On July 15, 2017, Mr. Du sent the Xijia plate to the Xiling Seal Society auction.
At the auction site, the starting bid was 120 million, 125 million, 130 million, 140 million, 150 million, 160 million, 165 million.
After a long wait, the phone commission reported 170 million.
The price quoted on the market was 175 million, and another few minutes of waiting passed.
An off-site offer of 180 million appeared, and on-site offer of 185 million was hammered down!
The number plate No. 2020 was won through competition, and the person holding the plate was a well-known insider from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
He was entrusted by the collector to participate in the bidding, but it is unclear whether this important artifact ended up in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
However, the auction market lasted half an hour, and with commissions included, the transaction price was as high as 21,275 yuan.
2017 can definitely be called a crazy "Bronze Year".
Since March, four heavy bronzes from the Fujita Museum of Art have been auctioned at Christie's New York for over 100 million yuan each.
After that, legendary bronze transaction records also appeared in mainland auction houses.
The price of Xi Jiapan is second only to Fang Zun and Fang Lei at the Fujita Special in New York in March.
Many of the national treasure-level historical relics we see today have extremely prominent inheritance stories.
However, as the saying goes, dragons often have a startling glimpse in the depths of history, and then mysteriously hide themselves again.
When people desperately search for its location but cannot find it, it will appear in an unexpected place, making everyone admire it.
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Xi Jiapan is such a legendary existence.
185 million was hammered down! The total transaction price exceeded 200 million, something like this must be a super national treasure!
Shang and Zhou bronzes, which represent the pinnacle achievements of ancient Chinese art, have been unearthed and collected in all dynasties.
For example, in the tomb of Haihunhou, which has been very popular in the past two years, we unearthed a Western Zhou Dynasty Tiliang Yao.
Therefore, many of the royal families of the Han Dynasty were also "antique collectors".
In the Song Dynasty, there was a climax of the royal family collecting ancient things and imitating them.
During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, this famous art emperor presided over the compilation of the most famous epigraphic work "Xuanhe Bogu Tu" in Chinese history.
He recorded 839 bronzes from the Shang Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty collected by the Song Dynasty royal family in the Xuanhe Hall.
However, it should be noted that Xijiapan is not included in the "Xuanhe Bogu Tu" written by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty.
This probably shows that during the Northern Song Dynasty, this important weapon had not yet been stored in the Song Dynasty imperial palace.
Why is it said to have been unearthed in the Song Dynasty? Mainly recorded during the Southern Song Dynasty.
The earliest description of Xi Jiapan can be found in the "Shaoxing Neifu Ancient Ware Review" of the Southern Song Dynasty, written by Zhang Luan.
He was active around the end of Shaoxing reign of Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty (1131-1162) and around Chunxi reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song Dynasty (1174-1189).
This person is good at writing poems. In the book "Shaoxing Neifu Ancient Artifacts Review", Zhang Luan recorded the Xi Jiapan as "Zhou Bo Jifu's Pan".
There is also controversy about the different names in the description.
This book clearly records that "Xijiapanqi has an inscription of one hundred and thirty-three characters".
Since all the ancient artifacts recorded in this book are from the palace collection of the Southern Song Dynasty, other ancient books of the Southern Song Dynasty are not mentioned except for the "Shaoxing Neifu Ancient Artifact Review".
Therefore, some scholars believe that Xijiapan has been in the Tibetan court of the Southern Song Dynasty since the period of Zhao Gou (1107-1187), Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty.
However, for more than a hundred years, it was hidden deep in the palace. It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Meng Yuan Dynasty that the plate was scattered among the people.
After the Southern Song Dynasty, during the seven to eight hundred years, there were only two clear collectors of Xijiapan, but they were both famous and super figures.
From the humiliation of Jingkang to the Battle of Yashan, the glorious civilizations of the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty were ravaged by aliens twice.
Many treasures from the palaces of the two Song Dynasties were scattered among the people. This Xi armor plate was accidentally discovered again, and it was attributed to Xian Yushu (1246-1302), a famous calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty who was as famous as Zhao Mengfu.
Xian Yushu wrote in "Kongxuezhai Miscellaneous Records": "Zhou Boji's father had an inscription of one hundred and thirty words on his plate, and Li Shunfu was in the market. His family broke off his feet and used them as a cake oven. I saw them and returned them to him."
Lu You, a connoisseur of epigraphy and stone in the Yuan Dynasty who was slightly later than Xian Yushu, also recorded the "tragic experience" of Xi Jiapan in his book "Yanbei Magazine".
Zhou Boji's father's plate is inscribed with one hundred and thirty crosses.
The family breaks off its legs and uses them as cake plates.
Xianyu Boji found it to be an ancient relic and returned it.
Because Xian Yushu died in the sixth year of Dade (1302) in the early Yuan Dynasty.
Therefore, it can be concluded that as early as the early Yuan Dynasty, Li Shunfu's family in Xingtai knocked off the ring of the Xijia Pan and used it as a frying pan for pancakes.
Since the Xijia Pan was covered with records as early as the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it was considered a famous item, and therefore it was copied in later generations.
However, some of the imitation armor plates of later generations suddenly "grow" loopy legs, which would be a big joke.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty and the early to mid-Qing Dynasty, there was no well-known documentary record of Xijiapan.
But in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, Xijiapan was acquired by a famous epigrapher.
He was the famous Chen Jieqi, and this period was from 1813 to 1884.
Chen Jieqi, a native of Weicheng, Qilu Province, was probably the most outstanding collector and connoisseur of epigraphy and stone in the Qing Dynasty.
Chen Jieqi was skilled in the textual research of epigraphy and artifacts throughout his life. In just three generations, there were more than 7,000 ancient seals from the Qin and Han Dynasties. He also created the seal classic "Shizhongshanfang Seal".
Chen Jieqi is unprecedented in that he collected more than 20,000 pieces of bronzes, seals, stone carvings, pottery, bricks, statues, etc. throughout his life.
Later, many experts and scholars conducted rigorous research on his lifetime collection and found not a single fake.
Among collectors of thousands of years, this is simply a god-like existence.
Chen Jieqi collected many well-known Shang and Zhou bronzes throughout his life, except for the famous Mao Gong Tripod, which is now in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Beitai.
Others include the Heavenly Death Gui, which is now in the collection of the Chinese History Museum.
Zeng Boyun is now in the National Museum of China.
In addition to these, the Xijia plate can definitely be regarded as a famous piece in Chen Jieqi's lifetime collection.
And having been collected by Chen Jieqi is definitely the greatest guarantee of its age and authenticity.
After Mr. Chen Jieqi obtained the Xijia Pan, he recorded his collection and research on it in many of his writings.
Chen Jieqi's "Yuzhai Bronze Inscriptions" has the following record: "The lower half is missing. One hundred and thirty-three characters. The characters are like stone drums, and they are also objects from the time of King Xuan. The text of Lu's oath. It came out of Baoyang official treasury..."
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It is worth mentioning that during the seven to eight hundred years of circulation of the Xijia Pan, the earliest rubbings seen today were made by Chen Jieqi.
Looking through the information now, we can find in the National Library that there is a rubbing of Xi Jiapan made by Chen Jieqi.
Another rubbing of Chen Jieqi's Xijia plate is collected by a famous contemporary epigraphy and stone collector in Dahai City.
Chen Wenzhe is very interested in this aspect and had the honor to see the photo of the rubbing before.