Jianbao life

Chapter 650 Furniture

On the whole, cork furniture is indeed incomparable with hardwood furniture.However, in cork furniture, there are also some good things that are valuable.There are many single official hat chairs and armchairs with beautiful shapes, tens of thousands, even tens of thousands, or even higher, and these kinds of things are generally made by officials.

The cork furniture made by the government is exquisite in style, meticulous in workmanship, and spares no expense. It is different from common furniture.In addition, it is very rare to have a good year and exquisite workmanship.Of course, such good things are rare, especially the super-beautiful ones that are made like hardwood furniture are even rarer.

"Okay, let me take a look first!"

Chu Chen is quite interested in cork furniture. Besides, Ma Laocai has a lot of cork furniture here. Maybe he can meet one or two good things, and it would be good to buy them back.

So, after Chu Chen answered, he looked at the pile of cork furniture in front of him.

However, looking at the cork chairs among them, he was very disappointed. There are not many good chairs here, only two from the late Qing Dynasty are considered so-so, and the others are either falling apart or poorly made. Anyway, it's really hard to catch his eyes.

However, just when Chu Chen was about to give up, he accidentally saw a small case.

The case is a rectangular, supporting furniture with feet.Among them, the warped head case refers to the "flying horns" on both ends of the case, so it is called "the warped head case".

Now some people often confuse the table with the case, but the difference between them is quite obvious. Simply put, the four legs of the table are at the four corners of the table top and form a right angle.The four legs of the case are not in the four corners, but indented into the case at both ends.

The small head-turning case that Chu Chen has taken a fancy to is a single-panel surface with a tenon-and-tenon structure, and the head is small and stands upright.

Chuck mortise is a commonly used tenon and tenon structure for case furniture.Its form is that the top of the leg is tenoned, which is close to the mortise at the bottom of the case, and the upper part is also open, and the tooth bar is embedded.However, slanted shoulders are cut out on the upper end of the legs, and notches are cut out at the intersection of the teeth and the legs, so that when the teeth and legs are matched, the sloping shoulders of the legs and feet are clamped to form a smooth surface.

In front of the table with a raised head, the tooth strips start from the border and connect with the moiré tooth heads.The base of the table is embossed with cloud heads, with sun lines at the top and rolled leaves carved in the middle of the legs.

The shape of this case is simple and line-based, the structure is rigorous and finely crafted, and the decoration is simple but natural. It is a typical style of Ming Dynasty furniture. Specifically, in terms of wood and craftsmanship, Chu Chen thinks it should be a work of the early Ming Dynasty.
But cork furniture has a disadvantage, that is, after too many years, the general appearance is not good, either out of shape, or falling apart in a hurry, and the appearance is not beautiful, which can easily give people a bad impression.The case in front of me is like this, it looks very inconspicuous, it looks like a low-end product, which makes people have no desire to buy it.

However, this is of course not understanding the views of passers-by. Chu Chen certainly would not see it that way. You must know that there are many large-scale furniture handed down from the Ming Dynasty. It is so small that it is very rare, and its market value and popularity are very high. , and it is even more rare that it has been so intact since the early Ming Dynasty. Of course, this kind of thing cannot be missed.

Seeing Ma Laocai and his son staring at him, Chu Chen didn't look at him too much. In addition, he watched quickly. In the eyes of outsiders, he seemed to have read it carelessly, and he would never have thought that at this time his I already have a plan in mind.

"Mr. Ma, your cork furniture is all common stuff!" Chu Chen shook his head and said.

Hearing what Chu Chen said, Zhang Laocai sneered in his heart, and said to himself: "It is true that there are not many good cork furniture here, but it is not without them, and you can conclude that these are ordinary goods just by looking at them, so I don't think it is too hasty. Is it? This guy doesn’t know much about furniture, does he?”

Thinking of this, Zhang Laocai felt that it was normal for Chu Chen to behave like this. He was young and had good eyesight in some aspects of antiques, so he would inevitably be arrogant and pretend to understand.It's a pity, he didn't do furniture business before, otherwise he would definitely have to trick Chuchen!
Although there were bad intentions in his heart, on the surface Zhang Laocai still smiled and said: "It is true that most of them are ordinary goods, but they are not without good ones. You can see that this walnut wood scroll is very good!"

The second volume is used for displaying bonsai, flower arrangements, and handicrafts in the study room. It is usually made of mahogany or rosewood, and generally varies in length, width, and height.

The walnut wood lower scroll that Ma Laocai mentioned is relatively small, the surface of the case is plain and simple, the legs are turned inwards into a scroll-style foot, the shape is simple, and the patina is thick, which is the style of the early Qing Dynasty.Placed in the study room, it can be displayed, and it can be used to display sketches in the study. It is well preserved, which is rare.

