Antique Dealer

Chapter 276 Doubt

Pan Zhouming put away his calligraphy, and not long after, Su Qihu arrived with the planner in charge of video creation.

"Did we meet somewhere?" Pan Zhouming felt that Su Qihu looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he met him.

Su Qihu smiled and said: "My grandfather is Su Yuanjin. We met once five years ago on his [-]th birthday."

"Oh, I remember." Pan Zhouming recalled. At that time, it was also because of Su Qihu's figure that he remembered it deeply, so he still has an impression now.

"Mr. Su is in good health now?"

"Very good. Now every morning, as long as it is not windy or rainy, he will go to the park to walk the birds."

"The old man is in good health. It looks like I'm going to prepare a gift for my [-]th birthday."

"Haha, thanks for your good words!"

After chatting casually, Pan Zhouming told everyone to go to dinner first.This made Su Qihu feel a little embarrassed, and before discussing the business, it was time to have a meal.

When the group arrived at the private room of the hotel, the secretary had already ordered the dishes in advance. Seeing Su Qihu's hunk, he added two more dishes.

While waiting for the food to be served, Su Qihu learned about Pan Zhouming's video account. The content was too boring, and the filming and editing were also quite amateurish, so it was difficult to arouse the audience's interest in watching.

As for how to improve the video quality, we need to wait for the planner to understand the situation before making a plan.

Pan Zhouming agreed, and then they negotiated in private about the cost.

The waiter began to serve the dishes, and Pan Zhouming greeted everyone warmly.

This restaurant specializes in Shandong cuisine, and there are basically no pitfalls. The dishes are salty and pure, highlighting the original taste. Each dish reflects the characteristics of Shandong cuisine, and everyone eats it heartily.

After the dishes were over, everyone began to slow down the frequency of waving their chopsticks, talking about wood carving and even sculpture from time to time.

Su Qihu didn't quite understand, and he was eating and drinking the whole time. He picked up a piece of stir-fried kidney and put it in his mouth, only to find that it tasted delicious, smooth and not greasy. As soon as he swallowed the kidney, he suddenly remembered that before he came, he had a I wanted to ask Fang Hao about this matter, but I was attracted by the delicious food and almost forgot. Now I have a chance, so I can ask everyone.

Taking advantage of a gap in his speech, he said, "Let me interrupt, everyone. I have encountered a strange thing recently. I would like to ask everyone to take a look. What is the problem?"

While speaking, he took out a small box with a nuclear carving bracelet inside.

Wei Xuebing, an essayist in the late Ming Dynasty, once wrote "The Story of Nuclear Boats". I believe many people know that it is about nuclear carvings.

At the beginning, the stone carvings used peach stones to carve and hang them on the body as a way of "warding off evil spirits". Therefore, the materials of the early stone carvings that survive today are mainly peach stones and apricot stones. After the Ming Dynasty until the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the art of carving stones carved with olive stones and walnut stones gradually appeared.

Su Qihu's nuclei carving bracelet is made of olive nuclei, separated into two sections by two red corals. The red coral Buddha head pagoda is delicate and dazzling.Taking the story of the relief characters as the theme, the characters have different postures and vivid images.

Everyone looked at this bracelet one after another. From the perspective of craftsmanship, the bracelet is not a big problem, and the craftsmanship is exquisite. However, the patina of the bracelet is very unnatural, obviously artificial.

"It's really wicked!"

Pan Zhouming said very dissatisfied: "Using the craftsmanship of this bracelet, it is a high-quality nuclear carving, and the price will not be cheap, but now it has to be coated to make it look like an old object, which is obviously superfluous! "

Both Fang Hao and Zhu Junda hold the same point of view. If you want to say that it is natural to make it old, so that people can't see it, that is also a skill. Now it is like this, destroying a handicraft.

Fang Hao asked Su Qihu: "What you want to ask is not just about bracelets, is it?"

Su Qihu said: "Actually, what I bought was a genuine one. At that time, I even invited a teacher to appraise it. There was no problem at all. But after returning to the hotel, I opened the bracelet again and found that it was wrong."

"That must be a subcontract." Zhu Junda said.

When buying and selling antiques, it is not uncommon to switch packages. For example, when the buyer is not paying attention, the item is replaced during packaging. For example, someone takes advantage of the convenience of their position to replace the fake with the real one, etc. .

"I know it must have been transferred, but when I bought the bracelet, the bracelet never left my sight, and after dinner with my friends, I showed the bracelet to my friends, there was no problem at that time, why? Did the bracelet change after returning to the hotel?" This is exactly what Su Qihu couldn't figure out.

"How many people are there when you eat?" Fang Hao asked.

