Treasure Hunt all over the World

Although it is already mid-November, the autumn auction season in New York is still in full swing.

In the auction hall of Christie’s Auction House, the special auction of German Paintings of European Classical Paintings, Netherlandish Painting School and Flanders Fine Arts is coming to an end, and it has also entered the climax of this auction.

"boom!"

The auction hammer fell heavily on the auction stage, and the sound resounded throughout the auction hall.

At the same time, the auctioneer raised his hand and pointed to the audience, loudly saying passionately:

"Sold! $96.5 million deal! Congratulations to buyer No. 76, Mr. Liu from Shanghai, China, who successfully took this outstanding Rubens work, "Portrait of Brant" created around 1620"

Before the words fell, there was thunderous applause at the scene, which was very enthusiastic.

"clap clap"

While applauding, everyone in the auction hall looked at Mr. Liu, the buyer No. 76 sitting in the middle of the third row, and everyone's eyes were full of envy.

Ye Tian and Betty, who were sitting in the first row, also looked back at this old friend from China, waved to each other lightly, and nodded with a smile!

Not only Mr. Liu, Ye Tian and Betty were also the focus of everyone's attention, and they were the envy of everyone.

There is no other reason, because this top artwork, Rubens' "Portrait of Brandt", which has just been auctioned for a sky-high price of 96.5 million US dollars, belongs to Ye Tian and comes from Napoleon's treasure!

The applause fell, and the special shooting officially came to an end.

Those buyers who got nothing got up and left the auction hall of Christie's Auction House with a little disappointment and regret, and maybe a little bit of regret!

The rest of the buyers who made a lot of money continued to stay in the auction hall, joking and chatting with friends, while waiting patiently, preparing to go through relevant procedures later, sign the auction transaction confirmation letter, and so on.

Ye Tian and Betty did not leave the auction hall immediately, but walked up to Mr. Liu and the others, chatting with these old friends from China.

Together with Mr. Liu, Ma Ye, another famous collector in China, Mr. Zhao, and two assistants and translators came to participate in this special auction.

Because everyone has seen it before the auction started,

And we chatted for a while, so when we met again, we skipped the procedure of exchanging greetings and went straight to the point!

"Congratulations, Mr. Liu, you have successfully won this piece of Rubens' "Portrait of Brandt", and set a record for the auction transaction of a Rubens painting in one fell swoop. The handwriting is amazing.

As far as I know, there is currently no painting by Rubens at his peak in China. Once this painting is brought to China, it will definitely cause a sensation and attract countless attentions! "

Ye Tian said with a smile, and shook hands with Mr. Liu, speaking Mandarin of course.

"I should congratulate you, Ye Tian, ​​you are the biggest winner of this special auction, and nearly 200 million U.S. dollars were swept away in one auction. It's a money grab! It's not so fast!"

Mr. Liu said jokingly, his eyes were full of excitement, and he was obviously very satisfied with today's results.

"It's not that exaggerated. I'm quite satisfied with the auction price of one of Rubens' masterpieces, "Portrait of Brandt". Thank you for your support.

But for the two paintings by Holbein and Pruegel the Elder, I am not very satisfied with the auction price, but it is also above the auction reserve price I set! "

Ye Tian pretended to be polite, and the bright smile on his face was enough to explain everything.

Seeing his performance, these old friends from China couldn't help but roll their eyes angrily, secretly envious.

After chatting with Mr. Liu, Ye Tian turned to the other two old friends.

"Mr. Ma, Mr. Zhao, why didn't I see you two take a shot and take a few works of art? To be honest, the quality of the works of art that appeared in this special auction is still very good, and it is worth selling!"

The two shook their heads in unison, and Ma Ye said jokingly:

"We don't have much interest in Western classical paintings, and to be honest, we don't appreciate them a bit. We prefer Chinese antique artworks.

Besides, the price of the top Western artworks is too expensive, tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, the little money in our pockets can't stand your calculations!

However, if you are willing to put "Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace" up for auction, then even if it's a waste of time, I will compete! "

"Me too. I don't know if you are willing to put "Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace" up for auction?"

Mr. Zhao agreed, his eyes full of anticipation.

"Auction "Ode to Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace"? How is that possible? You know, it is a priceless national treasure and one of the most important works of art in the Old Summer Palace. How could I be willing to do it!

"Ode to the Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace" is the treasure of my personal exhibition hall. When my museum is established, it will be the treasure of the town hall. It will never be transferred. You two should give up this idea. ! "

Ye Tian smiled and shook his head and said, his tone was extremely firm.

"That's right, it's "Ode to the Forty Scenes of the Old Summer Palace". As long as it is a domestic collector, once it is owned, who would be willing to transfer it? What's more, you are a shrewd guy.

Don't talk about it, there is no hope anyway! I heard that you bought An Siyuan's gorgeous mansion before, if possible, we would really like to visit that legendary mansion."

"No problem, Master Ma, as long as you want to go, I welcome you at any time, but I want to remind you that all the original Chinese antique artworks in that house have been auctioned off.

After I bought the house, I spent a lot of time rearranging it, and put some Chinese antiques in it, but it is still very different from before.”

