Qing Dynasty porcelain forensic handwriting appraisal applied to the bottom of porcelain

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-01-29

In view of the difficulty of relying only on the aging trace method for the dating of Qing Dynasty porcelain mentioned earlier (the time span is too short and the aging characteristics are close), in order to abandon the subjectivity of ophthalmology to the greatest extent and introduce the scientific inspection system, the author feels that it is necessary to apply judicial handwriting identification to the value and method of handwriting recognition at the bottom of porcelain.

First of all, judicial appraisal refers to the activities in which appraisers use science and technology or specialized knowledge to identify and judge the specialized issues involved in litigation and provide appraisal opinions. In other words, judicial appraisal refers to an activity in which the judicial organs or the parties entrust a statutory appraisal unit to use professional knowledge and technology to make identification and judgment on specialized issues in a case in the course of litigation in accordance with legal procedures. (from).

According to the above definition, it can be seen that judicial appraisal is scientific, professional and serious.

In addition, the forensic handwriting appraisal is based on the principles of physiology, psychology, and dynamics, rather than based on our experience and abstract text descriptions formed in the limited porcelain database, and can be mastered by the appraisers after a certain period of special training, which is objective, fair, and easy to promote.

When the author came into contact with the Qing Dynasty porcelain collection, he began to learn Xi and study the relevant knowledge of judicial handwriting identification, and consciously applied it to his own Qing Dynasty porcelain collection. This has not been stated, mainly because the current database of Qing Dynasty porcelain in the museum is not a complete version (it is difficult for us to include all the handwriting of Qing Dynasty craftsmen), so this method cannot be generalized to the identification of every Qing Dynasty porcelain.

But this method also has very positive implications:

1) First of all, it can identify the identity of the bottom section of folk Tibetan porcelain with the standard ware of the museum, if the handwriting of the bottom section is written by the same person, the judicial handwriting appraisal conclusion can be better than the subjective appraisal conclusion of the characteristics of the fetus, glaze, ornamentation, vessel type, etc.;

2) Although the database of the standard version of porcelain is incomplete, through (1) the authentic folk porcelain, their shape, tire, glaze, ornamentation and other characteristics (such as different from the standard ware of various museums) can enrich the database of cultural relics in China, and also enrich the database of some private scientific research institutions (such as the database of chemical composition of the glaze). The unscientific nature of using this database to identify porcelain has been emphasized many times, but this database is still very meaningful as a post-event study of ancient ceramic manufacturing processes);

3) The expanded database formed by (2) can assist in the identification of the part of ancient porcelain that has not yet covered the base section of (1), and then expand the base section database of (1), thus forming a virtuous circle.

Based on the above, for the use of this method, the principle of authenticity of part of the collection should be adopted, and the principle of reverse falsification should not be reversed, that is, the porcelain that can be identified with the bottom of the porcelain database in the collection of state-owned museums is authentic; However, if it is not the same as the bottom of the porcelain database in the collection of state-owned museums, it cannot be directly forged. Because the standard database is incomplete.

The handwriting of the samples mentioned in this article is selected from the Qing Dynasty porcelain in the Illustrated Dictionary of Ceramics of the Palace Museum (Palace Museum, Forbidden City Publishing House, 2010), and the samples mentioned in this article are all selected from folk porcelain. The bibliography mentioned in this article is attached, and the professional terminology used in this article is based on the "National Standard GB T 37239-2018 Technical Specification for Handwriting Identification of the People's Republic of China". The examples given in this article have been reviewed by professionals in the field of judicial handwriting identification, and the conclusions are consistent.

Here's an example, starting with the figure above:

Fig.1 Left: sample handwriting, right: sample handwriting.

1. First of all, according to the national standard, we should check whether the sample has imitation handwriting.

First of all, from an epistemological point of view, it is impossible for a copyist to fully perceive the imitation object. First, morphologically, the obvious and clear strokes and their components are easy to perceive, while the complex and small features are not easy to perceive. Second, dynamically, the stroke force, stroke order, and intention connection (the overall action relationship, especially the non-connected brush) are generally not easy to perceive; Third, the overall coherence between characters is not easily perceived.

Secondly, the observation ability of imitators is different under different conditions, and the ability to perceive objects is also different, and the control and reproduction of old skills and Xi when writing are also different, and imitators must constantly revise and observe, which will definitely affect the effect of writing; When the writer's attention and control become weaker, his old skills and Xi will be "revealed"; When old skills and Xi are reproduced, the writer may be aware of them and correct them, which will inevitably lead to the characteristic traces of changes in action.

