If there is anything in Myanmar that is most famous, then it must be the jade auction.
In its heyday, mainland businessmen came to Myanmar’s jade market to purchase jade every year, and the transaction volume reached tens of billions of dollars, accounting for one-third of the Myanmar government’s fiscal revenue. The jade economy accounted for more than half of the national income.
Correspondingly, this place is modeled after the Jade Market. Those selling fish have a seafood market, those selling fruits have a fruit market, and those selling calligraphy and painting naturally have a public market for calligraphy and painting.
When Gu Weijing's taxi stopped, his uncle and a middle-aged man with shiny hair were already waiting at the entrance of the warehouse.
The middle-aged man wore a brown coat and had an upturned mustache at the corners of his mouth. The beard turned smoky brown due to long-term smoking.
"Mingla (hello)."
Mustache was very polite and quickly opened the taxi door for Gu Weijing.
"Boss Wu, this is the nephew I told you about. The old man wants him to come and see the world this time." The uncle waved to Gu Weijing.
"Happy New Year."
Gu Weijing nodded towards the other party.
This boss Wu is the second-hand dealer who sold them the picture of "Kingfisher Singing Bamboo" before.
Today's calligraphy and painting auction was organized by Boss Wu and a few familiar colleagues. These people control many local calligraphy and painting vendors in Yangon, and it is said that they have a lot of good paintings in their hands.
Several larger local galleries and all well-known collectors who are interested in antiques and paintings have received invitations from Boss Wu and others.
The market opened in the morning.
Gu Weijing saw that many people had gathered inside the open door of the warehouse, including his uncle.
The uncle has been running the calligraphy and painting acquisition business of Gu's Book Gallery in recent years.
Gu Weijing originally had no interest in this kind of thing, but this time it was a calligraphy and painting auction that favored old paintings from the last century.
The works of Impressionism have had a great influence on the group of painters in the past hundred years.
He wanted to see if there were any works that met his requirements in the hands of second-tier dealers like Boss Wu, who had a mixed collection of works. Even if he couldn't buy them, it would be good to have them appraised on the spot and go back and copy them.
So after a few words with the old man at noon, Gu Tongxiang sent him over.
Perhaps it was because he had noticed something wrong with the painting "Kingfisher Singing Bamboo" at a glance before, so the old man admired Gu Weijing's vision.
This time, a quota of two thousand US dollars was approved for him. Together with the US$500 returned by Boss Wu, it was put in an envelope for a total of US$2,500.
The U.S. dollar cannot theoretically circulate in Myanmar, but green Franklins have always been hard currency in any chaotic area.
In private transactions, the exchange rate quotas these merchants can offer are even higher than the official exchange rate quotas.
Their family is doing business with foreigners, and they usually like to accept US dollars.
Two thousand and five thousand, plus Gu Weijing still has some money in Paypal, Ling Ling Zongzong should have collected it to buy a good painting.
This was also the reason why he wanted to try his luck here.
"Mr. Xiao Gu, right? He is really the best among people, amazing!"
When Boss Wu with a mustache saw Gu Weijing, he didn't show any signs of neglect because of his youth. Instead, he picked on Gu Weijing.
This made Gu Weijing a little strange.
Boss Wu is much older than him. Although the business of Gu's calligraphy and painting shop is important to him, it can't be called someone to eat at their house.
Considering that the other party's previous dealings were not very honest, Boss Wu should be more polite, but this attitude was almost flattering.
Doesn't it make sense?
"Your nephew has a lot of potential, and he is actually favored by Brother Hao. I heard that Brother Hao is very loyal to his younger brother. I think in a few years, Mr. Xiao Gu will take care of me."
Boss Wu handed the uncle a Marlboro and lit the cigarette for him himself.
All right,
Gu Weijing knew what happened.
This kind of art second-hand dealer's business is divided into black and white.
Boss Wu's calligraphy and painting auctions are a white business, and the real ones who make big money are the art dealers in the underground black market.
Many of the paintings in their hands are not known to have been obtained, and may even be stolen goods. They are smuggled goods purely for tax avoidance. They are considered clean.
Art museums in Europe and the United States, especially some less famous private universities with excellent collections or art galleries affiliated with churches, have been robbed and stolen. News comes out every month.
