It is a tea barrel carved from purple bamboo, if you observe carefully, the carving is natural, the carving is very good, and it is definitely a master-level work.

"Is bamboo carving so valuable?" Xiao Gao still hadn't recovered from the shock.

Bamboo carving is to carve a variety of decorative patterns and words on bamboo utensils, or use bamboo roots to carve into various furnishings. It is an art that began in the Six Dynasties and was not gradually recognized and loved until the Tang Dynasty.

This art arose from the Six Dynasties until the Tang Dynasty. Before the Ming Dynasty, there were few well-known carvers, and after the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there were many famous bamboo carvers.

Most of the famous masters of the past dynasties are concentrated in the south of the Yangtze River, and the representative figures are "Jiading Sanzhu": Zhu Songlin, Zhu Xiaosong, Zhu Sansong, "Fengmen Eryou": Feng Xijue, Feng Xilu, Wu Zhiwan and Zhou Zhiyan of the Wuzhong faction, as well as Zhang Xihuang, the ancestor of bamboo carving, and Gu Jue mentioned above.

Most of the works of famous artists are simple and clumsy, often only a few knives on a bamboo carving, but such bamboo carvings can withstand the test of time, and the collection value is many times higher than ordinary bamboo carvings.

As far as Xiao Gao knows, among the works of bamboo carving, the pen holder is a major category, and some bamboo carving pen holders are millions, but more than five million is a bit difficult to understand.

It can only be said that he still knows too little and does not have enough knowledge.

The owner of the antique shop proudly introduced: "This purple bamboo tea barrel is one of the pinnacle works of a generation of bamboo carving master Pu Zhongqian, and from the style point of view, it should still be a palace product." The palace is naturally precious. ”

Pu Zhongqian, you may not have heard of it, although he is a generation of bamboo carving masters, and is also known as the leader of the Jinling school of bamboo carving.

In China, no matter what it is, as long as it involves people, there will be factions. The craft of bamboo carving is no exception, and the most famous ones are the Jiading School and the Jinling School.

At that time, in the art of bamboo carving, Jiading and Jinling were the most famous.

Since the Ming Dynasty, most of the bamboo carving masters were concentrated in the areas of Jiading and Jinling in Jiangsu, and some scholars divided these exquisite and elegant works into schools according to carving techniques and style characteristics.

The Jiading school is mainly characterized by "deep knife carving, that is, deep knife, deep and shallow, and can be five or six layers", and the works can show rich picture levels and three-dimensional effects, so they occupy an extremely important position in the history of Chinese bamboo carving.

It can go hand in hand with the Jiading faction is the Jinling faction founded by Pu Zhongqian.

The Jinling party is quite particular about the use of round carving, the selection of materials is very strict, and the carving is good at taking the momentum according to the shape, and not much artificial modification. The Jinling School is also good at bamboo carving calligraphy, which adds a strong literati atmosphere to traditional Chinese bamboo carving.

However, it is a pity that after the glory of the bamboo carving master Pan Xifeng, the bamboo carving of the Jinling School gradually declined, and the influence declined, and it was almost lost.

The owner added: "Someone asked me for 6 million before, and I was not willing to buy it. ”

In fact, this price is almost the top, but he is unwilling to transfer it. Money can be made, and he is not short of so many millions, but this kind of treasure is hard to find.

When everyone heard this, they all sighed that the people who opened antique shops were indeed wealthy!

Hu Yang also said: "Millions of bamboo carvings are not unusual, and the most expensive bamboo carvings are tens of millions." ”

The shopkeeper nodded, and he told everyone that a few years ago, in the spring auction of Christie's in Hong Kong, a bamboo carved pen holder by Gu Jue of the Qing Dynasty was auctioned for 10.45 million Hong Kong dollars, setting a record for the highest auction of bamboo carved artworks.

A few years ago, there were more than 10 million bamboo carving works?

Everyone was so shocked that they couldn't speak again, they still had too little knowledge!

"In fact, it's not surprising that bamboo carved pen holders like those in the Palace Museum's collection are more precious. Hu Yang said.

As we all know, the real national treasures are actually preserved in major museums. In private auctions, only a very small number are boutiques.

Of course, those national treasures that have been lost overseas do not count. If it weren't for the incompetence of the Qing government, those treasures would have been treasured in museums.

All right!

In this way, five or six million bamboo carved tea barrels are actually nothing.

This is the charm of antiques, the charm of works of art, even if it is a very ordinary material, after the artist's careful crafting, it will become a treasure more valuable than gold.

That's why some people say: Art is priceless!

"In the future, you may wish to pay more attention to bamboo carving works. In recent years, the bamboo carving market has been bullish, and heirloom works can be met but not sought. Bamboo carvings in the Ming and Qing dynasties may be difficult to encounter, but don't let go of the Republic of China. Hu Yang said to everyone.

Subsequently, he also explained to everyone how to pick bamboo carvings and what kind of bamboo carvings are valuable.

The material of bamboo carving is not as precious as ivory rhino horn, and its value is mainly reflected in the artistic and cultural connotation. Therefore, for the collection of bamboo carvings, we should grasp several key points: knife work, age, artistic level, correspondence with standards and documents, preservation status, etc.

"Of course, you have to watch out for the old fakes. The market of bamboo carving is rising, and fakes are emerging in an endless stream, and it is easy to be tricked. ”

"Yes, even I have been eye-popping twice and paid hundreds of thousands of tuition. The owner of the antique shop chimed in.

