"Ran into your crush again?" Yu Yao also teased Pu Jie.

"I'm not kidding. Pu Jie cleared his throat, "Two things. First, this year's Chinese New Year, my parents said to invite you to my house. ”

Yu Yao thought for a while, "This, I won't go." What do brothers say to each other, for the New Year, I got involved, and it was a little awkward. ”

Pu Jie interfaced, "You don't want to spend time with newcomers this year, do you?"

"Don't talk nonsense, I haven't decided what to do, second?"

"Forget it, whatever you want. Pu Jie continued, "Are you familiar with the stone Buddha statues in the Northern Qi Dynasty? I haven't heard you mention this, and I haven't touched it." ”

"What? What source do you have?" Yu Yao heard, "The Buddha statues of the Northern Qi Dynasty are highly sought-after goods for high-end collectors. However, there are few overall appearances on the market, and most of them are Buddha heads. ”

Speaking of the stone Buddha statue of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there is a bit of background. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Northern Wei Dynasty, which unified the north, was divided into Eastern Wei and Western Wei, which were later usurped by the Yuwen family to establish the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the Eastern Wei Dynasty was usurped by Gao Yang, the son of the powerful minister Gao Huan, to establish the Northern Qi Dynasty.

The Northern Buddha statues of this period had the highest artistic achievements in the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties. This is because Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty both raised the movement of exterminating Buddha, which affected the development of Buddha statues to a certain extent.

The Northern Qi lasted only twenty-eight years before being destroyed by the Northern Zhou, whose powerful vassal Yang Jian eventually established the Sui Dynasty.

In the past twenty-eight years, there have been a total of six emperors in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and none of them lived past the age of forty. Moreover, except for Emperor Xiaozhao Gao Yan (who reigned for less than two years and collapsed at the age of twenty-seven), the other emperors were very bad.

Many people called the Northern Qi Dynasty the "Dynasty of Beasts" because the emperor was tyrannical, cruel and impermanent, and his rule was extremely dark. For example, Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang, a bit of intermittent psychosis, takes pleasure in killing people when he drinks. He once killed a concubine, then cut off his head and dismembered him, and used human bones to make a pipa to play and sing to himself, which can be called extremely perverted.

In great contrast, the cruel and murderous emperors of the Northern Qi Dynasty all believed in Buddhism!

At the same time, the bloody and dark Northern Qi was artistically developed.

Therefore, the Buddha statues of the Northern Qi Dynasty are so famous and valued by high-end collectors.

However, the collection of stone Buddha statues has great limitations, and the Buddha head is a typical representative of the folk collection.

Among them, there are those that were stolen from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and there are also those that have been unearthed. From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, a large number of stone Buddha statues and Buddha heads flowed out of the country, and some returned in recent years. In addition, there are indeed some scattered Chinese folk.

"Yes, it's the head of the Buddha, the head of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Pu Jie said, "Can you accept this thing?"

"Where did you say where the supply came from?" Yu Yao frowned, "This is very troublesome, whether it can be traded or not, it has to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis." ”

"Don't worry, I'll just ask you first. Pu Jie explained, "A former comrade-in-arms of mine returned to his hometown in southern Yunnan after demobilization, and now he often runs in Myanmar and does business. Yesterday he called me and said that he had received a Buddha head from Burma, which had been sent out of China that year. It seems that this Buddha head was originally only in transit in Myanmar, and then the owner died in Myanmar and stayed. ”

"What business does he have to receive the Buddha's head?"

"Don't think crookedly, he does a serious business, mainly agricultural products. This Buddha head was inadvertently left by the grandfather of a local rubber wholesaler. ”

"During the Republic of China, it flowed out of China, originally through Myanmar, but the owner of the goods died, and the Buddha's head remained in Myanmar. The grandfather of the wholesaler you said has been kept privately, and then it was passed on to the wholesaler, and recently it was bought by your comrades-in-arms, right?" Yu Yao combed again.

"Yes. My comrade-in-arms also thought, since it is a Huaxia thing, let's get it back first. As soon as they communicated with me, they said that if I was interested and could make money, they would ship it to me. When the time comes, when the money is made, two and one will be added to five, as long as it is sold to the Chinese people. ”

Yu Yao nodded, "In this case, then it can be bought and sold." However, how did he know that it was from the Northern Qi Dynasty? Your comrade-in-arms also knew about stone Buddha statues?"

"Whew! People kept the original tin box, with small characters written in red paint on it: Northern Qi Tianbao, Sakyamuni. ”

Tianbao is the name of Emperor Gao Yang.

"Understood, in this way, you ask your comrade-in-arms to take a few more high-definition pictures and send them over, I'll take a look first. ”

"I've already said it's time for him to send it. I'm at home, I'll look at the mailbox later, and if I come, I'll forward it to you. ”

"Well, it's good to send an email, and you can see it more clearly on the computer. ”

Yu Yao hung up the phone, and within five minutes, Pu Jie sent > Yu Yao turned on the phone, entered the mailbox, and placed a picture.

After only a few glances at the first positive picture, Yu Yao concluded that this must be the statue of Sakyamuni from the Northern Qi Dynasty! However, the broken head of the Buddha has been repaired and polished, and I don't know whether it was only taken from the Buddha's head after it was unearthed, or whether it was stolen and cut from where during the Republic of China.

Being able to conclude so quickly is certainly related to Yu Yao's eyesight, but it is also related to the characteristics of the stone Buddha statue of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

The stone Buddha statues of the Northern Qi Dynasty have a special soft beauty in the facial lines, and they often have a subtle and calm smile in them, similar to the smile of the Mona Lisa, but more quiet and mysterious than the smile of the Mona Lisa.

It is extremely difficult to imitate, as if it is impossible to explain why the emperor of a dark dynasty could have such an artistic standard and such a beautiful Buddha statue.

Yu Yao finished reading all the photos and opened the door.

According to the accompanying size description, this Buddha head is about thirty-five centimeters high, which is not too big, but it is not small either.

Similar to the Buddha head of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there have been auction records in Europe, the United States, and the Japanese Kingdom, as well as Hong Kong Island and Taiwan Island. According to the auction records, the market price of this Buddha head should be more than five million!

Yu Yao then called Pu Jie back, "How much did your comrade-in-arms charge?"

"500,000, that's a lot! Don't tell me that he was deceived by the Burmese guys?"

"No, open the door wide, just look at the photos to determine that it's genuine. Moreover, it is no problem to sell at ten times the price. ”

"Great! Then I'll ask him to find a professional antique shipping company to send it!"

Yu Yao thought for a while, "I don't think there's a need to worry, I'll look for a buyer first." This Buddha head is a typical Northern Qi boutique, and those who really know how to do it can basically be determined by looking at the photos. If you have the intention, it's not too late to check it out and see the real thing. Moreover, the buyers we are looking for may not necessarily be from Jiangzhou. ”

"Well, that makes sense!" Pu Jie nodded, "It seems that you are not carried away by love!"

"I have always been Ding is Ding and Mao is Mao, and I am not disturbed. ”

"Say you're fat and you're still panting, let's do it first!" Pu Jie hung up the phone.

Subsequently, Yu Yao dialed Xiao Ying again.