In the 19th century, Drouot auctions were still very casual. Before acquiring this land 14 years ago, all auctions were held in rented venues.
Ingres is the highlight of this event, and the huge number of paintings is not enough to fill all the exhibition halls of the association. As a green leaf, Marquis Avery had no choice but to find another place for his auction. Finally, after coordinating with the court across the street, he found a courtroom to make do with.
The venue still retains the basic layout of a courtroom.
In the middle is a dividing fence. One part has removed the benches and replaced them with rattan chairs to accommodate the spectators attending the auction. The other part retains the court's large horseshoe table and is covered with dark green velvet to display the auction items. .
The French auction industry has a unique historical tradition, which is very different from the mainstream auction industries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, and has its own system.
The so-called auction company here is actually a loose collection of temporary offices run by auction appraisers and appraisers. The key is still those legal appraisers who are at the core. They bear legal responsibility for all aspects of the auction and are also the main organizers of the auction.
Therefore, if you want to become such a person, in addition to paying the most basic money, you also need a lot of time to learn and accumulate.
Behind the table, apart from the executive who was reading the auction documents, standing in the center was an auction appraiser over 40 years old, Bernard Burns.
He wore a high black hat, a black woolen robe with wide sleeves and a white fine linen pleated tie, the specific work attire of a French auction appraiser. Compared with auctioneers in the British and American systems who only focus on the auction itself, Bernard, as a senior auctioneer of the Appraisers Association, also needs to arrange police security and maintain order in the venue.
Next to him is a young apprentice who just came here from Zurich to learn auctioning, Gustave Paul, who is just 22 years old this year.
"Have the order of the entries been straightened out?"
"It's all straightened out."
"Where's the base price?"
"It's all taken care of."
“The price should correspond to the product.”
"I see."
Bernard looked at the chaotic flow of people outside and sighed: "Go and tell the door to be quiet. Even if the Queen is coming, there is no need to be so excited. We are not the auction hall of the great painter Ingres, and there are not so many police to maintain it." Order, if this continues, the auction will not even start..."
Although Gustave did a good job, he was far less calm than Bernard.
This was only the second auction he attended with his master, and he directly bumped into Queen Eugénie, the queen of the Paris fashion world. But what’s more important than calmness is excitement, a kind of excitement that yearns for a big scene: “Okay, Master!”
Originally the name of the Queen of France would not be included in the auction.
But maybe Drouot deliberately postponed the exhibition time of this auction, or someone said something in her ear, so Eugenie came to the auction site with her newly met "good sister" Elizabeth Yin.
This situation is actually rare. If you find something you like in the auction house, the client or the captain of the bodyguard will bid on your behalf.
When other buyers see that the Queen is bidding, they will more or less give in. Reducing the Queen's bid itself is also a way of "paying tribute." This is impossible to know in Paris, where the auction industry is particularly complex.
This is not the most embarrassing thing.
The most embarrassing thing is that they were seen holding hands entering Angel's auction half an hour ago, but they suddenly came here half an hour later.
In addition to other buyers around, there was also a young man who did not expect that the small auction he participated in would attract the presence of two European beauty queens. He met the two beauties by chance on the street. After a few words of greeting, he followed them and entered the auction surrounded by attendants.
The young Gustav was excited that he could control such a scene, but a young man younger than himself appeared in front of him, and the step under his feet was higher than the auction booth.
After arranging the seats of the two distinguished guests with Bernard, Gustav became more and more interested in Kavi sitting next to the Austrian Queen: "Master, who is he?"
"Him?" Bernard, wearing a monocle, lowered his head and reviewed the products again, and replied, "Isn't he a popular person in the newspapers recently?"
"Oh, I seem to have some impression..."
Gustave obviously did not know Cavil, which aroused Bernard's dissatisfaction: "When you first came to Paris and told me that you wanted to be an auctioneer, in addition to accepting the 8,000 francs your mother asked you to send, I also said What's going on?"
