唐吟方

一年前，就聽說徐邦達先生已臥床不起，日常生活需要護士照料，有人去看他，只能用眼神示意。人生百年，明知道遲早會有的事，但不愿聽到的消息還是傳來了，徐先生走了。

徐邦達和謝稚柳、啟功、劉九庵、楊仁愷被稱為中國古代書畫鑒定界的“五老”。徐邦達歷經(jīng)百年風云最后一個歸于道山，他的去世結(jié)束了一個傳奇式的鑒定時代。外界聽到的凈是這個瘦小老頭的傳奇。早先臺北媒體稱其為“徐半尺”，國內(nèi)有些媒體嫌不過癮，更加激進，竟以“半寸”稱之，對于這些江湖稱法，徐邦達一笑了之。

關(guān)于徐邦達，值得說的太多了。人們把他奉為鑒定大師，他自己則說專家也有錯的時候。他嗜古書畫如命，從十幾歲開始買古畫，九十多歲還在追買。他愛惜人才，生生把一個鐵路工人培養(yǎng)成故宮研究員。他又是個標準的江浙男人，浪漫，懂得情調(diào)，一場黃昏戀，愛得執(zhí)著纏綿，深情癡心，惹得他的友人、同為鑒定大家的啟功善意地調(diào)笑“書妙詩新畫有情”。

新世紀初南京的一位學者撰文評點當世的鑒定家，提出啟功是學術(shù)鑒定，謝稚柳是藝術(shù)鑒定，徐邦達是技術(shù)鑒定。啟功偏重文獻，善長于用文獻論證是不爭的事實，正像謝稚柳從書畫家性格去討論古書畫的真?zhèn)危谔囟ǖ臅r段能解決許多問題。所謂的類型劃分，也只是指示一個鑒定家的學術(shù)偏向，不代表這個鑒定家的全部。說徐邦達是“技術(shù)鑒定”當然沒錯，他重視古書畫家的傳承、家世、交游等文獻考據(jù)，1983年上海人民美術(shù)出版社出過他的《歷代書畫家傳記考辨》。徐老也相當重視古書畫本身的問題，如筆墨、風格、階段性特點等內(nèi)證，同樣注重諸如裝裱、書畫材料等古書畫外證，1981年北京文物出版社出的《古書畫鑒定概論》就是這方面思考與實踐的結(jié)果。以徐邦達對古書畫鑒定的見解，出發(fā)點還是綜合判斷，決非技術(shù)兩字所能包涵。以他與謝稚柳關(guān)于五代徐熙《雪竹圖》之爭為例。謝稚柳依據(jù)文獻記載、對“落墨”的理解及闡述，認為落墨法符合徐熙畫風體制，從而認定《雪竹圖》是徐熙的作品。這里遇到個問題:《雪竹圖》只是孤例，除此之外徐熙并無作品傳世，文獻的描述事實上無法代替圖像的作用。徐邦達否定《雪竹圖》的關(guān)鍵，除了對“落墨”有不同理解外，還在于對五代用絹形制的認定，當時畫絹的門面一般不超過60厘米，屬于窄幅，這雖非本證，但材料的時代性是確鑿的，皮之不存，毛將焉附，由此推定這件作品無法歸在徐熙的名下。這樁當代鑒定界有名的公案，因為徐和謝是當世并駕齊名的兩大家，最后并無定論，但謝稚柳留下了一句話：“徐先生‘不迷信舊說，卻迷信于絹，以絹來評定畫的時代，這說明繪畫不可認識的了，要認識只得靠絹?！毙彀钸_因此落下“技術(shù)鑒定”的名聲。

其實，徐邦達是典型的“南風北漸”鑒定家。這樣講是1950年之前他生活在上海，有30多年的上海經(jīng)歷。他早期的鑒定方法繼承了南派鑒定家的傳統(tǒng)，雖然年紀輕輕，已在上海灘卓有名聲，時賢認為徐邦達、張珩是當時中國東南一帶最出色的兩位鑒定家。吳湖帆出身名門，收藏眾多，又以善鑒聞名，但也非?？春脧?、徐的才能，遇到難題，總要叫上張、徐，聽聽他們的看法。所以當新中國的文博事業(yè)剛剛起步，主持國家文物口工作的鄭振鐸，首先想到張珩，把他請到北京，張珩又把徐邦達介紹給鄭振鐸，從此，這兩位從上海過來的鑒定家效力于北京故宮博物院，合力打造故宮新的“石渠寶笈”。他們經(jīng)常往返于外地與北京琉璃廠之間，踏訪全國百分之八十以上的縣城。據(jù)徐邦達回憶：“跟張珩兩個人，一天可以收幾十件甚至上百件東西?！睆V泛征集，悉心查訪，短短幾年時間，便收集到無數(shù)件古書畫珍品。后來徐邦達到故宮帶了三千多件精品，故宮繪畫館藏品初具規(guī)模。資歷老一點的故宮人至今大概還有印象，保管部記載古書畫最原始的存檔卡片還是徐邦達一點一筆用蠅頭小楷寫成的。

