Paying Tuition (Cont.)

Chu Chen turned the sound jar upside down and pointed at its base. "As for your sound jar, judging by the body material, it looks like a product from the mid-Kangxi period of a civilian kiln. But it completely lacks the 'glutinous rice flour' phenomenon. What's more, your sound jar is far too heavy. The clay was clearly processed by a modern pug mill. Pottery made from this kind of clay has too high a density, which is why it feels so heavy."

"Besides, since it's supposedly a civilian-kiln porcelain piece from the mid-Kangxi period, it should display two characteristics under a high-powered magnifying glass. First, the bubbles beneath the glaze should be extremely fine and densely packed, while the glaze should have a turbid, 'milky' look, as though water had been mixed with milk. Second, the blue-and-white decoration should have a deep, heavy, cloudlike texture, without any granular appearance. You can check these two points yourself."

As he spoke, he took a magnifying glass from his pocket and placed it in Elder Yuan's hand.

Elder Yuan examined the jar carefully with the magnifying glass and found that it indeed displayed neither of the two phenomena Chu Chen had mentioned. He could not help feeling discouraged, but he still asked unwillingly, "Boss Chu, what if my sound jar was fired during the middle or late period?"

Chu Chen smiled. "First of all, as I said, the characteristics displayed by this sound jar indicate that it was made by a civilian kiln during the mid-Kangxi period. But even if it wasn't from the middle period, its characteristics under a magnifying glass would still be different from those of this sound jar."

"First, the bubbles would be relatively large and densely packed, and the glaze would look clearer, with a weaker milky