Jianbao life

Chapter 763 Top Feeder (continued)

In addition to the highly skilled painting and enamel craftsmen invited from abroad, there are also some domestic workers who are also employed in the Imperial Glass Factory. According to records, they probably came from two famous glass manufacturing centers in my country, Bo Mountains and Lingnan, among which Boshan started to produce glass in the Yuan Dynasty.

Moreover, the archives of the Kangxi Qing Palace also recorded the names of two craftsmen from Lingnan in the imperial glass factory. They were Cheng Xianggui and his apprentice Zhou Jun. According to records, they entered the palace in 1709 and returned to Lingnan in 1715.

Qing palace archives also record that two other European missionaries made great achievements in the glass factory. The first is Ji Wen, a French Jesuit. He came to China in 1740. Before entering the seminary, he was already a glass and crystal craftsman.

He came to China as a watchmaker and glassmaker. Emperor Qianlong ordered him to work in the Yuanmingyuan glass factory, specializing in the production of glass of different colors and materials, European-style glass, and ornate decorative glass for court use and display.

Another Jesuit glassmaker, Tang Zhizhong, was also from France. He was born in Rouen, entered a monastery in Paris in 1727, went to Canada in 1730, returned to China in 1735, and set off for China in 1740.

He worked in a glass workshop in Rouen, possibly a royal workshop, specializing in the manufacture of glass sheets. When he arrived in China in 1741, he was ordered to work in the Canchikou glass factory for more than two years.

According to the archives of the Qianlong period, those glassware should have been fired and blown in the Canchikou factory first, and then painted in the Yuanmingyuan workshop.The Yuanmingyuan workshop was the place where the most exquisite glassware was produced, and it was also supervised by the emperor himself.

Now, Chu Chen can be sure that several related surviving glassware, including the pen holder in his hand, should have been painted and decorated by the Yuanmingyuan workshop during the peak period of glass production in the Qianlong Dynasty from 1736 to 1758.

This can be seen from the several pieces of enamelware painted with raw materials in the collection of Sir David David in England.

For example, the brush holder in his hand is basically the same as the painting utensils for landscape painting collected by David David in terms of painting techniques.It can also be seen from this that although these pen holders were not made by the same painter, they should be painted in the same workshop.

In addition, the enamel ware with body paintings in David's collection all have four-character regular script inscriptions with double frames, and some of the engraved characters have traces of blue color.The same is true for the pen holder in Chu Chen's hand.

Playing and admiring the pen holder in his hand, Chu Chen was always amazed in his heart. Judging from the whole rest, although the height of this pen holder is only 7.2 cm, the landscape on the pen holder is vividly expressed.

Among them, the brush strokes are also excellent in showing a variety of techniques. The texture of the mountains and rocks is clear, and the trees are clustered or leaf-folded depending on the type.The combination of color and ink, with the ink pen as the backbone, with blue and green as the main tone, mixed with a little bright red, the color is more bright and lively than the painting because of the glaze.

Its composition is dense and decent, with clear layers, the scenery is patchwork, quite organized, the use of brushstrokes is natural and flexible, the rendering is chapped, the style is fresh, and it has unique artistic charm. Its characteristics are pleasing to the eye and endlessly entertaining.

In addition to the superb skills reflected in the material body and painting, because of the historical reasons of the year, it also added a lot of value to this material body enamelware.

At that time, with the passing away of two foreign experts, Tang Zhizhong and Ji Wen, from 1757 to 1758, this technology began to decline after 1758.In the 25th year of Qianlong, that is, after 1760, the production of Yuguang dropped sharply. The craftsmen no longer had innovative ideas like those in the early days, and they never produced high-quality pen holders like the pen holder in Chu Chen's hands.

However, because of the extremely high technical requirements for painting enamel, during the peak period of production between 1736 and 1758, Chu Chen actually did not produce many such fine works.All these things, such a rare and exquisite piece, even if it cannot be said to be priceless, it can be regarded as a rare treasure that many collectors can't find.

As for such a valuable treasure, Chu Chen couldn't understand why Warren just put it on the shelf like this. Could it be that he regarded this pen holder as a fake?

This is not right!Even if he hasn't invited other experts to appraise it in the past two days?Could it be that such a treasure with a glance would be regarded by experts as a fake?

"Could it be?"

Just when Chu Chen thought of one of the possibilities, Warren who was standing beside him smiled and said, "Chu, isn't this pen holder beautiful?"

"It's really good!" Chu Chen nodded with a smile, and then asked, "Mr. Warren, I would like to ask, where did you get this pen holder?"

