Chapter 89

Seeing the owner's elated look, Zhao Qirui shook his head and said with a smile: "if this man takes this white jade tripod back, he doesn't know how to restrain himself, he will have a problem sooner or later. No matter who he is, let's settle the bill and go back. "

Four people settle accounts ready to go back, but at the door just met Yu Guangjie and others.

Yu Guangjie raised his hand and said with a smile, "Uncle Zhao, you must like this painting too. Do you want me to lend it to you for a few days?"

Zhao Qirui shook his head and said with a smile, "it's not necessary. Xiao Yu, if you have time, you should read more books and learn more things. Don't be silly. You can't tell good from bad."

After that, he left with Chu Chen and others.

Yu Guangjie was stunned after hearing the speech. What does this mean? Is this work a fake? It's not like that. The inscriptions, inscriptions and seals are all right!

In fact, Zhao Qirui said this sentence just for a little satire. Yu Guangjie was ignorant, but in Qian Changxing's ears, it made him think of one thing, and his face turned pale.

Seeing this situation, Yu Guangjie knew that it was broken. He angrily yelled at Qian Changxing: "if something is wrong, I want you to look good!"

On the bus, Zhao Qirui couldn't restrain his curiosity, so he asked Chu Chen, "Xiao Chu, what's the matter with that painting?"

Chuchen said with a smile: "this painting should be a masterpiece of Shen Zhou. If you are interested, brother Zhao, you can have a look at the ancient paintings and calligraphy published by the Heritage Publishing House. One of them is Shen Zhou's painting of rain and mountain. They are almost the same, but this is impossible for Shen Zhou."

"Maybe some people say that one is fake, but this one is real, but it's impossible to compare it. Let's take the promotion of celebrities as an example to prove the authenticity. In that painting, I remember the promotion of Cao Shizhong, Dong Qichang and others, as well as the collection seal of celebrities. With all this alone, I don't think it's true or false. "

"What's more, from the point of view of the brushwork, this painting should be Shen Zhou's work in his seventies. At this time, Shen Zhou's brushwork is quite old and his style has been finalized. At this time, his style can be described as a combination of hardness and softness, emphasizing" momentum "and meaning" quality ". But none of these aspects are shown in that painting, so the painter is another person."

In fact, there are also records of Shen Zhou's ghostwriting in history. Shen Zhou was gentle and generous. Others asked for paintings and never refused. As a result, the bustle of books and paintings in the suitcase and in the case of the silk shop became the hustle and bustle of the hotel.

Some painters, who did not know Shen Zhou, took only a silk scarf or other trivial gifts and had to ask for several works. Once the time had passed, they would go to the door to collect debts, which made Shen Zhou very tired.

He says helplessly: "I am here, this debt endlessly; I die, already carry on."

In order to avoid such harassment, Shen Zhou entered Gusu, but he did not dare to go to the downtown. He could only seek temporary peace by living in a remote temple. But in the end, such a short-term peace could not be achieved, because he had not landed on the boat, and those good people had been waiting for him in front of the temple.

Liu Bangyan, a friend, once wrote a poem for him: "if you send paper, knock on the door and ask for paintings frequently, there is no place for monks to escape from the red world. If you go back to the East and ask for a debt from the south, you will turn into a golden immortal." "From the capital as far as Fujian, Chu, Sichuan and Guangzhou, all of them have been bought for their traces. They think that they are treasures, romantic and literary. They are also prosperous when they are reflected for a while," Wang said in his epitaph of Shitian

In order to deal with the painters, Shen Zhou adopted two methods: Procrastination and ghostwriting. For those who are far away and use letters to urge for drawing debts, he does not reply, but just drags on. For those who came to the door in person, he asked the students to write for him. Therefore, there are many fake paintings handed down by Shen Zhou.

Chuchen said with a smile: "this painting should have been made by Shen Zhou's students or others, and then Shen Zhou was promoted and stamped with a seal. But the painter's skill is still good. Of course, it may also be the relationship between Shen Zhou's later embellishment, so the painting still has a certain value, but its value is not four million, even four hundred thousand."

Zhao Qirui was stunned. He had heard of ghostwriting before, but he never met it, so he didn't care about it. However, he didn't expect that a famous writer like Shen Zhou would have ghostwriting, let alone other people?

Thinking of this, Zhao Qirui said angrily, "isn't this fraud, and these painters are not afraid that their reputation will be damaged by doing so?"

