Mr. Tian Jiaying, a famous collector in China, used to be the secretary of Mao Zedong. He had a couplet by Huang Yi, a calligrapher in Qing Dynasty, which was quoted and introduced by many books and periodicals. But a collector in Shanghai also has a pair of identical Huang Yi couplets, and the handwriting is better than that in Tian Jiaying's collection.
Taipei History Museum has a calligraphy couplet written by Zuo, a famous Xiang Jun in Qing Dynasty, which is often exhibited and printed, but Changzhou Museum keeps an identical and better couplet.
Deng, a famous calligrapher and seal engraver in the Qing Dynasty, once hung a couplet in his study, which read "The sea is the world of dragons and the sky is the hometown of cranes". Chen Boda tried to keep it for himself, but Deng's "Yuanyang Couple" appeared in Taiwan Province Province. This is one of a large number of academic and interesting materials about the authenticity identification of "Yuanyangpu", which is included in the complete works of China's ancient calligraphy "Yuanyangpu". The existence and centralized disclosure of hundreds of famous calligraphy "Yuanyang Pieces" has attracted our attention from the lively exhibition auction site to a realistic platform that cannot be ignored.
The appreciation and identification of China's paintings and calligraphy originated from the ancient society with underdeveloped communication means and preservation conditions. Its unique complexity lies in the polysemy derived from the creation of calligraphy and painting in history-the methods of approach, imitation, imitation, substitution, modification and creation were reasonable and legal at that time, which led to two or more "copying" of some ancient masterpieces at that time. This phenomenon has been inevitable since ancient times. However, the essence of "making" purely for the purpose of counterfeiting, such as "cooking" with roots and "making" and "taking risks" without roots, are fakes, so that masterpieces handed down from generation to generation are often not authentic, and it is not uncommon for future generations to copy and copy as authentic works.
Lingnan Edition "Appraisal Complete Works of China's Calligraphy" Couplets of Yuanyang "is a research appraisal album compiled by the author Mr. Wang Naidong after reading thousands of books for ten years. On the basis of having as detailed a visual catalogue and relevant materials as possible, he is not superstitious and limited to some collections of works and the conclusions of famous artists. He discusses it from the perspective of calligraphy art, and reveals the "mandarin ducks" of famous calligraphy with a large number of plate records for the first time. The complete works are divided into three volumes. The first volume of Illustration of Couplets in Past Dynasties has been collected from Xu Wei, Zhang Ruitu and Chen Hongshou in Ming Dynasty to Fu Shan, Da Zhongguang, Yun, Jinnong, Shan Li, Huang Shen, Li Shen, Li E, Zheng Banqiao, Wang Wenzhi, Weng Fanggang, Tiebao, Lin Zexu, Zuo Tangzong and Liu Xi in Qing Dynasty. The second volume, Illustration of the Authenticity of Famous Inscriptions, was collected from 28 schools including Deng, Xigang, Hong, Chen Hongshou, Wu Xizai, He, Yi Bingshou, Kang Youwei and Li Ruiqing. The third volume, A Picture Book of the Authenticity of Shanghai Painters' Calligraphy, contains more than 300 Yuan Yang Pu by famous calligraphers such as Zhao, Xu Gu, Ren Bonian and Wu Changshuo. Each page in the volume is mainly a large calligraphy catalogue, with a brief introduction of calligraphers and comments on their works, which is rich in classification and information. Some works in the book are collected by museums and galleries at home and abroad, including public and private collectors in Hongkong, Taiwan Province and Japan, and scattered in various picture books and albums. Some works, when they appear alone, seem to be masterpieces of famous artists, even fine works, but when they are appreciated together, problems arise.
