After giving the quotation, Xiao Ran took out two Old Summer Palace animal heads from the portable safe.
Then put them on the appraisal table and display them in front of everyone.
These are two extremely finely cast red bronze statues. They are in a realistic style, lifelike and clear. Even the hair on the animal heads is clearly visible.
The twelve animal heads in the Yuanmingyuan were designed by the Italian court Western painter Castiglione, supervised by the Frenchman Chiang Youren, and cast by craftsmen from the manufacturing office. They inevitably have some Western style.
The refined red copper used has a deep color on the outside and a pure luster on the inside. Although it has been used for hundreds of years, there is no trace of rust on the surface. Instead, it has an extra layer of precious light, which is unique.
They were cast during the Qianlong period, the peak period of the Qing Dynasty. Just from the extremely fine casting technology, we can see that the national power at that time was far more powerful than in the West at that time.
What the twelve animal heads represent is the thousands of years of long historical and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. This is their most precious thing!
At this time, Xiao Ran acted a little carelessly.
After placing the two Old Summer Palace animal heads on the appraisal table, he casually gave a few instructions to his men.
"Liangzi, come and show these two Yuanmingyuan animal heads to the domestic identification team, and ask the old men to help identify them."
"Pay attention to safety when displaying, show every detail, and don't miss anything."
After the words fell, Liangzi immediately nodded and responded:
"Okay, boss, I will show off these two treasures."
With that said, this guy couldn't wait to step forward and began to show off these two priceless treasures.
Only then did Antoine have a chance to interject.
"Sean, can you introduce Boudel's "Aristotle's Head" and Impressionist master Sisley's "Provence Landscape", as well as their valuations?"
"These two works of art sound good. They are both masterpieces. If the value is equal, of course I will be very happy to trade. If the value is not equal, that is another matter!"
Xiao Ran looked at this guy and then nodded to Fang Yufei.
Fang Yufei immediately nodded in response, quickly called up high-definition pictures of the two works of art, and displayed them on another projection screen at the scene.
The next moment, a bronze head of Aristotle and a beautiful oil painting appeared on the projection screen.
The eyes of all the French and Americans present were drawn to the two works of art on the projection screen.
Unlike them, Ambassador Lu and the domestic identification team stared closely at the two Old Summer Palace animal heads, their eyes shining with excitement.
Such an intersection just diverts the attention of the Antoine brothers, preventing them from observing the performance of the domestic appraisal team, and thus preventing the secrets from being exposed.
All of this is a game designed by Xiao Ran, so that the French and Americans will not fall into the trap.
Seeing Antoine and the others' focused performance, a smile quickly flashed in his eyes.
Immediately afterwards, he began to introduce the two Western artworks on the projection screen.
"The two works of art you see, "Head of Aristotle" comes from a gallery in the 6th arrondissement, and "Landscape of Provence" comes from the Saint-Ouin antique flea market."
"According to my identification, this "Head of Aristotle" should be the work of the famous sculpture master Budel, and it has a secret mark left by him."
"Two years before joining Rodin's studio, Boudel used this secret mark, which was engraved on very few sculptures, and few people knew about it."
"This is an early work in Boudel's artistic career, but it already reveals a somewhat unconventional spirit. I value it at around 1.5 million euros."
As he introduced, the "Head of Aristotle" on the projection screen also slowly rotated, showing every detail!
When a special mark in the shape of a sword tip engraved on the bottom of the statue appeared on the projection screen, Lawrence and Pierre suddenly said in unison:
"Yes, this is indeed Budel's work. This special mark in the shape of a sword tip can also be seen on several of his other works from the same period."
"At this time, Boudel had just become a disciple of Rodin, and his reputation in the art world was not that great. The value of his works during this period was also relatively low."
After hearing the appraisal conclusion they gave, there was basically no doubt about the origin and value of this bronze sculpture.
