golden ear

Chapter 131 Hong Kong Antiques Fair

"Is this the Yongzheng Twelve Monochrome Glazed Chrysanthemum Plates? Or Lemon Yellow!"

Wu Tianyuan put the Flower God Cup back into the red sandalwood box, and found that there was another set of porcelain under it, which was not wrapped, and it fell directly together. Wu Tianyuan picked up one and started to communicate.

"Emperor Yongzheng loved our single-color glazed porcelain the most, mainly because of the quiet glaze and clean style, and even more because of our delicate and beautiful shape. Therefore, Yongzheng porcelain is famous for its beautiful shape and fine glaze."

Wu Tianyuan appreciates the aesthetics of Emperor Yongzheng the most, both Buddhism and antiques are the peak of all dynasties.Monochrome glaze is also called pure color glaze or a glaze.Due to the different chemical components in the enamel, the porcelain will show different single colors after firing, such as green glaze, red glaze, yellow glaze, black glaze, green glaze, blue glaze and white glaze.Although monochromatic glazed porcelain has a single color, it is to some extent a classic interpretation of the realm of "beauty to the extreme is nature".

Before the Tang Dynasty, Chinese porcelain was mainly monochrome glaze, but from an artistic point of view, the shape and color of porcelain in this period of time were relatively simple and practical, which was far from the aesthetics of modern people, and had a high collection value. The most valuable single-color glazed porcelain appeared in the Song, Yuan and Ming and Qing dynasties.In the Song Dynasty, monochrome glaze entered a period of vigorous development.

Especially in the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, the firing process of monochrome glazed porcelain reached its peak.Compared with colored glaze porcelain, single-color glazed porcelain is not floating, clamorous, overwhelmed, and flattering. It is natural, elegant and clean, and is recognized as the "lady of every family" among ceramic products.

"This is really a superb set of twelve lemon yellow Yongzheng chrysanthemum pattern dishes!
The Yongzheng period was the heyday of porcelain making in the Qing Dynasty, and it was famous for its rich shapes and diverse varieties.The Yongzheng period was relatively short, and compared with the Qianlong and Kangxi periods, the amount of porcelain in existence was even rarer.

However, Yongzheng yellow glaze has made some innovations in glaze color, and a variety of new glaze colors have been fired.The yellow-glazed porcelain of the Yongzheng Dynasty was most famous for its lemon-yellow glazed porcelain, and the light yellow-glazed vases, lemon-yellow glazed cups, and chrysanthemum petal plates were popular.

"And I, Qianlong Yubi Orchid Pavilion Preface!"

Wu Tianyuan hurriedly picked up the last tightly wrapped hand scroll, and opened it, it turned out to be Qianlong's calligraphy, imitating Wang Xizhi's Orchid Pavilion Preface!

Great calligraphers of all dynasties have copied the first Lanting preface through the ages, and here in Qianlong, he collected eight famous versions, known as the eight pillars of Lanting!
Yu Shinan of the Tang Dynasty imitated the Lanting Preface, Tang Chu Suiliang imitated the Lanting Preface, Tang Feng Chengsu imitated the Lanting Preface, Tang Liu Gongquan wrote the Lanting Poems, Song Dingwu Lanting Preface, Yuan Zhao Mengfu Lanting Preface, Ming Dong Qichang Lin Lanting Poems, Qing Qianlong Imperial Lin Lanting Poems.

"I didn't expect that the tomb robbers and war criminals are both senior collectors? These are the three generations of Kang, Yong, and Gan, and they are all the most representative masterpieces."

Wu Tianyuan is very satisfied, it seems that purely from the perspective, these people are pretty good!Needless to say, the Kangxi Twelve Blue and White Multicolored Flower God Cups are priceless even if there are only eight of them.

A set of lemon yellow chrysanthemum discs in Yongzheng can also represent the highest level of monochrome glaze at that time. Xu Zhantang’s Jingguantang once photographed an eight-piece set of cowpea red in 1982. !
"These are museum-level collections. Even if it's not very good Qianlong calligraphy, it's still one of the eight pillars of the Lanting Pavilion. I barely keep it, and if I find the other seven in the future, it will be considered a set!"

"Come on, push out this traitor who is disrespectful to me! Where's the person?"

Wu Tianyuan took the things back to the hotel, flew overnight to the capital first, put them at home, and sent them to the museum together.

