dwelling Map" in Beijing, Taipei, and major museums all have this type of seal on all five of them.

Just by virtue of this seal, there is no need for Wang Qi Zhi to say a word, let alone for the teacher's wife to make a phone call; as long as it is taken to the Palace Museum, the leaders will surely open the Wenhua Hall at the first opportunity to take out Dong Qichang's authentic work for comparison.

Because there are over four thousand Xiang-style forgeries in the Palace Museum bearing this seal, and every single one of them is a ghostwritten work by a famous master. Therefore, the Palace Museum wants to know more than anyone else who did the ghostwriting...

Looking at the remaining two seals: one is slightly smaller, stamped to the lower left of the painting, and the other is slightly larger, stamped directly above the inscription.

The handwriting is neat and solemn, and the depth of the seal marks is uniform, but unfortunately, they are all in Sanskrit. And it is the Brahmi Script that existed before the fourth century.

To put it simply, it is similar to the Bird-Worm Seal Script of Chinese characters, used only for stone carvings and inscriptions.

Esoteric Buddhist doctrine claims it was created by the supreme deity Vairocana, so important scriptures and Buddhist texts are stamped with seals in this script to empower them with magic.

At the same time, it is also an appraisal seal.

But it is extremely difficult to decipher, no less difficult than translating Insect-Bird Seal Script into modern Chinese characters; Lin Sicheng could only write it down on paper first and translate it letter by letter.

When he translated the first one, Lin Sicheng narrowed his eyes: Supreme Yoga Tantra Hall?

Supreme Yoga is the highest secret method of Esoteric Buddhism, and "scripture hall" refers to a scripture hall.

As for the so-called "Sacred Hall," if understood literally, it refers to the place where Buddhas and Bodhisattvas practice. But if placed in the Yuan and Qing dynasties, it refers to only one place: the Imperial Palace!

To put it more bluntly: the place where the Emperor practiced Yoga secret methods.

The key is that the color of this seal is clearly redder and brighter than that of the "Ren" character seal, indicating that it was stamped much later. Because the oxidation time is shorter and the degree of fading is lower, a color difference was produced.

Roughly estimating, there is a difference of about two hundred years.

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

Lin Sicheng's pupils could not help but constrict: Forbidden City Dugang Building, Yoga Department Sacred Hall.

A place exclusively for Qianlong to practice Esoteric Buddhist secret methods...