It would be strange for a famous painting worth millions of dollars or tens of millions of euros not to be robbed ten or eight times a year.
Interpol estimates that the art black market is a genuine tens of billions of dollars market every year.
The bald boss, Brother Hao, is a tycoon engaged in this underground black market and fake and stolen art works.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have told Gu Weijing so boldly that he could afford to buy a Ferrari within a year and live in a villa within two years if he worked for him.
Boss Wu obviously didn't know where he heard the news from, and mistakenly thought that he was Brother Hao's subordinate, so he became a little frightened.
"You are mistaken. Brother Hao did come to me, but I refused. I just want to be a painter down-to-earth and have no ability to eat that rich meal. No matter what news Boss Wu heard, it is not true. "
Gu Weijing said expressionlessly.
"Uh... this?"
Boss Wu with the mustache looked obviously startled.
People like him have no choice but to get in touch with Brother Hao. He never imagined that someone would refuse the opportunity to make a fortune with Brother Hao.
The uncle, who was waving a cigarette and puffing away smoke, was also a little embarrassed.
Myanmar is quite chaotic.
The more chaotic the place, the greater the influence of this kind of underworld tycoon.
Ever since the news came out that his nephew was attracted by Brother Hao, his uncle would obviously be looked down upon when doing business, and he actually quite enjoyed this feeling.
In his opinion, even if he didn't want to get too close to Brother Hao, it would be fine if he didn't refuse or agree. There was no need to be so cold and not give in to others.
"Let me go, your nephew will refuse Brother Hao's invitation?"
Boss Wu's tone was filled with surprise, as if he was looking at a fool.
"Well...our family's tutoring is quite strict."
Under Gu Weijing's stern gaze, the uncle finally answered honestly.
The smile on Boss Wu's face immediately turned cold at a speed visible to the naked eye. He shook his head, muttered something in his mouth, and walked away.
"Be more diplomatic! This world is not black and white." The uncle advised.
"Uncle, don't get too close to people like Brother Hao. It's best not to show any signs of it. White is white and black is black. If you mix a drop of black ink into the white paint, you will never be able to wash it off."
Gu Weijing disagreed with his uncle's opinion. He shook his head and did not want to continue this topic. He was about to walk towards the warehouse ahead, but he was pulled back by his uncle again.
"How much money will my dad give you?"
The uncle took Gu Weijing's hand.
He actually didn't have a bad feeling towards his nephew, and he didn't have as big an objection to the old man's desire to pass on the family business to his nephew in the future as his wife did.
How much his daughter Gu Lin weighs, he has a sense of proportion.
It is obvious that she is neither a painter nor a business person. In the future, she will be sent to a foreign university to be gilded and find a good son-in-law.
The uncle's surname is also Gu, and he knows that someone will eventually inherit the family business passed down from his ancestors.
My nephew is obviously the type who has some talent for painting.
If he can become famous and start a family in the future, his uncle will also be happy for him.
However, when he saw the thick envelope in Gu Weijing's hand, he felt a little uneasy. He felt that such a large investment in calligraphy and painting had to be made by himself.
"What paintings do you want to buy? I can give you some advice?" The uncle licked his lips. He had already regarded the money in his nephew's envelope as his own.
“There’s not much money, it’s all Burmese currency.”
Gu Weijing came with a mission, and he looked at the envelope in his hand very closely.
He knew that as soon as he nodded, the money in the envelope had nothing to do with him, so he immediately refused coldly, and then stopped talking to his uncle and walked towards the warehouse where the public sale was located.
Although the auction of calligraphy and painting sounds mysterious, it is actually nothing more than an auction with public bidding.
The entire warehouse is about a few hundred square meters, and there are many booths. The booths are full of calligraphy, paintings and painting tubes. Next to them is the origin and introduction of the painting. Everyone has a small number plate when entering. .
If you like this painting, then drop your intended price and amount in the small mailbox next to the painting, and the highest bidder will win.
Gu Weijing walked into the warehouse and walked around casually.
He was not interested in other oil paintings or watercolors.
The focus is only on works in the Impressionist style.
After all, Impressionism is one of the most influential painting schools in modern times, and there are indeed many paintings with Impressionism or Impressionist techniques.