Making and selling famous works, a "chronic disease" left over from history, is likely to intensify under the stimulation of commodity economy in modern society and needs rational regulation. Common sense tells us that it is reasonable for calligraphers to repeat the same text or write multiple paragraphs in several different forms. However, it is doubtful that you can describe and copy your own works. There are very similar "Yuanyang" in a work, and triplets and quadruplets derived from the same work are all over the world, and their authorship and production motivation are indeed "ulterior motives". Another common sense is that some famous artists of the previous generation are limited by the portal of later learning, and writing big characters is their weakness. So we sometimes have to use reverse thinking to grasp and judge the "variables" of this kind of imitation works and the authenticity of this kind of "Yuanyang film". In the art market, fakes can circulate because the intelligence of counterfeiters and sellers is directly proportional to the economic strength of buyers, and the improvement of buyers' discrimination is often lagging behind. The compilation of this appraisal atlas is only the first comprehensive exploration of the famous calligraphy couplets since the Ming Dynasty (involving individual albums, screens, nave, etc.). Although the source of the catalogue has its limitations and cannot provide a complete conclusion, it has already started. This kind of research appraisal needs to have a variety of professional qualities and integrate all kinds of old and new information and research results. So this is a long process of constant revision and deepening. There are inevitably different opinions on the selection of words in the book. What is important is the author's realistic spirit and theoretical courage, and puts forward his own views from a unique perspective for academic discussion and collection reference. Speaking with facts, comparing and evaluating the famous works and their replicas-Yuanyang Pieces, explaining the problems with the subtle differences of the works' images, finding more relevant historical materials, understanding the psychology of counterfeiting and analyzing the characteristics of counterfeiting techniques may be an effective way to conduct in-depth research and appraisal of each work (fine, authentic, suspicious and counterfeit). The "pen and ink lawsuit" that may be triggered from this is also a normal phenomenon, which is often conducive to more in-depth and extensive academic discussions. The "case" of individual famous works depends on experts who are familiar with it to provide excellent identification clues.
When we are faced with two or more works with the same style, it is difficult to judge: Is it a famous writer who wrote several works with different words at the same time, or is it someone else's forgery? Or is the forger better than the original author, making the fake more perfect than the original? Is the same generation faking or future generations faking? In addition to identifying the skills of calligraphy, we must also judge the source of the work, the authenticity of the seal, the color, age, paper and mounter of the seal. The situation is extremely complicated, but it is not completely confusing. Because of its considerable level, value and background, the forgeries of masters should be carefully appreciated, such as entering the Tibet Museum and being inscribed by celebrities in past dynasties. Some famous calligraphy is easier to be copied because of its strong form and style: Zhang Ruitu's couplets on "Correcting the Relationship between Cadres and Kun" in Ming Dynasty, several lacquered books by Jin Nong, Li E's couplets on "Meet each other and hate each other", Chen Hongshou's rubbings and several formal calligraphy couplets by Wang Wenzhi, etc. , all belong to this category. Chen Laolian's famous cursive couplet "Why My Heart Is Getting Smaller" contains the old collection of Mr. Wu Zuguang from Shanghai American Edition and the items auctioned in recent years. This "mandarin duck pair" is to compare with each other. The strokes of "Yu, Zhi and Shi" are slightly different, and the position and seal of the seal are also different. The latter is made of orange paper, and the rest are basically the same, obviously copying the same work. The question is, what is originality? Does the original still exist? There are many "mandarin ducks" in this kind of cases in the catalogue of this book. At the beginning of Qing Dynasty, there were two versions of Fu Shan's six-character couplet in regular script, namely, the anthology of Shanxi Jinci 1985 and the anthology of famous calligraphers in China 1984 published by Japanese Central Review Society. The structure and spacing of the two couplets are similar, but the strokes are different, which seems to be copying rather than copying; Wu Caiding's Poems in Sleeves Are True Celebrities is a seven-character couplet in regular script, which contains the continuation of Xiao Mang Zangzhai's Calligraphy Collection of Qing Dynasty published by Tian Jiaying Cultural Relics Publishing House 1999 and the collection of calligraphy and painting art in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China collected by Taiwan History Museum. In contrast, apart from the different sizes and positions of couplets, individual strokes are slightly different, and couplets are combined up and down. Yi Bingshou's official couplet "Yuanyang Dui" reads "There are many ancient meanings, and new poems can be endowed". Comparing the existing Jiangsu Fine Arts Edition with the Shanghai Bookstore Edition, the words used in the couplet are almost the same, but the last word "Yi" and "Poetry" in the upper and lower couplets are slightly different, and the Shanghai Edition has added two seals. Is there really a difference between the two, or is there a problem with picture book printing? Two adjutant's couplets, both Yi Bingshou, are included in China Ancient Painting and Calligraphy Eight Parts Eleven Books by Cultural Relics Publishing House. The former is collected by Shanxi Museum, while the latter is collected by Xiling Printing Press. Looking at it alone, it's ok. Shanxi's collection is "Jiaqing Guihai" and Xiling's collection is "Jiazi Zhongfu". The difference between the two works is one year. The former is thick and dense, but the previous paragraph is different. However, compared with the previous saying that "the ancient meaning is never much", although the four words "duo, gu, Xin and Yi" are quite similar, when put together, some words and strokes have different advantages and disadvantages, which leads to doubts. "Selecting Ink for Ming and Qing Couplets" included Yang Yisun's official script four-character couplet "Because the tree is the house, wine is the respect". Eight lines were written below the main body of the upper and lower couplets to make the expression smooth, but one line was selected in the Complete Works of Famous Couplets, and the words in the same position were shortened to six lines. Although the writing is neat, the words and sentences are blocked because of the deletion of the subject. Qi Baishi's running script "My Book is from the Original" has seven words, including 2 1 version of one-yuan Yingying and 1989 version of Henan Republic of China calligraphy. The characters used in the two texts are the same, and the names of the four lines of the upper and lower couplets are the same, but the height of the word "Henan Edition" is shortened as a whole, so it crosses up and down.
