Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1112 Charity Auction
Important auction items include the Ming Dynasty Tuo Zhang Raptor Monument donated by Qi Lao, the large porcelain snow dot plum blossom and poetry covered soup basin donated by Zhou Zhi, Xu Beihong's "Double Auspicious Pines and Cypresses", the Tang Dynasty tricolor twelve zodiac figurines donated by the Li family, and The Qianlong Imperial Doucai Dark Eight Immortals vase donated by the family, the dragon and phoenix robes of the Qing Dynasty emperors donated by Feng Cang and Pan Shiya...

As for the other two items donated by Zhou Zhi - Bi Botao's Panasonic Wolu Pen Holder and Wang Qi's Five Maitreya Seat Screens, as well as Ji Xiaolan Duan Inkstone donated by Ma Ye, they are not very conspicuous among the important auction items!

"20, 21...25...30..." Lin Wanqiu's well-dressed Hanfu was made for herself by Master Yang, who took advantage of Zhou Zhi's experience in making clothes for Guan Tingting.

Paired with the phoenix hairpin jewelry that Zhou Zhi lent her from the Yang family's old house, it was really elegant.

Currently being auctioned is Xu Beihong's "Double Auspicious Pines and Cypresses" provided by Zhou Zhi, which can be regarded as the first climax of the auction.

The estimate given by Mr. Qi was 30, and the starting bid was [-], which was exceeded in the blink of an eye.

Although there are special reasons for the increase in this auction, Zhou Zhi has discovered clear signs of an increase in domestic art prices.

Especially the works of famous modern calligraphers and painters are priced at almost one price per day.

And the funniest thing is that regarding the pricing of calligraphy and painting, now we are talking about the square ruler!

In traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting, there is no concept of a flat ruler.

In the past, there were only three sizes, four feet, five feet, six feet, seven feet, eight feet, and two feet.

The ruler here is the Luban ruler, which is somewhat different from the current standard ruler. For example, four feet, one foot is 33 centimeters, not the [-] centimeters that everyone understands.

Each specification, especially a fixed length-to-width ratio, such as the most common four-foot xuan, the entire size is four feet times two feet and three inches. Such a size, when drawn or written vertically, is called "four feet" "The ruler is fully open", and drawing or writing horizontally is called "four feet horizontal batch".

Cut it vertically and divide it into two halves. One is called a "vertical axis" and the other two are called "couplets".

If it is divided into two halves horizontally, each piece is called a "fighting square".

If the width remains unchanged and is cut into three corresponding parts, it is called "three-open".

If the length and width are divided into two parts, it is called quarto.

By analogy, there are six openings and eight openings.

Therefore, the traditional sayings in the world of calligraphy and painting are generally "seven feet vertical axis" and "two feet square". They have never said how many square feet.

However, this auction adopted a new size measurement method, and the whole piece of four feet became "eight square feet".

I don’t quite understand why Zhou Zhi does this, but I think that for collectors who are just getting started, the concept of a flat ruler is far more convenient to understand than "a few feet and a few squares", and it lowers the threshold for entry.

But it obviously lacks some "flavor".

For example, Qi Lao next to me shook his head slightly when he heard such a size introduction, but he also knew that such an introduction would become mainstream in the future, otherwise, more than half of the people taking pictures here would not be able to grasp the size.

The 40-square-foot "Pine and Cypress with Two Auspicious Pictures" quickly fetched 4 yuan. Zhou Zhi calculated in his mind and found that Xu Beihong's work now only costs close to [-] yuan per square foot.

Then he discovered the essence of changing the theory of calligraphy and painting into a flat ruler. This is a kind of behavior that manipulates the psychology of consumers, and it belongs to the category of marketing!

If you say a painting costs 40 yuan, everyone will be shocked. But if you say "less than [-] square feet" instead, everyone will think - well, it doesn't seem that expensive... You can't change the total price, just Change the unit of measurement and unit price to a smaller size to make buyers more willing to spend money.

Sure enough, when the auction price reached 48, the number of bidders began to decrease.

In other words, the vast majority of people who participated in the auction converted the psychological price of Xu Beihong's works into square feet and believed that [-] square feet was a more appropriate price, and any higher price would not be appropriate.

In the end, the painting "Double Auspicious Pines and Cypresses" was sold for 52 yuan, which greatly exceeded Qi Lao's estimate, with a premium of more than 20 yuan.

Zhou Zhi was a bit dumbfounded. It seems that price calculation based on square feet has achieved great success. In the future, major merchants will definitely flock to this algorithm and regard this algorithm as a new standard.

This also strengthened Zhou Zhi's determination to leave for XJ as soon as possible. If the price of that thing became per gram, he would really not be able to even take a sip of the soup.

After the small climax, the auction returned to the ordinary auction stage.

Everything in the world is like a tide and must follow a rhythm. The same is true for auctions. You cannot keep the venue in a boiling state, otherwise everyone will soon become tired.

Lin Wanqiu is obviously a master of rhythm control, just like Hu Rui playing composition. The order of each lot is carefully arranged.

Now that Zhou Zhi has completed his journey from beginner to proficient in auctions, and now continues to study its essence in depth, he can't help but feel that all snakes bite people. In this world, there is no success without reason.

The energy Lin Wanqiu spent on this was no less than the energy she spent on repairing calligraphy and paintings.

Soon, the "Qing Dynasty Hejian Ji's Duan Inkstone" donated by Ma Ye began to be auctioned.

Zhou Zhi began to raise his cards frequently and participated in the competition with everyone.

Obviously, everyone is not very fond of Ji Xiaolan. Although there are many folk legends about Ji Xiaolan, the stories about Ji Xiaolan mainly have great overlap. They all appear in some stories about couplets and poems for Qianlong. .

For example, the owner of the famous "One Piece, Two Pieces, Three and Four Pieces" story, which Zhou Zhi knew, had changed several times.

Some said it was Qianlong and Liu Yong, some said Qianlong and Ji Xiaolan, some said Shen Deqian, some said Xu Wenchang, and some said Zheng Banqiao.

Therefore, everyone had no idea about this "Hejian Ji Family". Even though Lin Wanqiu introduced him as the author of "Yuewei Thatched Cottage Notes" and the editor-in-chief of "Sikuquanshu", everyone still did not think that he was an "important person".

After all, today's Ji Xiaolan has not yet embedded "iron teeth and bronze teeth" in everyone's hearts.

In the end, Zhou Zhi defeated many competitors and won the square inkstone at a price of 12.

Zhou Zhi did not participate in the next few important auctions. It was not until the "Ming Tuo Zhang Raptor Monument" donated by Qilao came up for auction that Zhou Zhi raised his placard again.

The full name of "Zhang Menglong Stele" is "Stele of Qing Ode to Zhang Fujun, the Grand Administrator of Lu County", which records the achievements of Zhang Menglong, the Grand Administrator of Lu County in the Northern Wei Dynasty in establishing a school. This inscription, which is known as "the best calligraphy of Wei stele", can't be proven to be written by anyone. .

This stele is still stored in the Confucius Temple in Qufu. However, after many years of rubbings, the original stele has become blurred and even damaged in many places.

This rubbing donated by Qi Lao is the earliest rubbing with the most complete preservation of the characters and strokes. It is described in the records of Guo Zongchang, Gu Yanwu and Wang Chang in the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)