Chapter 630

Wen Zhengming was 81 years old in 1551, the 30th year of Jiajing's reign of 1911.

In addition, Wu Weiye, a famous poet in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, is also inscribed on the lower left corner of the picture. He is also known as the "three masters of Jiangzuo" together with Qian Qianyi and Gong Dingzi, and is also the founder of Loudong School of poetry. He was good at seven character singing and began to learn "Changqing style". Later, he became a new poet, which was called "Meicun style" by later generations. In addition, there are many scholars in Qing Dynasty.

Besides, judging from the promotion of this picture, it should be a work of facing. What is facing? It is to face other people's paintings or printed matter and draw them meticulously according to the pen, ink, color and composition of their works.

Why does Chu Chen think this work is a work of facing? It is also because Wen Zhengming's promotion is Huang Gongwang's "zuizhongtian" Xiaoling in Li Song's "skeleton painting".

In any case, the figure looks vivid and accurate, the lines are smooth and elegant, the colors are elegant, especially the proportion of large and small skeletons is also very accurate, which is similar to the original painting. It should be said that it is a rare white work.

But, as I said earlier, is the character in this picture an authentic work of Wen Zhengming or a ghostwriter? Or was the picture written by someone else, and Wen Zhengming wrote the postscript?

It would be doubted if another 80 year old painter had painted such a fine figure drawing. However, it is not surprising that Wen Zhengming's paintings and calligraphy are "more sophisticated and more sophisticated as he gets older".

However, as mentioned above, in his paintings, Wen Zhengming seldom copied his predecessors' works, but mostly created for himself. Only one of them is collected in Gugong Museum of Baodao. There is a postscript on the axis of the painting of Lady Bajiao: "Jiajing is already in spring. I read the painting of Lady Bajiao by Zhao Songxue occasionally. I'm going to have a play."

This painting is nameless, with white seal "Zhengming seal". This painting is an old collection of the Qing palace and was recorded in the third edition of Shiqu Baoji Yanxi palace. This picture is an authentic one, which may indicate that the picture in front of us may be an authentic copy.

So, is this picture of the phantom of the skeleton a masterpiece?

When Chu Chen recalled for a moment, it can be seen from the existing historical materials that among Zhu Lang, Zhou Tianqiu and Lu Shidao who were the representatives of Wen Zhengming's paintings, the representation of landscapes or flowers should be a fact, while the representation of fine brushwork and white brushwork of figures is not recorded in history, and all of them are not good at figures.

Among Wen Zhengming's disciples and friends in his later years (around 80 years old), Qiu Ying seems to be the only one who has the skill and attainments of this figure painting.

Chu Chen learned from historical materials that Wen and Qiu had known each other for more than 30 years. They were both teachers and friends, and they often cooperated in painting. For example, in the 15th year of Zhengde, Wen and Qiu Hezuo copied Li Gonglin's painting of Lotus Society; in the 12th year of Zhengde (1517), Wen Zhengming painted it and Qiu Ying painted it.

Wen and Qiu created more in the form of combination of calligraphy and painting, such as Qiu's painting, the volume of filial piety, the axis of shuangjun's painting, the volume of Shanglin's painting, the volume of Zhigong's painting, the volume of houchibi's painting, and so on.

So, is this painting written by Wen Zhengming himself, or is it a collaboration between Wen and Qiu? However, whether it is the work of Wen Zhengming or the cooperation of Wen and Qiu, as long as it is an authentic work, the value of this painting is very high.

With this question, Chu Chen took out a magnifying glass and began to observe carefully.

First of all, Chu Chen's handwriting and seal are certainly authentic, which is in line with his characteristics of gentle and graceful calligraphy, steady and mature, strict and vivid manner.

The figures in the painting are vivid, vivid and vivid, with vivid colors but not flashy. Judging from the brush and style of the painting, they are indeed Qiu Ying's pulse.

However, the painting was created in the winter of 1551, and the date of Qiu Ying's birth and death is not very clear. Some say it was in the autumn and winter of 1551, and some say it was in the autumn and winter of 1552. But even if he died in 1552, it is still unknown whether Qiu Ying had the strength to paint such a painting ten months ago.

Moreover, judging from the style and style of the painting, it is still different from Qiu Ying's previous works, and not as exquisite as Qiu Ying's. After careful observation, Chu Chen felt that the painting method and style were very similar to those of you Qiu.

You Qiu is Qiu Ying's nephew. He is good at painting figures, ladies, Taoism and landscape. As an important representative painter in the late period of Wu school, he was especially good at drawing figures in white. He was Qiu Ying in painting law, and later Liu Songnian and Qian shunju. The style is delicate and elegant, pursuing the ancient elegance of literati, which is called Qiu Ying's successor.

