Page 196 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

Methods of detecting fake patina ■ Incoherence of the added text as a result of its being riddled with
grammatical or orthographical errors. This was often caused by
Whatever the method employed by the artisans, all of these artificial faults in the text copied or by casting faults on the inscribed bronzes
patinas can be detected by an experienced person. Most of these from which the inscriptions were copied.
artificial patinas are unable to resist a quick test carried out with a
piece of cotton soaked in alcohol, acetone, or any other nitrogenous ■ Misplaced or missing characters
product. It is also possible for an experienced person with a sharp eye
and armed with a magnifying glass to detect the hand of the forger in ■ Poor placing or overlength of the inscription out of greed for the
such patina. increasing profit that longer inscriptions brought.

Fakely patinated genuine vessels
It is important to note, however, that the presence of artificial patina
on a vessel does not absolutely prove that the vessel in question is
an outright fake. Many authentic archaic vessels have been heavily
restored and have been repatinated, which was an especially common
practice at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Inscriptions

As is the case with the patina on a vessel, an inscription, when there is
one, can provide us with some useful clues as to the vessel’s authenticity
or possible inauthenticity. At the beginning of the twentieth century,
makers of bronze reproductions took a keen interest in inscriptions
because, at that time, the selling prices of inscribed archaic bronzes
and inscribed oracle bones increased according to the number of
characters contained in the inscriptions. Thus in order to increase the
selling price of an object, inscriptions were added, even to originally
uninscribed archaic bronzes, either by copying characters from books
or copying complete inscriptions from other vessels, or by completely
inventing fictitious inscriptions. As mentioned above, the adding of
such inscriptions was the speciality of artisans in Xian 西安 between
1920 and 1938.

In many cases these false, added inscriptions are recognizable by:

■ Errors in the style of the characters or the type of text used, i.e.
using a calligraphic or literary style that differed from that used at
the time that the archaic bronze vessel was produced.

th
Fake jue made in early 20 century.
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