Chuchen smiles and replies: "in fact, the phenomenon of calligraphers and painters asking people to" write for them "has a long history. It's like Wu Daozi's" writing for them "by Zhai Yan and Zhang Zang in ancient times, Dong Qichang's" writing for them "by Shen Shichong and Zhao Zuo, and Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming's" writing for them ", and Zhang Daqian and Qi Baishi's" writing for them in modern times. "

"But generally speaking, they have no choice but to ask someone to write for them. After all, a person's energy is limited, his fame is big, there are too many people asking for works, or he has a special task, so he can only ask someone to write for him. And the ghostwriters are also recognized by themselves, and their level is not too poor, so ordinary people can understand it. "

After hearing the speech, Zhao Qirui nodded and said:"There's a certain truth to this, but our businessmen don't agree with it. It's like I ordered a batch of TV sets. According to the requirements, all the parts in them should be original, but the only thing he gave me was the picture tube. Do you think I would be satisfied? I think that even if the reason for writing is good enough, it is fraudulent to a certain extent. "

Chu Chen laughed and said, "I think it should be dealt with separately. I think the ancients' ghostwriting is still excusable. After all, they can't afford to hire someone to write on their behalf, and generally they can stand the moral test. There is a bottom line. If the artistic level of the ghostwriting works can stand the test, it's also acceptable."

"However, I think it's really unhealthy for these painters to write for commercial purposes. These painters often produce their works in batches, and then let their disciples write for them after they have a certain reputation. In this way, the commercial paintings made in batches are mixed with many works, which is very hidden and reduces their artistry at the same time."

Zhao Qirui shakes his head. He still can't accept this kind of ghostwriting behavior. Moreover, he can identify calligraphy works, but for painting alone, he can only see a rough picture, so he hates this kind of ghostwriting behavior in his heart.

"I think it's better to be less involved in Chinese works in the future, or maybe one day I'll buy some works written on behalf of others." Zhao said with a sigh.

Chuchen smiles and says nothing more. Although he can understand the ancient people's writing, he thinks that it actually encourages the practice of fraud.

It's a good thing for ancient painters to say that their moral and integrity constraints are better in terms of interests. However, in modern times, some painters often find someone to write for them in order to fulfill the requirements of other people's orders. This is not moral, but also a kind of harm to the spread and development of calligraphy and painting culture.

After discussing the issue of ghostwriting for a while, Zhao Qirui thought about it and immediately became happy. He didn't know what kind of expression Yu Guangjie would have when he knew that it was a ghostwriting work. In particular, it made Yu Guangjie produce 500000 more, which made him feel very happy. It was revenge in the afternoon.

"By the way, Xiao Chu, is there something strange about the pen holder you just photographed? It can't be that you picked it up again?" Zhao Qirui suddenly thought of the bamboo carving penholder that Chu Chen bought, and suddenly became curious.

"I do feel a little bit of a problem with it, but I'm not sure if it will leak."

Chu Chen had carefully studied the penholder before and found a problem, but whether it was what he thought was still to be confirmed.

"Oh, Xiao Chu, tell me quickly, what's the matter?"

Chuchen handed the pen to Zhao Qirui and said with a smile, "brother Zhao, you can tell by comparing the depth inside with your fingers."

Zhao Qirui curiously took the pen holder, and then touched it with his finger towards the inside of the pen holder. He didn't expect that his finger would reach the end after a while. Then he took out his finger and made a gesture on the outside of the pen holder, which was only half the position of the pen holder.

"Xiao Chu, you mean there may be something in it?" Zhao Qirui was a little surprised and returned the pen holder to Chu Chen.

Chu Chen weighed the pencil case and said with a smile, "I really think so. If there is nothing in it, it doesn't conform to the style of the pencil case. And if there is nothing in it, don't you think it's a little heavier?"

Chu Chen turned the pen barrel over. There was nothing unusual at the bottom of the pen barrel. It was a base made of wood and wrapped up.

"Brother Zhao, do you have a knife here?"

"Yes." A Chao opened a box in front of him, took out a fruit knife from it and handed it to him.

Chu Chen scraped with a knife at the joint of the base and the pen holder, but he scraped out something like wax, which should have the function of bonding and sealing. Gradually, the knife scraped deeper and deeper, and finally the whole base began to loosen.

Seeing that the scraping was almost done, Chu Chen took down the base with a little effort. Looking inside, he looked strange.

"What's in it?" Seeing this, Zhao Qirui asked strangely.

Chuchen poured out the contents, but it was something that looked like a round box.

The height difference of this box is about seven or eight centimeters, which is almost half the height of the pen holder. The box looks black, and I don't know what it is made of. It feels smooth, but it doesn't look like jade. Chu Chen thinks it should be a kind of metal product with other things on the surface.