Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 319 315. Virtuous and Sorrowful——European Sisters

Drouot auctions in the 19th century were casual, and until the site was acquired 14 years ago, all auctions were held on leased grounds.

Angel is the highlight of this event. Even if the huge number of paintings occupy all the exhibition halls of the association, it is not enough.As a green leaf, the auction of the Marquis of Avery had to find another place. Finally, after coordinating with the court across the road, they found a court to make use of it.

The venue still retains the basic layout of the court.

In the middle is a partition fence, part of which was removed from the long benches and replaced with rattan armchairs to accommodate the spectators participating in the auction, while the other part retained the court’s large horseshoe table, covered with dark green velvet cloth, to display the auction items .

The French auction industry has a unique historical tradition, which is very different from the mainstream auction industries such as Britain and the United States, and has its own system.

The so-called auction company here is actually a loose collection of temporary offices run by auction appraisers and appraisers.The key is the legal appraisers who are at the core. They are legally responsible for all aspects of the auction and are also the main organizers of the auction.

Therefore, in order to become such a character, in addition to paying the most basic money, it also takes a lot of time to learn and settle.

Apart from the executive who was reading the auction documents at the back of the table, an auction appraiser who was over 40 years old, Bernard Burns, stood in the center.

He was wearing a tall black hat, a black woolen gown with wide sleeves and a white fine linen cravat, the special work attire of a French auction appraiser.Compared with the auctioneers in the British and American systems who only focus on the auction itself, Bernard, as a senior auctioneer of the Appraisers Association, also needs to arrange police security to maintain order in the venue.

And beside him is a young apprentice who just came here from Zurich to study auctions, Gustav Paul, who is just 22 years old this year.

"Is the order of the items straightened out?"

"It's all sorted out."

"What about the reserve price?"

"It's all good."

"The price should correspond to the product."

"I see."

Looking at the chaotic crowd outside, Bernard sighed: "Go, tell the door to be quiet, even if the queen is coming, there is no need to be so excited. Our place is not the auction hall of the great painter Ingres, and there are not so many policemen to maintain it." Order, if this continues, the auction will never start."

Although Gustav did a good job, he was far less calm than Bernard.

This was only the second auction he attended with his master, and he directly bumped into Queen Eugenie, the queen of the fashion industry in Paris.But what is more restless is excitement, a kind of excitement yearning for the big scene: "Okay, Master!"

Originally, the Queen of France would not be included in the auction.

But maybe Drouot postponed the auction on purpose, or someone whispered something in her ear, and Eugenie came to the auction site with her "good sister" Elizabeth whom she had just met.

This kind of situation is actually rare. If you find something you like in the auction house on weekdays, the respective consignors or the chief guard will call the price on your behalf.

And when other buyers saw that it was the queen who made the bid, they would more or less choose to give in. Reducing the queen's bid itself was also a way of "paying tribute", which is impossible for no one to know in Paris, where the auction industry is particularly complicated.

And that's not the most embarrassing thing.

The most embarrassing thing was that they were seen holding hands and entering the Angel auction site half an hour ago, but they suddenly came here half an hour later.

Apart from other buyers around, there was also a young man who did not expect that the small auction he participated in would attract the presence of two beauties and queens in Europe.He ran into two beauties on the side of the street, and after exchanging greetings, he followed them and entered the auction surrounded by his attendants.

The young Gustav was excited that he could control such a scene, but a young man younger than himself appeared in front of him, and the steps under his feet were higher than the auction booth.

After arranging the seats for the two distinguished guests with Bernard, Gustav became more interested in Carvey who was sitting next to the Austrian queen: "Master, who is he?"

"Him?" Bernard wore a monocle, looked down at the merchandise again, and replied, "Isn't he the most popular person in the newspapers recently?"

"Oh, I seem to have a little impression."

Gustav obviously didn’t know Carvey, which aroused Bernard’s dissatisfaction: “When you first came to Paris and asked me to be an auctioneer, besides accepting the 8000 francs your mother asked you to send, I also said What have you been?"

