Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1772 Consultation

"Lao Ma is a cultural and historical expert who grew up from an underground party member. He is the best in contemporary Chinese bronze cultural relic appraisal and is known as the 'No. 1 bronze appraiser'. He has collected tens of thousands of precious bronze artifacts for Shanghai museums with his own eyesight. His monographs "Research on Chinese Bronzes" and "Chinese Bronzes" have created a new periodization system for Chinese bronze artifacts." Grandpa Wang smiled and said, "This is a skill he has acquired over many years. Why didn't Xiong Chuanxin have any doubts when he heard what Lao Ma said? The root of the problem is here."

Everyone in the studio was filled with admiration. Even though Zhou Zhi already knew the whole story, he still felt the same as everyone else.

"Later, according to what Lao Ma said, he made this inference based on three aspects. First, the inscriptions on the lid and the body of the vessel are basically the same; second, the shape and characteristics of the lid and the body of the vessel are consistent; third, the pattern of the Dish Fang Lei is very distinctive, and the animal face pattern on it is extremely special."

"After we got the news, we commissioned friends at home and abroad to collect clues about the circulation process of the Dish Fang Lei. A scholar in the island country named Meiyuan Sueji also recorded this vessel in the "Essence of Ancient Chinese Bronze and Yi Artifacts" published in 1933, saying that it was collected by the Lu family in Paris. Based on this record, we began to trace back and finally determined that the Dish Fang Lei was successively passed through the hands of Bao Erlu, Yao Shulai, Lu Qinzhai and other famous antique dealers in the early 20th century."

"The first collector of the Dish-shaped Lei body was the British businessman and collector, Paul. Born in Shanghai, he was a Chinese-German hybrid who bought a large number of Chinese artworks while doing business. He bought the body of the vessel for $800,000, and after learning that the lid was still in Hunan Province, he asked Shi Yuzhang to buy it for him for $140,000."

"Shi Yuzhang could not resist the temptation of money, so he risked his life to return to Taoyuan. Unexpectedly, he was caught by He Yaozu's army at the time. Not only was he imprisoned for a year, but he was also fined 12,000 silver dollars before he was released. This was considered retribution."

"After Shi Yuzhang's failure, Bao Erlu did not give up. Not long after, he asked someone to find Zhou Qing directly and wanted to buy the square jar lid for 200,000 silver dollars. However, Zhou Qing was not easy to deal with and asked for a high price of 500,000 US dollars, so the deal was not completed."

"Around 1928, this vessel was collected by Yao Shulai and Lu Qinzhai. Both of them were closely related to Zhang Jingjiang, one of the four great founders of the Republic of China. Yao Shulai was Zhang Jingjiang's brother-in-law, and Lu Qinzhai was Zhang Jingjiang's servant."

"Zhang Jingjiang first opened the 'Yuntong' company in Paris to sell Chinese antiques and used the proceeds to finance the Xinhai Revolution. After the revolution, Zhang Jingjiang returned to China, while Lu Qinzhai stayed in France and became an internationally renowned antiquities dealer. His most famous act was selling 'Sa Lu Zi' and 'Quan Mao Lu', two of the Six Horses of Zhaoling, to foreign countries."

"In troubled times, there was no law. Because public prosecution and punishment lacked constraints and were not based on the law, he not only escaped legal sanctions, but also became more fearless and even became arrogant with a clear conscience. He even called himself an overseas envoy who promoted Chinese civilization. To this day, we have no way to trace him overseas. Lu Qinzhai is the culprit."

"The body of the Dish-shaped Lei was later passed on to the Japanese collector Asano Umekichi through the Lu family. According to Nitta's own account, he saw this vessel from Asano in 1950 and fell in love with it, so he bought it for a large sum of money."

"In order to make up for the lack of a lid, he also bought a square lid from the Spring and Autumn Period at Christie's in the UK, but the size, pattern and color of the lid did not match the original body, so he had to put it next to it."

