Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1610 Series

There is one story that particularly illustrates his keen vision as a businessman.

Wu Erlu, who graduated from the Art History Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and was an old classmate of Chen Danqing, and who would become an important driving force in the Chinese art market in the next twenty years, was still studying art history in the United States in 1983.

In 1986, he came to work at An Siyuan's home and helped him sort out his collection of antiques. At that time, An Siyuan was not interested in collecting rare books and calligraphy, and would buy Chinese books, painting albums, and rubbings, but not calligraphy.

In 1987, Wu Erlu bought a rare inscription "Jin and Tang Small Calligraphy" at Sotheby's in New York for more than 10,000 US dollars, which was half a year's salary at the time. The price of calligraphy rubbings was so expensive, and Wu Erlu's strong passion for rare inscriptions moved An Siyuan and aroused his curiosity.

Wu Erlu told An Siyuan that this was an old collection of Duan Fang, a great collector in the late Qing Dynasty, and gave An Siyuan an example - the bill for the sale of cultural relics by Luo Zhenyu, a famous Chinese collector in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, was heavy. The "Song Dynasty Rubbing of Di Lianggong Stele" was sold for two thousand dollars, and the "Song Dynasty Rubbing of the Sacred Teaching Preface" was sold for three thousand dollars, while the paintings by Shen Zhou and Tang Yin in the list were only worth two or three hundred yuan.

Just this little hint made An Siyuan, who was extremely insightful, understand the mystery and the status of inscriptions and calligraphy in Chinese art collection.

The next day, An Siyuan bought the "Song Dynasty, Jin and Tang Dynasty Small Calligraphy" from Wu Erlu at double the price, and entrusted Wu Erlu to keep an eye out for transactions of inscriptions and rubbings. Since then, under Wu Erlu's guidance, An Siyuan has steadily become the largest collector and appraiser of Chinese calligraphy inscriptions and rubbings in the West.

In just a few years, he had already acquired rare treasures such as the "Song Dynasty rubbings of Jin and Tang Dynasty small regular script" from Yuezhou Shi's edition, eleven Song Dynasty rubbings of "Huairen's "Preface to the Sacred Teachings", Song Dynasty rubbings of "Huaisu's cursive script "Thousand Character Classic", a water rubbing of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane", a Ming rubbing of "The Stele of Prophecy from Heaven", a Ming rubbing of "The Stele of Ritual Vessels", an unbroken version of "The Stele of Cao Quan", an old rubbing of "The Stone Drum Inscription", a Song Dynasty rubbing of "The Huangting Sutra", and a Tang Dynasty small-character record of the Maxiantan.

There was also the "Chunhua Ge Tie", which was finally obtained by Li Qiyan with the help of Zhou Zhi and donated to the country.

Inscriptions and calligraphy are a unique form of Chinese calligraphy art, and the study of inscriptions and calligraphy is a discipline that integrates art, historical materials, documents, craftsmanship, and cataloging. Because of its high degree of professionalism, just like Zhou Zhi's research on ancient character interpretation and phonology, few people, whether in China or abroad, can delve into it to a profound level.

The masters in this field in China are generally proficient in calligraphy, and at the same time, they are also well versed in the history of calligraphy. There are only a handful of people who have made in-depth studies on calligraphers from all dynasties, and Mr. Qi can count them on one hand. After two years of guidance from Zhou Zhi, and with the training he learned in calligraphy since childhood, he can now barely be considered a half-baked calligrapher.

Although An Siyuan knew nothing about calligraphy and inscriptions, he was able to own a mountain of treasures because of the right place, people, and luck. He even said to Zhou Zhi with a smile: "I don't have many items that are not for sale. The Bodhisattva statue you saw when you first came was bought when I was 19 years old. It is definitely not for sale. The rest, like these calligraphy and inscriptions, will be sold one day..."

Zhou Zhi was speechless at the attitude of treating priceless treasures as "rare goods", but he had to accept it.

