Antiques with golden eyes

King Tota, a mythological figure that is now familiar to people, existed before the Tang Dynasty.

Many people think that King Tota is a Taoist god.

In fact, this is a big mistake.

In the classics of Buddhism and Taoism, King Tota is a god.

It's still the kind of person whose status is extremely respected.

After the Tang Dynasty, it specifically referred to Li Jing, a famous general in the Tang Dynasty, a generation of war god, and Duke of Wei.

By the time of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, Li Jing had completely become the only incarnation of the King of Pagoda and one of the supreme patron saints of Taoism.

In "The Romance of the Gods", the commander-in-chief of Chentangguan Town is Li Jing.

At the same time, he was one of the four generals of the Shang Dynasty, the apprentice of Randen Taoist, and the father of Jin Zha, Mu Zha and Nezha.

In "Journey to the West", Li Jing is directly the King of Pagoda.

From Shen Yu's perspective, this painting is at least from the Song Dynasty.

And there is a very high probability that it is a Tang Dynasty painting.

It may even be earlier than the Tang Dynasty.

So Shen Yu can't help but be excited.

However, Shen Yu's state of mind has been strong enough, and there is nothing visible from the outside.

Li Tietou yelled: "Shen Yu, this painting is so old that it's almost rotten to pieces. You have to be careful when unfolding it. If we buy it back, we can't hang it up. I told you not to look at it. Boss Wang, please change it to another one." ."

After steadying his mind, Shen Yu slowly spoke: "Although in ancient times and now, calligraphy and painting are more expensive if they are unsullied, undamaged, and not bitten by insects or rats, but there is another saying, good paintings are not afraid of being ruined. If the painting is not in good condition, it will be repaired by a restorer. There will be no problem at all in repairing this painting."

Shen Yu was trying to appease Wang Yuqian's heart.

Many people who sell antiques have eccentric temperaments. If you have a confidant who sells antiques, you may not be able to buy anything even if you have money.

Sure enough, when Wang Yuqian heard what Shen Yu said, he felt as if he had met a close friend, "An expert is an expert. Expert Shen, you hit the nail on the head. I will not sell this painting to anyone today, only to you."

Shen Yu has become a veteran, and immediately waved his hand and changed his tone, "But it is not easy to repair calligraphy and painting. If you want to restore this painting, there are only a few masters in Jiangnan who can do it, and it is still unknown whether they can be hired. Even if you want to restore it, Even if it doesn’t cost hundreds of thousands, it can’t be repaired.

"And it may not be fixed.

"The so-called "foot-long tree on the mountain, inch-horse bean man", the restorer must return the complete painting to the buyer's hands.

"For example, in this portrait, if the halberd and sword in King Tota's hand was broken during the unveiling of the painting, the restorer would have to draw an exact one, with the same charm, appearance, and even the same color.

"But in fact, many people can't do it, so many restorers have to make a liability exemption contract and write down all possible problems before accepting business.

"It means that the painting may be repaired well, or it may not be repaired well. As long as I try my best, there is nothing I can do if it is not repaired well. I have no responsibility. In this way, people will be even more hesitant to restore ancient paintings."

Wang Yuqian smiled coquettishly, "Expert Shen, restoring ancient paintings is not as complicated as you said, right? Aren't there several shops in the flea market that specialize in restoring ancient paintings and calligraphy? And I heard that the restoration is very good. ”

Shen Yu pretended to sigh, "Boss Wang, you don't know something. Restoring ancient paintings also requires a certain level of care. It is true that calligraphy and paintings can be repaired even if they are rotten. But when we restore a painting, what we want is that it looks like a god. It seems, this depends on the restorer’s skills.

I have seen old masters restore ancient paintings several times.

Not to mention the complicated steps, you also need to be good at calligraphy and painting.

First you have to be able to draw.

You must be able to understand figures, flowers, birds, and landscapes.

You must also be proficient in calligraphy, seal script, regular script, Li, Xing and Cao.

Or to put it another way, you may not understand everything, but at least you must have connections in this area. For example, if you can practice but are not very good at painting, you must be able to invite calligraphy or painting masters.

Restoration of calligraphy and painting requires roughly a dozen steps, so I’ll just pick out the most important ones.

