golden ear

Chapter 202
"You want me to go to the Middle East together?"

On the third day after the sky-high price of white gloves was sold at the Hong Kong auction, Wu Tianyuan received an invitation from the polar bear to go to Dubai for a few days together.

Wu Tianyuan thought of Yuan blue and white flowers. The largest collection of Yuan blue and white flowers in the world is in the Arab region, and many museums have orphaned works.

The Topkapi Museum in Turkey has a total of 40 pieces of Chinese Yuan blue and white porcelain, which are all old collections of the Ottoman palace.During the nearly 1854 years from its completion to 400, a total of 25 sultans of the Ottoman Empire lived here.

After the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Topkapi Palace was turned into a museum to collect and display the treasures of the original Ottoman Empire, including Chinese Yuan blue and white porcelain.

托普卡比博物馆珍藏的元青花包括大盘19件、梅瓶5件、大罐4件、大碗4件、葫芦瓶3件、盘口瓶1件、玉壶春瓶1件、四系扁壶1件。

There are also 28 pieces of Yuan blue-and-white porcelain in the National Museum of Iran, which is the second largest collection of Yuan blue-and-white porcelain in the world. Yuan blue-and-white porcelain is regarded as a treasure by the Iranian National Museum.

The blue and white vessels of the Yuan Dynasty in Iran are huge in shape, and the diameter of the plate is basically more than 40 cm. The diameter of the blue and white phoenix miscellaneous treasure pattern plate in the Yuan Dynasty now stored in the National Museum of Iran is 57.3 cm.

Many of these blue and white pieces are unique priceless treasures in the world, such as the 41.5-centimeter-diameter white-flowered kylin and pheasant double-phoenix figure rhomboid plate, which is the largest in the world; the 70-centimeter-high peony-pattern gourd bottle is the only one in the world. A pair of multi-edged gourd bottles with a height of 60.5 cm is the highest handed down from generation to generation.

Wu Tianyuan is now mainly collecting treasures of the Yuan Dynasty. The first one is the Yuan blue and white flowers. He has studied a lot of materials and found that in the Yuan blue and white flowers, the big pots, bottles, plates, and bowls are mainly designed to adapt to the habit of sitting on the ground and eating together in the Middle East. Specially produced large eating utensils.The small vessels produced in the Yuan Dynasty, such as small pots, small bottles, and small pots, were mostly sold to Southeast Asia.

There are two main sources of Chinese porcelain in the Topkapi Palace: Its source is the land route in the southeastern direction of Turkey, which is the famous Silk Road in history.There has been frequent trade between China and countries in the Middle East in history. Through the "Silk Road", porcelain arrived in Iran's resting place, and it became an important trade transit point.Turkey is Iran's close neighbor, and of course there is no shortage.There is a great possibility that Yuan Qinghua will arrive from this route for mutual trade.

There is also a sea route on the trade route to the southeast of Turkey. It is a maritime channel between the Arab world, China and eastern Asia developed in the 8th century AD. This is also the route known as the "Maritime Silk Road".Arab and Persian merchants went north to Jiaozhou and Guangzhou via the Strait of Malacca from the Persian Gulf.The Arabs' maritime superiority was maintained until the 15th century.It is not difficult to imagine that a large amount of Chinese porcelain landed in the Persian Gulf through merchant ships, and then transported north to Turkey by land.

"I remember that there is information showing that the Turkish palace accidentally caught fire in 1574, and by 1681 there were only a few hundred pieces of Chinese porcelain left in the palace's registered collection. So the Sultan ordered the rapid increase and replenishment of the collection of Chinese porcelain. Mandatory order merchants They dedicated all the best porcelain brought from China to the palace, thus enriching the collection rapidly."

Wu Tianyuan had a flash of inspiration, this is also a clue, the porcelain is not burnt, maybe it was buried somewhere, and there is a chance to go treasure hunting.

The two met in Dubai, which is the most famous gold selling den in the world. Middle Eastern and Arab local tyrants have been lying on the oil fields for generations, and they don’t have to work on it. They can earn US dollars by just grabbing the soil. This is self-willedness. .

