After drinking the tea, Wu Qingshan, who was previously interrupted by the arrival of Huo Sining and Gu Xu, spoke up again:
"Uncle Jiang, my master helped arrange this eting because I really need your help. I’ve brought the items here with . Please don’t rush to decline; have a look at what I’ve got first and then decide. How about it?"
Wu Qingshan said this to the lean old man sitting opposite him.
Huo Sining was already sowhat curious about the identity of the old man opposite her. Although she hadn’t deliberately paid attention to it, she had flipped through newspapers and magazines before, and she felt that the old man in front of her looked very familiar. Now hearing Wu Qingshan call this person Uncle Jiang, Huo Sining could vaguely guess a bit.
The lean old man opposite remained silent, but his expression didn’t show any signs of displeasure. Seeing this, Wu Qingshan quickly took out a shockproof foam box from his backpack.
When the box was opened, revealing more than a dozen large and small fragnts inside, the previously inattentive people instantly sat up straight, even Huo Sining couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
These porcelain shards were irregular in shape, either round, flat, smooth, or sharp, with bases and waistlines. It was clear that they were pieces from a single porcelain object that had been shattered.
"Hiss..." Upon seeing the characteristics of these ceramic pieces clearly, Huo Sining couldn’t help but take a deep breath, her facial expression froze.
"This is..."
The lean old man was already so shocked that his mouth was agape, unable to speak for a long ti. Finally, his expression turned serious and solemn. With trembling hands, he picked up one of the broken ceramic shards from the foam box, put on his reading glasses, and carefully inspected it with a magnifying glass.
Huo Sining’s gaze also landed on another ceramic shard. Like the lean old man, and even Elder Shi Ronghe couldn’t resist reaching out, each picking up a shard to examine closely.
These ceramic shards had a glaze on their outer surfaces with a very special color. If one had to describe it in Chinese, perhaps a poem would be most appropriate: "After the rain the sky clears, and the clouds disperse to reveal this color for the future."
This line of poetry was the imperial critique given by Emperor Huizong of Song when a kiln official requested him to na the color after the first batch of Ru Kiln was fired by the royal pottery of the Song Dynasty. Since then, the color Tianqing was the designated na for Ru Kiln porcelain.
Indeed, these shards right in front of everyone were authentically that cloud-dispersing azure, resembling the sky after the rain had cleared, looking natural yet gentle and exquisite.
However, Huo Sining had seen Ru Kiln before, and authentic Ru Kiln was already very close to this color of cloud-dispersing azure. Yet compared to these ceramic shards, Huo Sining still felt that there was a difference in the firing and the visual sensation.
But if it wasn’t Ru Kiln, no other kiln’s Tianqing glaze could reach this level.
The color of these ceramic shards was more evocative than the Tianqing glaze of the Ru Kiln. If it wasn’t Ru Kiln, then could it perhaps be...
Huo Sining had a bold assumption in her mind, but she was afraid of making a fool of herself by speaking incorrectly, so she held back this thought and waited for Elder Shi and Elder Mr. Jiang to speak first.
The truth proved that Huo Sining’s speculation wasn’t rely wishful thinking. After Elder Mr. Jiang carefully examined the glaze and texture of the shard in his hand, he said with so shakiness:
"I’ve imagined countless tis what the true color of the Chai Kiln would be. I even specifically went out after a rainstorm to observe the sky. Our Jiang family has been in the golden repair business for generations, encountering countless renowned kiln porcelain pieces, but none could achieve the effect of cloud-dispersing azure."
"I always believed that the records in books exaggerated the phenonon, and the so-called Chai Kiln hue was a result of embellishnts and falsehoods by the ancients."
"But now seeing the shards in your hand, I have to admit, I was wrong. This is the cloud-dispersing azure I sought after. This color is exactly the sa as the cleared sky I gazed upon as a youngster after waiting eagerly in the rain under the eaves..."
Upon these words, everyone in the pavilion was amazed. Elder Shi Ronghe shot up, eagerly asking, "Old Jiang, are you sure this is the Chai Kiln?!"
Elder Jiang stood up, took a deep breath, and slowly said, "As blue as the sky, as bright as a mirror, as thin as paper, as resonant as a bell, with fine veins. Its base often with rough yellow soil, exquisite craftsmanship, unique in color, it crowns all kilns. Although this piece is broken, one can still discern that it should have been in the shape of a complete Yuèyún Plate."
"These shards have a yellow clay body, and the underside wasn’t glazed, indicating the conditions when firing this plate were very limited. And looking at the shape and color, both the glaze and the hue match perfectly with the characteristics recorded for the Chai Kiln in historical texts."
"Of course, without undergoing instruntal analysis, I dare not guarantee absolutely, but I am seventy percent sure that this should indeed be Chai Kiln, more valuable in research than the likes of Yuan Blue and White and Chenghua Doucai, and worthy of ’a shard worth a thousand gold’ fa."
To the side, Wu Qingshan was dumbstruck. Hearing Elder Jiang’s detailed explanation, his mind was a blank. After a while, he asked awkwardly. "Elder Jiang, you’re saying this is... Chai, Chai Kiln? Not, not Ru Kiln?"
Elder Shi Ronghe, seeing Wu Qingshan’s look, knew that his disciple probably hadn’t fully grasped the situation.
Indeed, Wu Qingshan took this chance to bring these shards thinking they were Ru Kiln Tianqing glaze. He’d never considered linking these items to the Chai Kiln.
He underestimated the true value of these ceramic shards, not expecting that in a happy accident, he had brought back a bunch of the legendary Chai Kiln fragnts!
Throughout the five thousand years of Huaxia’s history, there have been many exquisite varieties of porcelain, and during the Song Dynasty, the developnt of ceramics reached its peak.
At that ti, the five great kilns of Ru, Guan, Ge, Jun, and Ding could be said to have reached the pinnacle of world ceramics.
However, this does not an that these five great kilns were completely invincible. As a matter of fact, there was one type of porcelain that stood proudly above these five great kilns, and that was the Chai Kiln.
The Chai Kiln was the creation of Chai Rong, the emperor of the Later Zhou of the Five Dynasties period.
Future generations know about Zhao Kuāngyìn’s elevation to emperor with the Yellow Robe, but what they do not know is that Zhao Kuāngyìn took away the world of Chai Rong’s Chai family.
Historical records have fairly high praise for Chai Rong. However, in the historical narrative of winners and losers, people oftentis rember the victor, neglecting or intentionally overlooking the achievents of the almost-victorious.
Chai Rong was an emperor, but an emperor with a unique passion. He didn’t indulge in a life of luxury or the arts but had a keen interest in minerals and soil, researching and creating porcelain, especially unique porcelain creations being his greatest hobby.
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