After successfully sneaking into the shady underground ghost market of Black Dragon Pond, facing the dazzling array of rare treasures flowing out of the palace, Chen Muwu didn't know where to focus his attention.
The pair of vases placed in the middle of the long table were undoubtedly the most dazzling treasures in the whole room. The Westerners kept circling around the pair of vases.
Chen Muwu also knew that the vases were beautiful, but he had no idea about the dynasty, style, and themes of the vases.
It really complies with the saying, "But the eldest brother is uneducated, and he can travel all over the world with just one word." Chen Muwu should now be the incarnation of the eldest brother in this sentence.
In addition to the pair of vases, there are several small bronze utensils on the table, which also attract foreigners to stop and linger.
Compared to vases, Chen Muwu had more knowledge about bronzes. He at least knew that these were products of the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
As for the patterns and inscriptions on the bronze vessels, he still cast a dark eye.
There were a large number of scrolls placed in the corner of the table, but it became the most neglected place in the whole room.
Chen Muwu had no choice but to focus on these calligraphy and paintings. He also didn't know how to appreciate Chinese paintings, but he thought that if he could recognize the name written on the signature, he could roughly judge the value of the calligraphy and painting through the author's popularity.
So Chen Muwu walked to the corner and unfolded a calligraphy and painting casually.
When the eunuchs behind the table saw this, they just glanced at him, and then continued to court the foreigners around the vases and bronzes.
It seems that the value of those utensils is much more valuable than these calligraphy and paintings in their hearts.
The ideal is very full, the reality is very skinny. With his equally shallow knowledge of ancient art, it is equally difficult for Chen Muwu to identify the authors of these paintings.
The first scroll he unrolled was a piece of wild cursive. To him who had no cursive skills, it was like a heavenly book. He could only roll it up as it was.
In the second picture, he could recognize the handwriting clearly, but he had no idea who the author was.
In the third picture, the nephew is lighting a lantern, as usual.
…
In this way, Chen Muwu opened and closed seven or eight calligraphy and paintings in succession. Each one could be seen from the yellowed paper and was old, but he could not identify the author of any of them.
Now he only regrets that the artistic influence he received at the beginning was not enough. It is true that there is no need for books until they are used.
Chen Muwu already had the intention of quitting, but he still subconsciously unfolded the ninth painting.
This time, he first saw a cluster of branches with small white flowers on them. Without this knowledge, he couldn't even figure out what kind of flowers they were.
Then on one of the branches stood a little bird with red cheeks.
There is only so much content on a screen that is several feet square.
Chen Muwu didn't know whether the artistic level of this painting was high or low, so he could only follow the stupid method he had always used to find the author's inscription.
Huangtian paid off and looked through nearly ten paintings. In the inscription of this one, he finally gave him a surprise.
Although the author's name was not found, Chen Muwu was very familiar with his handwriting.
China has had five thousand years of history, and among the hundreds of emperors there have been many with high artistic attainments.
But only Emperor Daojun could write calligraphy that was self-contained.
This beautiful thin gold body made Chen Muwu immediately think of Song Huizong Zhao Ji.
He carefully studied the contents of the inscription and postscript, and saw the words "forbidden", "lai tribute" and other words that showed the royal status, which further confirmed that Chen Muwu's guess was correct.
He could not determine the origin and value of other calligraphy and paintings, but Chen Muwu was certain that the one in front of him came from the imperial palace in Bianliang, Tokyo, nearly a thousand years ago.
He suppressed his excitement and tried his best to relax his facial muscles, trying his best to prevent others, especially the eunuchs, from seeing his abnormality.
Chen Muwu carefully rolled up the painting and put it back into the pile of calligraphy and painting scrolls, but he firmly remembered the appearance and characteristics of the painting.
He lingered here pretentiously for a while. During this period, several foreigners came to search for treasures among the paintings and calligraphy. Every time he saw someone's fingers coming near the painting, Chen Muwu always felt his heart in his throat. .
Guessing that the time was almost up, he carefully pulled out the painting, and to cover it up, he casually picked up another scroll and hugged it to his chest.
"Sir, I love these two calligraphy and paintings very much. I feel that they are very close to me. I am short of time and cannot appreciate them carefully. I want to take them home to play with them. I wonder if I can give up my love?"
Chen Muwu walked up to the eunuch who had questioned him before and deliberately spoke in a literate manner.
This is a habitual problem of today's people. They always like to mix some nonsense in their words, and they like to be more literary than the Chinese.
He simulated many business war scenes in his mind, thinking that today's bargaining with these eunuchs would be a bloody battle of wits and courage.
As a result, he never expected that the burly eunuch didn't even bother to raise his eyelids, and replied to Chen Muwu that no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't think of the words: "The thin one is a hundred yuan per roll, and the thick one is a hundred and fifty."
I bet this isn’t about artistic value at all, it’s just about the length of the painting?
After thinking about it again, I felt relieved.
If these eunuchs would take the painting, explain to themselves how good and wonderful it is, and then continue to raise the price, then it would be abnormal.
He, a doctoral student who has received twenty years of high-quality education, cannot distinguish the quality of calligraphy and painting works. How can those eunuchs distinguish which ones are valuable and which ones are not?
In fact, they only have one point of view in their minds, that is, the things in the palace are not bad. If they steal a few and sell them, they can make a fortune.
This performance of the eunuchs convinced Chen Muwu that the treasures on the table were genuine products from the palace!
He quickly calculated all the money he had on him. Five small yellow croakers were worth one hundred and fifty yuan. (In today's era when silver yuan and silver taels are still the main currencies in circulation, gold is far less valuable in China than it was later. One small yellow croaker is probably worth (Exchange for about 30 yuan), two hundred yuan of banknotes from Jiang Industrial Bank can be folded into 180 yuan.
In other words, in addition to the two calligraphy and paintings in his arms, he could even go back and pick another one.
At this time, several Westerners also ended their competition for vases and bronzes.
The highest bidder got it. A foreigner with a big beard finally obtained the ownership of the vase, and several bronzes also returned to their new owners.
Then they rushed to the pile of calligraphy and paintings in a swarm, without even opening them or looking at them, just like the old ladies in Beijing City who gathered around the carts to grab cabbages in winter. A dozen paintings and calligraphy must be divided up neatly.