Chu Chen glanced at the second volume, and then said a little bluntly: "So-so, it's not bad!"

"Young Master Chu, do you want it?"

Chu Chen's performance made Ma Laocai feel that it was indeed the same as what he had just thought. Chu Chen didn't know much about furniture, which made him secretly happy.

Chu Chen pretended to ponder for a while, and then said: "Well, I just want to buy some gifts for others. If you can afford it cheaper, then I will pick four chairs, a desk and this volume."

Ma Laocai laughed: "Young Master Chu, what are you talking about, can I still pay you more if you buy it? You pick out what you want, and I will count the money for you."

"OK……"

After finishing speaking, Chu Chen chose the two chairs he had just fancy and the small table, and chose two chairs that were not bad, and put them in front of Ma Laocai together with the second book just now. .

Among these five pieces of furniture, Ma Laocai only thinks that two of the chairs and the second book are good. He doesn't think there is anything good about the most valuable desk. will buy.

Ma Laocai thought for a while and said, "Young Master Chu, it's rare for a distinguished guest like you to come here, so I won't come here in vain. The total is [-] yuan, what do you think?"

If you just look at the value of the small case, it must be worth more than [-], but as mentioned earlier, there are indeed tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of cork furniture, but here, apart from the case, even the most The valuable second volume is only worth six to seven thousand, and the other four chairs add up to less than ten thousand at most.

And Ma Laocai obviously didn't recognize the high-profile case, otherwise, with his personality, it would be impossible to quote this price.So Chu Chen felt that although he didn't know what the bottom price was in Ma Laocai's mind, the offer of [-] was completely ready to kill him, which made him frown.

Ming Mazi had been paying attention to Chu Chen's expression. When he saw Chu Chen frown, he roared angrily, "Ma Laocai, don't you want to mess around anymore? You actually paid [-] for such a thing!"

Ma Laocai said with an aggrieved face: "Brother Ming, the price I quoted is lower than the market price, I really didn't overquote it!"

In terms of the actual value of things, Ma Laocai's quoted price is indeed much lower than the market price, but Chu Chen doesn't think that Ma Laocai's heart is so kind, and if he agrees to the price right away, Ma Laocai may still pay the price. If you are suspicious, it will not be beautiful at that time.

Therefore, Chu Chen waved to Ming Mazi, and said with a smile: "Mr. Ma, we Ming people don't talk dark words, and I also have a shop in Panjiayuan, and the business is not bad, so the price of this cork furniture , I still know."

Hearing this, the father and son couldn't help being a little dazed, especially Ma Laocai, who cursed "bad luck" from the bottom of his heart.The reason why he had such a reaction was because it was not the first time he had dealt with the boss of Panjiayuan, so he understood that those who could do well in Panjiayuan were all good people, and it was impossible to make money from such people. not easy.

Of course, he felt that Chu Chen might be bluffing, but since Chu Chen has such good eyesight, it should be true.

Thinking that his plan to make a fortune has been shattered, Ma Laocai was secretly angry, but he could only sigh in his heart, and then said with a smile: "Young Master Chu, since you are in the same company, please make an offer!"

Chu Chen was not polite, and immediately said: "I gave these things to others, so I won't take advantage of you, let's say [-], what do you think?"

Seeing that Chu Chen drove to the price he wanted all of a sudden, Ma Laocai immediately believed Chu Chen's words completely, which made him very annoyed, and kept calling Chu Chen a profiteer.

Seeing Ma Laocai bowed his head and didn't answer for a long time, Ming Mazi urged: "Old Ma, if you can do it, you can do it, if you can't do it, you can't do it, you are a bitch!"

Ma Laocai came back to his senses, and said with a sad face: "Young Master Chu, it is said that the price you gave is not low, but as I said just now, I am not good at furniture, and the prices for these things are not low. The price given, not to mention making a profit, I have lost my money."

"It's strange to believe what you say!"

Chu Chen chuckled secretly, and then asked, "Then how much did you say?"

Ma Laocai pretended to be pitiful, and said: "You see, I am already paralyzed, and I will rely on these things for my living expenses in the future. I don't ask too much. You can let me earn some money, counting as [-]. You What do you think?"

"At most [-] yuan, otherwise I might as well buy it in the capital, which will save the shipping fee."

Chu Chen shook his head, putting on a business-like appearance. If other people were like Ma Laocai, then twenty-two thousand would be twenty-two thousand. However, the consequences of showing kindness to people like Ma Laocai would only make him When you are taken advantage of, he doesn't want to be called a fool behind his back despite his kindness.

Speaking of which, Ma Laocai had already made nearly ten thousand when he was just [-]. As he said just now, he is not good at cork furniture. Buy these things.

Now, seeing that Chu Chen was not fooled by him, Ma Laocai pretended to bow his head and pondered for a while, but finally agreed with some regret.

(End of this chapter)