Here, we need to make it clear that there is an essential difference between antiques and fakes. According to Ma Weidou's explanation, antique is to prove to the world that I can reach the height of my predecessors, thus proving how powerful my porcelain-making process is. For example, there are quite a few imitation Ru kilns and imitation Chenghua Doucai chicken cylinder cups in the early Qing Dynasty, among which there are many fine products. However, counterfeiting is quite bad, essentially for profiteering, and the ultimate goal is to deceive the world for profiteering. Today, there are still many "black-hearted" cultural relics dealers who make fakes in the name of antiques and earn the hard-earned money of Tibetan friends with a black conscience.
Closer to home, the antique porcelain craft of Yongzheng period was brought to the extreme. In addition to his busy work, Yongzheng also had a literary side. He likes porcelain, especially the official kilns in the Song Dynasty. Yongzheng himself is an ungrateful advocate. How can his craftsmen not strive for perfection? Therefore, the antique porcelain in Yongzheng period is simply the existence of fate. In the Qing dynasty, the antique official kiln in Yongzheng period was the most outstanding. The antique craft in Yongzheng period was quite powerful. He ordered court porcelain craftsmen to imitate celadon pen holders with official kiln glaze, and later he even cheated his son Gan Long. Gan Long thought it was a "family heirloom" given to him by his grandmother, and wrote a poem on it emotionally, which is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Undoubtedly, the antique official kiln glazed celadon pen holder inscribed by Yongzheng producer Gan Long is a national treasure. However, Ma Weidou said that I could tell at a glance that it was false. Ma Weidou pointed out that the pen container appeared in the furniture of the study at the latest. In the works of the Song Dynasty, you can't see the pen container at all, and what you see most is washing the pen. Therefore, the glazed celadon pen container imitated by Qianlong as a genuine product is an out-and-out "imperial handicraft" of Yongzheng Dynasty. To put it bluntly, Yongzheng was just having fun. He replaced a substitute with a substitute, and made an obscure antique official kiln glazed celadon pen holder.
According to Ma Weidou, the pen container was originally used to put sundries on the table. It should be made of bamboo in principle. Later, it developed into wood, and the materials became more and more expensive, resulting in rosewood and yellow gorgeous. Generally speaking, the pen container was popular in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Later, porcelain became fashionable and became the pen container style used by literati. Ma Weidou further pointed out that if you see a pen container in a Song painting, it is probably a fake.
Perhaps the official glazed celadon pen holder has become a veritable national treasure because of Yongzheng and his son. On the other hand, Qianlong's theoretical knowledge of porcelain, that is, a small white level, can't tell the age of the pen container, which is not as good as Ma Weidou's. No wonder Ma Weidou's face glowed when he mentioned the imitation official glaze celadon pen holder. After all, the antique pen container of Yongzheng period fooled Qianlong, and he Ma Weidou could see at a glance that it was fake, which proved that Ma Weidou's ability to appreciate cultural relics was not built.