Gustav has been tortured by such lukewarm questions recently, and he is keenly aware of the danger: "Well, this, haha, it seems..."
Bernard looked helpless: "With your impetuous personality, you should be a businessman with higher profits, rather than an auctioneer dealing with art."
"Master, I'm sorry."
Since he has collected the other party's tuition for one year, Bernard will remain patient for one year. After all, it is not easy for apprentices at Drouot Auction House to graduate: "Listen, the French auction is under the sole control of our appraisers. International news, Pay attention to domestic news, entertainment gossip, and even obituaries that no one pays attention to, otherwise how will you make money?"
"I've actually been reading newspapers and frequenting places like the Gallery Hotel, but I just didn't pay attention to him." Gustave was a little confused, "Isn't he a doctor?"
"Why are you so stupid?" Bernard frowned and deliberately took off his monocle, wanting to take a closer look at how stupid his apprentice who had just been accepted for two months was, "Why do you need to read the newspaper?"
"It's to find customers."
"Who are our customers?"
"Artists, collectors, entrepreneurs, heirs..." Gustav understood, "Oh, I see."
"Doctors, real estate consultants, lawyers, notaries and accountants are often involved in debt, inheritance, bankruptcy and other cases, and they are very important sources of information." Bernard sighed, "You have to have a good relationship with them, especially What’s more, this is a surgical genius with astonishing skills.”
"genius?"
"Where are you looking?" Bernard glanced at him, having already seen through his student's little thoughts, "You are the auction appraiser, and what you care about is the price of the auction items, their psychological activities during the auction, and money! And! It’s not an unrealistic competitive fantasy where you have to compete with others everywhere!”
Gustave knew that he had relapsed into his old habits, so he nodded and said no more.
...
Suddenly a heavyweight came into the audience, which made the originally chattering crowd unify and salute the two queens one after another.
Eugenie originally wanted to occupy the frontmost seat in the middle and enjoy the feeling of being surrounded by ladies, nobles and collectors. But Yin Lisabai preferred peace and quiet, so after much deliberation, she finally pulled her to find a few empty seats next to her and sit down.
"We have come to Paris. We should put aside those troubles and be happy."
"Oh, I want to throw it away but I always think that I can't throw it away completely." Yin Lisabai said with a smile, "Actually, it's much better than in Vienna. If you don't believe me, just ask him."
The two of them looked at Kavi at the same time: "It is true that as Her Majesty the Queen said, just after the war, the Hofburg Palace seemed too serious and lacked the atmosphere of Parisian life. It would be better to wait a little longer."
Kawei, who seems to be at ease, is very close to the two queens on the surface, but in his heart he is repeatedly scolding mmp.
He didn't like socializing at all, and this time he wanted to finish shopping quickly and then go back to the hotel to rest. But when he met these two "noble people", things became extra complicated.
Socializing is secondary, just the restrictions on speech and behavior. Kawei, who has contacts with many nobles, can tolerate it. What is more important is the things at the auction. There were auctions of Oriental collectibles, and Empress Eugénie owned the Château de Fontainebleau, which housed thousands of Chinese artifacts.
Kawei has no interest in history. Before, he only knew that France had robbed many things, but he didn't know where they went.
But after meeting and briefly communicating, he was able to conclude that the queen with calm eyes in front of him was very fond of oriental art, and even specially built a Chinese pavilion for these cultural relics.
"I didn't expect Dr. Carvey to also like these things." The 40-year-old Eugenie had calm eyes and a very restrained smile. Her noble temperament did not distance her from others. "It seems that today is not the right time."
Kawei secretly scolded the other party as an old fox, while still maintaining the same rigid smile on his face: "I always thought you liked Master Angel's works more, but I didn't expect you to come here. If I knew..."
"What if I knew?"
"If I knew, I would have prepared more money."
Cavei's answer was clearly an afterthought and he risked being disliked by the other party, but Eugenie smiled, even more charmingly than before. It seems that in her eyes, money and things are just sudden interests in her brain, and whether she has them or not is just her own attitude.
