golden ear

Chapter 178
Seeing the excitement of the four old men, Wu Tianyuan was also very moved. Everyone has a patriotic heart and is willing to contribute to the nation as long as they have the opportunity.

After replenishing the last 29 old collections, the first stage of the Yuanmingyuan exhibition hall was completely completed. Looking at the resplendent and magnificent exhibition hall, the royal wealth and grandeur rushed to the face, which was shocking.

"After the Sanxi Hall, this is the next day's heavyweight exhibition hall. Lao Ren redistributed the exhibits and replaced the four kings and four monks with Castiglione to make the Yuanmingyuan Hall more luxurious and grand."

Hu Jianmin and Wu Tianyuan inspected the museum. Now that they have it, it is like having a child, growing up little by little, with a great sense of accomplishment.

The two returned to the warehouse and looked at the 21 oil paintings. Hu Jianmin asked curiously: "We will definitely collect these six masterpieces, and we will have an oil painting museum exhibition in the future. How to deal with these ordinary ones?"

"I don't know. I'll discuss it with Hu Yan in the afternoon. The domestic atmosphere of oil painting collection is average. Except for Wang Jiansen and Liu Yiqian, there are not many people playing. I don't want to let Tianyuan digest it internally. It's easy to wait for some Western treasures. It’s a good time to open up new contacts.”

Hu Jianmin agrees with this point. Personal connections are the most important. Now Wu Tianyuan has teams in RB, England, and France to help collect auction items.But this kind of top master work is rare, it is the darling of the market, each piece is worth more than ten million US dollars, Jiade Baoli may not be able to play it!

In the afternoon, Hu Yan came to the warehouse excitedly. When she saw the fifteen oil paintings, she was both excited and distressed: "You kid is giving me a problem again? What should I do?"

Wu Tianyuan looked amusedly at the time when Iron Lady also had a headache, and after a while he gritted his teeth and said, "Forget it, for your benefit to be maximized, this good thing will be passed on to others!"

Hu Yan took out her phone, dialed a number, sent a photo, and said with a smile, "Go to England tomorrow and meet the head of Sotheby's!"

"Qiu Guofu?"

Wu Tianyuan asked curiously: "The grandson of Qiu Yanzhi, a great collector in the Republic of China?"

"That's right, it's Qiu Guofu. To tell you the truth, he is also a member of the Dragon Group!"

Wu Tianyuan was very surprised. Didn't expect that the dignified head of Su Fubi was also a member of the dragon group?
"What's the big deal? Now the country is getting stronger and stronger, and its tentacles have penetrated into many fields. In fact, Qiu Yanzhi was a patriotic collector back then. Now his grandson is a member of the dragon group. How normal is it?"

Hu Yan took a sip of tea and explained: "Both Sufubi and Baoli are means used by the state to control cultural relics, and they are also the main channels for returning cultural relics by using the market economy. Our enemies are Jiashide and Jiade, and they are the kings of capital. , as long as there are huge profits, there is no bottom line to hype artworks, and use cultural relics to earn the maximum benefit."

At this time, Wu Tianyuan had a clear camp in his mind. It turned out that the country had already set up a plan to return the cultural relics by various means, which was really far-sighted.

"You are on your own now, so you can take this opportunity to meet Chou Guofu. If you cooperate in the future, he will definitely help you with all your strength."

The next day, Hu Yan and Wu Tianyuan flew to London, and met the famous Qiu Guofu at the Sotheby's headquarters, in his early forties, shrewd and capable.

"I've wanted to meet you for a long time, and I finally have the chance, brother, sit down!"

The three of them got to know each other very quickly, they were all on their own, and it was convenient to talk behind closed doors. Qiu Guofu was very curious about this new member, heard many rumors, and finally met today.

Wu Tianyuan was also very curious about the heads of the two top auction houses in the world. They were all members of the Dragon Group. He was very interested in Qiu Yanzhi and even Mei Yintang, so he started chatting.

In the past five years, Qiu Guofu has auctioned many heavy wares worth more than 2015 million yuan. For example, in the 1.1388 Hong Kong Sotheby's Spring Auction "Gold Condensation - RB Collection Official Kiln Octagonal Vase", the Southern Song Dynasty official kiln green glaze octagonal string pattern plate Bottle: HK$3 million!It set the world auction record No.[-] for Song Dynasty porcelain, and the buyer was Liu Yiqian.

Interestingly, this official kiln octagonal vase comes from the same RB private collection as the Northern Song Ru Kiln Sunflower Wash which sold for HK$2012 million in 2.786, which broke the auction record for Song porcelain.It was a well-known antique shop before the RB war, and was once as famous as the Yamanaka Chamber of Commerce.

In 2014 Hong Kong Sotheby's Autumn Auction "Chinese Porcelain and Handicrafts" special sale, Qing Qianlong powder green glaze relief "Canglong Jiaozi" picture jar, 9240 million Hong Kong dollars, setting a world auction record for monochrome glaze.It was in the old collection of Fangshanju, and now Wu Tianyuan also has one.