Gustav has been tortured by such lukewarm questions recently, and he is keenly aware of the danger: "Uh, this, hehe, it seems to be"

Bernard looked helpless: "Your impetuous personality should be a businessman with higher profits, rather than an auctioneer who deals with artworks."

"Master, I'm sorry."

Now that he has received the other party's one-year tuition fee, Bernard will remain patient for one year. After all, it is not so easy for Drouot's apprentices to graduate: "Listen, French auctions are under the sole control of our appraisers. International news, Pay attention to domestic news, entertainment gossip, and even obituaries that few people pay attention to, otherwise how will you make money?"

"In fact, I have been reading newspapers, and I often go to places like gallery hotels, but I don't care about him." Gustav was a little puzzled, "Isn't he a doctor?"

"Why are you a dead-headed person?" Bernard frowned, and took off his monocle deliberately, wanting to take a closer look at the stupidity of the apprentice he had just accepted for two months. "Why do you want to read the newspaper?"

"It's to find customers."

"Who are our customers?"

"Artist, collector, entrepreneur, inheritor" Gustave got it, "Oh, I get it."

"Doctors, real estate consultants, lawyers, notaries and accountants are often involved in debt, inheritance, bankruptcy and other cases, and they are very important sources of information." Bernard sighed, "We usually have to establish a good relationship with them, let alone This is a surgical genius who astounds everyone."

"genius?"

"Where are you looking?" Bernard glanced at him, already seeing through his student's thoughts, "You are an auction appraiser, what you care about is the price of the auction items, their psychological activities during the auction, and money! It's not an unrealistic competitive fantasy where you want to compare with others everywhere!"

Gustav knew that he had committed an old mistake again, so he nodded and stopped talking.

A heavyweight figure suddenly appeared in the auditorium, unifying the chattering crowd and saluting the two queens one after another.

Eugenie originally wanted to occupy the frontmost seat in the center and enjoy the feeling of being surrounded by celebrities, nobles and collectors.But Elizabeth prefers to be quiet, so after much deliberation, she finally pulled her to find a few vacant seats beside her.

"I've come to Paris now, I should put aside those troubles and be happier."

"Well, I want to throw it away but I always think about it. I can't throw it away cleanly." Elizabeth said with a smile, "Actually, it's much better than in Vienna. If you don't believe me, just ask him."

The two looked at Carvey at the same time: "Indeed, as Her Majesty the Queen said, after the war, the Hofburg Palace looked too serious, and it lacked the atmosphere of life in the Parisian city. It would be nice to wait a little longer."

Kavi, who seems to be able to do a job with ease, is very close to the two queens on the surface, but he is repeatedly scolding MMP in his heart.

He didn't like socializing at all, and this time he also wanted to go back to the hotel to rest after shopping quickly, but when he met these two "nobles", things became extraordinarily complicated.

Social communication is second to none, it's just the restraint of words and manners, and Kawei, who has contacts with many nobles, can bear it, and the more important thing is the things at the auction.Here is an auction of Oriental collections, while Empress Eugenie owns the Château de Fontainebleau, which houses thousands of Chinese artifacts.

Carvey has no interest in history. Before that, he only knew that France had robbed many things, but he didn't know where they went.

But after meeting and communicating briefly, he was able to conclude that the calm-eyed queen in front of him loved oriental artworks, and even built a Chinese pavilion for these artifacts.

"I didn't expect Dr. Carvey to like these things." Eugenie, who is 40 years old, has calm eyes and a very restrained smile. Her noble temperament does not distance herself from other people. "It seems that today is not the right time."

Karvey scolded the old fox in his heart, and still maintained the same rigid smile on his face: "I always thought you liked Master Ingres's works more, but I didn't expect you to come here. If I knew."

"What if I knew?"

"If I knew, I would have prepared more money."

