Chapter 6 Seals of two pairs of peerless treasures

My friend Chen Zifeng has become addicted to printing. He used to collect more than a thousand stamps of various sizes in the Mainland. He has collected more frequently in Hong Kong and Macau for the past 20 years.The height of the seal is three inches and two cents, and the nipple occupies eight cents. The niu is carved through the heart, engraved with a big roc spreading its wings, with a high spirit, and holding clouds with its wings.The six sides of the printed body are smooth, without blemishes, yellow and smooth like fat, ancient and beautiful, with inscribed official script, engraved with "Ji Xin private seal" four heng, only the word "wooden man" is engraved on the side, and the year and month are never missing.

Mr. Fang bought it with six taels of gold at Yigu Shanfang in Macau two years ago, and asked me if it was worth it. I told him that chicken blood and Tianhuang are the best stamp towels. Previously, the seals in his collection were made of moxa leaf green from Shoushan and Qingtian stone. There are a lot of fish brain jelly. Now that I have played chicken blood and Tianhuang, it can be said that my understanding of seals has improved to a higher level.Chicken blood pays attention to thick red color and fresh color, ruddy firmness and heavy texture, uniform blood pattern, and no overlapping.Tianhuang should be fat-condensed and cooked millet, with uniform color, not tired or boiled, bright, clear and fresh.Chen Jun's seal is flawless, and it is even more exquisite than the imperial Tianhuang seals used by Qianlong to read calligraphy and paintings in the Forbidden City. It is simply a peerless treasure.

In the early years, Zhou Dawen, the mayor of Beiping, was known to be good at gold and stone, seals, and literature. Among the seals he collected were a pair of chicken blood and a pair of Tianhuang seals, which can be regarded as peerless essence.Zhou people are very bold and unrestrained. I heard that Wang Jingwei once collected many valuable seals during his tenure as the Executive Yuan, but the chicken blood and Tian Huang, which have been made into talents, are lacking.Zhou and Wang Su didn't know each other. At that time, Zhou was tired of playing with seals and was indulging in collecting Gu Yuexuan snuff bottles. He had the idea of ​​gifting a sword to a martyr, and planned to give it generously.His family has been friends with Wen Zongyao's family for several generations, so it is said that Wen gave it to Wang.After Wang got these two pairs of treasures, he was ecstatic. Because he admired Qi Huang's name, he immediately entrusted Qi Baishi with a lot of money to ask Qi Baishi to engrave a pair of Tianhuang seals. "Ji Xin Private Seal".

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, at the end of the 28th Republic of China, for fear of being harassed by the Japanese chieftains stationed in North China, Mr. Qi closed his door to thank guests.And at the entrance of Kuache Hutong, a notice was pasted, stating: "At the beginning of December 28th, the first order will be refunded, and the later order will not be accepted." Some close friends come to ask for it, but secretly they still use their knives and brushes, and draw exactly as they are.The two seals that Mr. Qi gave to the Wang family were requested by the Peking seal carver. After the engraving was completed, Li Kuchan came to ask for help at this time.Mr. Qi was in a good mood that day. He talked for a long time about which seal should be used in seal script and which one should be used in official script, and what are the similarities and differences in the use of sword techniques in seal and official script.A few days later, the famous doctor Wang Fengchun returned to Suzhou to visit his relatives. The author and Chen Banding gave him a farewell party at Chunghua Building. There were several famous seal-carving calligraphers and painters including Yu Feiyan, Shou Shigong, Li Kuchan, Wang Mengshi, and Xu Yansun.Li Kuchan said that these two Tianhuang seals have never been seen before, together with Qi Lao's meticulous masterpiece, it is a pity that such rare treasures should be attributed to a generation of cunning and treacherous fools.Everyone looked at each other and sighed, thinking that this kind of peerless treasure would never be enjoyed by Wang Ni for a long time.Sure enough, not long after, Wang flew to Dongying for medical treatment due to bullet rust in his body, and was bombed by American planes, and finally died in the burrow of Hakone. .Brother Chen obtained this seal, in terms of size, button pattern, color, luster, and wooden side, it is obviously Wang's Fang Tianhuang. Unfortunately, the other seal, which is famous in Yangwen and Xiaozhuan, has gone to nowhere. .

Ruan Jinqing, a family friend, is the descendant of Ruan Yuntai's Taifu. He came from his family for the appraisal of gold and stone.In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, he took his family and resolutely traveled to a foreign country, sent them overseas to Paraguay, and opened a small antique shop in Asunción. After years of poor management, it is now quite large.Last summer, he came to Taiwan for sightseeing. He made nearly 100 multicolored slideshows of the imperial seals, money shells and pendants from various countries that he collected over the years and did not plan to sell them for his own enjoyment. He brought them to Taiwan for us to appreciate.Among them, there is a Tianhuang seal with Wang Jingwei's famous seal engraved in Yangwen small seal; a pair of lion button bloodstone seals, four inches high, one side is engraved with "Wang Zhaoming's seal" in Yangwen, and the other is engraved with "Jingwei Private Seal" in Yinwen.The former is written in scriptures, while the latter is carved in Xiaozhuan.Brother Ruan said: "Someone told him that both of them were made by the famous seal engraver Tao Boming."

In my opinion, the former has high charm and strong brushwork, which may be the work of Dow; the latter is pretentious, and the brushwork is not smooth.The seal is contained in a five-color kit made by Beiping Liulichang. I have studied this photo with several famous seal carvers here, and everyone agrees that the latter one is more than strong and lacking in charm, and it is not from the hands of Dow.The Fangtian Huangwang seal is exactly a pair with Chen Zifeng's, and everyone agrees that it is Qi Baishi's hand-carved seal.After being appraised by famous experts, it is indeed extraordinary, Brother Ruan especially cherishes these three seals.After he returned to his place of residence, he immediately sent these seals to a local bank with foreign exchange transactions for collection.

He hoped that one day Mr. Chen Zifeng from Hong Kong would join him in donating the Fang Tianhuang seal in his collection to the museum. I think Brother Zifeng is patriotic and would not be willing to be left behind when it comes to making historical cultural relics public!I will try my best to complete this matter in the future.