In 1987, Wuhan Cultural Relics Store 500 yuan to buy a Ming Qinghua four love plum bottle, because there has never been this type of plum bottle in history, and the plum bottle has both the characteristics of the Yuan and Ming dynasties of blue and white porcelain, it is even more unusual, so many experts think that it is a fake, for a while this plum bottle is doubtful. It was not until 18 years later that the tomb of King Ming Yingjing was excavated, and a plum vase of the same style was placed in front of the coffin of this prince, and 2 historical mysteries were unveiled.
Ming qinghua plum vase
One day in October 1987, a couple walked in from the Wuhan Cultural Relics Store in Hubei Province, holding a blue and white plum vase in their arms, and they asked the experts of the cultural relics store about the price of the plum bottle.
At that time, the Wuhan Cultural Relics Store was subordinate to the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics and was a state-run store, which was not only responsible for the sale of cultural relics, but also responsible for the collection and repurchase of folk cultural relics. After carefully inspecting the plum bottle handed over by the husband and wife, the experts of the cultural relics store told the couple: "This is a blue and white plum vase from the Ming Dynasty, if you want to sell it, the cultural relics store can buy it for 500 yuan." ”
At the end of the 1980s, 500 yuan was also a lot of wealth for ordinary people, because at that time, an ordinary worker's monthly income was only 70 or 80 yuan. In addition, the cultural relics market at that time had not yet flourished, and the price of a Ming Dynasty plum bottle in the market was no more than 500 yuan, and the purchase price given by the experts of the cultural relics store was quite reasonable.
But the couple still felt that 500 yuan was too little, and after bargaining with the expert for half a day, seeing that the expert did not have the intention of raising the price to buy, the couple had to hold the plum bottle out of the cultural relics store.
Acquisition of plum bottles
After the couple left, the experts in the cultural relics store were also very disappointed, because the Bright Blue Flower Plum Vase not only had four opening lights, but also eight large sizes, which was the best of the plum bottles, and he felt a bit of a pity that the acquisition was not successful.
So, what are four open lights and eight yards?
Kaiguang is the expression of the picture on the blue and white porcelain, each picture on the bottle is an "open light", and the four open lights represent that there are four pictures on the bottle. Eight sizes refers to the ornamentation of the lotus petals on the bottle, which is usually divided into eight petals for each lotus petal, and they are staggered together, commonly known as "eight sizes".
Early the next morning, the couple who came yesterday walked into the Wuhan cultural relics store again with a plum bottle. When the expert saw that the couple had returned with a plum bottle, his heart lit up at once, and he warmly received the couple. It turned out that the couple was anxious to use the money, after yesterday's inquiry they went to other places with the plum bottle to find a price, the price given by other cultural relics stores was almost less, the husband and wife considered that it was still a state-run cultural relics store reliable, so they took the blue and white plum bottle back to the Wuhan cultural relics store again, and sold it to the Wuhan cultural relics store.
True or false is in doubt
So, what is so precious about this plum bottle? Why is the Wuhan Cultural Relics Store willing to spend five hundred yuan to buy this blue and white plum vase?
Plum bottle is a type of porcelain unique to the mainland, this bottle mouth is small, short neck, shoulders, because the bottle mouth can only be inserted into a plum blossom, so the ancients called it "plum bottle".
This blue and white plum vase is 38 cm high and 6.2 cm in diameter, and the bottle of plum bottle has a total of three patterns, and the neck is a curly grass pattern; The shoulder is painted with a phoenix-worn peony pattern; the bottle is painted with four begonia-shaped open lights, and the begonia-shaped open light is painted with the classical Chinese "four loves" pattern, namely Lin Hejing Aimei, Wang Xizhi Ailan, Tao Yuan Ming Ai ju and Zhou Dunyi Ailian.