Because no matter whether it is his fourth cousin, Mr. Wang or Mr. Qi, they all told him that this way of "playing to support playing" is the highest realm of collection. And there is no doubt that An Siyuan has reached the highest realm of this highest realm. It can almost be called the best in the world. In addition to inscriptions and calligraphy, Ming and Qing furniture is a must in An Siyuan's collection. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Chinese classical furniture, including Huanghuali, was only regarded as daily necessities in the eyes of Westerners and was far from reaching the level of art collection, An Siyuan had seen a kind of implicit beauty full of oriental philosophy from the simple shape and lines. His mentor Pang Nai liked to cleverly arrange Chinese artworks in private houses, so that celebrities and guests could "feel the charm of oriental art unconsciously." This kind of elegance that was both a sale and a purchase without leaving a trace of commercial traces made An Siyuan unforgettable.

In order to decorate his apartment, he began to focus on Ming and Qing furniture that embodies oriental aesthetics. Unlike collecting inscriptions and calligraphy, his attainments in this area reached the level of a true expert, and he can even be called the founder of the history of Ming and Qing furniture collection and appreciation. He published three books, including "Chinese Furniture: Examples of Chinese Ming and Qing Hardwood Furniture", the earliest of which was even fifteen years earlier than Mr. Wang's "Appreciation of Ming-style Furniture". The two, one from the East and the other from the West, greatly promoted the world's understanding of ancient Chinese furniture and even triggered a craze for collecting Ming and Qing furniture.

Later generations praised: "He and Mr. Wang, one Chinese and one Western, together support the magnificent sky of Chinese art. If Mr. Wang is a dignified master with extensive knowledge, deep ambition and profoundness, then An Siyuan is a handsome and elegant scholar and swordsman."

The two of them can be regarded as the two pinnacles in the research and collection of Ming-style furniture.

In addition, there are works by modern and contemporary Eastern painters, including Xu Beihong, Li Keran, Qi Baishi and others. The most complete collection is from Shi Lu, Zhou Zhi's fellow villager in Shuzhong.

In a short period of time, he formed a complete collection system of Shi Lu's works. At that time, the works of Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi and others were already expensive, but the price of the works of Shi Lu, a Xi'an painter with a magnificent style and extraordinary talent, was very low. So An Siyuan went back and forth to Xi'an many times, trying his best to buy a large number of Shi Lu's paintings.

An Siyuan had never met Shi Lu in person, and many of his paintings were purchased from Shi Lu's family. Low prices and high profits were the shrewdness of a businessman. His motto was: "Buy, and sell again after 30 years."

His business philosophy is full of knowledge and skills. When purchasing a person's collection, he would buy all the works, pick out the best one-third and keep the remaining two-thirds. At this time, the remaining collections are almost free of cost, and when those collections are sold again many years later, the "net profit" is obtained.

What Zhou Zhi has been doing these days is to screen works for An Siyuan's auction. This time, An Siyuan plans to auction off more than 20 th century Chinese paintings from his collection at one time, including many works by the above-mentioned people.

These works are now hard to find outside, but in An Siyuan's case, they are actually on the list of discarded works. Zhou Zhi estimates that in another ten years, the few fine works left will each be worth tens to twenty million yuan.

In addition, this time An Siyuan is also going to sell off a collection system, the Yaozhou Kiln Song Dynasty porcelain.

Yaozhou Kiln is a treasure of traditional Chinese porcelain making technology and one of the six major kiln systems in the Song Dynasty. Located in Huangbao Town, Tongchuan, Shaanxi Province, it was governed by Yaozhou during the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was a famous production area for Chinese ceramics in the Tang Dynasty and had a sister relationship with Qiong Kiln. Qiong Kiln began to decline in the Song Dynasty, while Yaozhou Kiln reached its peak. It was the most famous and outstanding celadon kiln in the north during the Song Dynasty.