徐邦達在紫禁城的漫長工作經(jīng)歷，適逢其時，新中國建立后根據(jù)文化建設的需要，通過政令調(diào)集各地精品晉京，徐邦達還能經(jīng)常到各地巡訪，閱遍古今書畫，如果再加上文革后參加五人鑒定小組全國巡鑒，他寓目的古書畫數(shù)量，超過了歷史上任何一位鑒定家，這使得他能從更宏觀的角度把握古書畫的源流，總結(jié)出鑒定中出現(xiàn)的一般性和特殊性規(guī)律。按徐邦達的鑒定風格而言，其本質(zhì)是對考古學原理的合理借鑒吸收應用，仍然是圖像比對與文獻考據(jù)印證相結(jié)合的方法。徐邦達90歲時，王世襄寫的賀聯(lián)“心識五朝書畫”，大約就是他鑒畫生涯的真實寫照。啟功賦詩稱其為“法眼燃犀鑒定家”，把徐邦達比作唐代的張彥遠。同行一致認為徐邦達是當今鑒定界的巨眼。

1962年美術(shù)史家金維諾邀請張珩和徐邦達給中央美院美術(shù)史系學生講課。張珩那本由講課稿整理而成的《怎樣鑒定書畫》，實際上就是鑒定界“南風北漸”的初步總結(jié)，可惜張珩早逝。文革期間徐邦達也著手進行鑒定學概論撰述，他所做的工作完善并豐富深化了“南風北漸”體系的學科化。

對于“技術(shù)鑒定”的說法，徐邦達并不認可。古書畫流傳過程中的情況復雜，“技術(shù)”有時候無法解決面對古書畫遇到的所有問題，這就要求一個鑒定家臨機制宜，采取不一樣的方法去應對。2001年筆者采訪徐先生，這位閱畫無數(shù)的“巨眼”說起鑒定，也有無奈：“有些東西我認為是真的，苦于無法求證，就不敢同外面講?！彼蛄艘粋€比方，大家都熟悉自己父親的腳步聲，只要是這種腳步聲，你就聽得出來。若有人問你為什么?你一定答不上來。這是一種感覺，感覺的判斷說不清原因，但不是假的。很明顯，系統(tǒng)概念下的徐邦達，他的思維里還有另一種鑒定方法。

相對于專業(yè)，生活中的徐邦達單純。晚年名滿天下的他即使不出門，褲兜里總要揣上幾百塊錢。有人問他為什么?他說一個男人身上哪能不帶錢。他愛穿中裝，中裝是故鄉(xiāng)海寧的一個師傅縫制的。徐邦達也把這個師傅介紹給友人王季遷、朱家溍。師傅出身草根，卻有雅根，給老先生們制衣從來不收錢，只要求以字畫代替。徐先生稱這是“畫衣”。他還喜歡享用美食。筆者曾與他同桌用餐，九十高齡的徐先生一盞魚翅下肚后，連吃數(shù)個豬爪子，口腹之壯，真是不同尋常。

暮年的徐邦達趕上經(jīng)濟開放，拍賣市場興起，他執(zhí)錘敲響嘉德第一錘。那時拍賣市場風生水起，常常有好東西浮出水面。經(jīng)徐邦達建議，故宮先后從拍賣會買進諸如宋人《十詠圖》，石濤《高呼與可》、隋人《出師頌》、沈周臨黃公望《富春山居圖》等名跡，更多的名跡則無緣于博物館。每當這個時候，徐邦達心急如焚，動員民間力量收藏，不讓珍寶外流。他自己也去拍賣會，后來的許多古書畫就以這樣的方式流進了徐家，去年徐先生百歲壽辰，徐夫人曾拿出來在保利大廈展出，宋元明清珍墨薈萃，讓人贊嘆，讓人心驚。

歷史機遇加上個人的天賦才華，還有勤奮努力，成就了當代古書畫鑒定界的一代巨擘。百年風華只造就了一個徐邦達。徐先生走了，留下了煌煌六百萬字著作，留下了他滿身書生意氣的純粹與坦誠，還有他的綿綿不絕的佳話和絕代風華?！?/p>

101歲的一代大師離我們而去，中國古代書畫鑒定界的“國寶”，永遠閉上了雙眼。

徐邦達，1911年生于上海，祖籍浙江海寧。曾為故宮博物院研究員、國家文物鑒定委員會常務委員，西泠印社顧問。徐邦達集鑒定家、收藏家、書法家、畫家、詩人、詞家于一身，雅號“徐半尺”。2003年，他將一生創(chuàng)作的部分書畫精品捐給故鄉(xiāng)海寧，成立“徐邦達藝術(shù)館”。他曾多次出訪歐美，考察流失海外的中國書畫，并與國外專家進行學術(shù)交流；徐邦達在兩岸文化交流中發(fā)揮了重要的學術(shù)影響，在世界范圍內(nèi)贏得了同行的尊崇。

