我與古歙硯收藏

我是一名公務(wù)員，工作之余喜愛(ài)收藏古玩，玩得比較成功的是古歙硯專題收藏。經(jīng)過(guò)十余年的尋覓，目前我的古歙硯藏品已經(jīng)逾百，其中頗有一些不可多得的唐宋精品。這樣的數(shù)量與質(zhì)量，使我已躋身于個(gè)人收藏隊(duì)伍中的前茅，并受到古硯界專家同行的首肯和稱贊。

古歙硯收藏源于偶然

初入收藏圈我與大多數(shù)人一樣，玩的是陶瓷。但吾工薪階層，收入不豐，不可能到拍賣場(chǎng)上一擲千金地拍回個(gè)唐宋名瓷或者明清官窯所出的稀世精品，所以我搞收藏只能到地?cái)偸袌?chǎng)去轉(zhuǎn)悠淘寶?？上菚r(shí)我既乏名師點(diǎn)撥，又缺一雙明察秋毫的慧眼，加之杭州玩陶瓷的人又多，所得自然只能是一些檔次不高的民窯大路貨。于是我常常叩問(wèn)自己：“敢問(wèn)路在何方?”

不想十多年前的一個(gè)禮拜天，我又漫無(wú)目標(biāo)地到地?cái)偣磐媸袌?chǎng)閑逛，偶見(jiàn)一位操上海口音的攤主正在出售一枚紫石老硯。拿到手里細(xì)看，硯一側(cè)與硯底密密麻麻地刻滿隸書(shū)銘文，落款竟是“揚(yáng)州八怪”的金農(nóng)!一問(wèn)價(jià)，出口就要3000元!據(jù)說(shuō)金農(nóng)題銘之硯，價(jià)值當(dāng)在數(shù)萬(wàn)?？上ё约簩?duì)硯的知識(shí)一無(wú)所知，加上金農(nóng)題銘用的偏偏又是不熟悉的隸書(shū)，豈敢貿(mào)然下單?

翌日，我到浙江展覽館的藝術(shù)書(shū)店翻閱金農(nóng)書(shū)畫(huà)集。一看硯上的隸書(shū)竟與書(shū)中所刊相同，方知那方紫硯沒(méi)準(zhǔn)就是真品。接下來(lái)的幾個(gè)周末我都去地?cái)偸袌?chǎng)尋找那位攤主，但是此人再也沒(méi)有出現(xiàn)。看來(lái)機(jī)遇只青睞有準(zhǔn)備的人，玩收藏缺乏知識(shí)實(shí)在不能得到真品!

吃一塹長(zhǎng)一智，事后我咬咬牙買了一本蔡鴻茹、胡中泰主編的《中國(guó)名硯鑒賞》研讀。

收藏專題成于文化積累

時(shí)隔一年多，我在“二百大”地?cái)偣磐媸袌?chǎng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一方又高又大青黑色的太史硯，這令我一陣驚喜，連忙上手端詳，只見(jiàn)硯的左側(cè)刻有十二個(gè)草書(shū)字，文后陰刻“子昂”兩字印章一枚。但此硯殘缺不全，右硯墻缺了一大塊，硯額亦有缺口。攤主開(kāi)價(jià)500元，我還價(jià)300元他還不肯。當(dāng)時(shí)覺(jué)得該硯雖不多見(jiàn)但品相也實(shí)在太差，于是又被我放棄。

那時(shí)我在鎮(zhèn)機(jī)關(guān)工作，這天輪到值班，到了辦公室忽又想到昨日那只硯臺(tái)，總感到硯上的印章似曾相識(shí)。于是我找出印書(shū)一查，天哪!硯上“子昂”字與趙孟圓朱文印“趙氏子昂”的“子昂”兩字篆法十分相近，難道這是趙孟遺硯?!于是我趕緊請(qǐng)假趕回城里，直奔“二百大”市場(chǎng)，但那攤主早已不見(jiàn)了蹤影。

