Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

Chapter 325 Rusty, Divine Face Pattern

Being bait is extremely risky.

If you are not careful, you will die.

But if you can survive, the benefits will be huge.

Of course, what is gained is not the benefit measured in money, but fame.

No matter what path you take, reputation is extremely important.

As long as you become famous and known to everyone, people in the same industry will give you more face.

The value of this little bit of face... is far greater than money!

This is exactly what Boss Dong said, the capital for establishing himself in Hong Kong Island.

Well, that requires a little more thought.

Even if the scheme is successful, it is impossible to catch all the Big Circle Boys in one fell swoop.

The remaining big circle guys will hate me even more!

They might even chase me madly!

I weighed the pros and cons silently in my mind.

Boss Dong didn't say much and turned around to open the box to inspect the goods.

The boxes were opened one by one.

Pull aside the straw that was placed around the bed.

The bronze artifacts inside were taken out one by one.

Various bronze vessels such as tripods, cauldrons, gui, lei, gai, zun, and jue were placed on the ground, and soon the second floor was filled up.

Although I have seen these bronze artifacts, I have never looked at them carefully.

Seeing Boss Dong pick up a magnifying glass to look at the details of the bronze tripod, I also leaned over to take a look.

Due to oxidation and rust, the surface of the tripod is mainly dark green, with some parts showing blue-green rust.

The rust color of bronze ware is very particular.

Because bronze itself is an alloy mainly composed of copper, tin and lead.

Therefore, if it is buried underground for a long time, it will react chemically with the air, soil, and water to form copper rust.

The colors of the copper rust formed vary depending on the burial environment.

Based on my experience gained from many years of tomb robbing, most of the bronze artifacts unearthed in Shaanxi Province are mainly yellow-green rust.

The bronze artifacts unearthed in Henan and Hebei provinces have both yellow-green rust and reddish-brown rust.

The bronze artifacts unearthed in Jin Province have both yellow-green rust and dark yellow rust.

The bronzes unearthed in Lu Province are mainly dark green rust and dark blue rust.

Most of the bronze artifacts unearthed from the north of the capital to the three northeastern provinces are rusty blue.

Because the soil in the south of the Yangtze River is rich in moisture, most of the bronze artifacts unearthed are stained with puddle green rust or puddle blue rust.

The rust color of the puddle rust is more moist than the rust color of northern bronzes and looks more pleasing to the eye.

Mastering the rust color patterns of bronze artifacts will put you on the path to becoming a bronze artifact expert.

Let me say something more professional.

Antique experts have classified the rust on bronze artifacts.

For example, black lacquer ancient refers to bronze ware handed down from generation to generation. The patina formed after continuous playing is mostly black or dark green.

Bronze objects with high tin content will also form black or dark green lacquer after being oxidized in underground environments.

Floating rust is rust stains floating on the surface of bronze ware.

This type of rust is usually brittle and will fall off with a slight touch, and it may even look like bronze with hair.

Most of them are green, with a few being blue and red.

Pit rust is a type of rust that corrodes extremely severely, forming foam rust from the surface to the inside.

This kind of rust is very damaging to bronze artifacts.

Seriously affects the appearance and value.

Bone-adhering rust refers to a rust layer that adheres tightly to the surface of the bronze ware and is almost integrated with the bronze ware. It is mostly green, and a small amount is reddish-brown.

There is also a rare mercury rust color.

Bronze ware infiltrated with mercury is very special. It has a silvery-white luster layer on the surface, which looks very beautiful and shiny.

Of course, the inherent qualities of bronze ware are also indispensable.

A small number of bronze artifacts did not undergo oxidation reaction due to the dry and well-sealed burial environment, and still retain their original golden color.

There are very few bronze artifacts that can retain the original color of bronze.

In my decades of tomb-robbing career, the number of bronze artifacts I have encountered is no more than five fingers.

Boss Dong held up a magnifying glass and carefully observed the copper rust: "What beautiful puddle rust."

"I've only seen such beautiful puddle rust on bronze artifacts unearthed south of the Yangtze River before, but..."

"But what?" I raised my eyebrows.

Is he doubting the authenticity of the bronze ware?

Otherwise, why would it be said that it had only been seen on bronze ware south of the Yangtze River?

Boss Dong didn't respond.

Holding a magnifying glass, he began to look at the patterns on the bronze tripod.

From the Shang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, the patterns on bronze ware also underwent a process of change from the worship of theocracy to the worship of kingship.

The bronze wares of the Shang Dynasty and the early Western Zhou Dynasty were mainly decorated with patterns of ferocious beasts and mythical beasts such as Taotie and Kuilong, in order to ward off evil and avoid disasters.

Starting from the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, the number and area of ​​Taotie patterns and Kuilong patterns gradually decreased.

Instead, they are replaced by animal patterns, geometric patterns, human figures and so on.

During this period, people's reverence for theocracy had transformed into reverence for royal power.

The rust color can roughly determine the region where the bronze artifact was unearthed.

The casting period of bronze ware can be roughly determined by the patterns.

Combining these two, we can determine the authenticity and value of bronze ware.

Boss Dong stared at the patterns on the bronze tripod in a trance.

I tilted my head and looked at the patterns.

The pattern is neither Taotie pattern nor Kuilong pattern, nor animal pattern or geometric pattern.

It turned out to be a rare divine facial pattern!

The divine facial patterns can be traced back to the Neolithic period.

Both the Liangzhu culture and the Erlitou culture have unearthed jade ritual vessels engraved with divine facial patterns.

However, there are few bronze ware with patterns of divine faces.

"This is... a divine facial pattern!" I said in surprise.

"what?!"

Boss Dong let out a light exclamation.

He stared at me with a surprised look for two seconds and asked, "Do you know the divine facial pattern?"

"I know. Professor Zhang once told me about ancient ornamentation, and he specifically mentioned the divine facial pattern."

When talking about Professor Zhang, I suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

I vaguely feel that what Professor Zhang taught me in the past was a bit too much!

A lot of it wasn't even in the textbooks, but he taught me everything, both explicitly and implicitly, like this rare divine facial tattoo...

"Go on, how did Professor Zhang tell you about the divine facial patterns?"

I said, according to my recollection: "Professor Zhang said that the full name of the divine facial pattern should be the divine human beast facial pattern."

"The complete pattern shows a deity wearing a feather crown, riding on the head of a ferocious beast with a wide nose, large eyes, and a wide mouth. This symbolizes the guardian deity of the tribe conquering the ferocious beast."

"After that, simplified divine-human-animal face patterns appeared, with the animal face form becoming more prominent."

"After thousands of years of evolution, the animal face changed into the Taotie pattern during the Shang Dynasty."

"Oh, right."

"Professor Zhang also said that the Taotie pattern was not a name coined by the Shang people, but was given by the Song people."

"So he thought that the Taotie pattern might be more accurately called the beast face pattern."

Boss Dong nodded continuously as he listened.

"This Professor Zhang is truly an expert!"

"What he said is exactly the same as what the experts I consulted."

"In 76, I received eighteen bronze artifacts, three of which were bronze artifacts with divine face patterns!"

"Before that, I had never seen a bronze artifact with a divine face pattern. At first glance, I thought it was a fabrication."

"But after carefully examining the patina and craftsmanship, I'm sure it's an old item!"

"So I contacted an expert from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a senior gentleman who had previously been an expert in bronzes, to confirm that the bronzes were indeed old."

"I didn't expect you to surprise me again and let me see the bronze artifact with divine face patterns again!"

"Shi Tou, do you know how valuable the bronze artifact with the divine face pattern is?!"