Su Qihu replied: "It's just me, the appraiser I hired, and my friend. My friend has a good relationship with me, and he didn't know that I was buying bracelets beforehand. It's impossible. It was he who changed the bracelet."

Fang Hao said: "Then you suspect that the appraiser you hired has transferred the bag?"

"I think this is the only possibility, but I don't have any evidence, so I can't just blame him casually, so I asked someone to investigate him, and I also want to ask you, how is his character?"

Su Qihu said the name of the appraiser, Zhou Shubao, who is also a member of the antique circle in the capital, mainly studying miscellaneous items, carving crafts and so on.

Fang Hao is a newcomer in the antique circle in Beijing. He has never heard of the name Zhou Shubao, but Pan Zhouming and Zhu Junda both know him, and they told Su Qihu that in their impression, Zhou Shubao is a good character, except for the early years. , There were two or three times the experience of helping people to appraise and punch holes, and no other negative information came out.

So, neither of them believed that Zhou Shubao would change the bracelet.

Of course, nothing in the world is absolute. Since Su Qihu asked someone to investigate, let's try to find out as much as possible.

Su Qihu nodded and said yes, in fact, he didn't want to believe that Zhou Shubao did it.

Through Su Qihu's incident, everyone talked about some chaos in the antique circle, and Fang Hao also discovered that Pan Zhouming was still an old cynical youth.

After the meal, everyone returned to Pan Zhouming's studio, had tea and rested for a while, and Pan Zhouming began to formally give Fang Hao a class. Also learn from the side.

After three o'clock in the afternoon, Pan Zhouming was also tired from speaking. Seeing this, Fang Hao bid farewell. Before leaving, Pan Zhouming gave Fang Hao a copy of the textbook he compiled for his disciples.

Zhu Junda left first, Su Qihu invited Fang Hao to sit with him, and Fang Hao agreed.

In the same villa as before, Fang Hao parked the car, and Su Qihu also got out of the car. He looked at Fang Hao's car and said with a smile, "When did you buy the car?"

"Some time ago, my elders helped me buy a villa in Yilong Villa. This car was bought together at that time."

"I said, why did you buy a car without saying a word? How does this car drive?"

"I don't have much research on cars. It's good to drive anyway, but it's not convenient to drive a car. I still want to buy a car. This car can be driven when the license plate is limited."

Because of Grandma Li's unexpected accident, Shang Xiaoxuan will definitely live with him. In this way, it will be useful for him to buy another car.

Su Qihu nodded slightly: "Indeed, do you want to buy any car?"

"Maybach S-Class."

"This car is very good. My buddy should have some in his hand. How about introducing it to you?"

"Thank you very much." Fang Hao has no research on cars, and buying a car is indeed a troublesome thing. If you don't have acquaintances, you may be slaughtered. Su Qihu can help, that would be great.

"Hi, we're all friends. How polite are you? Speaking of which, I don't have time to attend your store opening on New Year's Day. I'm sorry."

"You even sent a flower basket, as long as you like it."

Afterwards, Su Qihu immediately called his friend. When the friend heard about this, he immediately said that if Fang Hao had time tomorrow, he could pick up the car.

Fang Hao asked Su Qihu to say thank you to his friend. Considering that he was going to Jiayi Auction tomorrow, he would go there early tomorrow morning.

After deciding to buy a car, the two walked into the villa talking and laughing.

"When you go back to Quancheng, it's not just for a nuclear carving bracelet, is it?"

"Of course not. In fact, I mainly went there to buy ancient ink."

"Gu Mo?"

"My grandfather likes calligraphy. After a while, it will be his birthday. I heard from friends in Quancheng that someone had an ancient ink from the Song Dynasty, so I went there."

Fang Hao asked in surprise, "Song Dynasty Mo?"

People who love ancient ink should know that it is not easy to collect ancient ink.One is that ink is a consumable for calligraphy and painting, and it is extremely easy to damage; the other is that it is difficult to preserve and has a small stock.The coming and going of cold and heat, alternation of cold and heat, and the invasion of mildew all have a direct and fatal impact on ink products.

Because ancient inks are hard to preserve, Tang and Song inks are hard to find, and Ming inks handed down are rare, and the prices are astonishing.Most collectors regard Qing ink as the most valuable, and there were many famous ink makers in the Qing Dynasty, and the fine works of them were no less than Ming ink, and they were handed down more.

If we can find a relatively intact famous ink of the Song Dynasty, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is worth a lot.

Su Qihu brought Fang Hao to his study, invited Fang Hao to take a seat, made tea for Fang Hao, and said: "I also thought it was impossible at the time. I went to see it and found that it was just an ancient ink from the Ming Dynasty."

Fang Hao said with a smile: "It can be the ancient ink of the Ming Dynasty."