好不容易挨到下個(gè)周末，我一早又去了“二百大”市場(chǎng)“狩獵”?！肮し虿回?fù)有心人”，我終于等到了那位來(lái)自臨平的攤主，攤主說(shuō)：“那方破硯上周賣了?！卑?，眼睜睜看著煮熟的鴨子飛了，真讓我痛悔不己!轉(zhuǎn)念一想，該硯的印章款識(shí)得的人不多，如果是被杭州的古玩商收去了，興許有可能經(jīng)過(guò)加價(jià)再出售，于是我下定決心，就是踏遍杭城所有古玩市場(chǎng)，也要把它買回來(lái)。

我利用雙休日一個(gè)市場(chǎng)接一個(gè)市場(chǎng)、一家商鋪接一家商鋪地尋覓。皇天不負(fù)苦心人，這樣“淘寶”淘了近三個(gè)月，終于在吳宅文物監(jiān)管品市場(chǎng)的一家商鋪內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)了它。當(dāng)時(shí)這方古硯灰塵滿面地與另幾方舊硯一起被放置在一塊長(zhǎng)條柜之上，這證明店主果然不識(shí)其印章款，只是把它當(dāng)作一方普通的老硯看待。于是我強(qiáng)壓內(nèi)心的喜悅，不動(dòng)聲色地與他討價(jià)還價(jià)，最終使我如愿以償將其收歸囊中。

趙孟是中國(guó)大書(shū)法家，曾長(zhǎng)期生活于德清、杭州。硯上那十二字銘文為“世路難，人心異。惟石交，不相棄?！辈粌H其筆法、結(jié)構(gòu)與趙書(shū)契合，而且也符合他當(dāng)時(shí)的心境。趙孟的一幅書(shū)法作品拍賣價(jià)超過(guò)一萬(wàn)元，他的遺硯當(dāng)然有相當(dāng)?shù)膬r(jià)值，雖然品相不佳，但它仍然不失為一件珍品。

這方寶硯的失而復(fù)得，使我領(lǐng)悟到收藏古歙硯極有前途。一來(lái)它系中國(guó)四大名硯之一，盡管實(shí)用價(jià)值越來(lái)越小，但其歷史價(jià)值、文物價(jià)值卻日益顯現(xiàn)；二來(lái)該硯在目前市面上尚可覓到，價(jià)格也較低，不像好的端硯動(dòng)輒上萬(wàn)，頗值得像我這樣的工薪階層收藏。我覺(jué)得收藏需要量力而行，只有適合自己的才能事半功倍。

由收藏而寫(xiě)出多部專著

在多年的收藏實(shí)踐中，我不斷結(jié)合在大學(xué)中文系所學(xué)的知識(shí)，系統(tǒng)研讀了以宋代唐積《歙州硯譜》為代表的一批古代論述歙硯的文獻(xiàn)和資料，同時(shí)又盡可能多地接觸古歙硯，直接上手仔細(xì)觀摩，掌握其各種特征，很快我就悟出了門(mén)道，使自己的收藏品檔次不斷提高。一次在古玩市場(chǎng)見(jiàn)到一方背有“婺水列家龍尾細(xì)樣硯”銘文的宋綠色魚(yú)子紋歙石抄手硯。雖然貨主開(kāi)價(jià)較高，我略作還價(jià)后便毫不猶豫地果斷買下，因?yàn)槲抑肋@不是一方普通的古硯，盡管要價(jià)不菲卻物有所值，大有收藏價(jià)值。

