Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

Chapter 336: Fake, Escape

The main fonts of the Han Dynasty were seal script and official script.

Seal script is mainly used in seals, inscriptions, brick inscriptions and roof tiles.

Lishu was used in writing bamboo slips and silk books.

The bamboo and silk scripts found in early Western Han Dynasty tombs such as Mawangdui, Yinqueshan, and Zhangjiashan are basically based on official script, with a small part being a combination of seal script and official script.

This shows that the written characters in the early Western Han Dynasty had changed from Qin seal script to Han clerical script.

But here's the problem.

Lishu is widely spread and is often used as an introduction when learning calligraphy.

How could the most learned old scholar in Changsha not be able to recognize the official script?

Unless, those characters are not official script at all!

An idea suddenly occurred to me: "Senior Luo, are you sure that this is a Han Dynasty silk manuscript?"

"Although you are digging a Han tomb."

"But the burial objects could be from the previous dynasty."

Snapped!

Blind Ah Hui slapped his thigh hard.

He grinned, "You got it right!"

"When I first saw that they were excavating a Han Dynasty tomb, I naturally assumed that it was a Han Dynasty silk manuscript."

"I later realized it was the Chu Silk Manuscript."

"It's written in ancient Chu characters!"

"At least it's something from the Warring States Period!"

The three words "Chu Silk Book" sound familiar to me.

I seem to have heard Professor Zhang talk about it.

I recalled briefly and remembered: "What you unearthed is the Bullet Library Chu Silk Manuscript, which has been lost overseas!"

Blind Ah Hui gave a mysterious smile.

"It's the Bullet Library Chu Silk Manuscript, but it's been lost overseas... hehe."

His smile and tone seemed to imply that the Chu Silk Manuscript had not been lost overseas.

It shouldn’t be!

Professor Zhang explained it to me in great detail.

Even the time and characters are very accurate.

He said that in 1942, four tomb robbers dug up the Zidanku Han Tomb near Changsha.

The reason why it is called the Zidanku Han Tomb is that when defending Changsha, that place was used as an arsenal to store a large amount of ammunition.

So it is called the Bullet Depot by the locals.

Because the tomb was dug near the Bullet Depot, it is called the Bullet Depot Han Tomb.

The four tomb robbers unearthed bronze artifacts, several lacquerwares, and fragments of silk books.

When selling the stolen goods, the leading tomb robber thought the silk book fragments were worthless and gave them to the antique dealer Tang Jianquan.

Later, local collector Cai Jixiang heard the news.

He spent three thousand dollars to buy the fragments of the silk book, pieced them together, cleaned them, and then conducted research.

In 1944, he published his research results in a manuscript titled "Research on Late Zhou Silk Books". I have also seen this book in Professor Zhang's book pile.

Later, the fragments of the silk book were stolen by a foreigner named Cox and eventually taken to the other side of the ocean...

Blind Ah Hui crossed his legs and swung his right foot.

He said slowly, "You don't believe it, right?"

"In fact, outsiders only know one side of the story."

"After those old scholars looked at my copied words, I wonder if one of them leaked the news."

"There's a rumor in the antiques community that I've unearthed an ancient divine book."

"As the saying goes, a man is innocent but possesses a treasure. Holding a valuable treasure is easily coveted, especially in those days when human life is treated as worthless."

"I made a quick decision and went to the countryside with the four apprentices who were involved in digging the grave."

"One is to avoid the limelight."

"Secondly, they wanted to create counterfeits to get away with it."

"God has rewarded me. With the help of Sun Guishou, after failing dozens of times, I finally managed to create a fake that's hard to tell the real thing from the fake."

"That fake was the Chu Silk Manuscript that was later half-sold and half-given to Tang Jianquan, then bought by Cai Jixiang for research, and finally tricked out of the country!"

I listened for a long time without coming back to my senses.

Blind Ah Hui, the master of tomb robbery, teamed up with a master of counterfeiting to set up a scheme. He is really skilled and daring.

The ghost hand he just mentioned was originally a respectful title for masters of calligraphy and painting forgery.

Later, experts in other fields who could make counterfeits so realistic that they could be mistaken for real ones would also be given the title of ghost hands.

Speaking of this, we have to talk about counterfeiting.

The counterfeiting business has existed since ancient times.

Especially after the collecting trend became popular in the Song Dynasty, the trend of counterfeiting became very popular and has continued to this day.

In terms of the technology and scale of making counterfeits.

The Republic of China period and the period after the 1990s are considered the two major periods for the production of counterfeits.

During the Republic of China, a large number of well-made counterfeits appeared, ranging from bronzes and porcelains to calligraphy and paintings, which were difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake.

The names of most of these counterfeiters have disappeared in the long river of history.

But one person's name has been passed down.

That’s Zhang Daqian!

When it comes to making fake paintings, Zhang Daqian can be called the best master in the world.

Huang Binhong, a famous painter in the Republic of China, loved Shitao's paintings very much and collected many authentic works of Shitao in his home.

Once, Huang Binhong was at Zhang Daqian's place and couldn't let go of a painting by Shitao.

He also expressed his willingness to exchange it for his treasured authentic Shi Tao painting.

Zhang Daqian agreed reluctantly.

It was a long time later that Huang Binhong realized that he had exchanged the original painting for a fake one by Zhang Daqian.

Later, top painters such as Xu Beihong and Chen Banding were deceived by Zhang Daqian's forgeries.

Many ancient paintings collected by top foreign museums are also from Zhang Daqian.

For example, there is the painting "Molin Diezhangtu" by Ju Ran of the Five Dynasties, which is collected by the British Museum, and the painting "Sleeping Monkey" by Liang Kai of the Southern Song Dynasty, which is collected by the Honolulu Museum, etc.

This shows how strong Zhang Daqian's ability to forge ancient paintings is.

Today, the technology for making counterfeits is even stronger than that in the Republic of China period.

Imitation bronze ware from Yanjian Village.

Imitation Tang Sancai from Nanshishan Village.

Jingdezhen's imitations of Yuan, Ming and Qing official kiln porcelain, etc.

Nowadays, these places ostensibly sell handicrafts.

But as long as you have the connections, you can customize a fake that is indistinguishable from the real thing.

It's the kind of top-notch fake that is a one-to-one imitation of the original.

Many of those one-to-one replicas are used to replace the originals in museum collections...

Well, don't ask me how I know.

There's not much to say about this.

In comparison, it is more difficult to forge ancient calligraphy and paintings.

Usually, the sponsor pays for the work to be done by professors from major art academies who have skills but are not famous.

I know an art professor who does exactly this.

He often leads his graduate students to create ancient paintings.

He uses the old paper from the Ming and Qing dynasties given by his sponsor to work meticulously, and can produce two or three paintings a year.

But the fake paintings that came out were all the best of the best.

It is transported by financial sponsors to various large-scale auctions.

The transaction price is often tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

In terms of risk-return ratio.

Being a forger can earn you more money than robbing tombs, and the risks are much lower...

so.

Men are afraid of choosing the wrong career!

Having said that, let’s get back to the present moment.

After I came to my senses, I couldn't help but secretly give a thumbs up to blind Ah Hui.

high!

It’s really high!

He used a fake product to escape and fooled everyone!

"Awesome!" I exclaimed sincerely.

A hint of pride appeared on Blind Ah Hui's face.

The crossed legs swung even more happily.

"Hey, that's not that impressive."

"It's just the improvisation of the people in the underworld."

He then grinned and hooked his finger at me: "Come closer."

I put my ear close to his mouth.

He only whispered, "Do you want to know... where the real Chu Silk Book is hidden?"