Inherit For Three Thousand Years

"Hearing what Mr. Xiao said, it seems that it was a wise move for me to take pictures of this Baibaorui Beast at the beginning. I just took pictures of this auspicious beast because of its magnificence. It was a small-scale auction Private auction, I remember that I spent 48 million US dollars to buy it." Iwasaki Shinichi specifically pointed out the price of this Babaorui Beast.

"The price is not high, if it is put up for auction now, it will never be less than $50,000.

This auspicious beast conforms to the description of Qilin in the ancient legends of our country, and its shape combines the characteristics of dragon head, bear claws, fish scales, and ox tail. According to "Shuowen Jiezi": Qi, the benevolent beast, has the body of a moose and the horn of an oxtail; 麐, the female Qi. According to legend, such auspicious beasts will only appear in peaceful and prosperous times, or when there are saints in the world.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, unicorn-shaped incense sticks were placed in the palace to show that the emperor of the dynasty had the right way and was a generation of Mingjun, which shows the unique ingenuity.

This piece of auspicious beast is exquisite in craftsmanship, thick in copper, rich in gems, and gorgeous in shape, which is admirable. In addition, the chisel carving is tall and straight, and the patina is natural. It can be called a rare boutique.

If you meet someone you really like, let alone $50 million, even an additional $10 million is possible. "

Xiao Yao didn't deliberately belittle it because of the next part of the valuation between the two parties. For people with identities like him and Iwasaki Shinichi, this is completely unnecessary.

There are also several Western oil paintings and several sculptures in this treasure room that are no less important than the above several antique cultural relics, but Xiao Yao did not pick them out.

After visiting this treasure room, everyone surrounded Xiao Yao to the second room.

Walking into this room, the first thing Xiao Yao saw was a pair of red sandalwood high-relief box-style large four-piece cabinets.

This piece of furniture is really eye-catching, it takes up half of the wall, and it is placed directly opposite the door, so you can see it when you look up after entering the door.

This is a pair of majestic red sandalwood high-relief Kowloon passionflower pattern top box four-piece large cabinets. It is a standard top box vertical cabinet with large square corner four-piece cabinets. It is made of selected red sandalwood aniseed materials. .

The shape is flat and stable, the proportion is well-proportioned, and the grandeur is magnificent. The materials of the cabinet and the top box are the same, and the frame is connected with lattice shoulders. The front is flat, and the side hills are raised and the chest is made of drums, with a latch bar and a cabinet chamber. Both the door panel and the side mountain panel are grooved to install the horizontal belt, so as to prevent cracking and deformation.

The middle part of the vertical cabinet is equipped with a shelf cage and two drawers. Dental boards are installed between the feet, and copper boots are worn on the ends of the feet. The copper panel and hangtag of this cabinet are quite exquisite, which makes people feel very delicate at first glance. The shape is elegant, and the engraved patterns are exquisite. Boredom.

The most eye-catching feature of this cabinet is the high relief of the eight cabinet doors and the vertical board of the cabinet.

The engraving technique is exquisite, the layout is simple, orderly and reasonable, and the whole gives people a majestic and majestic shock.

Shoveling the ground and high relief is a unique craft of red sandalwood in the Qing Dynasty. This is also one of the characteristics of judging whether the red sandalwood furniture was used by the royal family.

Compared with the "ground-lifting" relief method of general hardwood furniture, the same pattern, "shoveling the ground" relief requires many times the man-hours, which is really labor-intensive, and it also tests the craftsman's skills.

The relief floor of palace red sandalwood furniture is as smooth as a mirror, which is beyond the reach of ordinary craftsmen. The superb skills are simply amazing.

The eight door panels and the two cabinet walls are all shoveled into the ground, and the five-clawed cloud dragon is carved in high relief. You can bow your head or look down. The dragon's claws are stretched, vigorous and powerful. out.

However, the dragon's head is plump, its horns are raised, its beard and hair are flying, its body is graceful, its scales are docile, and its claws are drawn with great care.

Each cloud and dragon pattern forms an independent chapter and echoes each other. The double dragon head of each cabinet door is slightly higher than the door frame, which is consistent with the cabinet body and looks forward to it. From this point, it can be proved that this is definitely the furniture used by the emperor.

Looking at the paired furnishings as a whole, the two cloud dragons on the gable wall of the lower cabinet are also facing each other from left to right, moving and echoing.

In addition, in addition to Kowloon, the main carving pattern is the classic European "passion flower" pattern, which winds up with the dragon-shaped branches, which is flexible and natural, and is in line with the Western architectural style in Yuanmingyuan.

Passiflora decorations were very popular in the Qianlong Dynasty. In 1775, Emperor Qianlong inscribed the Passiflora Ode to this flower and pattern, which shows his love for it.