Since the blue and white four-blossom light is the characteristic of the Ming Dynasty blue and white, experts judge that this blue and white plum vase is the blue and white plum vase of the Ming Dynasty, and named it: "Ming Dynasty Blue and White Four Love Plum Bottle".
After the acquisition of this precious Ming Dynasty blue and white four love plum vase, the Wuhan Cultural Relics Bureau found experts to identify the plum vase, but the results of the appraisal were surprising, and most experts believed that this blue and white plum vase was a fake. For a moment, the authenticity of the plum bottle was in doubt.
The reason for the experts who believe that this Ming Dynasty blue and white four love plum vase is a fake is that the painting method and expression method of "Wang Xizhi Ailantu" in the four open lights of the plum bottle are the same as those of the Ming Dynasty painter Zhang Shunzhi's "Cangwu Bamboo Eagle Diagram", but the blue and white porcelain of the Yuan Dynasty is a general scene, there is no "kaiguang" at all, and experts have always believed that the four open light celadons were not issued in large quantities until the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Since the same type of plum bottle has never appeared in history, many experts assert that this porcelain bottle is a fake.
Experts who hold the attitude that the plum bottle is genuine cannot come up with sufficient evidence, so the authenticity of this Ming Dynasty blue and white four love plum bottle has always been controversial.
The same soul bottle is alive
In 2005, archaeologists found the Tomb of The Ming Dynasty King Ying jing in Zhongxiang, Hubei Province, although the tomb of the Ming Dynasty Prince has been excavated several times in the past history, but after the archaeologists opened the burial chamber, they found two decaying coffins in the burial chamber, and a good blue and white plum vase placed in front of the coffin. The bottle of this blue and white plum vase is also painted with a picture of "four loves", and one expert suddenly remembered the Ming Dynasty blue and white four love plum bottle purchased by the Wuhan Cultural Relics Store 18 years ago.
So the expert immediately compared this plum bottle with the one purchased by the Wuhan Cultural Relics Store and found that the two plum bottles were not only the same size, but also the pattern and ornamentation on the bottle were also the same. In the end, experts concluded that the two blue and white plum vases were a pair of sister bottles dated to the early Ming Dynasty. As a result, the cloud of doubt about the authenticity of the Ming Dynasty blue and white four love plum bottles purchased by the Wuhan cultural relics store dissipated.
King Ying Jing was the son of Zhu Yuanzhang, so why did the Ming Dynasty's prince have a blue and white four-love plum vase in his tomb?
According to historians, since the Han Dynasty, there has been a custom of using pottery and porcelain for burial in the mainland, and the bottle filled with fine wine placed in front of the coffin is generally used to collect the soul of the deceased, commonly known as the "soul bottle", and the four love plum bottles in the tomb of King Ying Jing are typical soul bottles.
epilogue
These two MingQinghua Four Love Plum Bottles are the only two porcelain bottles of the same type found on the mainland so far, and they are two priceless treasures. In 2005, a yuanqinghua porcelain vase of "ghost valley descending the mountain" was auctioned for 230 million yuan, and these two Mingqinghua four love plum bottles, their exquisite degree is more than that of the "ghost valley down the mountain yuan blue and white porcelain bottle", which is two genuine national treasures.
At present, the plum bottle purchased by the Wuhan Cultural Relics Store for 500 yuan in 1987 is collected in the Wuhan Museum, and the plum bottle excavated from the tomb of King Ying Jing in 1005 is collected in the Hubei Provincial Museum.
The discovery of these two Ming Qinghua Four Love Plum Vases also solves two historical mysteries: First, the Ming Qinghua Four Love Plum Bottle acquired by the Wuhan Cultural Relics Bureau in 1987 is not a fake, he is a genuine national treasure; second, these two Qinghua plum vases are transitional products from qinghua to Ming qinghua, and the whole body painting method in Yuan qinghua evolved into the "Four Loves" opening light painting method, and later even appeared the theme of "Eight Loves", which is a watershed in the evolution of Yuan qinghua.