Chapter 769

In addition to the skilled enamel painters from abroad, some domestic workers were also employed in the imperial glass factory. According to records, they probably came from two famous glass manufacturing centers in China, Boshan and Lingnan in Shandong Province. Boshan began to produce glass in the Yuan Dynasty.

In addition, the Qing palace archives of Kangxi recorded the names of two Lingnan craftsmen in the imperial glass factory. They were Cheng Xianggui and his apprentice Zhou Jun. according to the records, they entered the palace in 1709 and returned to Lingnan in 1715.

The archives of the Qing Dynasty also recorded that two other European missionaries had made great contributions to the glass factory. One was Jiwen, a French Jesuit. He came to China in 1740. Before entering the convent, he was a glass and crystal craftsman.

He came to China as a watchmaker and glassmaker. Emperor Qianlong ordered him to work for the glass of Yuanmingyuan, specializing in the production of glass of different colors and materials, European style glass, and gorgeous decorative glass used and displayed in the palace.

Another Jesuit glassmaker, Tang Zhizhong, was also from France. He was born in Rouen. He entered the monastery in Paris in 1727, went to Canada in 1730, returned to China in 1735 and left for China in 1740.

He used to work in Rouen's glass workshop, probably Royal workshop, and was good at making glass pieces. When he arrived in China in 1741, he worked in canchikou glass factory for more than two years.

According to the records of Qianlong period, the glassware should have been fired and blown in the factory of canchikou first, and then painted in Yuanmingyuan workshop. Yuanmingyuan workshop was the place where the most exquisite glassware was made, and it was also supervised by the Emperor himself.

Now, Chu Chen can be sure that some of the related existing glassware, including the penholder in his hand, should have been painted and decorated by the Yuanmingyuan workshop during the glass making period of the Qianlong Dynasty from 1736 to 1758.

This can be seen from a few pieces of painted enamel ware collected by Sir David.

For example, the penholder in his hand is not much different from the several landscape painting utensils in David's collection in terms of painting skills. It can also be seen that although these pens are not from the same painter, they should be painted in the same workshop.

In addition, the enamel wares of Matai paintings collected by Da Weide are all carved with four character regular script with two side frames, some of which are engraved with blue marks. The same is true of Chu Chen's pen holder.

Chuchen admires the penholder in his hand. From the whole point of view, although the height of the penholder is only 7.2 cm, the landscape on the penholder is incisively and vividly displayed.

Among them, the brush strokes are also excellent to show a variety of techniques. The textured brush of mountain stones has a clear level, and the trees use point clusters or clip leaves according to different types. The combination of color and ink, with ink brush as the backbone, green as the main tone, mixed with some bright red, because of the glaze, the color is more bright and bright than painting.

Its composition is dense and appropriate, with distinct layers, and the scenery is well arranged. Its strokes are natural and flexible, rendering is textured, and the style is fresh. It has unique artistic charm. The overall style is full of the rigorous, rich, elegant and implicit characteristics of Qing Dynasty palace landscape painting, which makes people happy to watch and endless to enjoy.

In addition to the superb skills embodied in the material and painting, the historical reasons of that year also added a lot of value to the material enamel ware.

At that time, with the death of Tang Zhizhong and Ji Wen, two foreign experts, from 1757 to 1758, the technology began to decline after 1758. In the 25th year of Qianlong, that is, after 1760, the output of Yuguang declined sharply, and the craftsmen no longer had the innovative ideas as they had in the early days, and they no longer produced the same exquisite works as Chu Chen's penholder.

However, due to the high technical requirements of enamel painting, Chu Chen didn't produce many such exquisite pieces during the period of making Dingfeng from 1736 to 1758. Such a variety, such a rare product, even if it can't be said to be priceless, it can also be regarded as a treasure that many collectors can't find.

Chuchen can't understand why Warren put it on the Bogu shelf. Doesn't it mean that he regards the pen holder as a fake?

That's not right! Even if he did not ask other experts to identify these two days? Can experts treat such a treasure as a fake?

"Is it?"

Just when Chu Chen thought of one of the possibilities, Warren, standing beside him, said with a smile, "Chu, is this pen holder beautiful?"

"It's really good!" Chuchen nodded with a smile, and then asked, "Mr. Warren, I'm afraid I don't know where you got this pen holder?"