The decoration of this cabinet is based on the theme of the dragon pattern, which is the symbol of the imperial power of China, and is supplemented by gorgeous and colorful Western patterns. It can be regarded as a representative work of the combination of Chinese and Western civilizations.

Seeing this pair of large four-piece cabinets, Xiao Yao smiled for the first time.

This pair of red sandalwood box-style large four-piece cabinets is naturally an extremely valuable cultural relic, but if the price is only high, it is not enough to make Xiao Yao so happy.

The reason why he couldn't help but smile on his face was because it was a treasure of high-grade luck!

In Xiao Yao's consciousness, the rich purple luck emanating from this pair of furniture is simply the most wonderful light in the world.

It is a little regrettable that this pair of furniture should be from the Qing Dynasty, and the time since the present is relatively short, so there are not many purple gas clouds gathered, and the total amount is about one and a half of Yoshiaki Yasuda's body.

To be able to harvest a top-grade luck treasure today is already a worthwhile trip.

Seeing Xiao Yao walk in front of the red sandalwood cabinet, Iwasaki Shinichi introduced: "My father bought this pair of red sandalwood cabinets from a French nobleman. According to the nobleman, this pair of red sandalwood cabinets is one of his attendants The ancestors of the Eight-Power Allied Forces robbed the Old Summer Palace, and this pair of red sandalwood cabinets was placed in the emperor's bedroom at that time."

It turned out that the pair of red sandalwood cabinets were placed in the emperor's bedroom. No wonder they became treasures of high-grade luck.

There are many accidents in the occurrence of the treasure of luck, and Xiao Yao has not figured out the theory of it until now. But one thing is certain, that is, items that can become treasures of luck will inevitably come into contact with people with high luck.

The items touched by people with high luck may not necessarily become treasures of luck, but treasures of luck will inevitably come into contact with people with high luck.

The pair of red sandalwood cabinets were placed in the emperor's bedroom, and they had been in contact with the emperor for a long time, which is the necessary condition for the red sandalwood cabinets to become a treasure of luck.

From this point, it can also be seen how difficult it is for an item to become a treasure of luck.

There are too many items that the emperor often comes into contact with, such as jade seals and dragon chairs, but these are only necessary conditions, not necessarily useful, and an average of ten emperors cannot give birth to a single treasure of luck.

After appreciating it for a while, Xiao Yao said: "This large four-piece red sandalwood cabinet should be from the Qianlong period, and the exact name should be a large four-piece box-shaped top box-shaped red sandalwood high-relief Kowloon Passiflora pattern in Qianlong, Qing Dynasty.

This pair of red sandalwood high-relief Kowloon passionflower-top box-style large four-piece cabinet is a very high-standard furniture. Factors such as the artistic style and social environment of the Qianlong period have clearly imprinted on this piece of furniture. Relevant examples can be found on fired official kiln porcelain and stone carvings of royal buildings, and its artistic and historical value is beyond doubt.

The use of red sandalwood in India and Europe is mainly used for dyeing, construction, utensils, farming tools or handicraft carvings. Ancient Indian rosewood wood chips or red rosewood extract are dotted between the eyebrows as a Hindu identity symbol.

Rosewood has a very long history of utilization in China, which can be traced back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty or earlier, and it should be made into furniture, musical instruments or other utensils no later than Tang Dynasty.

There are mother-of-pearl five-stringed pipas, red sandalwood painted trough pipas, red sandalwood gold and silver painted dials, mother-of-pearl red sandalwood Ruanxian, wood-painted red sandalwood chess games, and wood-painted red sandalwood chess games. , red sandalwood gold tin handle censer, red sandalwood painting Xie Shi red sandalwood gold and silver painting books.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the Qianlong Dynasty, the production of red sandalwood furniture and utensils became very common.

In the Qing Dynasty, precious hardwoods with deep color, dense texture and fine grain were highly valued, among which red sandalwood was the first choice. At that time, many huanghuali furniture were dyed dark to show an antique flavor.

At the same time, the realization of the upper layer's preference for thick and rich artistic style depends objectively on the excellent processing performance of red sandalwood.

Therefore, in the court furniture of the three dynasties of Kang, Yong, and Qian in the Qing Dynasty, red sandalwood products accounted for a large proportion. Especially in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the selection of materials was very particular, and it was often required to be uniform, without boils, scars, non-standard leather, and uniform color. Some furniture even required the same wood. Made of high-quality materials, the selection of materials is simply extremely harsh.

This pair of large four-piece red sandalwood cabinets was used in the emperor's bedroom, and of course they are all top-notch in terms of material selection and workmanship. From this we can see the preciousness of this pair of red sandalwood furniture. "

Seeing that Xiao Yao was so interested and his comments were very professional, Iwasaki Shinichi took the opportunity to ask for advice, "The workmanship of red sandalwood furniture is known as red sandalwood work. I am very interested in this aspect. I don't know if you know about it. ?”

