"Although the texture of the black avocado is slightly worse than that of the purple avocado, it is commendable that such a centuries-old object has been handed down."
After talking about the material, Su Xiaofan gave this pen holder its due.
"This should be an object from the late Ming Dynasty, and the carving was done by a famous artist. Looking at this paste, it must have been put in the study for admiration in the early years. I don't know how it ended up in the antique market."
"well said!"
Jing Shizhen looked at Su Xiaofan in surprise, obviously not expecting that Su Xiaofan's dating was so accurate.
The guest surnamed Tong, who had been sitting next to him silently, looked at Su Xiaofan a little strangely at this time. It was really that Su Xiaofan was too young, and he didn't look like someone from the antique shop.
"Then can you tell me what this carving is?"
Jing Shizhen's consideration is not over yet. Being able to identify the material and date depends on her eyesight. Although it will surprise Jing Shizhen, it will not shock her.
And if Su Xiaofan could tell the meaning of the patterns carved on the pen holder, it would be a manifestation of cultural heritage. Jing Shizhen was not very optimistic about Su Xiaofan's understanding of the culture of this holder.
"Uncle Jing, if I read correctly, this holder should be called a high-relief eight-love pattern pen holder, right?"
Su Xiaofan said with a smile. In fact, he could see the carving of this relief without the information in his mind.
The so-called high relief refers to the carving method in which the carved patterns are highly protruding from the bottom surface. It is often seen in pen holders and incense holders. High relief is also used in Shoushan stone carvings.
But Su Xiaofan didn't quite understand the word "eight loves" at first. Later, he secretly checked it on his mobile phone and found out that the "eight loves" are the things loved by eight famous people in history.
Tao Yuanming loves chrysanthemums, Meng Haoran loves plum blossoms, Su Dongpo loves inkstones, Wang Xizhi loves geese, Zhou Dunyi loves lotus, Mi Fu loves stones, Li Bai loves wine, and Lu Yu loves tea. Together, these eight people are called the eight loves of literati.
The relief carvings on this pen holder are carved with the eight loves of literati. On this small pen holder, eight figures and their favorite things are carved out with exquisite knife skills. This kind of carving is definitely master-level.
work.
"That's right. The full name of this pen holder should be called the Huanghuali High Relief Eight Love Pattern Pen Holder in the Late Ming Dynasty."
Jing Shizhen applauded Su Xiaofan, "Xiao Su, this is amazing, who did you learn all this knowledge from?"
Antique shops are about orderly inheritance. Usually only the apprentices brought by the master can understand this knowledge so deeply. Otherwise, very few people would know such obscure knowledge.
"Uncle Jing, I learned from Brother Gang."
Su Xiaofan's words cannot be said to be a lie to Jing Shizhen, because he did learn the literary toys like Huanghuali beads from Zheng Dagang, but some of the more in-depth knowledge was learned by Su Xiaofan himself by searching for information.
"With Gangzi?"
Jing Shizhen shook his head repeatedly, "Just give it to that kid. If he knows what the Eight Loves of Literary Men are, I can give him this Jingxin Hall."
"Xiao Su, what's going on? Can you continue? Can you tell the author of this tube?"
"Uncle Jing, please spare me. You have emptied all the money in my stomach."
Su Xiaofan smiled bitterly and shook his head. If he was talking about the authors of ancient calligraphy and painting, he could make a guess. After all, they were just those people, but the pen holders were too niche. Many of them were made by craftsmen and could not even be called famous.
"Then let me tell you."
Jing Shizhen said: "Although there is no signature, if I read it correctly, this sleeve should have been made by Chen Zisheng in the late Ming Dynasty.
Chen Zisheng once carved a Lanting Preface ivory pen holder with exquisite craftsmanship. Moreover, Chen Zisheng was a very courageous person and was very famous among literati in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.
Currently, the only known brush holder work by Chen Zisheng is the tooth-carved pen holder, and this one is his second pen holder work, which is of great significance..."
Jing Shizhen demonstrated the origin of this huanghuali pen holder from several aspects. First of all, the carving style of this pen holder is very similar to the pen holder with the ivory carving of the Lanting preface.
Furthermore, Chen Zisheng himself is from Qiong Province, so he has the conditions to obtain the old roots of this huanghuali tree, but he doesn’t know how this huanghuali pen holder ended up in the Yanjing antique market hundreds of years later.
"Uncle Jing, how much is this pen holder worth?"
Su Xiaofan asked. With his current wealth, he couldn't afford to collect. At best, he was just a circulation mover of antiques. Well, to put it simply, he was just a small vendor setting up a street stall to sell antiques.
"Chen Zisheng was highly regarded in history. After the Ming Dynasty fell, he did not serve the Manchu and Qing dynasties and lived a poor life until his death. If his things were put up for auction, many people would recognize him."
Jing Shizhen thought for a while and said: "A few years ago in Xiangjiang, a Yushanfang huanghuali sunflower style pen holder in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties was sold. It cost about two million at that time, but the carvings on that pen holder were very simple and the carving skills were far away.
Not as good as yours..."
Jing Shizhen pondered for a moment and then said: "According to my estimation, if you sell this pen holder, it will not be less than 3 million. If you find one you like, you can get more than 5 million!"