The next thing that happened was naturally that the two sides started to contact each other.

Xintian immediately wrote to Xiong Chuanxin, asking for the relevant dimensions of the lid. After receiving the news from Ma Chengyuan, Xiong Chuanxin had already made preparations and reported the dimensions of the lid to Xintian.

After checking, Xin Tian found that the lid of the square jar in the Xiang Museum could just cover the body of the square jar in his private collection, so he immediately flew to Xiang Province. When the 80-year-old Xin Tian saw the lid of the square jar with his own eyes, he immediately confirmed that it was the lid of the square jar.

Then, Xintian invited the two curators of the Xiangguan, Gao Zhixi and Xiong Chuanxin, to visit the island country. During the more than one week at Xintian's home, they carefully examined the inscriptions, patterns, and casting techniques on the vessel, and recorded its size, etc. The host and the guest talked all night, and the topic always revolved around the same theme - this Dish Fang Lei, which had been separated for more than half a century, should be reunited as soon as possible.

But how to reunite? Nitta repeated his idea that he could buy the lid of the Fanglei with a large sum of money, while the Hunan Museum urged Nitta to donate the body of the Fanglei to the provincial museum. Nitta hoped that the body and lid would be together in Japan, while the Hunan people hoped that the body of the Fanglei would return to its hometown as soon as possible. The two sides never reached an agreement.

At the farewell dinner table, Xin Tian picked up a teacup and used an analogy, saying that it was like a covered cup, the lid was in Xiangguan and the cup body was with him, but the cup body was the primary one and the lid was secondary, so it should be Xiangguan that sold the lid to him.

This is also the sequelae of the country's previous sale of cultural relics in exchange for foreign exchange. In order to exchange for foreign exchange, the country poured out a lot of bronzes from the National Museum and handed them over to the Arts and Crafts Institute, which then sold them. Most of them ended up in Taiwan and island countries.

Xiong Chuanxin made it clear that times now are different from the past, as the state's management of various cultural relics is becoming increasingly strict. Bronze and jade artifacts have long been prohibited from being exchanged, and it is even more impossible to sell items in museums.

So Xin Tian came up with another idea. He was willing to donate US$200,000 to the Xiangguan to build a new building for display. He also donated an exquisite square lid from the early Western Zhou Dynasty purchased from Christie's in exchange for the lid of the Yuanfanglei.

Xiong Chuanxin was really tempted at the time, after all, the museum was poor and the exhibition conditions were even more limited. So he promised to report to his superiors after returning home.

Then, Xin Tian submitted a "Petition and Petition" to the Lake Pavilion, expressing his hope that the body and lid of the Dish-shaped Lei would be integrated, and stated that the donation was not an investment. Although two hundred thousand US dollars was insignificant, it was the only amount he could donate due to the tax laws of the island country.

The matter was reported by the Hunan Museum to the Provincial Cultural Relics Department and the State Cultural Relics Administration, and finally reached the top.

At the same time, Xiangguan and Xintian continued to maintain contact. Both sides were willing to exhibit the Dish Fang Lei together, but due to various restrictions, the matter became very difficult.

First, the Hunan Province proposed that the exhibition could be held in a museum in Shanghai, which was also the museum directed by Ma Chengyuan. However, Xin Tian had concerns about whether the body of the jar could be returned to the island country, and the body of the jar did not comply with relevant legal regulations in terms of customs clearance, so the plan was aborted.

Later, Xintian proposed to hold a joint exhibition at the Xindao Museum. This time, the report of the Hunan Museum was submitted, but it did not get approval, because the lid of the Dish Fang Lei is also a first-class cultural relic, and it is not easy to exhibit a first-class cultural relic nowadays.

Both national conditions and laws have many limitations and it is difficult to resolve them in a short period of time.

So Xintian had no choice but to put the rubbing of the jar lid and the jar body that Xiangguan gave him together to comfort himself.