"I understand this. After all, everyone has different aesthetic tastes. In fact, we didn't go for the Chinese antiques in the house, but for the house itself.

Over the past 100 years, the status and prices of Chinese antique art in the international market have been controlled by Westerners, and the same is true for domestic antique art collections.

Among them, An Siyuan is a very important one. That gorgeous mansion has a great influence on the Chinese antique art market, because An Siyuan has been working from home.

The passing of An Siyuan means the end of the Western mastery of the Chinese antique art market. It is precisely because of this that we want to visit that famous gorgeous mansion! "

Ma Ye said with emotion, but there was a bit of excitement in his eyes.

The rest of them were the same, the excitement and anticipation between their eyebrows couldn't be concealed at all, and they even felt a little gloating.

Obviously, these few are not good people!

Ye Tian glanced at these people, then smiled and nodded in response:

"No problem. After lunch later, I will take you to visit. For the Chinese antique art collection market, that gorgeous mansion has no impact!"

While talking, two staff members from Christie's auction house came over.

When they came closer, the two staff members of the auction house notified Ye Tian and Mr. Liu respectively to go through the relevant procedures after the auction.

"Mr. Ma, Mr. Zhao, you two wait for a while, we will come as soon as we go"

After speaking, Ye Tian took Betty and followed an auction house staff to the office area.

Mr. Liu and his assistant followed another staff member to sign the auction confirmation letter.

In the blink of an eye, it was past one o'clock in the afternoon.

After having lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Ye Tian took Ma Ye and the others to the top-end apartment on Fifth Avenue, which was An Siyuan's gorgeous mansion.

Betty has already returned to the company, and did not come with her. After all, she does not understand Chinese, so it is very inconvenient to communicate with everyone.

After getting off the car at the side of Fifth Avenue and entering the apartment building, Ye Tian began to introduce to Ma Ye and the others this top mansion that is famous in the field of Chinese antique art collections.

"This apartment is one of the top mansions in New York. It has a history of more than 80 years. It has a total of 22 rooms. It enjoys the beautiful scenery of Central Park in four seasons and is within easy reach of the Metropolitan Museum.

At the beginning of April this year, by chance, I heard that this apartment was for sale, and I spent 58 million US dollars to win this top-level apartment, creating a New York luxury house transaction record in the first half of this year."

Hearing this, Master Ma and the others immediately exclaimed.

"Hey! 58 million US dollars, which is nearly 400 million yuan, you are really willing to give up, and you are really rich, it is too extravagant!"

"58 million US dollars is indeed a staggering sky-high price, but compared with what your boy has gained in this house, it is not worth mentioning at all!

The set of "Chunhua Pavilion Posts", which shocked the domestic collection circle, and the masterpiece "Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo, which shocked the world, were all found here, right? "

Ye Tian nodded slightly, and then said triumphantly:

"It seems that you are still very concerned about me, yes, in this famous and beautiful mansion, I did find several top-notch antique works of great value!

These include the "Chunhua Getie", the ancestor of Fatie, Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam", and An Siyuan's emerald ring, each of which is priceless! "

"Co-authoring with you not only picked up a top-notch apartment for nothing, but also made a fortune. The best collection of An Siyuan's hard work all fell into your hands. This luck is too bad!"

"Hahaha, my luck has always been good, and this time is no exception. Of course, this is also thanks to An Siyuan. If it weren't for him, I would not have discovered these priceless treasures."

Ye Tian said with a smug smile, his tone and expression were rather beating.

While speaking, the group of them had already stepped out of the elevator and arrived at the door of the apartment. Ye Tian immediately stepped forward, ready to open the door.

Iris scanning, fingerprint input, and password input. After some operations, the specially reinforced door was opened, and Ye Tian also disarmed the security system smoothly.

Before that, he had secretly turned on the perspective, his vision penetrated the wall, and he had a clear view of the situation in this apartment.

There was no sign of any break-ins in the apartment and it was very safe.

"Everyone, please come in and take a good look at this top-level apartment that has had a major impact on the Chinese antique market, although it has long since changed."

With that said, Ye Tian made a gesture of invitation and let Master Ma and the others into the apartment.

As soon as they entered the front hall of the apartment, Ma Ye and the others stopped immediately and looked at the paintings hanging in the hall and the two huanghuali armchairs in the hall.

Without exception, surprise flashed across the eyes of each of them.

Ye Tian looked at the expressions of these people, and then explained with a smile:

"Originally there was Master Pan Tianshou's famous work, "The Courtyard of Qingfang", and two Ming Dynasty huanghuali armchairs were placed in front of the painting, but unfortunately, those top antique works of art were all auctioned off.

The paintings that you are seeing now hanging in the front hall are also masterpieces of Master Pan Tianshou, "Four Screens of Flowers and Birds", which is no less than that "Full Garden".

However, these two huanghuali armchairs are much worse. They come from the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. The material is Vietnamese huanghuali, not sea yellow.

While talking, Ye Tian's cell phone rang suddenly, interrupting his conversation.

He took out his mobile phone and glanced at it. The words 'Bishop of Kent' were impressively written on the screen.