"My brother didn't rest well yesterday?"

Wu Tianyuan had just returned to Hong Kong and didn't sleep for a while, when he received a call from Zhai Jianmin and went downstairs to have morning tea together.

"What's the plan for today? Go to the antique fair?"

Zhai Jianmin looked at the time and said, "Let's go to the airport to pick up Lao Wang first, and then go to the exhibition center together. The day after tomorrow will be the antique exhibition. This time it will be the largest in history. Many European collectors will come to communicate, and it will be very lively."

Wu Tianyuan was also excited. It was his first time to participate in the world-wide antique exchange meeting. This antique exhibition has been held for four or five years, and it is one of the most famous exhibitions in Hong Kong.It was initiated by Zhai Jianmin and Zhang Zongxian together with several big collectors. Now the scale is getting bigger and bigger, and it has become a prosperous event every year.

"This year, not only are there collectors from Europe and North America, I also specially invited many experts from RB, especially Master Liu Huasheng from Osaka. He is a master of tea ceremony and a senior collector of tea utensils."

Wu Tianyuan was taken aback, Uncle Liu is coming too?I didn't hear Liu Meizi mentioning this, so she probably didn't know it was a temporary decision.

"Let's go, everyone is ready to go to the exhibition center!"

The two picked up Wang Dagang at the airport, and went to the convention and exhibition center together. The day after tomorrow it will be officially launched. Now there are many antique dealers in place, and they will walk around with Zhai Jianmin to absorb some energy.

According to the estimation of the energy of the opening of the Qing Dynasty, it is still very early before the opening of the Ming Dynasty, and Wu Tianyuan has not absorbed a few pieces in total.The Ming Dynasty was too rare, each piece was a heavy weapon, and there were very few opportunities to get started.

This time, follow Zhai Jianmin, if you can get started, take advantage of it, otherwise when will the Ming Dynasty start?
"Brother, this international antique exhibition is not only about Chinese antiques, but also many foreign treasures."

Wang Dagang explained: "This is the third year I have been here. In the first two years, I found many good things, such as European oil paintings, sculptures, gold and silverware, furniture, etc. If you have a good eye, you may really miss them."

"Then you really need to see your horizons, and then take a good look around."

When Wu Tianyuan heard it, there were foreign antiques, just in time, did you hear anything wrong?
"There was no collection market in China 30 years ago; it was still in the learning stage 20 years ago; it has matured in the past ten years or so."

Talking about the original intention of establishing the antique exhibition seven or eight years ago, Zhai Jianmin said with a smile: "Actually, it is also following the trend. Many antique dealers from Europe, America and RB came to the door, wanting to contact Chinese collectors, and more and more overseas antiques are returning to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Mainland."

"The number of exhibitors at this year's International Antiques Fair has increased by half compared to last year, reaching as many as 80. Among them, European exhibitors have increased significantly. I opened Yongbao Zhai on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong in 1988. Twenty years ago, I only did business with Hong Kong and foreigners. Now Nearly 20% of the guests are from mainland China.”

Zhai Jianmin sighed: "Two or three years ago, I thought that there were many buyers in mainland China and few collectors. Some people wished to buy it today and make money tomorrow. After two years of holding it, they would sell it, just like selling stocks."

"Now that I've really got in touch with domestic collectors, especially Mr. Ma and Mr. Ouyang, as well as the new rich and powerful, especially you!"

Zhai Jianmin confirmed: "There are also many Chinese collectors! You are constantly learning, and the overall stage is slowly maturing. You have an understanding of collections, accumulated knowledge, and your level and aesthetics are getting higher and higher. You will definitely be the mainstream of the market in the future. .”

Meeting Wu Tianyuan had a great impact on Zhai Jianmin. He always believed that domestic collectors were not of a high level and had a heavy investment mentality, so there were no real collectors.

This time I met a group of representative collectors. The seniors include Ma Dingxiang and Mr. Ouyang, among them are Hu Jianmin and Ma Yun and other business tycoons, and the younger generation is Wu Tianyuan in front of me.In his early twenties, his eyesight and luck are invincible, and he has heavy weapons in his hands. I have been in the industry for more than 40 years, and it is the first time I feel that the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, and the front waves are about to be shot to death on the beach!

(End of this chapter)