Chapter 121 Seal Box
Paul patted the man on the shoulder, said goodbye with a smile, and walked towards Lin Yuan.

“You’re really good! You got the treasure without spending a penny.” Henry said to Paul.

Paul said with a little dissatisfaction: “Lie? Don’t talk nonsense, this is a gift from him.”

“Send it? He is not related to you at all, why should he send it to you?”

“We are brothers!” Paul blurted out, “He said this was a meeting gift for me, and he wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t accept it!”

Henry rolled his eyes: “Brother? Does my poor aunt know that she has a son that she has never seen?”

“Why are you talking about my mother…”

Paul and Henry have been playing together since they were young, and praising and teasing each other is their daily pleasure.

Everyone knew that Paul would definitely be able to get the copper box, it was just a matter of how much money he spent. But it was really surprising that he got this treasure for free without spending a penny.

Because that person arrived here later, he had no right to have a share of those boxes of diamonds. He was not even allowed to stay and take a few more looks. One can imagine how he felt at that time.

Unhappy, angry…

David is an example! Without Lin Yuan’s dissuasion, he would have already brought out the truth to argue with others.

It would be fine if they didn’t share the diamonds, but why did they chase people away?

My uncle took it and looked at it for a while. The copper box in his hand was round, flat-topped, and had straight walls. There was a phoenix pattern engraved on the lid, and the box walls were also engraved with patterns.

He remembered seeing something similar, but couldn’t remember what it was. He turned to Lin Yuan and asked, “What is this called?”

“Seal box.”

“Yes, that’s it!” My uncle just remembered it.

Paul said in broken Chinese: “Is it the kind of box used to hold seals?”

Lin Yuan shook his head: “This is a box for holding ink, also called an ink box. It’s different from the box you think of.”

The ancients invented a device for storing ink, called an ink box, or ink box. However, nowadays, calligraphers and painters also call the ink box a box for seals, which is indeed easy to cause misunderstanding.

Generally speaking, seal boxes are mostly oblate and small in size, and are made of copper, porcelain, agate, ivory, jade, etc., with porcelain being the best.

The specific starting date of this kind of stationery is unknown, but it was no later than the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. The Guan, Ge, Ding, Yue and other kilns in the Song Dynasty all produced seal boxes.

Due to historical reasons, Tang and Song dynasty items are very rare, and most items are handed down from the Qing Dynasty. Most Ming dynasty seal boxes are made of copper, round, and slightly convex. The gilt copper seal box with gold silk inlay has inlaid patterns on the lid and a mother-and-child mouth. Although it is small in size, it is exquisitely crafted.

“A seal box made of copper? It’s quite rare! I’ve seen a porcelain one at Uncle De’s place.” said my uncle.

Lin Yuan: “Copper seal boxes are very popular. There are many in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The main decorative techniques are gilded and engraved with flower and bird patterns. Of course, the most common is the porcelain seal box.”

After all, the predecessors have concluded that porcelain is the most suitable for ink-printing. Clay consumes oil; copper and tin rust; jade, crystal and firing materials are all damp, which greatly harms the ink; stone is also not suitable.

“Brother Lin, what era is this ink box from?” Henry asked.

Lin Yuan took the seal box and opened it. As expected, everyone saw some red ink residue inside.

“Made in the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty.” Everyone can see the inscription on the bottom of the inner wall of the seal box.

It is also quite rare to have inscriptions placed inside.

“A Xuande bronze ware similar to the Xuande furnace?” My uncle was stunned.

During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, the more famous works of art include blue and white porcelain and the Xuande furnace.

Even the famous Yuan blue and white porcelain is not as exquisite as Xuande blue and white porcelain. It can be said that Xuande blue and white porcelain is the pinnacle of blue and white porcelain, which has been recognized since the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, there is the Xuande furnace which has been passed down through the ages.

“It is a bronze ware from that period, but compared with the real Xuande furnace, it should be much worse and not from the same batch.” Lin Yuan said.

If this was a bronze ware similar to the Xuande furnace, Lin Yuan would have bought it himself, and it would not be Paul’s turn.

You know, Xuande furnace is very rare.

First of all, it was a project that the emperor personally participated in. From the beginning, Emperor Xuande asked to find simple and elegant classic styles from classic catalogs such as “The Complete Collection of Jinshi of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty”, “Xuanhe Bogutu”, “Ranking List of Collections of Bronze and Jade in the Yuan Dynasty”, “Archaeological Pictures”, as well as famous kilns such as Ruguan, Gejun, and Ding in the palace collection.

After the designers have initially selected a style, they must first draw a product design for Zhu Zhanji to personally screen. The selected one will then be cast into a sample based on the drawing. If the sample is satisfactory, the plan will be officially approved.

However, a good product requires more than just drawings and plans; construction and manufacturing are also crucial, so Zhu Zhanji also supervised the entire casting stage of the Xuande furnace.

The first step is copper smelting. Generally speaking, a copper furnace made after smelting four times is already very fine, and after smelting six times it will have a bright and restrained “precious light”, but this only meets Zhu Zhanji’s minimum requirements.

稍微高档一点的、给道教和佛教用的都要炼8到10遍，御用的更是要足足炼够12遍。1斤铜经过12炼最多只能剩下4两精铜，用这种精铜制作出的铜炉质地像肌肤一样细腻光泽。

Judging from the copper color of the seal box in front of me, it should have been refined six times.

This cannot be compared with the one that was refined 12 times in the Xuande furnace.

“The color of this leather is far worse than that of the Xuande furnace.” Lin Yuan said again.

The most attractive thing about Xuande furnace is its skin color.

Mao Pijiang, a scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, once said: “The most wonderful thing about Xuan furnace is its color. The false color is dazzling on the outside, while the real color is integrated on the inside. It emits a wonderful light from the darkness, just like beautiful skin that is soft and tender to touch.”

Judging from the literature and the actual objects, the skin colors of Xuande furnace include more than a dozen kinds, such as date red, pig liver, copper green, Tibetan scripture paper, emerald green, eel yellow, and crab shell green.

It is said that under the full supervision of Zhu Zhanji, in March of that year, the skilled craftsmen employed by the imperial court cast 117 types of Xuande incense burners totaling more than 3000 pieces, all of which bore the inscription “Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty” on the bottom.

Xuande incense burners are so popular, but there are only more than 3000 Xuande incense burners made by Zhu Zhanji, and most of them are hidden deep in the Forbidden City. So many people began to imitate them. In fact, from the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty to the present, the imitation of Xuande incense burners has never stopped.

Among them, many imitations before Qianlong were made according to the craftsmanship of Xuande incense burners, and the finished products are almost comparable to the real Xuande incense burners. Therefore, they are sometimes classified as “Xuande incense burners” and treated the same as the real Xuande incense burners.

“This should have been made during the Xuande period. Someone else imitated it based on the Xuande furnace. Although it can’t compare with the real Xuande furnace, it’s not too bad either. It should be worth tens of thousands of dollars.” Lin Yuan finally gave an estimate.

Don’t even think about the Xuande furnace. The real Xuande furnace is now a national treasure and is priceless.

(End of this chapter)