Timeless Artifact

Extremely Rare 100% In-Situ Tang Dynasty San Cai Horse With Mica Chip exterior Coating

Measurements: 14″ Height X 15″ Width X 5″ Depth

Fredericks-McIntire Collection - Authentic 'Mica-Chip' Tang Sancai Horse

Reverse Side Of Tang Dynasty Sancai 'Mica-Chip' Horse

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSI Using Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

We are starting this newest web site for those who wish to know more about the true identifiers on ancient artifacts that the replicators can not, as of yet, fake; the ways they try to replicate certain identifiers and the ways to detect both types of the indicators on pottery, stone, bronze and other items, how to tell restored pieces from in-situ ones, and be able to check those pieces in the personal collections about which one may be concerned. Starting with this Tang Dynasty Horse was by design, and for all those experts we run into constantly who ‘know it all’ and can tell real items from restored ones from 10 feet away, and indeed can even tell by common photographs whether an item is the right color or not (forgetting the fact we could make this horse purple should we choose to edit it that way). Since we do not possess this unique ‘ability’ ourselves, we have had to combine close to 100 years of mutual experience from actual archeological digs to literally  years of microscopic analysis. For those of you with an open mind and without an agenda, we wish to welcome you all to the start of what we hope will be a favorite site that will continue to grow in interest, articles, and the de-bunking of old myths and commonly accepted ‘facts’. [ Note: this does not mean to include those who have studied the arts under older publications in which the items were authentic but the depth of discoveries had yet to be realized, as it was so common in the old days to go no further than a 10 power loupe]

In what would normally be described by most as a ‘fantasy piece’, it should be noted that while it was still totally legal (it is not now) to acquire such pieces in the United States, we had purchased a total of seven of these types of horses and one large camel – all of them covered with the mica chips. Of the total of eight pieces, three were restored with new mica added to the outside, one (the camel) was restored with new mica over the old original mica, and three were total fakes. The very last one we received was the one above – 100% In-Situ. Sometimes it pays to keep trying, as it has long been our experience that the Chinese rarely replicate that which was not an original idea at some time in their history. In fact, this Tang Dynasty horse, we are going to be viewing in great detail under microscopic conditions, is not the oldest piece with the adhered mica chip, by far, that we have run across, as from an old family collection here in Tucson, Arizona, there is a 100% in-situ green-glazed Western Han Dynasty, three-footed funeral vessel with a Mount Kunlun lid, having the oldest (to date) mica-chip still clearly visible in the crevices and low areas, where tectonic wear and subsequent cleaning after unearthing had never removed the particles. It is very common to find finely ground mica inside the brown glaze of Tang Sancai horses, but to find it as a coating on an already fired piece is so rare that this is the only 100% in-situ example that we know of in any collection. While many collectors prefer their items of acquisition to be in perfect condition, we have found way too many total fakes this way in our authentications, and instead would much rather have 100% authentic items than pretty reproductions or restored and re-fired pieces, even though the restored Tang horses have an intrinsic beauty all their own, and are still real, despite the fact they will not legitimately TL test due to the re-firing, as this removes the luminosity from the item, resetting the ‘clock of aging’ back to zero.

Close Up View Of Right Front Saddle and Leg, Showing Old Glaze Chips

Close Up View Of Right Rear Leg Showing Original Potassium Salts & Old Glaze Chip on Saddle

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

In the above two photographs, we start to discern the types of conditions of burial from the areas where the glaze has ‘shed’, or ‘sloughed off’ in sections. The newer, whiter-looking ‘shed’  in the first photo is still the result of the same burial conditions, despite having come off after removal from the tomb, as is the far more dirt-encrusted one on the bottom of the saddle blanket. The shed area in the middle of the saddle in the second photo is the same as the first photo’s bottom of the saddle blanket, in that it was obviously shed prior to removal from its burial site. The horse has undergone a light ‘washing’ by us to determine if the dirt in the shedded portion of the glaze was a product of penetration of burial soils, as authentic dirt will both penetrate and adhere to the proto-porcelain from which these white clay types were made. In the following Macro and microscopic photographs, we will be able to determine that this is the case, and that it was not just a white-slipped red clay. The original, in-situ potassium salts (much more crystalline in nature, as we will show in later articles comparing reproduction horses with real ones) leaching from the right haunch, also helps us to reconstruct the burial conditions, as together with the grey in-situ mud deposits and the shedding of the glaze, the probability of a very moist tomb (for at least a long portion of the burial) becomes more evident. The dark grey dirt, encrusted on the clay under the old shedding glaze, also lets us know that the original area around the tomb was heavy in organic matter; there is very little chance that this particular Tang Dynasty horse was buried in a dry, desert area of old China.

