Xie Baokun is very knowledgeable about calligraphy and painting, and naturally he has also seen Jin Nong's calligraphy.
"The characters on the pen holder seem to have no structure, but in fact they have a unique style. The stipples look like regular script, and the lines are also cursive. The long horizontal and vertical hooks are all in the shape of official script, and the strokes of the brush are often close to those of Wei stele, which is particularly vigorous. , elegant and beautiful. It should be undoubtedly the original work of Jin Nong, so this pen holder should be a fake."
He Ren shook his head, "The pen holder is indeed from the Ming Dynasty."
He Ren spoke slowly. The explanation he gave to several people was also the process of convincing himself. Just like the piece of jade that looked fake just now, He Ren looked at this pen holder and felt it was real.
So he wanted to tell everything he saw so that if there were any problems, he could find them out as soon as possible.
"This pen holder is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. It has three legs under the base. It is obviously made from a single piece of wood. This technique is called 'one wood continuous making'. It is a typical Ming Dynasty technique, but it is mostly used in the production of furniture. There aren’t many examples on pen holders.”
Everyone nodded. They had also heard of this knowledge, and He Ren was right.
He Ren took a breath and continued, "Looking inside, the wall of the pen holder is thin and the mouth is flat. It is different from the traditional digging method. This is chiseled out bit by bit with tools. The outer edge of the mouth of the pen holder is flat. The wide border is different from the thin lines that were common in the early Qing Dynasty... This technique is generally believed to have originated in the Qing Dynasty, but it was already in existence during the Jiajing period, and there is no problem at all."
"A few years ago, a cast copper pen holder from the mid-Ming Dynasty was sold overseas. It has dragon and phoenix patterns on it. It has this shape. This pen holder should have been made during the Jiajing period. There should be no problems with it."
Everyone was silent. What He Ren said made sense, but it seemed not enough. Zhang Nuo asked, "Is it okay to imitate deliberately? We all know that the Qing Dynasty liked to imitate things from the Ming Dynasty..."
This is true. The style of imitating antiques was very popular in the Qing Dynasty, not only among the people but also in the imperial court. It was also the hardest hit area for counterfeiting. Many counterfeiting techniques were handed down from the Qing Dynasty...
However, Fang Mingxuan shook his head, "I don't know if the pen holder is an imitation, but the huanghuali is definitely from the Ming Dynasty. It seems that the paste is indeed more than 400 years old. It's just that the carving technique doesn't look like it..."
Fang Mingxuan hesitated for a long time, but finally opened his mouth to point it out. Just looking at the material of the pen holder, it did look like it was from the Jiajing period, but the carving technique was not like the Ming Dynasty, but more like the Qing Dynasty. This was the point he couldn't understand.
He Ren's eyes lit up, Fang Mingxuan's words reminded him.
"Mr. Fang, you are right. The pen holder is from the Ming Dynasty, but the paintings and words on it are from the Qing Dynasty."
"Um?"
Everyone was shocked, and then suddenly realized.
In that case, it makes sense.
The more He Ren talked, the more confident he became, "Jin Nong likes plum blossoms the most, and he is also good at painting plum blossoms. The calligraphy was written by Jin Nong, and the paintings are also done by Jin Nong!"
"ah?"
Everyone was shocked, then the value of this pen holder was high.
An ordinary painting of gold farmers and plum blossoms sold for over two million in 2008. It was less than three square feet, and one square foot was close to one million.
With a history of more than 400 years, the material of huanghuali and oil pear is unique to both gold and agriculture. Even if it was carved by a later craftsman, the price of this pen holder can exceed 3 million. If it goes up for auction, it can be 4 million or 5 million.
Even in a black market auction, it would cost at least more than one million to win.
"It's a pity." Xie Baokun sighed, "The handwriting is very similar to what Jin Nong wrote. It's just this painting. It has no characteristics and no evidence."
"That's wrong." Fang Mingxuan held a magnifying glass, pointed at the photo in the auction brochure, and suddenly whispered, "Look, there is a seal on the plum blossom."
Everyone was shocked again and quickly lowered their heads to check. There was indeed a very small seal on a blooming plum blossom.
Xie Baokun immediately remembered the fake Xu Beihong painting he bought before, which also had a seal on it...
After a while, He Rencai murmured, "It seems to be 'Ji Jin'... yes, it belongs to Jin Nong."
This discovery excited everyone, especially Xie Baokun, who loved painting. He bought all the snuff bottles with painted interiors, so he was naturally very attracted to this pen holder.
But Fang Mingxuan told He Ren to bid first, so he was too embarrassed to grab it...
Moreover, he also wants to buy the blue and white porcelain bowl at the back, so it is not advisable to bid too high at this time.
Fang Mingxuan didn't have so many worries. He directly asked, "Little friend He, are you interested?"
He Ren smiled and said, "I only have one million in cash."
Fang Mingxuan nodded and stopped talking. Instead, he closed his eyes and rested, waiting for the next auction.
He Ren's meaning was obvious. If anyone else saw the value of this pen holder, his one million cash would definitely not be enough. Fang Mingxuan could bid as he pleased.
It's interesting to say that this million in cash was what Fang Mingxuan just gave to He Ren. Does this count as shooting himself in the foot?
Fang Mingxuan didn't have this intention at all. It was only one million. To him, it was a drop in the bucket. His valuation of this pen holder was three million.
If He Ren takes the photo, it would actually be better, Fang Mingxuan can go out and buy it again, and the cash he brings can also be used to buy other treasures.
This is called being wealthy...
At this time, the guests who came forward to appraise the treasure took their seats one after another, and the beautiful host smiled again, "Now we officially start the bidding, the lowest price is 300,000. No. 7, 300,000!"
He Ren didn't raise his sign immediately, he wanted to observe it.
Also observing was Xu Qingjie. He felt very uncomfortable. From his perspective, he had no idea what He Ren was doing or whether he was taking pictures of the pen holder...
Do you want to make a bid?
Before Xu Qingjie could figure it out, the price of the pen holder had already reached 600,000 yuan, and the price increase was getting slower and slower. Every time it went up to 10,000 to 10,000 yuan, sometimes he had to wait for the host to shout twice. Someone increased the price.
He Ren thought it was almost done. It seemed that these people had not noticed Jinnong's seal. They were just taking pictures of huanghuali material, and they were taking pictures as if they were Qing Dynasty pen holders.
The market price is greatly reduced, only around one million. On the black market, six hundred thousand is already considered a high price.
He Ren raised the sign in his hand at this time, "Nine hundred thousand."
Everyone was startled. When we were taking the jade jade just now, it was this guy who directly raised the price to 900,000 yuan, and then he didn't want it after increasing the price once.
As a result, the jade piece was sold at a price close to the market price...
Now He Ren is repeating his old tricks. Is he a shill?
Almost everyone thought of this answer, so the two people who were still bidding stopped bidding, looking like they were watching a good show. They were just shills, right? Then I'll let you smash it into your hands.
Xu Qingjie thought for a while, then raised the sign in his hand, "Nine hundred and ten thousand."
He Ren was delighted. He was exactly the same as before. Without any hesitation, he raised the sign in his hand and said, "One million."
This time Xu Qingjie felt even more uncomfortable. He had just increased the price and bought a fake. After thinking for a long time, he chose to give up.
"One million...for the third time! Congratulations on the 36th, the deal is done!"
Immediately, a waiter came over with a pen holder, and He Ren directly handed Fang Mingxuan the money to buy the snuff bottle.
Then He Ren glanced at Xu Qingjie again, and gave a Patton-style military salute again, thank you, I salute you!
