The Book of Appreciation

Yan Ju looked at it carefully for a moment, shook his head and said:

"Alas, compared with this one, the Song Dynasty copy in the Forbidden City is not top-grade in terms of brushwork or color. When I think that it was once the desk favorite of Emperor Qianlong, I am extremely depressed. Tell me, Lao Ao Gus Du was one of the leaders of the coalition forces back then, why didn’t he win that Captain Jiyong? If he worked harder, maybe this thing is ours now!”

This passage was spoken in Chinese, and Stephen couldn't understand it, but Wu Di laughed and said:

"Hehe, it's already a great fortune to get more than 3000 precious cultural relics from Augustus with a copy of the ghost painting talisman. Are you still not satisfied?"

"Contentment, how do you make me content? That old guy obviously has 10,000+ pieces, and he only gave us more than 3000 pieces in exchange, and less than 2 of them are high-quality goods! You have to know that although there are only [-] There are more than [-] pieces, but each piece is a treasure!"

Wu Di ignored him, turned around and looked at a landscape painting on the wall.This is the "Xishan Thatched Cottage Hand Scroll" written by Tang Yin of the Ming Dynasty.

This painting depicts the scenery of mountains and rivers in the twilight, and the green hills on the river bank are rolling up and down. From it, we can see a little bit of the lofty artistic conception of the lonely bank in "The Picture of Sending Friends Off on the Cold River".This painting has Tang Yin's own inscription, but also Qianlong's inscription in 1751 AD.Under the landscape painting, there are 11 paragraphs of text left by later collectors and connoisseurs. It is a pity that it has now become a collection of the British Empire!

What Yan Ju admired was a colorful work, "Flower Basket".This painting is a printed matter, and its age should be between Yongzheng and Qianlong. The vivid drawing and lifelike colors are almost no different from modern printing works.

"This is the "Tian Kun Business Map" painted by Xie Chufang, a painter of the Yuan Dynasty in 1321. The scroll is 8360 mm long and is one of the 10 most precious Chinese cultural relics in our collection."

Seeing Wu Di turn around, Stephen pointed to a long scroll placed in a glass box that took up half of the wall, and said proudly.

Wu Di knew that this painting was one of the few ancient Chinese cultural relics with a clean history in the British Museum.The signature and date of "w.butler1797" inside the scroll envelope indicate that this painting appeared in England at the end of the 18th century, which should be the result of frequent commercial activities in the coastal areas of Guangdong Province, China.

Modern people know almost nothing about Xie Chufang's life, and this famous painting with the theme of predation by animals and insects is not a masterpiece in terms of brushwork.But this is the case with antiques. The earlier the age, the more valuable it is to collect.If this painting appears in the Palace Museum, even if its status is not as high as the top ten here, it should be valued as much as it is.

Bronze bells from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, cloisonné porcelain altars from the Xuande period, David vases from the Yuan Dynasty, group sculptures from Tang tombs, bronze mirrors with mother-of-pearl inlays from the Tang Dynasty, dozens of dragon-patterned glazes from the Qing Dynasty, and human sculptures carved from the Neolithic period. A jade cong with a face pattern...

A piece of precious cultural relics flowed before Wu Di and Yan Ju, silently telling the long and glorious history of China, and reminding them of the humiliating history engraved in the hearts of every Chinese...

"Let's go, the road to collection is endless, the road is long and long, and I will search up and down! I have decided that I will sweep all the antique markets in Europe if I have the opportunity, and pick up all the big and small leaks I can pick up, and then Give him back the things left by these ancestors one by one!"

There are many well-known galleries in London with countless masterpieces on display.But that's not Wu Di's goal.What he was looking for was a place where he could take advantage of it.And to find these places, you need the help of the locals.Oviedo, the driver assigned to them by Augustus, is the best helper.

After Oviedo sent Wu Di to the museum yesterday, he accompanied the military division and the others to book a hotel and waited in the hotel. The task he received was to act as a tour guide for Wu Di and the others.

This is a back alley. Oviedo parked his car at the entrance of the alley, and led Wu Di and the others into a villa.

"This is the home of Mr. Baker, and it is also a well-known private gallery. Young painters in London are willing to sell their works here, because famous collectors like Cole and Skaya will come here from time to time. Come and have a look around, if their paintings can be seen by these people, they might become famous in one fell swoop. Lord Baron used to come here often, but there are fewer in recent years."

After entering the courtyard, Wu Di realized that this villa was unexpectedly large. Looking at the contiguous building complex, it seems that there is only this one family in the whole alley!

As soon as Oviedo entered the hall, he was recognized immediately.Holding a glass of wine, a fat old man rushed up from a corner with agility that didn't suit his body type, and hugged him,

"Old man, I haven't seen you for a long time! Why, isn't the Baron here?"