In the Volume of Shanghai Painters, there are more than 50 "Yuanyang Articles" by Zhao, including 20 "Yuanyang Articles" in Zhao's stele, 5 "Yuanyang Articles" in seal script and 5 sets of "Sanlian". Almost all Zhao's famous couplets have "lianben". There are quintuplets in Wu Changshuo's seal script couplet "Looking at a beautiful old tree with a simple garden, writing the setting sun by itself". The characters are 7 1 year-old, 72, 73, 76 and 78 years old respectively. The previous paragraph is completely different, but the writing method of the main seal script is basically the same. In 72, the Yi Mao section was collected by Tao Jun Painting Academy. This volume contains 32 Wu Changshuo's Yuanyang Couples, including six tones 1 song, two tones, and three tones, which are characterized by basically different word positions in each song of the same work. It seems that some routines of pseudographs are still "regular". The more famous calligraphers there are, the more pseudographs there may be. The above examples are not only found in various published picture books and picture books. This shows that the seriousness of the problem of "Yuanyang" in famous calligraphy can be seen.
As a special subject, China calligraphy and painting appraisal in past dynasties can establish a rational academic norm, from the era of "rule by man" experienced by private experts to the era of "rule by law" followed by rational norms? Can we try our best to eliminate the interference of "taboo for the elderly" and egoism, as well as the mutual isolation of related disciplines, and analyze and discuss the historical value of cultural relics and the aesthetic value of calligraphy and painting one by one. Conditional researchers and appraisers should be familiar with the writing skills of characters, paintings and seals, supplemented by relevant knowledge of paper, ink, paintings, literature and history, natural history and anecdotes, apply textual research methods and rigorous thinking logic to the empirical training of manual inspection of calligraphy and painting collections, integrate the circulation information of art auction market with the "actual combat" experience of purchase and collection, and establish a set of rationality of authenticity appreciation on the basis of transcending various interests. This is particularly important in the modern civilized society where information resources are shared, although it is also a difficult and long process.
The problems of appreciation, collection and identification of fakes are never easy to clean up. Due to the complicated sources of famous works, such as ancient books collected by the royal family, descriptions of ancient books, celebrity identification, keeping seals, etc., many celebrities are always cheated, which intentionally or unintentionally broke many "good and bad" works into authentic works and was attacked by collectors in ancient times. In modern and contemporary times, such "works" can be made public as authentic works as long as they are lucky enough to be the collections of cultural relics or some celebrities, or they can be incorporated into the catalogues of various professional publishing houses or transferred to provincial exchange exhibitions after being appraised by "professionals". Those fake and shoddy products frequently appear in various galleries and auctions. This has produced an extremely interesting phenomenon. Both counterfeiters and collectors seem to be playing a protracted intellectual game. The difficult pen and ink skills of counterfeiters are sometimes comparable to or even higher than those of collectors, while inferior fakes are often favored by "bosom friends" who have just entered the industry because of their many good things. Since ancient times, the motivation of fraud is nothing more than profit-driven. Master imitators are not limited to first-class masters, such as Mi Fei, Wen Peng, Wu and Wen Baoguang in ancient times and Zhang Daqian in modern times. The superstition of "famous inscriptions" makes the phenomenon of "Tibetans taking medicine" embarrassing, but it also breeds fertile ground for the circulation of counterfeit works. These are all out of the word "interest".
It can be seen how important it is to establish rational academic norms and standards! The improvement of painting and calligraphy collection level and the standardization of art market depend on the establishment of rational standards and the possession of academic conscience. The publication of this set of appraisal atlas will make this book a necessary reference book for the domestic painting and calligraphy market to take the lead in counterfeiting and collecting paintings and calligraphy.