"Lisa Bai Yin, he is really interesting."
Yin Lisabai was sitting next to Kawei, with two attendants standing beside her. She also laughed after hearing this: "He is a cute child, but I personally prefer his talent."
"I'm not familiar with medicine, but meeting such a young surgeon opened my eyes." Eugenie said with a smile, "The doctors in the palace are all old men and lifeless."
The medical stuff passed by in a flash, and soon the three of them began to focus on the catalog and discuss their own preferences.
Carvey soon discovered that the chance encounter with Eugenie was not completely fruitless. The last queen of France seemed to have no interest in Chinese calligraphy and painting. She even used some books as scrap paper for table legs, and scrolls were randomly placed in corners without any care.
"I always feel that Chinese characters are very weird." Kawei deliberately started the conversation, "It's crooked and I really can't understand it."
"Indeed, I read their writing as if it were a heavenly book," Eugenie said. "There are many books in the castle, all of which are written in this kind of writing, and no one in Paris can explain to me what they mean."
"And they also like to leave a string of words on the painting." Lisa Bai shook her head, "It destroys the balance of the painting too much."
"Actually, their paintings are also very strange." Eugenie showed a helpless look. "The colors are monotonous, the characters are simple, and most of them are just mountains and water. I really can't imagine what these painters wanted to express when they made these paintings. Something."
"And there's a strange smell in those papers."
"That's okay. The key is that I don't know their meaning..."
Ignorant, arrogant, superficial and arrogant, but Kavi is very excited because this represents an opportunity for him.
But it was just a chance. He was not sure whether the other party would let go of the calligraphy and paintings he had already obtained. Even more uncertain, if I show my interest in calligraphy and painting, the other party will become wary.
At this point, I can only take advantage of the time before the auction to find out more: "I remember there was a sinologist in Paris. Isn't there anything he can do?"
"The Marquis Hervé?" Eugenie immediately thought of him. "He is obsessed with "Selected Poems of the Tang Dynasty" and "The Book of Songs". Recently, he has been studying Japanese things and writing prefaces and introductions to these two works."
"It's okay to let him take a look."
"I thought it was a good literary classic, but after reading it, he said it had no literary value and he really didn't have the energy to translate it." Eugenie shrugged slightly and said, "If I had known this, I wouldn't have taken it all in."
Kawei had been thinking about when to speak, and now seemed like a good opportunity, but just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard Bernard's voice from in front of the stage:
"Ladies and gentlemen, the auction is about to begin, please be quiet... Today I have the honor to meet the two queens, which makes the small auction scene particularly solemn and eye-catching, which is in line with today's theme: from The charm of Eastern China.”
After hearing the opening remarks, Carvey had no choice but to postpone his thoughts and concentrate on Marquis Avery's collection.
Different from the surgical theater, the auction hosted by Bernard did not have much foreplay. As soon as he finished his opening remarks, the first item of auction, a jade pen holder, started.
Because he had been given catalogs of auction items and two exhibitions before, his pace would only be faster once the auction actually came. There is no unnecessary introduction. The starting price is quoted: "Lot No. 1, a jade pen holder with a female statue, the starting price is 50 francs. Is there anyone who can bid?"
Soon Queen Eugenie signaled the attendants to raise their hands: "50."
Bernard's face was dull, and he was observing the people in the audience like a machine: "Okay, Her Majesty the Queen, 50 francs, is there any increase in price?"
"..."
"Is there no more price?"
The scene was awkward. No one seemed to want to go against the queen, including Kawei. But this is by no means a normal auction atmosphere, and it is not only detrimental to Carvey himself, but also to appraisers like Bernard.
Thinking for a moment, and seeing that the hammer was about to fall, Carvey apologized to Eugenie, then raised his hand: "100 francs."
"Okay, here's the bid of 100 francs. Now the price has reached 100 francs. Who else is interested in it?"
"120 francs!"
"130!"
...
