Chapter 594 There are already loopholes in the painting before it is opened
A trace of solemnity appeared on Marquis Ximen's face, and he slowly said: "This painting is an antique returned from overseas! It was purchased from overseas by my little nephew who did not hesitate to spend a lot of money."
Although his words were useless, his eyes looking at Ximen Pavilion were full of doting.
There was even a faint sense of pride that "my son has just grown up".
Shen Yu immediately asked: "Where did you buy it?"
This time it was Ximentei who answered the question. He straightened up slightly, with a hint of pride in his expression, "It's in Kyoto, the fourth largest city in Izumo Country."
Shen Yu said casually: "Oh, I bought it from Japan."
A trace of displeasure flashed across Ximen Ting's face, and he emphasized loudly: "It is Izumo Country. It can be called Fuso Country or Sakura Country. It is very rude to call it Japanese Country!"
Shen Yu ignored him.
Gu Zhengyan, who was sitting aside, was drinking tea leisurely. After hearing Ximen Ting's words, he directly placed the tea cup heavily on the table with a muffled "bang" sound, "Humph, what is Izumo Country?" , Fusang Kingdom, and Sakura Kingdom, aren’t they all nicknames for the Japanese Kingdom? Didn’t they carefully preserve the ‘Golden Seal of the Han Japanese Nu King’ given to them by Emperor Guangwu in the museum as a top national treasure?”
Ximenting smiled coquettishly: "Haha, Mr. Gu, you are right, it is indeed like this."
At this time, he had already calmed down. He knew that the business could not be ruined by a moment of anger, so he did not dare to make any more excuses. He could only laugh awkwardly a few times to try to ease the somewhat tense atmosphere.
"Brother Ximen, you should speak for Ating next!" Gu Zhengyan looked at Ximen Hou again, with a faint commanding tone.
Marquis Ximen picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea to soothe his throat, and then slowly told the origin of this so-called authentic work of Muxi.
It turns out that Ximen Ting was entrusted by his uncle to purchase as many Chinese antiques as possible in Izumo Country.
There are two reasons for this:
First, the number of Chinese antiques in Izumo Country is extremely large.
One famous Buddhist temple alone contains tens of thousands of Buddhist statues from the Tang Dynasty or before the Tang Dynasty.
Many museums and art galleries also have collections including but not limited to Wang Xizhi, Zhang Sengyao, Wang Wei, Li Cheng, Su Shi, Yan Wengui, Mi Fu, Zhao Chang, Li Di, Ma Yuan, Liang Kai, Master Muxi, Zhao Calligraphy, calligraphy and paintings by masters such as Meng Fu, Wang Fu, Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin, Bada Shanren and others.
Someone has calculated that there are approximately millions of Chinese antiques in various museums, art galleries, and famous collectors in Izumo Country.
If we add the collections in private hands and antique shops, the number will probably double.
Secondly, Ximen Pavilion also has this condition.
He is currently basically settled in Izumo Country.
Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo are all very familiar cities. As long as he has time, Ximenting will travel through the antique streets of these cities to find treasures.
At the beginning of this year, due to a chance, Ximenting even acquired an old antique store in Kyoto.
The original owner is Saburo Sakamoto, a famous antique dealer family in Kyoto.
It is said that his great-grandfather purchased a large number of calligraphy, paintings and ancient porcelain in our country during the late Qing Dynasty.
After it passed into the hands of Saburo Sakamoto, because he was alone and had no descendants, he decided to travel around the world in his later years, so he gave the store to Ximenting.
Nearly three thousand antiques in the store also changed hands.
This time when he returned to Hong Kong Island, Ximenting carefully selected a few treasures in the store and brought them back. No one was looking for them, so he let Gu Zhengyan choose them first.
Shen Yu listened and looked for loopholes in Ximen Hou's words.
At present, there does not seem to be much problem with what Ximen Hou said.
The people of Izumo Country indeed possess countless Chinese treasures, and the number can even be described as countless.
In Izumo Country, there are also a considerable number of antique shops.
Its signboard still uses the old-fashioned writing method, which is called "antong".
There are miscellaneous shops, as well as shops specializing in calligraphy and painting, porcelain, swords, ancient coins, gold, silver and bronzeware.
Going shopping for antiques in Izumo Country is actually nothing unusual.
When the collecting craze began in the 1990s, a large number of people keenly discovered the business opportunities and traveled across the ocean to Izumo Country to hunt for treasures.
At that time, the price of antiques in Izumo Country was indeed cheap.
An ancient mirror from the Tang Dynasty can be purchased for only a few hundred yuan.
Ancient mirrors from the Han Dynasty only cost 1,800 yuan.
In the Qing Dynasty, Daoguang official kiln blue and white pieces cost 10,000 yuan, which was staggeringly cheap.
The price of calligraphy and paintings by second- and third-rate painters in the Ming and Qing dynasties fluctuated between a few thousand yuan and 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.
This makes a lot of people buy in bulk.
According to legend, a collector bought thirty ancient paintings from the Qing Dynasty at one time from a private collector in Kyoto in the early 1990s.
Although most of them are not by famous artists, one of them has been identified as an authentic flower-and-bird painting by Shi Tao, one of the four monks of the Qing Dynasty.
The painting was finally bought by a wealthy man from Hong Kong Island for a high price of 9 million.
Even now, there are not a few people who go to Izumo Country to hunt for treasures.
In recent years, the economy of Izumo Country has been in recession, and the business of antique shops has not been easy. It is very possible to open an antique shop in Ximen Pavilion.
But there is one thing. In some antique streets and antique shops in Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo and other cities, there are a lot of fakes, and they are not even less than those in China.
So things in antique stores ≠ authentic ones!
After Ximen Hou finished speaking, Shen Yu showed him a harmless smile.
To outsiders, it looks like the respect of juniors in the antique trade to their seniors.
Even Marquis Ximen felt that the young man from the mainland in front of him was very polite.
However, Pei Yuqin next to him knew that Shen Yu had discovered the flaw in the painting.
In other words, this so-called authentic painting of Muxi is very likely to be a fake.
After dealing with interpersonal relationships for many years, Pei Yuqin has long been able to multi-task. Shen Yu's eyes and subtle expression changes cannot escape her beautiful eyes.
When seeing the heaven and earth poles of this painting, Shen Yu frowned slightly.
When scanning the width of the painting, Shen Yu felt the same way.
The reason why I don't say anything now and still pretend to be harmless is just waiting for the opportunity to give the antique dealer in front of me a "fatal blow!"
At this time, when Ximen Hou saw that Shen Yu had not spoken for a long time, he rolled his eyes slightly and continued: "Ating bought this painting after many twists and turns. He even bought the antique shop for this painting!
"When Ating accidentally saw it in that antique shop, he realized that this painting was definitely something unusual. After careful research, he finally concluded that this is an authentic work by Master Mu Xi that can be called a supreme treasure."
Gu Zhengyan was a little dissatisfied with Marquis Ximen's boasting, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Ximen, the painting has not been appraised yet, so you can't speak so confidently, right?"
However, Ximenhou was full of confidence, "Mr. Gu, please be at ease, Ating is quite discerning in appraising calligraphy and paintings.
"Furthermore, after returning to Hong Kong Island, several highly respected palm-eye masters in our store unanimously confirmed that this painting is authentic."
