The invention relates to an automatic authentication method for ancient ceramics. The method comprises two stages including registration and authentication, wherein the registration stage comprises the following steps: a) for an ancient ceramic to be registered, selecting image collection point positions from the surface of the ancient ceramic; b) collecting the images of the selected point positions one by one; c) storing the collected images into a system background to serve as a basis used for forming an identity card of the ceramic; and d) generating a unique number of the electronic identity card for the ancient ceramic. The authentication stage comprises the following steps: e) for the ancient ceramic to be authenticated, inquiring the image collection point positions on the basis of unique number of the identity, wherein the unique number of the identity is obtained by the registration of the ancient ceramic; f) collecting the images of the inquired point positions one by one, and matching the images with the images collected during registration; and g) checking whether all of the images obtained from the point positions on the surface of the ancient ceramic to be authenticated can be matched with the collected images of the point positions when the ancient ceramic is registered or not. The automatic authentication method can quickly, precisely and nondestructively realize the authentication and identification of the ancient ceramics with low cost.