The most sensational was the Ming Chenghua Doucai Chicken Crock Cup, worth HK$2.8124 million, setting a world auction record for Chinese porcelain. The buyer was Liu Yiqian, and Wu Tianyuan also had one.

In 2014, the "Northern Song Dynasty Ding Kiln Large Bowl from Clark's Collection" from the collection of Sakamoto Goro was auctioned by an Asian collector with a total transaction price of 1.468 million Hong Kong dollars, setting the second highest auction transaction record for Song Dynasty porcelain.

In 2013, Ming Chenghua blue and white okra pattern palace bowl, 1.41 million Hong Kong dollars, this lot was won by Zhai Jianmin, and Wu Tianyuan also had one.

"I joined Sotheby's in 1999, and in the following two or three years, I was appreciated by Zhu Tangsheng, who specializes in Ming and Qing ceramic appraisal transactions in the auction house, and it was only from then on that I entered the door."

Qiu Guofu recalled that when he first joined the company, the company was much smaller than it is now, and Sotheby's revenue in Asia only accounted for [-]% to [-]% of the global market.As far as the Chinese ceramics and handicraft sector is concerned, the main buyers are from various European countries, with a small number from Hong Kong. At that time, the collecting trend was more biased towards porcelain.However, most of the buyers at that time were genuinely passionate about artworks. Unlike now, there are many speculators, and the market has expanded and changed.

"Every time I get a piece of Ming and Qing porcelain, the first step is always to look at the shape and glaze color, and the second step is to pick up the porcelain to try the weight, then touch the surface of the vessel, and finally look closely at the ring foot, inner glaze and color. Accreditation."

"For example, in the Yongzheng period, there were two types of sky blue glaze, the deep one was like the clear sky after rain, and the light one was like the moon white. This bottle is the former. You can feel the luster and firmness of its surface when you touch it, and you can find the sparseness of the color when you watch it. beauty of."

It is rare for Qiu Guofu to meet such a big expert as Wu Tianyuan, and he exchanged experiences: "Collectors are lucky when they encounter such a bottle, and it is a good thing to 'cut the point' in the industry. I often meet some friends who give their treasures to their hands. At first glance, you can tell that it is a fake, but it is not easy to refute the face of the other party, so I have to comment that it is 'not very open'."

Several people laughed, collections pay attention to family heirlooms, they have been following top collectors like Qiu Yanzhi since they were young, and have seen thousands of authentic works under their influence, and their starting point is much higher than that of ordinary people.

"The wealth of my grandfather's collection can be seen from the price he paid for a piece of Jianwen porcelain." "Jianwen" is the year name of Zhu Yunzhou, the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang in Ming Dynasty, who succeeded to the throne. Jianwen only reigned for four years. That is to say, his uncle Zhu Di took over the throne. The inscription on the bottom of the porcelain pen holder in the fourth year of Jianwen reads: "Made in Hengfeng on March in the fourth year of Jianwen, Wu's Jun Maozhi". Due to the short reign of Emperor Jianwen, the porcelain fired was limited, and Porcelain with a year mark is even rarer. By the time of the Republic of China, this porcelain pen holder was the only piece of "Jianwen" year porcelain that was recognized by collectors as authentic."

Qiu Guofu said with a smile: "This pen holder was passed down from time to time, and it was collected by Tan Jing during the Republic of China. At that time, my grandfather only collected porcelain from the Ming Dynasty. Except for Jianwen, he collected all porcelain from the Ming Dynasty, so I couldn't get this porcelain pen holder. , became a heart problem for him. The more he could not get something, the more precious he felt it. Later, in order to fulfill his wish, he even got this porcelain pen holder with a complete set of Ming Dynasty porcelain lacking only the "Jianwen" year mark!"

Wu Tianyuan asked curiously: "Brother, does your family have a relationship with Meiyintang?"

Hu Yan interjected from the side: "He met little girl Annie last time, so..."

Qiu Guofu suddenly realized: "The English translation of Meiyintang means roses blooming everywhere, and it is also the name of a play that was staged in Rapperswil, Switzerland. In reality, Meiyintang is located in Southeast of Zurich, Switzerland, the grandfather of the Yuli brothers bought the property in 1912."

"In the mid-50s, the Yuli brothers began to use their wealth to purchase Chinese art. They always sought to cooperate with the best professional antique dealers, such as Priestley and Ferraro in the early days, and Priestley and Ferraro in the later period. Mainly with Eskenac. But the biggest influence on Yuli was my grandfather.”

"They met through Helen, a Shanghai antique dealer. At first, the Yuli brothers were interested in almost all Chinese artworks in the historical range, whether it was rusty ancient bronzes or exquisite and elegant late imperial porcelain. Each collection has its own preference, younger brother Gilbert focuses on the collection of high ancient porcelain from the Neolithic Age to the Song Dynasty, while elder brother Stephen pays more attention to the late Yuan, Ming and Qing porcelains."

Qiu Guofu told a lot of back stories, which gave Wu Tianyuan a little understanding of many hidden collection families. It seems that he is a big family, with hundreds or thousands of heavy objects, no worse than public museums.

(End of this chapter)