嗣后我結(jié)合自己的收藏實(shí)踐與心得，撰寫(xiě)出版了《中國(guó)印章歙硯賞玩》一書(shū)，并得到了當(dāng)代中國(guó)古硯專家蔡鴻茹、胡中泰的首肯。我的另一部專著《歙硯溫故》，也可望在今年內(nèi)出版。我的古歙硯收藏活動(dòng)，還被浙江電視臺(tái)影視文化頻道和浙江人民廣播電臺(tái)等作過(guò)專題報(bào)道。如今，依托收藏研究古歙硯積累的知識(shí)，我又撰寫(xiě)了中國(guó)歷史上第一部關(guān)于古澄泥硯研究的專著——《泥硯遺韻》，也即將出版問(wèn)世。

My Collection of Ancient Inkstones made in Shexian County

By Zhang Fangtong

I work in a government agency and my hobby is antiques. My collection of ancient inkstones made in Shexian County testifies to my dedication and success. This collection numbers nearly 100 inkstones， some made in the Tang (618-907) or Song (960-1279) dynasties. The collection both in quantity and quality enables me to rank as one of the country's best collectors in this field.

It was by accident that I began to collect inkstones. Like most collectors in this field， my interest in antiques at first was in ancient porcelains. But as a government official， I earn limited income. I cannot compete against big collectors at auctions. So all I could do was to visit antique markets frequently. As there were many porcelain collectors in Hangzhou and I lacked professional training， I was not able to spot and get big lucky things. All I collected was something ordinary. I questioned myself for a future as a collector in this field.

One visit to a market more than 10 years ago changed all this. I saw a vendor who spoke in Shanghai accent. He was trying to sell a purple stone inkstone. I examined the piece for a long time. It had a lengthy inscription of small characters on one side written in an official style of calligraphy current in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). It had the name of one of the eight so-called eccentric scholars in Yangzhou during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The seller wanted 3，000 yuan for the inkstone. I didn't know very much about inkstones and could not distinguish between genuine and fake. So I gave up. The next day I checked it out in a bookstore. It turned out that the inkstone was a real thing. In the following weekends， I went to the market again and again， in the hope of finding the seller. But all was in vain.

In order to know about inkstones， I bought a professional book on ancient inkstones and studied all the inkstones listed there. And I made up my mind to focus on inkstones. More than one year later I found an inkstone at an antique market in Hangzhou. The darkish stone piece had an inscription of 12 characters written in cursive style. But the right side was not in the complete shape. The seller wanted 500， I offered 300. We didn't come to any agreement and I left. The next day when I was on duty at the office， I remembered the inkstone I hadn't bought. It occurred to me then that I had seen it somewhere. I went through my reference books painfully at the office. Then I was stunned by my lost opportunity: it could have been an inkstone that belonged to Zhao Mengfu， a famous calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) who lived in Hangzhou and Deqing for a long time. I immediately asked for a leave and hurried to the market. The seller was nowhere to be seen. The next weekend came and I went back to the market. The seller was there but he told me that he had sold the inkstone. I was crestfallen. But on second thought I felt I still had a hope of having it. I reasoned that few knew the inscription and probably the buyer would try to resell it somewhere in another antique market. With this hope I combed all the antique markets in the city in following weekends. Nearly three months after I had missed the inkstone， I spotted the lost treasure again. As expected， the seller didn't know its value. It stood on a long bench with many other inkstones. He treated it just as another useless inkstone. I maintained my composure. After some bargain， I bought it.

The acquisition of this treasure enabled me to see two things: first， inkstones made in ancient Shexian County are part of the four major species of China's famed inkstones. Though they have little practical value， they are precious for the historical and cultural reasons. Secondly， these inkstones are still available on the markets. Compared with inkstones made in some other places， they are affordable.

Once I was sure what I should do as a collector， I began to take inkstones made in Shexian County seriously. Over years I have read up on all the literature in this field and studied real things carefully. Now I am a knowledgeable collector.

I have written a book on the inkstones on the basis of my knowledge and collection. The second book will soon be printed later this year. Zhejiang TV has done two special reports on my collection. Relying on my knowledge and collection， I have branched out to study inkstones made of soil. I have written a book on this kind of inkstones and it will soon be published.

(Translated by David)