The reason why Jing Shizhen just said that Su Xiaofan picked up the biggest leak of the year is because of this. An item bought for 150 yuan can be sold for 3 to 4 million at auction. This is a profit of tens of thousands times. For
Today, when the antique market is relatively mature, it is simply incredible.
Of course, in the 1970s and 1980s, this kind of thing happened often.
People at that time had just enough to eat, so no one collected antiques. Celebrity calligraphy and paintings were sold as waste paper. Huanghuali tables and chairs cost five yuan each. Today, some of the country's big collectors include Jing Shi.
Jane herself was one of the beneficiaries of that era.
"The minimum is three million. If it's higher, can it be sold for five million?"
Su Xiaofan was dumbfounded when he heard this. He had really gained a lot of money. Originally, he only had about 100,000 yuan left in his pocket, but now he had millions more. Of course, he had to sell the pen holder.
"Your surname is Su, right?"
Just when Su Xiaofan was thinking about how to spend five million, a voice came from next to him, "I really like this cartridge. Let's do this. I'll bid four million. I wonder if you are willing to change hands?"
"you are?"
Su Xiaofan looked around and saw the middle-aged man sitting on the sofa.
"My surname is Tong, Tong Dongjie, and I run a tourism and cultural company. This bottle of yours is relatively rare. I want to collect it. I wonder what you mean, Xiao Su?"
Although the middle-aged man was talking to Su Xiaofan, his eyes were aimed at Jing Shizhen.
"Uncle Jing, what do you think?"
Su Xiaofan also looked at Jing Shizhen. This was Jing Shizhen's meditation hall. If the two of them were to conduct transactions, they would be overshadowed.
"Little boy, you should know my rules."
Jing Shizhen's face showed no emotion or anger, and she just said to the man: "The object that I appraised was sold in Jingxin Hall. I want to charge 20% of the transaction price. This money should be from you, little Tong."
Come and pay. As for the taxes and fees, you two can decide how to pay them."
"Uncle Jing, I understand the rules. Four million belongs to Xiao Su, eight hundred thousand belongs to Jingxin Hall, and I am responsible for all taxes and fees. What do you think?" the middle-aged man said respectfully.
"It's so easy to make money in Jingxin Hall."
Hearing the conversation between Jing Shizhen and Tong Dongjie, Su Xiaofan on the side was dumbfounded. He didn't pay a penny and just made an appraisal and received 800,000 yuan. This was simply a waste of money.
"The things are not mine. Whether or not I sell them depends on Xiao Su's wishes."
Jing Shizhen didn't seem to be too cold towards Tong Dongjie, and her words didn't seem like she was treating guests.
"Uncle Jing, since Mr. Tong likes him so much, I will give it to him."
Su Xiaofan made the decision without even hesitating. If this thing goes up for auction, who knows when it will be sold. Four million is not a small amount. Only when the money is in hand is it.
"Okay, I'll have someone prepare the contract. You can sign it later and pay after signing."
Uncle Jing waved and called a staff member to explain a few words. There are ready-made electronic templates for such contracts in the store. You can use them after just modifying them.
Of course, Uncle Jing's 800,000 yuan was not received in vain. He had to act as a middleman to provide guarantee. If there was a problem with the object in the future, others would not come to Su Xiaofan, but to Jingxintang.
So while preparing the contract, someone brought a digital camera over and took photos of the pen holder from different angles.
The store has digital photo developing equipment, and after it is developed, both parties are required to sign and fingerprint it. This is also one of Jingxintang's methods to prevent others from exchanging fakes for real ones to get back the money.
Jingxintang antiques trading has its own set of procedures, and there is a dedicated person in charge. In about ten minutes, all the pre-transaction information is ready.
Su Xiaofan and Tong Dongjie signed the contract and photos respectively. Tong Dongjie went and called a subordinate to come in. According to the bank account left by Su Xiaofan in the contract, he transferred the money to Su Xiaofan on the spot.
Tong Dongjie spent 4.8 million on the on-site transaction alone. Not counting the taxes and fees he would have to pay later, the total price must have been more than 5 million.
This also allowed Su Xiaofan to see how rich people buy antiques.
Su Xiaofan spent the whole day in the antique market chatting with others while being exposed to the wind and sun, his mouth was dry, and he could only sell three to five hundred yuan a day.
But now Su Xiaofan was drinking tea in the Jingxin Hall with the air conditioner blowing on. In these three or five sentences, a business of three to five million was finalized. It was still a business, but the difference was a day and a day.
"Uncle Jing, what do you think about that matter? Do you have time to take a trip?"
After trading the pen holder with Su Xiaofan, Tong Dongjie asked someone to put the pen holder away. He didn't seem to care about the item as much as he said.
"What do you want from someone?"
Su Xiaofan and Zhao Zhengshan looked at each other and both understood.
This Tong Dongjie should have noticed that Uncle Jing admired Su Xiaofan, so he gave Su Xiaofan a good transaction price through the sale of the pen holder, and also gave Jingxin Hall a commission of 800,000 yuan for free. It can be said that he did everything well.
"Don't worry, let's not talk about it for now. Xiao Su, what did you buy in that bag? You didn't miss it again, did you?"
Jing Shizhen didn't seem to want to talk to Tong Dongjie in front of Su Xiaofan and others, and turned his attention to the other bag Su Xiaofan put on the table.