In addition, during his observation, Chu Chen also noticed a detail. The paper of this work should have been larger than it is now, and the missing part may have been lost by conscious cutting in the previous mounting period.

With this discovery, Chu Chen's heart also immediately had a more realistic guess.

He remembers that in the master's notes, he saw numerous imitations and reproductions of the famous masters of the Wu clan at that time, and there were often personal inscriptions on the fake books. In the process of appraisal, it is often found that the works were actually written by Qian Gu, Zhu Lang, you Qiu, Wen Jia and Wen Peng, but some of them were written by Wen Zhengming himself.From this point, Chu Chen speculated that the cut part was probably youqiu's inscription. As for the purpose of cutting this part, it's easy to understand, because in the history of painting, Wen Zhengming's popularity has always been far greater than Qiu Ying and youqiu. For the sake of interests, it's normal to cut off youqiu's inscription.

Therefore, Chu Chen felt that the painting in front of him should be a work written by Wen Zhengming.

However, in the identification of calligraphy and painting, Chu Chen was a little worse than the identification of porcelain and jade, and his conclusion was mainly based on speculation, which was not rigorous enough, so he immediately used his powers.

Although this ability can't directly say that this painting is genuine, it can support Chu Chen's judgment from the aspects of age and value.

Seeing Chu Chen put away his things, Xie Gong quickly asked, "boss Chu, what do you think of this painting?"

"This..." Chu Chen hesitated for a while, and then said, "Mr. Xie, maybe you are going to be disappointed. I think this work is a proxy work."

"Ghostwriting?" Xie Gong was stunned. After a while, he came back to himself and asked, "boss Chu, do you mean my work is not true?"

"Not all of them are untrue!"

Chu Chen shook his head and said, "I think the inscriptions and seals should be the original works of Wen Zhengming. However, in terms of the brush and style of painting, I think they are quite different from Wen Zhengming."

"It's impossible!"

Xie Gong directly denied Chu Chen's conclusion with an angry face: "how can things handed down by my family for one or two hundred years be wrong? And there are so many famous seals on it. Can't they see them? "

Chu Chen said calmly: "old Xie, you first excited, I said this work is wrong, also has the reason, you first listen patiently, how?"

Although Chu Chen gave the result that he absolutely didn't want to hear, considering that the price Chu Chen gave before was really kind, and he looked good, although Xie Gong was angry in his heart, he said rudely: "you say it!"

"First of all, Li Gonglin's traditional painting style is smooth. In his later years, he had two styles, thick and thin. The later he was, the more he worked. And this work, from the postscript, is his work when he was 81 years old.... "

Chu Chen talked about the painting in detail, and finally concluded: "therefore, I think it should be a work written by you Qiu and written by Wen Zhengming."

After listening to Chu Chen's detailed explanation, Xie Gong began to incline to Chu Chen's judgment. However, it must be impossible for him to completely believe Chu Chen's judgment now. After thinking about it, he said:

"you also said that your conclusion is based on speculation. Does that mean that this work may be the authentic work of Wen Zhengming?"

Chu Chen shook his head and told the truth: "as I have said before, I'm just not sure whether it's a work you Qiu. Judging from the style of painting, it's very unlikely that this work was written by Wen Zhengming himself. Of course, I still have some shortcomings in the identification of calligraphy and painting, so I suggest that we give my master another identification later. What do you think? "

"Who is your master?" Xie Gong asked.

Chu Chen replied, "my master is Liu Zhihe. Do you know him?"

At the beginning, Xie Gong didn't remember who Chu Chen was talking about. After a moment's silence, he said in a surprised voice:

"what?! Is your Master Mr. Liu

"If it's fake, it's guaranteed!" Chuchen said with a smile, "Mr. Xie, if you agree, let's start now."

Xie Gong didn't think much about it, so he agreed. After all, Chu Chen gave him such an unexpected result. If he didn't make it clear, it would be a thorn in his throat.

Moreover, in his family's present situation, this painting will have to be sold sooner or later. No matter whether it's true or false, it's better for him to sell it to Chu Chen, because he knows that Chu Chen will not be as desperate as others.

Xie Gong thinks that although he is suspected of taking advantage of Chu Chen's kindness, at this time, he can't think of any other way to get money, so he can only do it. However, he also made up his mind to repay Chu Chen when the matter was over.

After getting on the bus, Chu Chen drove directly to yuhuating. On the way, Xie Gong worried and asked, "boss Chu, if this painting is really like what you said, how much is it worth?"

Chu Chen replied: "even if this painting is indeed a ghostwork, the promotion and seal are true. In this case alone, it can be worth more than 100000 yuan. Moreover, this painting is also very good. It can be regarded as genuine. I think the market price should be around 500000 yuan."