After harvesting a top-grade treasure of luck, Xiao Yao was very interested, "The so-called red sandalwood is a method of processing red sandalwood according to the characteristics of the unique craft.

Specifically, there are two forms: one is without carving and decoration, and the light is finished, combined with the noble texture and color of red sandalwood itself, it gives people a round and quiet feeling.

Another kind, especially after Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, in order to show the wealth and luxury of the Qing Empire, made use of the plastic nature of red sandalwood to carve finely. , and produced a batch of high-quality red sandalwood carving furniture.

The ground-shoveling and high-relief sculptures used in this pair of top-box cabinets can be said to be a typical representative of the peak craftsmanship of furniture in the Qianlong period.

As a high-relief sculpture of shoveling the ground, the basis is shoveling the ground, which is a great challenge in red sandalwood work. When shoveling the ground, the intention and force must be the same to achieve a mirror-like effect.

The relief technique of this pair of cabinets is superb, the interspersed dragon pattern and passionflower pattern are naturally rounded, rich in layers, and have a strong sense of three-dimensionality. Seen from the side, it looks like a round carving effect.

Let's talk about the materials used, the materials used in this cabinet are extremely luxurious, which must be mentioned.

For example, for cabinet door materials, all the large materials are in the center, and the two sides are spliced ​​with small materials. This kind of design and workmanship is extremely rare in cabinets.

Compared with similar large red sandalwood cabinets, there is a piece of material in the top box door with a width of 45 cm, which is unique in other cabinets, and the selection of materials is amazing!

Except for small parts such as the back panel and internal shelves, the rest are all made of high-quality red sandalwood.

The old red sandalwood craftsmen regard the Venus red sandalwood as the top grade because the Venus red sandalwood is full of visible Venus strands. The red sandalwood wood of this group of large cabinets is made of high-quality Venus lobular red sandalwood aniseed material, and the watercress texture produced by the intersection of very small water ripples appears in a large area, which is very Rare, extremely hard to see today. "

After listening to Xiao Yao's divergent explanations and comments, Iwasaki Shinichi really felt that he had gained a lot, and he admired Xiao Yao's extensive knowledge very much.

He also likes to collect and knows some basic appreciation knowledge, but after all, he is just a collector, not an appraisal expert, and his knowledge is limited. But at such a young age, Xiao Yao is so comprehensive and professional in antique appraisal, which shows that he must have worked hard.

In this collection room, Xiao Yao was already very content with obtaining a treasure of high-grade luck. Then he picked out a set of engraved copies of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" from the Tang Dynasty, and a "Diamond Sutra" from the Northern Song Dynasty. "Manuscript. Although this Diamond Sutra was not written by a famous artist, its calligraphy is of a high level, and Xiao Yao personally likes it very much.

The last few collections were left, and Xiao Yao picked out a square plate with a garden map of Yuan Tihong and Three Friends from among them.

The heart of this square plate is consecrated, and there are eight pine trees in the interior, with pavilions and mountains and rivers, and the ancient feeling is sad. The rhombus and four corners are decorated with the most common camellias, peonies, pomegranates and chrysanthemums in the Yuan Dynasty.

The four sides of the square plate are made of plum and bamboo as the main body, with brocade ground, ganoderma lucidum and rocks, so that the whole box brings out the meaning of "three friends in cold weather".

The outer frame uses a pattern of double dragons playing with beads, which is completely different from the center of the plate, as the main body on each side, and is covered with brocade ground wishful cloud patterns. The air of king.

Such exquisite lacquerware is extremely rare. Although the price of this lacquerware is not very high, about 40 million, Xiao Yao still fell in love with it at a glance.

Carved lacquer ware was very expensive in ancient times, and only the court and dignitaries could enjoy it. Volume 4 of "The Scenery of the Imperial Capital" quotes a lacquer ware song from Yan City: "There are things that are heavy with their famous lacquer ... red and Japanese lacquer, and they are worth 100,000 when they are sold. money."

Gao Lian also mentioned in "Yanxianqing Appreciation Notes": "When Mu Zong was in Xin'an Huangpingsha, he made Tihongbi Orchard Factory. The flowers and fruits are wonderful, and the knife technique is round and clear... The price is 3,000 yuan..." .

These two records are enough to prove how expensive ancient lacquerware was at that time. The art of lacquer carving is also the most popular products from the Yuan Dynasty and the Yongxuan period of the Ming Dynasty. This square plate is definitely a high-quality product among the high-quality goods, which is rare in the world.

Having harvested a top-grade treasure of luck, Xiao Yao's good luck seems to have been exhausted. The next three treasure rooms he visited only picked out some more precious antiques, not only did he not have a second treasure of luck Appeared, even one of the most common cultivation items was not selected.