Xiao Ran looked at Lawrence and Pierre, and then continued:
"Let's take a look at this "Landscape of Provence" again. This is not an Impressionist work, but more like a landscape painting from the Barbizon School. The painting is signed by Sisley, the master of Impressionism."
"Perhaps because of these contradictions, people mistakenly believed that this was a forgery rather than a work by Sisley."
"In fact, this is indeed a landscape oil painting that Sisley created before he was thirty years old, but it used Barbizon School painting techniques, so many people think it is a fake."
"But people seem to forget that before the age of thirty, the painters Sisley admired most were Corot and Courbet of the Barbizon School, and his painting style was deeply influenced by them."
"In this seemingly Barbizon-style landscape painting, we can see the influence of Corot and Courbet. This is a very strong evidence..."
Next, he pointed out some features of the painting to prove his identification conclusion.
At the end of the introduction, the valuation of the painting was given, 1.3 million euros.
While he was introducing it, Fang Yufei quickly showed all the details of the painting.
After some research, many appraisal experts on site basically recognized this appraisal conclusion.
However, Antoine hesitated.
After thinking for a moment, the guy suddenly shook his head.
"Sean, these two works of art are indeed very good. They are both masterpieces. I also like them very much."
"But I don't agree with the exchange of two Yuanmingyuan animal heads for these two works of art. The difference in their values is too big, and it is not a fair transaction."
"In my opinion, the two Old Summer Palace animal heads are of higher value. You also know that the rat head and rabbit head auctioned in Paris in 2009 both sold for a sky-high price of 14 million euros."
"Even if the two Yuanmingyuan animal heads do not reach 14 million euros, the value of each of them should not be less than 10 million euros."
"So, if you want to exchange these two Yuanmingyuan animal heads, you must exchange them for Western artworks of equal value."
Xiao Ran looked at this guy, sneered disdainfully and said:
"I have to explain something, Antoine. The twelve animal heads of the Old Summer Palace are just some architectural components, and the value of cultural relics is not very high!"
"I believe many people know what happened at the auction in 2009. It was just some people using the national sentiments of the Chinese people to maliciously hype!"
"It's a pity that the hype didn't succeed. The rat heads and rabbit heads that were auctioned at that time were finally donated to China by the French Pinault family free of charge, and are currently collected in the National Museum of China!"
Hearing this, almost all the French people present blushed, and their expressions were somewhat embarrassing!
Of course they were well aware of the malicious hype about the twelve animal heads in the Old Summer Palace and the frenzied cutting of Chinese collectors' leeks, and were even one of the parties involved!
Not only was the rat and rabbit head hype in 2009, but the previous high-priced auctions of the twelve animal heads in the Old Summer Palace were basically done by the French, all in order to harvest Chinese buyers' leeks!
Before Antoine could respond, Xiao Ran continued to say coldly:
"Except for the crazy hype that went nowhere in 2009, the other twelve animal heads from the Old Summer Palace that were sold at auction were all sold for around 1 million euros."
"The most expensive piece is the horse's head, because the horse's head has the highest artistic value, and other animals cannot compare with it."
"The market value of these two animal heads is also around one million euros. The value of the exchange chips I gave is already much higher."
"If you don't like these two pieces of art, I can change it to another one, such as the Merovingian Crown of Thorns, which comes from Napoleon's treasure and is worth about 1.3 million euros."
"If you still can't accept this exchange of chips, then I'm sorry, you will automatically lose the qualification to trade, and there is no need to discuss other subsequent transactions!"
"The transaction between us must include these two Old Summer Palace beast heads. If they are excluded, I will not make any more transactions with the Arnault family!"
"ah!"
Antoine exclaimed, completely dumbfounded.
Everyone else at the scene was also shocked by Xiao Ran's coquettish operation!
After being shocked, everyone could see it very clearly!
He is taking advantage of his strong position to prepare to buy and sell by force!
But this is Paris, France, the home of the Arnault family. Is this really appropriate?
Sisley's works