Warren replied with a smile: "This is one time, I did a favor to a friend, and the other party gave it to me. How about it, it looks like the real thing in Sir David's collection, right? Let me tell you, it's not just you, the day before yesterday When an expert I invited saw this pen holder, he was also very surprised at first, but after he looked at it carefully, he said it was a fake, but he still praised it greatly, saying that the imitation is very good..."

Speaking of this, Warren immediately realized, and smiled at Chu Chen with some embarrassment. Although both parties knew well that he had hired an expert, it would be somewhat disrespectful to Chu Chen if he said it face to face.

Chu Chen smiled slightly, he didn't care about this matter, after all Warren didn't have any malice in his heart.

In addition, from Warren's introduction, Chu Chen understood the reason why the pen holder was placed on the shelf like this.Warren felt that the pen holder was a fake because he did not believe that a friend would give him a precious cultural relic worth millions of pounds, and the experts Warren hired said it was a fake, so the meaning is self-evident.

In order to confirm his conjecture, Chu Chen asked again with a smile: "Mr. Warren, didn't the expert you hired say that he wanted to buy this pen holder?"

"He really said it, but the price he offered was less than [-] pounds, and the prices he offered for my other items were also very low, so I said that I would consider it..."

Anyway, it was all said and done, and Warren also expressed generously that the price offered by the other party was too different from that given by Chu Chen, so he rejected the other party's proposal at that time, but the other party did not give up. Said that this Sunday, that is, tomorrow, I will visit the Warren's house again.

Chu Chen smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Warren, I have to tell you something that may surprise you. I can be [-]% sure that this pen holder is genuine!"

In fact, for Chu Chen, he can say that this thing is a fake. As long as the price he offers is right, Warren will definitely agree, but in that case, his conscience really can't bear it.

Some people may say, since Chu Chen thinks so, why did he buy the real product at the price of a fake when he picked up the leak before?
This matter seems to be somewhat contradictory, but in fact the situation is not the same. Picking up the leak is a business, one is willing to fight and the other is willing to suffer, and each of them depends on their own vision to make money.But now, like that unknown expert, he is going to make huge profits by labeling things that are obviously real as fakes, which is really against his professional ethics.

Moreover, there is an old saying that if you want to be unknown to others, you must do nothing yourself. If Chu Chen really has to buy back things at the price of fakes at this time, when Wu Ke, Mina and others find out, what will they do? think?Probably everyone would think that Chu Chen didn't even care about morality for the sake of money!

Of course, there is the last reason that Chu Chen is not short of money at all now. If he had no superpowers before, he might not be able to withstand the temptation of money, but for him now, there is no need at all because of this Interests, contrary to their own heart.

Hearing what Chu Chen said, Warren was stunned immediately. After a while, he came back to his senses and said dumbfounded: "But... But, Chu, if this is the case, then why hasn't this pen holder been recorded? ?”

Chu Chen chuckled and said, "Mr. Warren, you must know that not every Chinese antique has been recorded."

Warren also knows that there are countless antiques in Huaxia, and some of them have been kept in secret private collections, so it is definitely impossible to describe every antique, but since it is genuine, why did the experts he invited deliberately say it is a fake? Well, you know, the other party is a well-known expert, isn't it?
"Chu, how much is this pen holder worth now?" Warren asked hastily.

Chu Chen replied: "Based on the current market value, it should be around 100 million pounds."

After all, it is only 2002 now. Judging from the appearance and workmanship of the pen holder in front of me, the price given by Chu Chen is still in line with the market conditions at that time.Of course, after the price of Huaxia porcelain in the auction market was hyped up, the value of high-quality raw-body enamelware like Warren's pen holder rose geometrically.

Specifically, in 2007, Christie’s auctioned an enamel western mother-child picture pen holder made by the Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. The transaction price was more than 6700 million RMB, which was equivalent to 450 million pounds based on the exchange rate at that time.And the value of Warren's pen holder is about the same as that of the western mother and child picture pen holder.

Of course, neither Chu Chen nor Warren has the ability to predict the future. Moreover, when Warren heard the price given by Chu Chen, he was already shocked beyond measure. It took a while before he came back to his senses. He gaped and said, "Chu, are you serious?"

Chu Chen replied affirmatively: "Don't worry! I still want to ask you to buy this pen holder. I won't use my own money to make fun of it, right?"

"Then...then why did he say it was fake before, could it be..."

Seeing Warren's reaction, Chu Chen nodded and said, "Yes, that's what you think, the expert you hired probably wanted to tell the truth as a fake, and then buy it back at a very low price , in order to make huge profits."

"How could he do this!" Warren said with a look of shock and anger: "He is a well-known expert, doesn't he even care about professional ethics?"

(End of this chapter)