Week 8: One painting, argued both ways

A single disputed scroll, worked through with the whole toolkit, as a rehearsal for the dossier.

26 April 2027

Every earlier week taught one instrument in isolation. This week applies all of them — materials, brushwork, seals, colophons, market context — to a single painting the seminar shortlists from three genuinely disputed candidates in week 7’s sourcebook, then argues in full. The point isn’t to land on a tidy verdict; it’s to watch what happens when the instruments disagree with each other, which they will, because that disagreement is the normal condition of this field and not a sign that something has gone wrong.

Where the toolkit weeks asked “what does this kind of evidence show,” this week asks the harder question the dossier will require answering: when a seal argues for and the brushwork argues against, what actually decides it, and how do you write that decision down so a reader can check your reasoning rather than just trust your conclusion.

Outline#

• the shortlisted painting, chosen live from three candidates
• working every instrument against it in turn, keeping a shared evidence log
• what to do when two kinds of evidence disagree
• the dossier is due at the end of this week: this seminar is the closest rehearsal for it you get