"I think so too. I believe my grandpa will like it." Su Qihu put the teacup in front of Fang Hao, and went to get a box, which contained the ancient ink he was talking about: "Actually I was going to buy that bracelet as a gift to my grandfather, but I didn't expect it to be transferred for no reason, what a ghost."

"Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, but I don't know if it's a blessing."

While speaking, Fang Hao focused his attention on the ancient ink, and saw that the ink was round, resembling a tile, with raised round edges, embossed with three chilongs, one side of the ink was embossed with sea dragon patterns, and the other was Yangwen seal script "Xuanlong". Huan" ink name.The dense layout of the decorations and the high-relief dragon tattoos are vigorous, which shows the superb carving technology of the ink mold.

In terms of the thickness of the lacquer leather and the opening of the porcelain-like surface, this is undoubtedly old ink, but before Fang Hao got a piece of Wang Zhongshan's ink, the difference between the two is quite a bit. Fang Hao suspects Su Qi This piece of old ink by Hu could not reach the Ming Dynasty.

He observed carefully and found a flaw.

Fang Hao put Gu Mo back into the box: "There is something, I told you, don't worry."

When Su Qihu heard this, his heart skipped a beat: "Don't tell me, this piece of ink is wrong!"

"There is indeed a problem with this piece of ink. I think it should be an imitation of Ming ink in the Qing Dynasty."

Fang Hao said: "It is not uncommon for the Mohists of the Qing Dynasty to imitate the ink of the Ming Dynasty. Generally, there are three situations. One type of ink has its own famous style, and there are also famous styles that have been imitated. The Mohist made this kind of ink. The purpose is not to seek profit and deceive people, but to flaunt oneself and argue over ink-making techniques. Such imitations still have its artistic appreciation value.

Another category is that the Mohists of the Qing Dynasty imitated the ink of the Ming Dynasty, and did not sign the famous Mohism, but only marked the year.Such as "Yongle first year", "Xuande year system" and other words.Most of these imitations are "National Treasure" big ox tongue ink, and its ink materials and ink molds are also very exquisite.

Another type is to dig out the original name of the original high-quality goods, then use ink wax to make it flat, then engrave your own name badge and year date, and apply a little gold to polish it. , It is very easy to mistake it for a genuine product, so it must be carefully and carefully identified.

As for you, Fang Mo, I think it is the second situation.The reason why I make such a judgment is mainly because of the word 'Xuan'. "

Fang Hao pointed to the word "Xuan" in "Xuanlonghuan" on the ink, and explained to Su Qihu:

"In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi's name was Xuanye, so "Xuan" was rewritten as "Yuan" in order to avoid the taboo, or "Xuan" with a lack of pen. Therefore, if the ink with the word "Xuan" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is not an imitation, it should be Kangxi Previous works; such as "Xuan" written as "Yuan" or "Xuan" lacking pen, should be works after Kangxi. Moreover, after the ink of "Xuan" in Ming Dynasty arrived in Kangxi, the word "Xuan" was dug out or replaced. Ink ruins."

At that time, because of the need to avoid taboos, all characters had to be changed. For example, the famous Chinese herbal medicine Scrophulariaceae was changed from "Xuan" to "Yuan", and the name "Yuanshen" was derived from this.Xuanming powder was also changed to "Yuanming powder" because of avoiding the taboo of Emperor Kangxi, and so on.

After hearing Fang Hao's explanation, Su Qihu still wanted to struggle: "Could it be that Fang Mo missed this?"

Fang Hao explained: "Of course what you said is possible, but the block ink is definitely not. Why do I make such a judgment? Just look at the point on the word 'Xuan'. I know that it was actually added later, even after being old. It’s still pretty obvious when you look closely.”

Su Qihu stepped forward to observe carefully, and found that it was exactly as Fang Hao said.

Fang Hao went on to say: "This is why I judged that this is the second reason why the Qing Dynasty imitated the Ming Dynasty. The creators at that time did not have the subjective consciousness of falsification, so Xuan characters lacked strokes because of taboos. Later, someone got this In order to sell a block of ink at a high price, I added a little bit of it."

Su Qihu looked at the point that was added later on the Xuan character, and the corners of his mouth twitched, feeling very depressed. Then he thought of the bracelet issue again, and frowned: "Do you think Zhou Shubao would know this? , Didn’t tell me on purpose?”

Fang Hao said: "What you said is possible, but not necessarily. The reason why I found the problem is because I have old ink from the Ming Dynasty in my hand, so I can compare it. He may not be good enough, or he may be a little sloppy. See It is indeed ancient ink, and it is also possible that I did not pay attention to the problem of Xuan characters."

(End of this chapter)