Among them, the most eye-catching one is an oil painting called "Mountains in the Snow", which was brought to Myanmar by a Japanese collector in the Taisho era.
This is also the highest bidder in this calligraphy and painting auction, and the base price of the bid alone is US$12,000.
From the Meiji to the Taisho era, a large number of Japanese painters were influenced by the new art trend and turned from classicism to impressionism, and many Japanese collectors loved to collect Impressionist works.
In 1921 alone, collector Kojiro Matsukata personally visited Monet and purchased nearly 20 Impressionist paintings from him.
Unfortunately, although Japanese collectors hold a large number of Impressionist masterpieces, the one in front of Gu Weijing is not included.
It seemed to Gu Weijing that the quality of this painting should be similar to the works of the master group at the Singapore Art Exhibition he had viewed before.
Not up to the level of a master.
He released a calligraphy and painting appraisal technique.
Sure enough, there is almost no strong mental stimulation.
[Title of work: "Mountains in the Snow"]
[Sketch Technique: Level 4 Professional Level 1 (4102/5000)]
[Oil painting techniques: Level 2 of lv.5 profession]
The real value of this painting is that it was exhibited at the National Gallery of Myanmar as part of a private exhibition the year before last. The insurance policy next to the painting stated that the standard of insurance at that time was US$30,000.
Many collectors, let alone ordinary people, cannot understand the artistic value and technical skills of a painting.
But the more stories a painting has to tell, the higher the price it can fetch.
How much a collector is willing to pay for a painting depends first on the author and then on the history.
As for the quality of the painting itself, sometimes the size of the oil painting is not as important in the minds of art speculative buyers.
For example, many of the seals next to ancient Chinese paintings were stamped by later collectors. If they are from famous collectors in history or from the royal family, their value will increase. On the other hand, if a modern ordinary person puts his own seal on it, the value will be devalued, and he may even be arrested for destroying cultural relics.
Let alone non-professionals who treat art as financial speculation, even top art auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's like to use size comparisons to determine prices in the purchase brochures they send to collectors.
For example, Monet's "Water Lilies" series is a symbol of simple truth that bigger is better and more lotus leaves are more expensive.
The transaction price of a "Water Lilies" at the brother's auction house next door was US$20 million. My "Water Lilies" is larger than yours, so it's more awesome than you, and it will sell for US$25 million!
This "Mountain in the Snow" became the top bidder in this public sale because the collector who once owned it was well-known in Japan, had participated in art exhibitions, and had an insurance record.
Although the National Gallery of Myanmar is not a well-known art gallery, it is not one of those pheasant exhibitions used to fool people for hype.
Many people were talking around the painting. Gu Weijing estimated that the final transaction price of the painting, even if it did not reach the standard of 30,000 US dollars, was not far off.
For him, what attracted his attention more was actually a ten-inch small-sized Impressionist style work in the corner.
Because that painting did not have so many stories to tell, it was just an unknown work by a small French painter, so it received much less attention.
There are shadows of Impressionism in the painting, and there is also a bit of aestheticism in the painter's brushwork. It should be a work of the painter in his transition period.
Although the minimum bidding price for this painting is only 1,700 US dollars, which is one-tenth of the "Mountains in the Snow", the oil painting technique itself has even reached the level of Level 6 professional level three.
But it is still a pity that it is only a little short of the master's rating, but it still does not meet the minimum requirements of the task.
Gu Weijing arrived here around eleven o'clock in the afternoon and spent about three hours in the warehouse until two o'clock in the afternoon, looking at hundreds of works.
Except for those two paintings, none of these works were worthy of his calligraphy and painting appraisal skills. Most of them were in poor quality.
"It's a pity. After all, it's just a public auction held by a few calligraphy and painting dealers. Maybe I should go to the galleries in the diplomatic district in the afternoon to see if there are any fine works... But even if there are, can they allow me to bring an easel there and copy them? "
Gu Weijing felt a little confused.
This is the shortcoming of Myanmar, a country with relatively average artistic environment and economic conditions.
If you go to art galleries in Eastern Xia, Japan or Europe, even in second-tier cities, not to mention masterpieces everywhere, it is still very easy to find one or two suitable works to copy.
Gu Weijing even walked around the miscellaneous area.