The first step is to clean the surface and use a soft brush to sweep away the surface dust and other dirt that can be cleaned. At this time, the restorer has a general understanding of the painting, which areas are the dirtiest, which areas are the most damaged, and which areas need to be cleaned. Be especially careful and so on.

The second step is to wash the painting core. You may have seen this kind of video, which is to wash it with boiling water, and then use a towel to absorb the dirty water after washing.

The third step is to uncover the backing paper, also called the backing paper.

The first three steps do not require advanced skills, and can generally be done by apprentices who have studied calligraphy and painting restoration for two or three years.

The fourth step is to reveal the destiny paper. This is the most difficult and must be done by the master himself.

What is life paper? It is a layer of paper that sticks to the back of an ancient painting after it is mounted. It is closely related to protecting the core of the painting and is as important as the life of calligraphy and painting.

Life is at stake, so it is called "life paper".

Of course, under normal circumstances, when an ancient painting is damaged and needs to be re-mounted, unless it is completely rotten and in good condition, the seal is generally not used.

But the fate of this painting has been damaged and must be uncovered. This is the difficulty."

"Why is this?"

Li Tietou asked with a puzzled face.

Yu Maolin and Wang Yuqian also pricked up their ears.

Shen Yu took a sip of water, "Because the painting core and the life paper are glued together with paste, and they have become integrated over hundreds of years. If you are not careful, the painting core will be ruined.

This is what people call secondary damage.

And from a technical point of view, if a painting has been passed down from ancient times to the present, it may have been restored more than once, so it is very, very difficult to reveal the fate of the painting.

I once saw a master craftsman reveal a life-scroll, a three-foot-square hand scroll, and three people took turns to reveal it for two consecutive days.

This is not the hardest part.

The fifth step is to re-reveal the fortune-telling paper. As mentioned above, when ancient paintings need to reveal the fate-paper, they are usually very damaged.

Most of the pieces are uncovered piece by piece. This step is to find a new piece of fortune paper, put the core pieces together, apply paste, and re-glue them to the new fortune paper.

This step is also very complicated. After it is done, it needs time to dry in the shade, and you cannot blow air in the middle.

Step 6: Repair holes and cracks.

This is the difficulty of this painting. This painting is at least hundreds of years old. Where can I find silk that can be repaired?

This is the hardest part.

Yu Maolin knew that Shen Yu would not talk so much nonsense. He must have taken a fancy to this painting and wanted to pick it up, so he immediately praised it, "Xiao Shen, if you put it this way, isn't it very dangerous to restore ancient paintings?"

Shen Yu nodded again, "Yes, there is a lot of uncertainty. This is why many people would rather let the paintings rot than repair them. Re-mounting calligraphy and paintings, especially when it involves the re-installation and repair of the fate-revealing paper, is not easy. Paying attention will ruin a painting."

After saying that, Shen Yu said no more. He glanced at Wang Yuqian, then picked up the teacup and drank the tea slowly.

Wang Yuqian's expression changed, and he said in his heart that I spent a lot of effort to invite you guys here, but I really don't want to do it anymore.

Wang Yuqian did not lie. Several things were indeed handed down from his ancestors. His father was also a well-known collector. Although there were three brothers and two sisters, he could not handle the large number of things. Wang Yuqian alone divided it among himself. There must be hundreds of pieces.

Among them, the "Portrait of the Pagoda King" is not for sale, which my father repeatedly warned not to sell.

But the problem is that this painting is too shabby. Let alone leaving it to his descendants, Wang Yuqian estimates that the exhibition may not be open for another ten or eight years.

Wang Yuqian first went to several well-known ancient painting restoration shops to prepare for restoration.

But no one wants to fix it.

He said the job would take too long and refused to accept the business.

Someone is willing to take it.

But what he said almost made Wang Yuqian angry to death.

The price is very high, with a repair fee of 200,000 yuan.

You still have to pay in advance.

Moreover, restoration is restoration, but there is a possibility that the painting may be accidentally damaged when uncovering the painting, so there is no guarantee that the painting can be restored completely.

In other words, the store cannot guarantee how well the painting can be repaired.

But even if the repairs are bad, the money that should be paid must be given.

And you won’t lose a penny.

Even if it’s broken, you have to pay for it.

Isn’t this nonsense? If it can’t be repaired, the price will be high?

Wang Yuqian was so angry that he almost cursed.