Masters Authentic Life

By Tang Yinfang

Master Xu Bangda (1911-2012) passed away on February 23, 2012 at the age of 101 years. The masters long life can roughly be divided into two periods. Before he was 50 years old, he was partly known as a preeminent artist. His artistry can be testified by a whopping price of 9.7 million for an artwork of his sold at an auction held by Poly Auction Group in June 2011. In his second 50 years, the master was largely known as a great authenticator.

Xu Bangda is one of the Big Five authenticators of modern China. The other four are Xie Zhiliu, Qigong, Liu Jiuan, and Yang Renkai. He was the last of the five and his demise puts an end to a legendary era of the great authenticators. There are many tales about his authenticating ancient paintings.

Xu had a lifelong passion for ancient paintings. He began to pur-chase ancient masterpieces when he was not yet 20 years old. His buying experience lasted well into his ninth decade.

In the early 21st century, a scholar in Nanjing compared Xu Bangda and other authentication masters based on their distinct approaches. According to the scholar, Xie Zhiliu (1910-1997) ap-praised antiques artistically; Xus approach was largely technique-oriented; Qigong relied heavily on ancient records and books. However, Xu Bangda resorted to a full range of things in appraising antiques. He gave priority to historical records about art, life sto-ries and friendships of ancient painters and calligraphers. In 1983, Shanghai Peoples Art Press printed Xus studies of biographies of ancient masters. Xu paid special attention to details of masterpieces such as brushstrokes, ink shades, styles, characteristics of a certain period. Another part of his appraisal secrets was to take a look at details such as paper and ink materials and mounting techniques. Xu wrote a book on how to evaluate ancient books.

According to history, once upon a time Xie Zhiliu and Xu Bangda disagreed upon the authenticity of a painting. An interest-ing debate became heated between the two masters. They discussed whether a painting was really pained by Xu Xi of the Five Dynas-ties (907-960). Xie argued that it was authentic and his judgment was based on ancient literature and a comparison between ancient records and what was present in the painting. Part of Xus argument was that the silk on which the painting was made could not have been produced during the years of the Five Dynasties. His reason-ing was quite simple: silk weavers of that time did not make silk fabric more than 60 centimeters wide.

Xu Bangda was one of the appraisers who brought the appraising expertise and experience of the south to Beijing after the founding of New China in 1949. By 1950, he had lived in Shanghai more than 30 years. He and Zhang Heng (1915-1963) were the two best-known art appraisers in the southeastern China.

Zhang Heng and Xu Bangda came to Beijing in 1950 at the in-vitation of Zhen Zhenduo, the head of the national administration for cultural relics, to build a new collection for the National Palace Museum, whose major treasures had been shipped to Taiwan when Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island province in the late 1940s. The two masters traveled across the country. They visited more than 80% of the county capitals on the mainland, searching and buying antiques from private collectors and owners. Within a few years, a collection of more than 3,000 pieces was put together thanks to the two masters. Xu catalogued the whole collection and wrote all the cards. Many people remember his meticulous small-character hand-writing in all these cards.

Xu Bangda lived long enough to be, arguably, the greatest ap-praiser in the history of China in terms of the number of antiques he evaluated and appraised during his long career. He worked as an appraiser for the palace mu-seum for decades. This status gave him opportunities to see the best things from all over the country and visit interest-ing places across the country. After the Cultural Revolu-tion (1966-1976), he joined a five-member team to travel through China to view and review antiques. It is said that no one in China has seen more ancient calligraphic works and paintings than he did. It is widely agreed that Xu is “the biggest eye” of the appraisal industry of China in modern times.

Xu wrote books and papers that add up to more than 6 million characters. The two books mentioned above systematically relate his evaluation theories, expertise, and practice.

Xu Bangda himself did not embrace the label of technique-centered approach. He pointed out that as ancient artworks survived through a full range of situations, it would be erroneous to confine oneself to a single method. He said it was advisable to be flexible and open-minded in appraising. He admitted that sometimes he was not so sure about his judgment. He thought some artworks were au-thentic, but he kept his opinion to himself, for he understood that it would be troublesome to ask people to take him at his mere word.

In his evening years, the palace museum in Beijing bought some ancient masters paintings at his suggestion. Many masterpieces on the market, however, were beyond the financial means of the museum. Xu always urged Chinese collectors to be generous so that the cultural treasures would stay in China. He himself bought some ancient calligraphic scrolls and paintings. In 2011 his private collection of paintings and calligraphies by ancient masters were exhibited at Poly Tower in Beijing. □