Wen Wenhao and the others were stunned when they heard this.

"Then what should I do?" Xiao Gao is the best one to learn, just ask if you don't understand, anyway, he is not afraid of losing face.

"Buy a good magnifying glass first!" Hu Yang said to him. That kid actually took a magnifying glass that he used to read and play, which is really heretical.

After Wen Wenhao and the others heard this, they all laughed. They have long said that this guy, the magnifying glass is a hardware accessory in their industry, and this cost must be invested, not saved.

Moreover, the magnifying glass is not expensive, like Wen Wenhao, who has a flashlight, it is only two or three hundred yuan, which is relatively good.

Xiao Gao's face was slightly red: "Okay! I'll buy one tomorrow." ”

Hu Yang then replied to the question just now: "The light of the old pulp is the natural and soft treasure light. Looking at the surface of the old piece with a magnifying glass, the leather shell has natural friction traces of irregular interlacing and different shades.

The new imitation light is a polished and waxed thief light. Looking at the new part with a magnifying glass, the surface is a regular trace of grinding and polishing in the same direction. ”

In addition, the surface color of the old pieces is light yellow, brown yellow, brown red, and maroon, which is formed as the original dyeing and anti-corrosion treatment, and then more than 100 years of playing and rubbing, just like the bamboo chairs and bamboo mats in daily life.

The new imitation is newly dyed, which looks unnatural, the color is consistent, there is no difference between shades and shades, and there is no transition color. After a period of time, the color of these imitations will be rubbed due to the high hardness and density, and the pigment will not easily adhere, and gradually fade to become lighter than the concave part.

"The old piece of bamboo carving, because the hardness and density of bamboo silk is larger than that of bamboo meat, after more than 100 years of weathering, heat rise and contraction and humidity changes, so that the point of the bamboo silk section is quite obvious, the longer the drop is larger, the protruding point of the bamboo silk is crystal translucent such as amber.

This is something that can't be imitated, so special attention should be paid to. ”

He told these people that some people would look at the old bamboo carvings and carved concave surfaces. Its color is close to the surface, there is natural pulp, the point of the bamboo wire section highlights the bamboo flesh, the exposed side bamboo wire will be more floating, and the bamboo flesh will shrink into a thin strip-like groove.

In fact, there are many ways, and you can even try the weight, because the old pieces have been dehydrated for more than 100 years, they feel light when they get started, like light lacquerware. The new product feels bulky and does not feel lightweight.

These are all analyzed comprehensively, not just one aspect.

At this time, Xiao Gao's mobile phone WeChat message rang non-stop.

He opened it and looked at it, many of them were sent by buddies in the dormitory, and there were also messages from other classmates. It's all about asking if it's true that you've picked up tens of thousands of antiques.

Xiao Gao didn't know that in this short period of time, the things he had missed had spread in the school.

A college student who has not yet graduated has earned tens of thousands of yuan, which is big news! Especially in their kind of junior college, when they go out to work, they basically have a salary of three or four thousand, how long will it take to earn tens of thousands of yuan?

The buddies in his dormitory were even more surprised, they knew that this guy liked antiques, and they had worked hard in this area, as if they were determined to get in.

They always feel that antiques are too far away from them. How can there be such good luck? Playing with antiques is not something that the poor can afford. The kind of people who get rich overnight with a few dollars is no different from buying a welfare lottery.

Therefore, they did not persuade this buddy prodigal son to turn back.

However, I didn't expect that this guy actually made the first pot of gold in his life, although it was only tens of thousands of yuan, but who would dare to say less?

After receiving Xiao Gao's affirmative response, the other three male classmates screamed and clamored for a treat.

They are also happy! Although they are envious, they are not jealous, they are all brothers in the same dormitory, who doesn't want everyone to have a good life? The kind of dormitory is still assigned, and there are more female dormitories.

Xiao Gao explained to them that he was just lucky to have Brother Hu here today, so he made a fortune.

Those people also know who Brother Hu is, after all, Xiao Gao often watches live broadcasts in the dormitory, and other boys watch beautiful women, so he is a strange thing, he actually watches a man's live broadcast.

Moreover, I heard Xiao Gao often brag to them. Brother Hu is a very powerful treasure appreciator, earning more than 100 million a month, and he is very rich.

"Come on, Lao Gao, today while Brother Hu is here, earn him a suite and come back." The dormitory buddy encouraged.

Xiao Gao is speechless, a suite? Even if it is in the deep mountains and old forests, it will cost more than 100,000 yuan, right?

In a city like Hangzhou, the location is very remote and more than one million, right?

He told his buddies: "Do you know how much Brother Hu earns today?"

The other three people in the dormitory group were curious: "How much?"

"I don't know specifically, a work by a European painting master, I estimate that it is millions at least! Tens of millions is not surprising, after all, Brother Hu sold one before, and the painter is not as famous as this one, all of them are tens of millions. ”

“......”

“......”

"it!"

"Okay, I won't talk to you, I'm going to learn more from Brother Hu today. Xiao Gao hurriedly ended the chat.

While everyone was drinking tea and chatting, someone came into the store with something, apparently for sale. The owner of the antique shop said to everyone: "You drink tea first, and I'll deal with it." ”

Hu Yang looked at the man, a little surprised.

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