The calligraphy and painting works in the miscellaneous area are even less interesting. Many of them are works by local students. Of course, the things here are not too expensive.
"Um?"
Gu Weijing noticed that a woman who didn't look like a collector's office lady had been wandering back and forth in front of a sparsely populated booth like a pendulum for a long time.
Her eyes were always looking at the objects on the stand inadvertently, and she was holding a lady's handbag tightly in her hand, her expression seemed a little nervous.
"Are you looking at paintings too?" Gu Weijing was curious and said hello politely.
"Uh...no."
The female Ol' shoulders immediately shook unnaturally.
She is not a collector herself, but a translator for the Yangon Tourism Department. The Yangon government has recently had a big project.
Many international artists fly to Yangon.
While the woman was accompanying a painting master to a calligraphy and painting night market, the well-known artist accidentally saw a very good work on a street stall.
The master did not stop at the stall at that time, but promised her that she could get it within five thousand US dollars, and any extra money would be regarded as remuneration for the translator.
There is a reason why the master didn't buy it directly.
The master is a prominent figure in the painting world, and his appearance is very distinctive. Many people in the calligraphy and painting night market can recognize his identity.
If the other party shows interest in a certain painting, it is very likely that he will raise the price. It may only cost a few hundred dollars, but the master may not be able to get it even if he buys it in person for $5,000.
What masters enjoy is this kind of pleasure of discerning pearls with a discerning eye.
Otherwise, if you go to an auction house, there won’t be any famous paintings.
Sure enough, when the translator found the small vendor, he only offered $200. The translator was not in a hurry to close the deal. She thought she could grind it out a little longer.
Based on her knowledge of these local vendors, she was confident that she could haggle the price down to one hundred dollars. Although she is a little greedy, one hundred dollars is what ordinary people in Myanmar earn in a month.
As a result, a few days later, when she went to the street stall again, the items were gone.
The wage earner who was looking after the stall said that all the items on the stall had been collected by his boss for a public sale of calligraphy and painting.
The translator searched in this warehouse all morning before she found her target again.
Fortunately, those who have the artistic vision of a master will always be a minority among the minority.
Especially since the objects were placed in the miscellaneous area, no one paid any attention to them all morning. The few people who saw the painting shook their heads and left.
When she saw someone asking, the female OL immediately became nervous.
She was relieved when she saw the face of a minor, but she had no interest in saying anything to the other person. She snorted, turned around, and left to the side.
Seeing the other party’s nervous look,
Gu Weijing felt even more strange.
He glanced at the booth where the female Ol had been staring.
There are miscellaneous things on the countertop, arranged like a garbage dump.
There is a painting tube, a tablecloth, a few pens, two candlesticks, a rusty faucet, and a few... Coca-Cola bottles?
The label above reads - [Renovation of the Great Literary Hotel, three pens used by Somerset Maugham in writing, several brass candlesticks, three fine oil paintings of the 20th century, two antique Coke bottles, packaged for sale, with a base price of one hundred and fifty Ten dollars. 】
Gu Weijing felt a little funny when he saw the label.
There’s a reason why this stand is so unpopular.
There is an old colonial British hotel locally.
Because both Maugham and George Orwell lived in this hotel. Yangon people are accustomed to calling it the Literary Hotel, and every year many Western literary and artistic young people come to stay there.
As passenger flow increases, hotels have been modernized in recent years while maintaining the original building structure, and a large amount of construction waste has flowed out.
Although Somerset Maugham and Orwell did stay in this hotel, you can claim that a few pens are used by famous writers, just like if there is a time-honored hotel in Dongxia, you have to make up a story about Emperor Qianlong coming to have dinner.
That is, to deceive foreign tourists.
The most valuable items on the table may be those Coca-Cola bottles from the early 20th century. Some Americans will indeed buy these as antiques, and they may actually be able to sell them for some money.
But, if you buy it and take it home, you may not encounter such a scammer in a year or so. The cost of time is also money.
There was nothing worthy of that female Ol's attention.
There is weirdness.
There must be something weird.
Gu Weijing thought of this, picked up the painting tube on one side, and gently unscrewed the lid.
Eat, then get up in the afternoon and continue writing. Strive for 10,000 days today!
(End of chapter)
