My system is not decent

Chapter 1406 Incomparably Rare
The reason why Guiguzi Down the Mountain Picture Can is famous is its high quality and high price.

And after that, it was also because of the mystery of its mysterious life experience.

Before the auction, this large blue and white jar from the Yuan Dynasty was exhibited in Shendu and Dahai, which attracted great attention from collectors.

At that time, it was estimated that it might create a world record for my country's porcelain auctions.

Christie's estimates that its worth will reach 1000 million U.S. dollars, but the fact far exceeds people's expectations.

The pattern of "Ghost Valley Down the Mountain" on this large pot is a masterpiece among the handed down Yuan blue and white porcelain.

If you haven't seen this piece of Yuan blue and white, it is difficult to copy the picture on it.

The pattern on it is Guiguzi, who goes up and down the mountain in a cart pulled by a tiger and a leopard.

The story comes from the Yuan Dynasty engraving "Le Yi Tu Qi Qi Guo Chunqiu Hou Ji", which shows the story of Sun Bin being imprisoned by Yan during the war between Qi and Yan in the Warring States Period, and the story of his master Guiguzi going down the mountain to rescue his apprentice.

The patterns on the pots are lifelike, and the paintings are exquisite, and they are made by painters rather than craftsmen, which makes the porcelain pots not comparable to ordinary blue and white porcelain.

This point is also reflected in other pots with pictures. For example, the same blue and white "Jinxiangting Picture" pot in Yuan Dynasty, the performance is not satisfactory.

This picture pot also sold for a high price of 2005 million yuan at Christie's Hong Kong in 4900.

The scene painted on the pot is from the drama "Meng Yuemei Writes Hate on Jinxiang Pavilion" by Wang Zhongwen, a famous playwright in the Yuan Dynasty.

The picture shows the tortuous love story of Chen Gui, a gifted scholar and beautiful woman, and Meng Yuemei, during the period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty.

These two jars must be rare treasures, and they are also two of the eight blue and white jars with stories about characters in the Yuan Dynasty.

Although the stories of the main characters in the paintings of the two cans are different, the height and diameter of the utensils are roughly the same.

For example, the neck and shoulders are also painted with similar patterns.

It's a pity that the mouth of the "Jinxiangting Picture" can has been repaired, and its value is much lower than that of "Guiguzi Down the Mountain Picture".

Most of the decorative patterns of Yuan blue and white porcelain are peony, bamboo and plum, dragon pattern, lotus pattern, flower and bird, etc.

Therefore, the appearance of stories of historical figures on blue and white porcelain is even more precious.

The former collector of the Yuan blue and white Guiguzi down the mountain picture jar was a Dutchman. His great-grandfather bought this jar when he was the commander of the guard army of the Dutch envoys in Shendu.

This blue and white jar has been handed down for 4 generations in this family.

In recent years, that family has used this large jar to hold DVD discs.

Christie's went to his home to see it a few years ago and thought it was only worth about $2000.

It was not until Christie's experts visited again that they discovered that this porcelain was extremely rare.

Now it can be determined that there are only eight blue and white antiques of the same kind painted with characters and stories like this jar.

The wave pattern painted on the neck of the jar can be seen on six other pieces, all of which are in the collection of the David Foundation.

Three of the eight treasures, including this one, have lotus patterns painted on their shoulders.

Neither the shoulders nor the feet of the pots in the Boston Museum are banded.

This pot is the only one among the eight antiques with auspicious patterns painted on the lotus petals of the feet.

This is very similar to the blue vase collected by the David Foundation. The other six lotus petals all contain drooping ruyi patterns.

It is worth mentioning that the peony pattern on this jar is also very similar to the painting on the bottle that David had collected.

Judging from the wavy pattern, peony pattern and auspicious pattern, these three patterns are very similar to the vases in the collection of the David Foundation, it is speculated that the production period of the jar is probably around 1351.

Porcelain pots with characters and stories are usually custom-made and fired in China, while other varieties are exported to the Middle East and other regions.

The number of local orders is very small, and the blue and white patterns fired are beautiful, and the painting is exquisite. It is one of the best in the world, and many of them are collected in museums.

It is worth mentioning that two or three months after Christie's received the porcelain jar, its staff found the engravings printed between 1321 and 1323 by chance during research and investigation in the library.

The decoration on the can was largely influenced by prints.

Moreover, the same scene has never been painted on any other porcelain.

In this way, the porcelain jar has "all the qualities" that collectors value, and it is for this reason that the London auction is particularly valuable.

Rare is rare, but this jar doesn't have the twists and turns that many rare works of art have.

The porcelain jar was purchased in China by Baron Van Hemmert, a Dutchman, in the early 20th century.

It was World War I and he served in the Dutch Navy from 1913 to 1923.

Afterwards, he was sent to Shendu as the commander of the Dutch envoy guard, and was responsible for the security of the envoys and territories of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Hemott loves art and has an extensive collection. His love for Chinese porcelain can be seen from the photos of his old house in Shendu.

Interestingly, when he bought this pot, the Yuan Dynasty had not yet been recognized as capable of making such high-quality porcelain, so he always believed that this pot was a work of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Mongolian and Yuan reigns, blue and white porcelain pieces were rare and easily forgotten.

Western collectors did not begin to favor Yuan porcelain until 1968, when the Cleveland Museum of Art held an exhibition of Chinese art under Mongol Yuan rule.

Since the 70s, the blue and white of the Yuan Dynasty has gradually been valued.

However, there are not many Yuan Dynasty blue and white flowers that can be called masterpieces handed down from generation to generation.

Hemet's descendants, like him, did not know how valuable the porcelain jar was.

Therefore, for many years, it has not been given any special attention.

In the 60s, the porcelain jar was appraised by Hemmert's first generation of descendants, but experts also mistook it for the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty.

When it was passed down to the third generation, his family asked Christie's auction house to appraise the price, and the precious value of the porcelain jar was discovered.

Interestingly, the jar has not been taken seriously in the general's house. It has been placed in the corner as a container for many years to hold sundries and so on.

Even the staff of Christie's were very surprised, because antique dealers have always been very fancy about the source of items.

The jar has clear provenance and has been in a family collection since 1913.

And it has never been known by the world before, and it is a "fresh product" in the eyes of experts.

Therefore, once disclosed, the market interest is very high, and it is highly valued by collectors.

In addition, the porcelain pots have been touring exhibitions in New York, Neon, Xiangjiang, Dahai, Shendu, Wanwan, Heniu, France and other places.

As people's perceptual knowledge of the collection continues to increase, the valuation will naturally rise.

Before the auction, experts estimated the value of the porcelain pot at 100 million pounds, and some people said that it would be no problem to sell it for more than 500 million pounds.

Even Christie's expert appraiser estimated that it was only between £600 million and £800 million.

Although the pot was eventually won by London antiques dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi, the bidding process was not all smooth sailing.

Especially the participation of Chinese bidders made the auction even more dangerous, and also made the price rise again and again.

On the day of the auction, there were at least 7 or 8 people before and after participating in the bid.

Many of them are domestic collectors, including Wang Dingqian, general manager of My Humble House from Wanwan, Zhang Zongxian, a leader in Xiangjiang collectors, and Zhai Jianmin, secretary-general of Xiangjiang Art Chamber of Commerce who has been engaged in Ming and Qing porcelain appraisal for [-] years.

George Li, a collector of Chinese descent, was also present, and there were also collectors bidding by telephone.

(End of this chapter)