Page 184 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

As always in the world of art, as soon as a category of objects becomes
popular and monetarily valuable, fakes, some often very well-made,
appear on the market.

The earliest fakes

In the world of Chinese bronze ritual vessels, the history of fake-
making and fakes starts at least as far back as the Spring and Autumn
春秋 period (circa 770 – 476 B.C.). In Volume II of the Shuo Lin 說林
下 section of his famous work Han Fei Zi 韓非子, the anti-Confucian
legalist philosopher Han Fei 韓非 (circa 280 – 233 B.C.) recounts the
story of the Duke of Lu 魯君 who unsuccessfully attempted to safeguard
his famous chan ding 讒鼎 from the invading army of the neighbouring
kingdom of Qi 齊 by trying to pass off a reproduction in its stead. The
ruse was discovered, however, when the Qi State 齊國 envoy began
having doubts while inspecting the proffered ding and demanded, in
spite of the Duke of Lu’s 魯君 protestations, that Yue Zheng Zi Chun 樂
正子春, a Confucianist and a minister of the State of Lu 魯國 renowned
for his honesty, be called in to appraise the ding. Unable to lie, Yue
Zheng Zi Chun 樂正子春 declared the proffered ding to be a copy,
whereupon the Duke of Lu 魯君 was forced to part with his beloved
genuine chan ding 讒鼎.

In the case of the Duke of Lu 魯君 of the Spring and Autumn 春秋 period,
the fake bronze in question was not made in the hope of financial gain,
but rather because the owner of a cherished genuine bronze wished to
protect it from confiscation by a more powerful, marauding neighbour.

In another famous case from antiquity involving the production of
a fake bronze vessel, the perpetrator Xin Yuanping 新垣平 hoped to
gain the favour of the Western Han 西漢 Emperor Wendi 文帝 (reigned
179 – 156 B.C.). Xin 新 almost succeeded, or, at least, partly succeeded
in his ruse. One reason for this was, as mentioned at the beginning of
the chapter on ‘Studies of archaic Chinese bronze ritual vessels’ (See
page 165), the Confucian rulers and literati of the Han 漢 and later
dynasties had a great reverence for ancient ritual vessels and especially
for bronze ritual vessels dating from the revered Zhou 周 dynasty and
the sudden reappearance of such vessels was regarded as an especially
auspicious sign of Heaven’s favour towards the current ruler and his
dynasty.

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Fake Ding, made in early 20 century
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