Riding the wind of rebirth

The current layout of Demian Hall is a small private museum, with one basement and two floors above ground, with a construction area of ​​less than [-] square meters.

The underground floor is a garage and warehouse, the front of the above-ground floor is a residence with a small courtyard, and the back half is a showroom.

There is also a studio above the showroom.

Everyone came to the showroom. The furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties here are all very important "standard furniture". They were transferred to him by Mr. Wang Shixiang in order to embolden him for his trip to Hong Kong Island.

Zhou Zhi spread out the scroll he brought on the boxwood and red sandalwood swastika painting table, and said, "This is it."

"Why is it so new?" Yu Bin felt weird when he saw it: "Didn't you say it was from the Ming Dynasty?"

"Old Yu, please stop speaking in layman's terms." Mr. Ma has already come to the table: "There are so many ancient paintings that are as good as new. There are many works by Dong Qichang, Wen Zhengming, and Tang Yin in the Forbidden City that look very good. new."

"For example, Wen Zhengming's "Spring Mountain with Smoked Trees" and Shen Zhou's "Wandering Alone in the Solitary Mountain". Because of the cherishment of successive inheritors and the superb mounting techniques, the newness of the scrolls is incredible."

"This painting was actually quite miserable when I got it." Zhou Zhi said with a smile: "I counted and found that there were [-] breaks. But luckily, there were no moths at all, and since the last repair, I have been able to When I got it, it was basically unopened, so although it was cracked, there was no damage, it just took a lot of effort to repair it.”

"This skill of elbow can definitely be used to work in the Forbidden City!" Qi Lao took out a magnifying glass: "This is definitely the level of Yangpai's great work."

Mr. Wang did not take tools, but first looked at the inscriptions of the scroll, used seals, studied the theme of the picture, and used the brush. In short, he was the opposite of Qi Lao. One looked at the details first and then gradually got to the whole, while the other looked at the overall situation first and then gradually refined it.

Of course, there is no distinction between this and it is purely a matter of habit.

Of course, Ma Ye and Lin Wanqiu will not miss such an important learning opportunity. The authentic works of Xu Wei and Chen Chun are extremely rare. They are the most important collections of major museums. They are rarely displayed to the outside world. Even the staff in the museum rarely see them in their lifetime. How many times.

It is such a rare opportunity to have the opportunity to study it up close and carefully, and to have two experts beside you to give you guidance.

This scroll was actually created by predecessors who collected the album works of two people, then put them together one after another, and added the postscripts of three famous artists to make a long scroll.

From the content analysis, Wen Zhengming's article should have been together with Chen Chun's three albums at first. Later, it came into the hands of Wang Shizhen and added a postscript after Wen Zhengming.

By the time Yuan Mei got them, Chen Chun and Xu Wei had become the "Two Stars of Freehand Expression". Therefore, Yuan Mei should have found Xu Wei's album pages in his collection, completed the scroll, and wrote his own postscript.

Because Yuan Mei mentioned his friend Li Fangying in the postscript and recommended him as the heir of Chen Chun and Xu Wei, when later generations intended to hide this album, they accidentally used Li Fangying's paintings to cover it up.

Each of the six album pages has traces of cropping, which was caused for neatness during mounting, but the integrity of the picture is ensured. All are one foot two by two feet in size.

Chen Chun's three paintings are "Wandering Wild Geese and Hollyhocks", "Many Sons" and "The Fisherman Looking at the Rain".

"Wild Goose Swimming with Hollyhocks" shows a wild goose swimming freely under the hollyhock branches. Miraculously, Chen Chun combined the fish and water plants under the wild goose, the ripples of the water surface on the goose itself and the soles of its feet, and the marshmallow branches above the wild goose. The three-dimensional perspective relationship of the painter is expressed just right, and the painter's super control over the picture is vividly expressed in the freehand brushwork.

"The Picture of Many Sons" is a picture of a flower with broken branches. It depicts a branch of pomegranate. Between the small branches and leaves, two pomegranate fruits with side-to-side cracks are exposed.

An oriole stood on a branch and studied the cracks of a pomegranate, as if choosing where to eat.

This dynamic moment was captured just right by the painter. The whole picture is obviously still, but it is full of a sense of dynamic balance. "Fisherman Looking Afar" is Chen Chun's specialty. The so-called "Smoke and Cloud under the Ink" shows the fisherman taking shelter from the rain under a grass pavilion by the river, looking at the wind and waves of the river and the distant trees on the mountains on the other side, shrouded in a wet cloud of smoke. The scene therein.

Xu Wei's three paintings are relatively simple, one is "Upside Down Wisteria", one is "Bamboo and Stone Narcissus", and the other is "Guo Suo Tu", which are two very abstract but very vivid crabs.

All three paintings have inscribed poems and seals, which reduces the difficulty of identification and also fully demonstrates Xu Wei's style of "incorporating calligraphy into painting".

"The Hanging Wisteria" is full of cursive calligraphy, and the horizontal and vertical dots, hooks, and whites of the running script in "Bamboo and Stone Narcissus" are extremely free and smooth and full of movement.

"Guo Suo Tu" hides the writing in official script and stone drum seal script, which is solemn and childish. Only the end of the crab legs is quickly picked out, which becomes the only lightness in the picture and contains a sense of musical rhythm.

This is just "brushwork". In addition, there are many expression techniques of shade, dryness and wetness. While the two elders slowly appreciated and appraised the paintings, they also pointed out to the younger ones how to see the paintings. I don't know when, the magnifying glass in the hands of Qi elders It was in the hands of Mr. Wang.

"An authentic work, a masterpiece." After almost 45 minutes, the two elders finally finished appreciating the scroll: "The two founders of freehand brushwork are combined in one scroll. I have never seen anything like this before."

"I heard that someone in Hong Kong collects Xu Wei's "Twelve Albums of Flowers and Birds". Have you seen it, Wanqiu?"

"I haven't seen it, but I know that it was taken from Guardian in [-], and it should still be on Hong Kong Island." Lin Wanqiu shook her head: "As for when she is willing to put it up for auction again... that was the only way until today. For Xu Wei’s works owned by private collectors, it is estimated that collectors will not consider this in the short term.”

"You are so lucky, elbow! You can receive such top-quality goods!"

"Top-quality goods?" Zhou Zhi was a bit dumbfounded: "Sister Wanqiu, do you want to see how miserable it was when it was first opened? I guess you won't even take a look."

Indeed, you were there when we were at Taoyang's house, and you didn't take a fancy to the pile of calligraphy and paintings.

"You don't want to put it up for photography, do you?" Lin Wanqiu asked tentatively.

"How is that possible?" Zhou Zhi quickly took out another scroll and opened it: "This "Pine and Cypress Picture" by Xu Beihong is just for you to cheer up."

"Hey, Xu Beihong's works have increased greatly in recent years." Wang Gang said with a smile, "The elbow is very generous."

"This has to be the finale. The estimated price is 50 to 30 yuan." Qi Lao said: "The starting price is [-] yuan, is it appropriate?"

Zhou Zhi discovered that Qi Lao was really partial to Lin Wanqiu and hired all the appraisal consultants.

"Is there any more?" Lin Wanqiu said happily: "You don't just have elbows like that, do you? This time, Qi Lao took out all his treasured "Zhang Menglong Monument" and even made a couplet of his own in the middle hall! "

"What?" Zhou Zhi seemed to have been stoked: "The "Ming Tuo Zhang Raptor Monument"?"

"Yes."

Zhou Zhi couldn't help but shake his head. Qi Lao was really famous for not treating things as things.