Warren replied with a smile: "this is a time when I helped a friend and he gave it to me. What's up? It's like a real collection of Sir David's, isn't it? I tell you, it's not just you. When an expert I invited the day before yesterday saw this pen holder, he was very surprised at first. Later, he said it was a fake after careful reading. However, he still praised it and said that it was an excellent imitation... "

At this point, Warren immediately responded and gave chuchen a little embarrassed smile. Although both sides knew what he had asked for, they didn't respect chuchen.Chuchen smiles. He doesn't care about it. After all, Warren doesn't have any malice in his heart.

In addition, from Warren's introduction, Chu Chen understood the reason why the pen holder was placed on the Bogu shelf. Warren thinks that this pen holder is a fake because he doesn't believe that his friends will give him a million pounds worth of precious cultural relics. The experts invited by Warren say it's a fake. The meaning is self-evident.

In order to confirm his conjecture, chuchen asked with a smile: "Mr. Warren, did the expert you invited not say that he wanted to buy this pen holder at that time?"

"He said that, but the price he offered was less than 2000 pounds, and the price he offered for my other things was also very low, so I said that I should consider..."

Anyway, Warren was very generous to say that there was a big difference between the price given by the other party and that given by Chu Chen, so he rejected the other party's proposal at that time, but the other party didn't give up. He told Warren that he would visit Warren's house this Sunday, that is, tomorrow.

Chuchen said with a smile, "Mr. Warren, I have to tell you something that may surprise you. I'm 100% sure this pencil case is genuine."

As a matter of fact, for chuchen, he can say that it is a fake. As long as his price is right, Warren will certainly agree with it. But in that case, his conscience is really bad.

Perhaps some people will say that since Chu Chen thinks so, how could he buy the genuine at the price of the fake when he picked up the leak?

It seems to be contradictory, but in fact, the situation is not the same. Picking up a leak is a business. One is willing to fight, and the other is willing to get paid. The money is made by one's own eyes. But now it is against his professional ethics to make him, like the unknown expert, say that what is clearly true is a fake in order to earn huge profits.

What's more, there's an old saying that if people don't know, they have to do nothing about it. If Chu Chen really has to buy something back at a fake price at this time, what will they think when Wu Ke, Mina and others know? It's estimated that Chu Chen didn't even care about morality for money!

Of course, the last reason is that Chu Chen is not short of money at all. If he had no powers before, he might not be able to resist the temptation of money, but for him now, there is no need to go against his heart because of this interest.

When Warren heard Chu Chen say this, he was immediately shocked. After a while, he came back to himself and said, "but But, Chu, since that's the case, why hasn't this pencil case been recorded? "

Chuchen said with a smile, "Mr. Warren, you should know that not every Chinese antique has been recorded."

Warren also knows that there are many Chinese antiques, and some of them have been privately collected. Therefore, it is impossible to record every antique. But since they are genuine, why do the experts he invited deliberately say they are fakes? You know, the other party is a well-known expert, isn't it?

"Chu, how much is this pen holder worth now?" Warren asked quickly.

Chu Chen replied: "in terms of the current market value, it should be around one million pounds."

After all, it's only 2002 now. In terms of the appearance and workmanship of the pen holder, the price Chu Chen gave is still in line with the market situation at that time. Of course, after the price of Chinese porcelain on the auction market is hyped up, the value of the exquisite material body enamel ware like Warren's pen barrel rises geometrically.

To be specific, in 2007, CADS auctioned off a Western mother and child drawing brush case made by Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. The transaction price was more than 67 million RMB, which was equivalent to 4.5 million pounds at the exchange rate at that time. And the value of Warren's pen holder is similar to that of the Western mother child picture pen holder.

Of course, neither chuchen nor Warren has the ability to foretell. Moreover, when Warren heard the price given by chuchen, he was shocked. After a long time, he came back to himself and said, "Chu, are you serious?"

Chu Chen replied with a positive face: "don't worry! I'd like to ask you about the purchase of this pen holder. I don't joke with my own money, do I

"Well Then why did he say it was fake before? Did he... "

Seeing Warren's reaction, Chu Chen nodded and said, "yes, that's what you think. The expert you hired probably wants to say that the truth is false, and then buy things back at a very low price, so as to make a huge profit."

"How could he do that!" Warren looked shocked and angry and said: "he is a well-known expert, does he even ignore the professional ethics?"