Oviedo shook his head with a wry smile, and said to Wu Di:

"You see, Old Baker is such a virtue. He never hides his shamelessness every time. I said, can't you sincerely welcome me once?"

Beck's fat face was full of smiles,

"Old man, do we still need to be so hypocritical? Are these friends from the East? Hehe, I happen to have a few ink landscapes by Chinese painters here. I guess you will like them."

After a brief introduction for both parties, Oviedo said with a smile:

"Generally people only know that there are 7 exhibition halls here, but I know that Old Baker also has a secret exhibition room, where there are some high-quality goods. Mr. Wu, do you see?"

"Thank you, Mr. Oviedo, let's take a look around first, and I will find you if necessary."

Baker pulled Oviedo with a smile and said to Wu Di:

"Young man, take your time. If you have anything to do, just yell at Old Baker. I will definitely appear in front of you as soon as possible. Now, Oviedo, you go to drink with me and don't disturb me here. My honored guest."

"Drinking early in the morning, oh god, why don't you get this drunkard to go to heaven?"

Seeing the two of them hugging and arguing crookedly walking towards the hall, Yan Ju smiled and said:

"You said, this guy won't fool us into shopping like those black tour guides in China?"

Wu Di glanced at the works on the wall, smiled wryly and said:

"From the current situation, it is possible that the place here is not small, but these paintings are failing..."

The first exhibition hall is not worth seeing. From the signature and date, it can be seen that they are all works of some unknown people in the past two years.These works all have a common feature, that is, a certain part of the picture is handled well, but when viewed as a whole, it is not so good.

The second exhibition hall is some older oil paintings, but none of them are masterpieces.There are also many old works mixed in.Wu Di looked carefully one by one, and found nothing to pick up, but the quality of the works made him overturn the judgment that this place might be a tourist shop. If it continues to develop at this level, it is really possible to see a few high-quality works in a while. indefinite.

The third exhibition hall is full of imitations of famous works. You can see imitations of world-renowned oil paintings such as "Mona Lisa", "The Female Fortune Teller" and "The Unknown Girl", and many of them have reached the level of high-quality goods. level.

"Do you know this painting?"

Yan Ju asked, pointing to an impressionist work on the wall.

"Van Gogh's 'Poppies'?"

Yan Ju smiled bitterly and said:

"It's true that nothing can trouble you kid, but do you know the story behind it?"

"Story? Isn't this painting kept in a museum in Cairo, Egypt? Can there be a story?"

"Haha, there is finally something you don't know, and it's not in vain for me to study hard for homework these days! Listen carefully, the fate of this painting is very tortuous!"

"Fate? You mean it was lost in 1978? It's a pity that I didn't have the chance to go to Cairo to see it, otherwise I would know if the one in the museum is authentic."

Yan Ju rolled his eyes at him, and said dejectedly:

"Is your kid a human being? How do you even know this?"

"Well, to put it bluntly, it's very simple. The big guns I watched are exactly the same as yours! Hahahaha!"

Yan Ju's eyes lit up and asked:

"So it's possible that you don't know the follow-up of the story?"

"Follow-up? Isn't it the fact that a year after the museum announced the return of oil paintings, an identical painting fetched a high price of 4300 million US dollars in London? These people's methods are too clever, since your museum has confirmed the authenticity Come back, then the paintings I sell will have nothing to do with you. ***, do you think we will also sneak into the British Museum someday to play such a trick?"

"I don't know if you can sneak into the museum, but I know that everyone is likely to be tricked by that museum."

"Tricked by the museum? What do you mean?"

"It's not interesting, but someone proved that the painting that was auctioned in London is a fake! The real one has been kept in the secret room of that museum!"

Wu Di took a deep breath,

"You mean to say that the theft of that painting was actually directed and staged by the museum itself? They created opportunities to sell fake paintings for money?"

"I didn't say that! By the way, do you know what happened next?"

Wu Di shook his head. Could it be that the guy who bought the painting dared to kill him and smashed the museum?

"More than 30 years after the first loss, the painting was lost again..."

"Lost it again? My card, it won't be the same painting that will be auctioned after a year?"

"I don't know, because it hasn't been a year yet, but that museum has claimed to have recovered the oil painting..."

Looking at the oil painting on the wall, Wu Di's small eyes rolled around twice, and said with a smile:

"Then do you want this painting? If you don't, I won't be polite!"

Yan Ju glanced at him speechlessly, people without money really can't afford to be hurt!This painting is a very good imitation, but its price is also very good!A copy of 12 pounds, I really think I am a fool who came to travel? (To be continued.)