Thirdly, in the whole process of imitation, different contradictory phenomena will appear in the writing activity under the interference of different factors: the contradiction between observation and the object, the contradiction between perception and the writing process, the contradiction between writing and effect supervision, the contradiction between the presence or absence of a single word object and imitation, the contradiction between the beginning part and other parts of imitation, the contradiction between the attention and control of writing, and the contradiction between the obvious part and the small and complex part in the effect of imitation.

The above psychological and copying characteristics often lead to the following characteristics in imitation handwriting: stroke interruption, hasty strokes, unclear explanation of strokes, trembling strokes, floating strokes, etc. (Different from broken strokes and continuous strokes in normal writing, if the above characteristics appear in normal writing, the strokes are often positive and the handwriting is clear; However, if there is occasional shaking or jumping in normal handwriting, the cause of the change in external conditions can often be found, such as the hand falling off the pad, or a foreign object under the paper, etc.).

According to the national standard, to confirm whether it is imitation handwriting, the following characteristics need to be detected:

a) The writer deliberately slowed down the writing speed (not found in the above example);

b) The writer forcibly accelerates the speed of writing (not found in the above example);

c) The writer deliberately changes the writing, structure, font, glyph, stroke order, pen movement, etc. of a single word (not found in the above example);

d) The writer deliberately used a non-Xi hand (usually left-handed) to write in camouflage (not found in the above example);

e) The writer deliberately uses a ruler to draw, spray, or otherwise use unusual writing instruments and writing methods to disguise writing (irrelevant);

f) The writer uses a mixture of the above methods, or deliberately uses other special methods to disguise the writing (not found in the above examples).

Comprehensive conclusion: The handwriting is stable and fluent, and there is no characteristic of deliberately imitating the writing style of others.

2. Although there are some characteristics similar to the signature handwriting of the bottom section of the porcelain, such as the signature, and the number of words is indeed small, the writing mode is changeable, etc., but it is not the emperor's own handwriting, and there are usually multiple craftsmen who sign the money, and it is necessary to compare whether the characteristics of the sample and the sample handwriting are likely to match (the steps are omitted) before entering the identification process, so the relevant provisions of the signature handwriting appraisal do not apply.

Conclusion: The handwriting identification clause does not apply.

3. Identification of identity, that is, comparing the handwriting characteristics of samples and samples, and giving a conclusion on whether they are identical.

Due to the difference in the size of the porcelain, the bottom section reserved for taking pictures can not measure the size, this article only uses two comparison methods of intuitive comparison and coincidence comparison, and skips the method of microscopic comparison, measurement comparison, and instrument software comparison.

1) Coincidence comparison: Use Photoshop software to adjust the image to black and white, set the transparency to 60%, and cover the sample. It was found that the sample was basically the same as the sample, and the light displacement could be caused by the writing process or the shooting angle.

Fig.2 Coincidence comparison.

Conclusion: The degree of overlap is high, up to more than 95%.

2) Intuitive comparison:

a) Writing style: It mainly examines the writer's writing level and control ability, such as the layout of the text, the size and form of the characters, and the arrangement and combination.

Fig.3 Writing style.

It can be seen from the arrows drawn in the figure that the writer of the sample has good calligraphy literacy and writing Xi habits, the pen strength is varied, the pen is steady, the strokes are naturally connected, and the closing points have personal inertia dynamic characteristics, and the arrangement is regular, which is consistent with the sample.

b) Layout: Through coincident comparison, it can be seen that the indentation, protrusion, axis and baseline angle of the sample and the sample are highly consistent.

Figure 4 Layout.

c) Writing: Only the writing of the word "Jin" of the word "system" is different from whether it is adhered to the pen of the word "year". Since a similar writing was found in another sample of the Forbidden City, it can be seen that there was another writing at that time. The rest of the fonts are written in a high degree of agreement.

Fig.5 Another sample of the Forbidden City.

d) Form:

The middle two verticals of the word "big" drift to the left, and the middle of the outermost pen is concave; The upper left part of the word "system" is closed vertically, and the end is hooked to the right to form an arc; The bottom of the word "system" crosses the vertical pen at the beginning; The upper left of the word "year" is horizontally folded and tilted downward, and the upper right is horizontally picked by the official book. The above characteristics are all stable writing, and the sample is consistent with the change of the sample.

