Page 34 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses
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In the past ten years, a great quantity of fakes have flooded the market. - Adding to the decoration of an already partially decorated piece. The added
Coming mostly from Taiwan and mainland China, they are often of the highest decoration is rather stiff and sometimes it is possible to see chiselling
quality, some reaching such a level of technical perfection that they completely marks. As with wholly redecorated pieces, the patina inside the incisions of
fool many collectors and professionals. Genuine specialists are, fortunately, the added decoration is either artificial or completely absent.
still able to detect them since they are often too heavy, their artificial patina
can be detached from their surfaces rather easily, their inscriptions may not
match paleologically the authentic writing of the period from which the object - Soldering or otherwise attaching a new decoration onto an authentic piece.
is supposed to date and/or may not be cast deeply enough, and especially
because no corrosion can be detected actually coming from inside the object’s - Casting a new piece from a mold made from an authentic piece. Usually the
metal, since the patina, such as there is, has merely been applied artificially to resulting vessel is slightly smaller than the original and numerous casting
the vessel’s surface. No matter how skillful the copier, a true specialist will be faults are visible on its surface. The patina is artificial.
able to see through the hoax, since for him or her the copy always lacks life,
the vital energy that only a genuine antiquity possesses and the ability to sense - Creating a reproduction based on photos found in publications picturing
this is essential for anyone making an appraisal. original pieces. Most often mistakes in shape, design, decor, etc. will be
made in reproducing areas of the original vessel that are not visible in the
photo that is being used.
Techniques Used in Producing Fakes
As mentioned above, a careful inspection of the patination of a vessel can play
Despite all the skills which those producing reproductions possess, a person
an essential, determining role in the detection of a reproduction. Authentic
with a sharp eye and a knowledge of the techniques used by reproduction-
patina is the product of a chemical reaction that takes place over a long period
makers can distinguish between fakes and the genuine article.
of time inside the metal of the vessel when the vessel comes into contact with
diverse mineral salts present in the soil in which the vessel has been buried and
Reproduction-makers employ a number of methods to produce pieces that are
these chemical reactions give the surface of the bronze a certain appearance
meant to dupe unsuspecting buyers. Among these are:
which can be granular, smooth or covered with miniscule crystals and a
colour, which can be maroon (cuprite or monoxide), green (basic carbonate
- reconstructing an incomplete authentic vessel by recasting its missing of copper), commonly called malachite, or blue (carbonate of copper), called
pieces. azurite.
- Constructing a vessel by using pieces from several authentic incomplete The artificial patinas applied to bronze reproductions are produced using the
archaic vessels. In such cases, authentic pieces from different historical following materials and techniques:
periods are sometimes joined together.
Acids
- Changing the form of an authentic vessel into the form of another, rarer - The earliest method used, and the most widely-used and easy, is soaking
and more valuable vessel, by perhaps soldering legs onto a cover to produce the bronze object in chlorohydric acid. A second related technique consists
a separate vessel, adding handles to a handleless yu to make it into a gui, of soaking the vessel in a mixture of acid, lime, salt and colours. The object
etc., etc. is subsequently buried to a depth of about a meter for a period of from three
to four years. That allows a chemical reaction to take place, which creates a
- Adding decoration to an authentic undecorated, plain vessel; in most such patina which is, in many ways, very similar to that on an authentic archaic
cases, the newly added decoration is incised into the surface of the vessel. bronze vessel. A third method is the use of a mixture of sulfuric acid and
Such decoration often appears stiffer than that on vessels originally bearing ammonia. After keeping the emerged vessel in a very humid place for from
decoration and mistakes are often made by the forgers in matching the style three to five days, the vessel will be covered by a green patina, which is
of the decoration with the period to which the originally undecorated archaic difficult to remove. The famous fake-maker Wang Deshan made extensive
vessel belongs. Moreover, in such cases, the patina inside the incision marks use of this method at the beginning of the last century.
of the newly applied decoration is either artificial or completely absent.
Inscriptions, if added, are also usually badly formed and the style of the Lacquer
calligraphy may be inaccurate. - Certain other types of artificial patina are produced by applying to the
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