Carvey's answer obviously went through an ideological struggle, at the risk of being rejected by the other party, but Eugenie smiled, and the smile was more attractive than before.It seems that in her eyes, money and things are just the sudden interest in her brain, and whether she has it or not is just her own attitude.

"Elizabeth, he's really interesting."

Elizabeth was sitting next to Carvey, with two attendants standing beside her. He also laughed after hearing this: "He is a cute kid, but I personally like his talent better."

"I'm not familiar with medicine, but it's eye-opening to see such a young surgeon." Eugenie said with a smile, "The royal doctors in the court are all old men, lifeless."

The medical stuff passed by, and soon the three of them began to focus on the catalog, discussing their respective preferences.

Soon Carvey discovered that the encounter with Eugenie was not completely fruitless. The last queen of France seemed to have no interest in Chinese calligraphy and painting.She even used some books as waste paper for the table legs, and the scrolls were randomly placed in the corners without cherishing them.

"I always feel that Chinese characters are very weird." Carvey deliberately provoked the conversation, "It's crooked, I really can't understand it."

"Indeed, I read their writing as if I were reading a book from heaven." Eugenie said, "There are many books in the castle, all of which are written in this kind of writing, and no one in Paris can explain to me what they mean."

"And they also like to leave a string of words on the painting." Elizabeth shook her head, "It's too disruptive to the balance of the painting."

"In fact, their paintings are also very strange." Eugenie showed a helpless expression, "The colors are monotonous, the characters are simple, and there are more mountains and waters. I really can't imagine what these painters want to express when they make these paintings. something."

"And there's a strange smell in those papers."

"That's all right, the point is that I don't know what they mean."

Ignorant, arrogant, superficial, and defiant, but Carvey was excited because it represented an opportunity for him.

But it was just a chance, he wasn't sure if the other party would let go of the calligraphy and paintings that he already had.Even more uncertain, if I show my interest in calligraphy and painting, will the other party become vigilant.

So far, I can only take advantage of the time before the auction to find out: "I remember a sinologist in Paris, can he do nothing?"

"Marquis Hervé?" Eugenie immediately thought of him, "He is obsessed with "Anthology of Tang Poems" and "Book of Songs", and recently he has been studying rb's stuff, as well as writing prefaces and introductions for these two works."

"Let him see it."

"I thought it was a good literary classic, but after reading it, he said it had no literary value, and he really didn't have the energy to do translation." Eugenie shrugged slightly and said, "If I knew this, I wouldn't have taken it all in."

Carvey has been thinking about when to speak, and now seems to be a good opportunity, but just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard Bernard's voice in front of the stage:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the auction is about to begin. Please be quiet. I am honored to meet the two queens today, which makes the small auction site look extraordinarily solemn and eye-catching, and it also fits today's theme: the charm from the East of China. "

After listening to the opening speech, Carvey had to postpone his thoughts and concentrate on the collection of Marquis Avery.

Unlike the surgery theater, the auction hosted by Bernard didn't have much foreplay, and the first auction item, the jade pen holder, started right after the opening remarks.

Because he had given the auction catalog and two exhibitions before, his pace would only be faster when it came to the auction.There is no extra introduction, just to quote the starting price: "Lot No. 1, a jade pen holder with a female statue, the starting price is 50 francs, is there any bid price?"

Soon Queen Eugenie signaled her attendants to raise their hands: "50."

Bernard's face was flat, and he observed the audience like a machine: "Okay, 50 francs, Your Majesty, is there any price increase?"

"."

"Is there no further price?"

The scene was embarrassing, and no one seemed to want to fight against the queen, and Kavey was one of them.But this is by no means a normal auction atmosphere, not only unfavorable to Kawei himself, but also unfavorable to appraisers like Bernard.

Thinking at three, seeing that the hammer was about to fall, Carvey apologized to Eugenie, then raised his hand: "100 francs."

"Okay, the bid here is 100 francs, and now the price has come to 100 francs, who else is interested in it?"

"120 francs!"

"130!"

(End of this chapter)