Figure 6 Glyphs.

e) Structure:

According to the coincidence comparison diagram, it can be seen that the structure is highly consistent.

f) Stroke Order:

Refer to the serial number of Figure 5 in four places, it can be seen that the stroke order is exactly the same.

g) Pen movement: In addition to the two inconsistencies mentioned in c), the characteristics of the rest of the words are the same, such as starting, receiving, turning, folding, connecting, winding, lifting, stopping, dragging, and belting.

h) Pen marks: This article examines the trace characteristics of the writing instrument in the handwriting strokes during the writing process, which comprehensively reflect the structural characteristics of the writing instrument and the characteristics of the writing action of the writer. For example, the ink formed by writing with a ballpoint pen is white, accumulated, intermittent, **, etc.

Conclusion: The pen marks are clear and coherent, and there are no inconsistencies.

Comprehensive conclusion: Except for a few strokes that are inconsistent (and there is a reasonable reason: the sample handwriting database is incomplete), the other features are highly consistent.

To sum up, through coincident comparison and intuitive comparison, we can draw the same conclusion.

The requirements of the national standard on affirming the same:

To make an affirmative appraisal opinion, the following conditions shall be met at the same time:

a) The handwriting of the sample is of high quality with the handwriting characteristics of the sample, and its overall value fully reflects the writing Xi of the same person;

b) There is no essential difference between the handwriting characteristics of the sample and the sample handwriting;

c) The handwriting characteristics of the difference or change between the handwriting of the sample and the handwriting of the sample can be reasonably explained. )

Attached below are more ** of sample porcelain and sample porcelain for reference:

Sample of the Forbidden City: Qianlong yellow ground enamel color cross grass pattern hollow bottle.

Description of the Forbidden City porcelain and the bottom paragraph**.

Sample: Qianlong powder ground enamel color flower grass pattern tiger ear hollow appreciation bottle.

Detail of the sample.

Foot diagram of the sample sample.

Sample base drawing.

The following are the handwriting identification characteristics of two similarity porcelains that I mentioned in the previous discussion of Qing Dynasty porcelain, but which happened to be misdetected by two institutions

1) This piece is a red ground enamel color lotus bowl that was mistakenly detected as a late Qing ** imitation by an institution through the chemical composition comparison method of tire glaze.

Qing "Kangxi Imperial System" red ground enamel color lotus bowl.

2) This piece is considered by an international auction company to be a lot of Kangxi porcelain in the Qing Dynasty through expert visual inspection

Please take a look at the comparison chart of the handwriting identification of the bottom two pieces below:

1) The first piece: the handwriting of the bottom section of the standard instrument of the Forbidden City can be identified.

Comparison chart of the bottom paragraph.

Layout, glyphs, structure comparison diagram.

Comparison of stroke writing characteristics.

2) The second piece: the handwriting of the three samples of the standard stored in the Forbidden City is inconsistent, and all of them give a negative identification conclusion. However, due to the possibility of incomplete databases, it cannot be directly identified (it can be further identified by ornamental brushwork and painting style).

The following is another piece of porcelain of the third dynasty of the Qing Dynasty that was considered by an institution to be an imitation of the ** period through the chemical composition analysis method of the tire glaze and expert visual examination, and the handwriting of the bottom paragraph can be identified as identical:

Coincident comparison chart.

Comparison chart of the bottom paragraph.

Comparison diagram of the layout, glyph and structure of the bottom paragraph.

Comparison of the writing characteristics of the bottom paragraph.

The following are the standards of the Forbidden City and the collections that have been mistakenly inspectedMore ** for reference:

Forbidden City coral red ground enamel color peony pattern ear bottle.

Description of the Forbidden City porcelain and the bottom paragraph**.

The folk were mistakenly inspected the collection of the "Yongzheng Year of the Great Qing Dynasty" style bucket color dragon pattern gourd bottle.

Detail of the Yongzheng year of the Qing Dynasty "bucket color dragon pattern gourd bottle.

Yongzheng year of the Qing Dynasty "bucket color dragon pattern gourd bottle bottom.

Yongzheng year of the Qing Dynasty "bucket color dragon pattern gourd bottle bottom drawing.

There are many similar unjust, false and wrongful cases that refer to a deer as a horse, or a horse as a deer.

The purpose of this number is not to fight counterfeiting or accusation, but to clarify scientific methods and techniques, present the chain of evidence of real hammers, and also to clear the chaotic appraisal community.

Bibliography of this article:

1) "National Standard GB T 37239-2018 Technical Specification for Handwriting Identification of the People's Republic of China".

2) New Theory of Handwriting Identification: Handbook for Appraisers, Wang Guanqing, Peking University Press, 2016.

3) "Judicial Handwriting Identification", Chen Xiaohong, Science Press, 2021.

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