Bottom Of The Plinth Showing Original Burial Mud With Root Tracks & Original Red Clay Firing Sprue

Close Up Of The Sprue Area With Visible Root Tracks Eaten Through The Clay

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XS Using Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens

In both of the above photographs, we can again see the grey-brown mud from original burial, along with the darker, overall grey area caused by the original firing of the horse in the kiln. In the first photo, you will see the drips of the original Sancai glaze still adhering to the bottom (as you will on almost all reproductions). What you will not see on any modern reproduction can be found in the close-up photograph of the bottom of the plinth above.

At the bottom of the photograph directly above, you will see on the lower portion a section of ‘tomb mud’ with root tracks in it, and indeed even a root sticking out of the mud to the viewer’s right. While this is always a good sign as we start the authentication process, it is by NO means definitive, as we have seen many examples of roots on the outside of fairly modern Tang replications, as they often have been buried for an extended period of time (with some having been buried perhaps as long as 100 years) after manufacture. These are Tang replications with crazing of the glaze, secondary triangular glaze-crazing, and iridescence of the glaze – all indicators of an authentic Tang Period Sancai glaze, and yet they are not of the period. The ‘big finds’ in the last photograph above are the red sprue, left from breaking the horse off of the kiln floor or shelf surface, and the non-reproduceable root tracks INSIDE the clay, in the viewer’s upper left corner. The replicators do not use little drilling tools to create authentic-looking root tracks where older roots, such as the one in the mud below, have eaten clear through the fired clay and left their mark before degrading away.We can tell the tree root at the bottom is of a later age because younger roots almost always have a more tan-yellow look to them, while extremely old dead roots still remaining on authentic artifacts seem to have a much more grey and shattered appearance under microscopic conditions, regardless of where the item was buried.

Tree Root Adhesion And Flaking Of The Plinth On Mica-Chip Tang Horse 1X Macro

Tree Root Adhesion And Flaking Of The Plinth At 2X Macro

Tree Root Adhesion And Flaking Of The Plinth At 3X Macro

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using Canon MPE 65mm f/28 1-5X Macro Lens

In the three above photographs, we find more evidence of moist burial conditions showing up in the flaking of the original plinth, and the beginnings of manganese deposits starting to show up, especially in the last photograph at 3X Macro. While some authentic Tang Dynasty horse plinths are in almost-perfect condition for their age, this horse shows the ravages of time, moisture, and presence of organic matter and root damage, but most of all the effects of tectonic movements, which will become extremely clear in following microscopic photographs. The Manganese crystals can be best viewed at this power on the underlying edge just above the top of the old tree root in the last photo above. The root above, while in our opinion is not an original 1,000+  year-old root, it is still of sufficient age to be surrounded by manganese, showing up as the blackened area just above the bottom portion of the root in the last picture. The fuzziness of this darker area is due to the depth of field experienced at this magnification, and if we used the accompanying lighting for the camera, we would have the focused areas showing and the rest would show only as black background. This way it gives the viewer a bit better perspective, in our opinion. While the replicators have used burnt-on sugar and black paint specks for years to mimic true manganese growth, it has only been recently that they have started to mix ground black sand into slurries for application. All three of the aforementioned methods are easily detected under microscopic conditions. Black paint comes off with water or acetone, depending on the mixture, the burnt-on, carbonized sugar comes right off with a water scrubbing, and the ground-up slurries will come off with either water or acetone. These slurries have a definite look to them under magnification that are also a dead give-away. True manganese growth takes time and organic material to be deposited on an item, or grown naturally, as will be further explained as we go forward, and in future articles showing the vast amounts from moister regions to minuscule amounts from desert areas, which can only be detected at high magnifications.