"We went to meet Mohammad Tajir, who is a descendant of the Saudi Arabian royal family and owns a dozen oil fields."

Polar Bear introduced: "But he is not a prodigal son. He is a top student at Harvard Business School and is proficient in four foreign languages. In just ten years, he has tripled his net worth by relying on his unique vision!"

Wu Tianyuan nodded, the children from really rich families are capable, and only the nouveau riche in the country can have that kind of brainless prodigal.

"He has two hobbies, one is playing with eagles, and the other is flying in the sky!"

The polar bear smiled and said: "The A380 customized by Airbus was delivered for use the year before last. This is the largest and most expensive private jet in the world. It can fly about 12875 kilometers with one refueling. It is known as the "Big Mac" in the air. Ordinary The price of the Airbus A380 is as high as 3 million U.S. dollars, but how much the ultra-luxury passenger plane Tajir ordered cost, Airbus has not clearly stated, but according to the design and decoration of the aircraft, at least 5 million U.S. dollars .”

Wu Tianyuan was a little speechless, 5 million US dollars, more than 30 billion yuan!I only have this little money after running around for a long time, and I can get it done with one plane, awesome!

"You probably wouldn't have guessed that he is one of the three major shareholders of Bonhams, an established auction house, and owns 25% of the shares."

Wu Tianyuan's heart moved, this news is very interesting, the major shareholder of Bonhams?

After visiting along the way, Wu Tianyuan experienced the exotic style of Dubai for the first time. In recent years, Dubai has begun to reclaim land from the sea in a planned way.Now it has become synonymous with "luxury" in the eyes of the world. It has the world's first seven-star hotel, the world's tallest Burj Khalifa, and the huge Palm Island, the world map island.

While promoting the development of Dubai, the royal family's own wealth is also increasing.According to "Forbes" estimates, the personal assets of Dubai's current Sheikh Mohammed are at least 70 billion pounds, and the assets of the entire Dubai royal family may reach hundreds of billions of dollars.

The royal family of Dubai is also good at using various investments to increase the value of its own assets. The world-famous 7-star hotel in the United Arab Emirates, the Burj Al Arab, is the masterpiece of Maktoum, and he has decisive control over the tower.

"The royal family of Dubai is also the owner of Dubai International Capital Group. Over the years, it has been investing in artworks, especially the oil paintings of top European masters. Picasso, Gauguin, Monet and others own at least a thousand pieces, and this wealth alone is worth tens of billions of dollars! "

The polar bear envied: "In addition, the royal family also owns the famous racecourse in Dubai. The royal family's DIC Group has previously increased the value of its assets by acquiring London's Madame Tussauds and British high-end hotels. It also owns a majority of the shares of Emirates Airline."

"They are most passionate about horse racing. Muhammad of Dubai initiated and organized the Dubai Horse Racing World Cup the year before last. This event has developed into a heavyweight event with 9 individual events and a total prize of 2725 million US dollars. The money spent by the chief on raising horses , It has already reached 10 billion US dollars. There are more than ten first-class horses worth more than one million US dollars in the stables all year round, and they participate in all the famous horse racing competitions in the world."

"Almost all members of the royal family of Dubai are athletes. Mohammed's nephew Ahmed won multiple championships in men's flying saucer at the 2004 Athens Olympics and won the first Olympic gold medal in the history of the UAE. Ahmed strives to improve himself He has used five private jets including Boeing 747 to search for flying saucer experts all over the world to compete with himself.”

"Prince Rashid also won the equestrian gold medal in the Asian Games. Princess Mesa loves taekwondo and has participated in the BJ Olympic taekwondo competition."

"In particular, the pets kept by the royal family in Dubai are also very domineering. The most popular pets are white tigers and African lions, and the most common pets are gorgeous peacocks. You will be able to see peacocks scattered in twos and threes in Tagil's manor in a short while. Looking for food on the grass, and he often lazily basks in the sun in the grass not far away, hugging the African lion."

(End of this chapter)