Also, we can easily see that the root above is original to the piece (although it is probably of secondary age), and it remains an impossibility for this horse to have been restored and re-fired, as the original root above would have been carbonized in the re-firing process. This horse will legitimately TL test if the testing operation has its machine calibrated correctly, and there is no ‘hidden agenda’ within the laboratory. The nicest thing we have found with microscopic examination is that the microscope never has to be re-calibrated to give accurate results; one only has to continue trying to make the piece a fake; when the preponderance of evidence weighs so heavily in favor of authenticity, it then becomes clear that it is indeed authentic. There are so many declared, restored Tang Dynasty horses that have been sold with so-called ‘legitimate’ TL tests attached to each piece, that it boggles the mind and strains the credibility of the testing labs; if a piece loses its luminosity the first time it is re-fired, how could it possibly show a date from an era prior to the restoration?  It used to be the ‘great theme’ of these labs that the plinths of horses and the bottoms of statues could not be drilled because so many of them had been broken and re-fired back on again (it is also why we do our restorations using different glues and paints to create the desired effect, and as long as that portion is not drilled for the testing specimen, the item will still TL test). It is good to see that the labs are recently starting to publish the ‘fact’ that if an item has been re-fired, it will not accurately test. That leaves us still on the hunt for those old tested pieces here in the US that turned out with bad TL tests, but are still good, authentic restored horses.

Dirt Penetration & Iron Oxides On Middle Of Saddle Glaze Shed At 1X Macro

Dirt Penetration & Iron Oxides On Middle Of Saddle Glaze Shed At 2X Macro

Dirt Penetration & Iron Oxides On Middle Of Saddle Glaze Shed At 3X Macro

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using Canon MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens

In the three above photographs, we get closer and closer to the original penetrated and adhered burial dirt that is filled with decayed organic matter. This decayed organic detritus (with manganese deposits showing up again) is all original and not applied; these are not ‘glued-on’ deposits, and the spreading iron-oxidation area (seen in the viewer’s lower mid-to-right) is natural to degrading iron particles still left in the proto-porcelain. While we can find iron oxidation areas on similar items of age, which come from direct contact with associated burial objects, this area is expanding outward in a thin ‘film’, while items that have come into direct contact with iron objects, most often, have a much thicker adhesion of iron particles as they degrade. The iron particle in the original clay in this area has by now been ‘eaten away’ and was dispersed under the original glaze before the horse shed this portion of the glaze. The chip occurred most likely due to swelling of the moistened clay in a small area where the glaze adhered less tightly than other parts of the horse during its original firing. The crystalline manganese portions show up as the darkest portions in the grey dirt-detritus areas. We never see this type of manganese growth on buried items from more desert regions, and this once again leads us to believe that this particular horse came from a moister region (as the Tang Dynasty area was quite large at the height of the reign). In the microscopic photos to follow, the originality of these manganese deposits will start to show up much clearly, and with other microscopic identifiers, should place this horse’s burial in a moist area close to the ‘Rim of Fire’.

Area On Right Rear Haunch Of Horse With Potassium Salts At 1X Macro

Area On Right Rear Haunch Of Horse With Potassium Salts At 2X Macro

Area On Right Rear Haunch Of Horse With Potassium Salts At 3X Macro

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Using Canon MPE 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens

In the three photographs above we can easily see the crazing that occurred from pressure cracking of the glaze due to burial conditions, the original mica chips that were added after the horse’s final firing in the original kiln, and the growth of the potassium salts which now grow under and over these mica chips. Some of the original tomb dirt can also be identified in the photographs as a more grey-brown coating on top of the fractured glaze. In the final photograph above, we can even see a bit of iron oxide in the viewer’s bottom right hand corner, which is this time, most likely either from iron directly associated with another burial item, or from an iron particle in the soil, as it is most definitely on the outside portion of the glaze and is not a ‘bleed-through’ from the clay. Particles of impurities in the original clay can also be identified as small dark spots, as even at these low magnifications, we are starting to ‘penetrate’ the glaze and are able to see the original clay beneath. I have heard certain Chinese individuals tell me that when the coatings are white, they are fakes – both on jades and pottery items – but, I believe this is more of a ‘buyers technique’ than an actual fact, as both lighter and darker colored deposits can easily be ascertained on 100% in-situ jade and pottery artifacts. However, in the photographs above, it is still these salts that are the most telling from an authentication standpoint, as they are extremely crystalline in nature, and are therefore great indicators of what 100% in-situ deposits look like. The Chinese and others have been cleaning Tang items for so long that they remove these natural salts for the most part by using vinegar and other solutions – sometimes waxing or oiling the original surfaces, and even go to the point of re-glazing some items just to make them ‘pretty’ (on re-glazed items, we can find original crazing below the new artificial crazing under the microscope). Sometimes they leave original salts and other deposits in the crazed area of the glaze, but these have been duplicated by the replicators for years [they use real salts on modern reproductions, which will be shown in subsequent articles comparing real with fakes here on TimelessArtifact.com, but these you can just taste on your tongue, as you can with their new 'acid washes' used to age the glazes (be careful and have a cup of water ready to wash your mouth out, as they can burn) on Tang and Song pottery, among others].

Mica Chip Surrounded By Deposits Of Manganese At 10X Magnification

Mica Chip Surrounded By Deposits Of Manganese At 20X Magnification

Mica Chip Surrounded By Deposits Of Manganese At 30X Magnification

Mica Chip Surrounded By Deposits Of Manganese At 45X Magnification

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSI Under Microscopic Power

All of the above photographs, and all those following, were taken with the Canon EOS XSi directly mounted to the tri-port of our microscope. The presence of true manganese deposits mixed in with the original tomb dirt and detritus, also seen in advancing microscopic powers, is always a true indicator of prolonged burial, and even helps us to narrow down the area slightly where an item most likely derives. It is the same with all burial goods, as we always find much larger deposits from known cultures, such as the Nayarit from the wet side of the coastal range mountains of western Mexico, as we do on the items of burial from the warmer, wetter, areas of Thailand and other similar locales. With this wonderful in-situ horse, we find amounts of manganese uncommon to almost all of the thousands of Chinese items we have examined under microscopic conditions. It is such a marvelous example of in-situ burial that there is literally no place on this Tang Sancai horse where we can not find true indicators of age, and indeed, no place where is found any sign of ‘tampering’. The reason for choosing the area above for photographic explanation is simply that it is the first place I looked at this time under the scope, and it showed a perfect mica chip, still adhered, with manganese deposits surrounding and overlying the singular chip in the photos above. It was explained to me years ago that the original glue used to adhere these mica chips was referred to in China as ‘Pidin’ glue. I believe I have the spelling correct, but in any case it was always made from an egg-white solution, and has proved to be (on both real, restored, and fake items) to be the single most difficult substance to remove. Acetone will not touch it, nor will strong solutions of soap and water effect it at all; neither will mineral spirits. It has long been a curiosity of mine why the Song Dynasty Ding pottery masters didn’t use this glue mixed with gold for the finely incised Ding pottery items, instead of using the gold and garlic juice mixture, which to me, never seemed to work very well when viewing the residual gold on original pieces. The glue used to adhere the mica is so resilient that it has to be power-sprayed off, using our water gun that will put a hole through the skin, and even then it still leaves its residue that all but has to be sanded off. Also, from we have observed over the years, this process, first seen on an old Western Han Dynasty piece, has so far only been seen again in the Tang Dynasty, with the exception of mica chips being used during the Qing Dynasty on some wood items such as border decorations on wooden window shutters. However, we have in no way (and never will) see all the many variations of Chinese artistic genius which spans deep in the Paleolithic Period, in an area so vast that many wonderful artifacts of unique artistic expression and design must still be lying in wait. The manganese growth deposits can easily be seen in the above photographs as the blackest of particles mixed in with the sand and organic materials. These have all been bonded by the leaching potassium salts and decaying organic matter in what is commonly termed here in the United States desert South-West as ‘desert slime’, and found on all manner of items, both burial and natural, that have been both buried and exposed for extended period of time to the the elements which cause degradation and decomposition. [Note: a future article is planned here that will be dedicated to differing types of manganese growths, from exquisite dendritic formations in jade and stone to wonderful monolithic growths, flower-like patterns on Pre-Columbian pottery artifacts, and amazing patterns left  exactly like tree root tracks with all the organics decomposed, leaving only the manganese deposits]

Tectonic Wear On Glaze Of Saddle Area at 10X Microscopic Power

Tectonic Wear On Glaze Of Saddle Area at 20X Microscopic Power

Tectonic Wear On Glaze Of Saddle Area at 30X Microscopic Power

Tectonic Wear On Glaze Of Saddle Area at 45X Microscopic Power

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSi Under Microscopic Power

In all of the four photographs above, we show under microscopic conditions the single most verifying indicator of all old, glazed burial items from China and other locales – tectonic-wear scratches that accompany almost all true burial items with age. This process of the glaze scratching is now starting to be duplicated on modern replications, but only to a degree that is, as yet, extremely unsophisticated. True tectonic wear will always be random and natural looking, and does not in any way appear like the modern, sharp-edged sanding and abrasion techniques used by even the best of the replicators. Old, natural tectonic scratching of glazes will occur at different levels and intensities, depending on conditions of burial. An item buried closer to the Pacific Rim of Fire, for instance, will show much more and deeper scratching, due the more violent shaking in burial settings, as the burial site eventually fills with continually filtered down granules of sand and silt. Those items buried in less violent tectonic areas show less obvious wear, but wear that still conforms with tectonic activity, to be described. For those that have seen a seismograph in operation, even in what is considered an extremely mild region, the needle never stops moving. Now, given the extremes experienced from time to time, you have more violent earth movements that will easily shift a quartz granule touching or adhering to a glazed pottery item, causing the scratches as seen in the above photographs. It only stands to reason that the more tectonically active a region is, the more tectonic abrasion will occur on a particular burial artifact. With an artifact buried for a long period of time, we often find varying scratches from different periods of time (not including the new, fine scathes seen under magnification from recent cleaning). As when verifying jade and stone artifacts (which can be seen in articles at our Timeless Jade site), we always go to the deepest and oldest of the scratches (and tooling marks) for determining true age, as nearly all burial jades have been re-polished. This is true with pottery items but to a lesser degree than with jade (which will be explained in future articles on both sites). The trick is in finding the oldest scratches on a glazed item, as it is there that true age can be determined (not withstanding stylistic criteria). The older the scratch, the more rounded and smoothed it will be. It is easily likened to a river or a ‘wash-out’. On a ‘wash-out’ type, we find the edges on newer scratches  to be sharp as fresh cut glass. We find even sharper edges on newer cleaning scratches, or fresh ‘replication’ scratching. On old, original scratches from burial artifacts with glazes, we find a whole different look, as we do in all the photographs above. The older scratches are much more random than modern attempts at replication, but the real defining difference is in the natural wear and natural re-polishing these scratches undergo as finer silts and continued smaller tectonic movements form the once-jagged-edged scratches into the much more rounded and smoothed scratches we see in the above photos, which at this magnification, cause the fractured glaze segments to resemble tiles.

Glaze Slough Area On Saddle Showing Tectonic Scratches At 20X Magnification

Glaze Slough Area On Saddle Showing Tectonic Scratches At 30X Magnification

Glaze Slough Area On Saddle Showing Tectonic Scratches At 45X Magnification

Above Photos Taken With Canon EOS XSI Under Microscopic Power

In the four photographs above, we find in a ‘high area’ of the same right side saddle, a section which has taken a more major ‘shock’ than the lower lying folds in the saddle. Rising in magnification, we can easily see the extensive wear from tectonic action, the natural thermal (freezing and thawing) pressure crazing of the glaze (filled with leached potassium salts and debris), and even see clear through the glaze to the original components of the molded clay. The darks areas are contaminants in the proto-porcelain, as is the unknown mineralogical red component that shows up under the higher magnifications. Natural iridescence of the glaze can also be discerned between the areas of major (full) glaze loss and the minor losses to the outside ‘skin’ of the glaze.

All in all, this a marvelous ‘study’ horse for those who wish to research and understand differing natural conditions of a Tang Dynasty Period Sancai glazed item, and we welcome any serious and qualified academics or professionals who might wish to extend out own studies into other areas of interest.

David Fredericks — Yulongwei

Timeless Jade