Chapter 138: The Enlightenment Statue of Shakyamuni

However, at this moment, this middle-aged man didn't care what Liu Dong thought, after saying it just now, he turned around, looked at Yang Shang and asked, "Boss Yang, what do you think of this Buddha statue?"

Hearing this, Yang Shang couldn't help frowning, although he rarely accepts things when he opens an antique shop, but after so many years, Yang Shang is not a person who knows nothing about antiques, and he also has a certain amount of research on gold and bronze Buddha statues, a major category of antiques and miscellaneous.

Moreover, Yang Shang himself is also a person who believes in Buddhism, so he naturally has respect for objects such as Buddha statues, and if he encounters a Buddha statue that is in his heart, he also wants to buy it. Therefore, he looked very carefully at the Buddha statue in his hand, which was about 40 centimeters high.

At this time, Liu Dong also took a deep breath, suppressed the slightly excited mood in his heart, and focused his attention on this Buddha statue.

The Buddha statue in Yang Shang's hand is very well preserved, and the Buddha sitting on the lotus seat is the Buddha Shakyamuni, the ancestor of Buddhism.

From the form in which he sits on his knees, his left hand is placed horizontally on his knees, the seal is knotted, his right hand is placed on his right knee, his palm is facing inward, and his fingers are pointing to the ground, it can be seen that these are the five postures of Buddhist statues: the statue of birth, the image of enlightenment, the image of the Dharma, the image of generosity, and the image of enlightenment in the image of Nirvana. In Buddhism, it means 'the words and deeds of the earth as a witness and sacrificing a qiē in order to save sentient beings'.

Moreover, what is even more rare is that there is this backlit storage zài behind this seated statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. This is not very common in ordinary Buddhist statues, and if there are, most of them have been lost or damaged in the lineage. It's not as intact as this one.

But looking at it, Yang Shang's brows were tightly furrowed.

You must know that unlike many bronzes, Buddha statues generally do not enter the tomb, but due to the four major extermination campaigns in history and repeated wars and man-made destruction, most of the gold and bronze Buddha statues that can be preserved to this day were buried in the soil by devout Buddhists, and they also have the characteristics of generally unearthed bronzes.

For example, "ice cracks", "enamel spots", blistering, blooming, "rebirth" on special surface layers, "swelling" formed on the inside of rebirth, and various "human bone rust" on the surface layer, etc., will all be stored.

And these characteristics often become an important theoretical basis for people to identify Buddha statues.

However, what puzzled Yang Shang was that this seated statue of Shakyamuni Buddha was exquisitely shaped and vividly decorated, but it did not have these characteristics at all. Moreover, the bronze gilt on the outside of the Buddha statue is not only not damaged in the slightest, but also exudes a golden treasure, and the whole is like new.

"How much do you want to sell this bronze gilt statue of Sakyamuni?" Although Yang Shang's eyesight could not identify the authenticity of this Buddha statue, he could see the exquisite craftsmanship of this Buddha Shakyamuni. Whether it is the modeling, ornamentation, or the demeanor of the Buddha, it is an absolute masterpiece. Such a Buddha statue, even if it is not a real antique, but if you want to ask one to put at home now, I am afraid that you will not be able to take it without a small 10,000.

Hearing his words, the middle-aged man hurriedly reported the number he had thought of before, "200,000!"

"200,000!?" Hearing this number, Yang Shang couldn't help but be a little angry for the middle-aged lion.

If this Buddha statue is a real antique, 200,000 yuan is not impossible to consider. However, in Yang Shang's opinion, how could such a new thing be an antique. Therefore, the price he set for this Buddha statue in his heart was 10,000.

Looking at the surprised look on Yang Shang's face, the middle-aged man hurriedly said: "This Buddha statue is an heirloom of our family, and it has been enshrined for many generations, if it weren't for the family's eagerness to use money this time, I would never have sold it!

In fact, he didn't say nonsense, Buddhism is one of the three religions with the largest number of followers in the world, as far as the main Buddha statue of Buddhism is concerned. It has always been sought after by Buddhists from all over the world, and among these Buddhists, there are many business tycoons with deep pockets. Even Yang Shang, who wanted to buy this Buddha statue, was a Buddhist.

As early as the 80s of the last century, gilded Buddha statues attracted the attention of international collectors. This led to the rise of the domestic collection boom.

In November 1989, at the Sotheby's auction in New York, a gilded Maitreya Buddha statue of the Ming Dynasty was sold for more than 210,000 US dollars. It has gained the attention of the international collection market.

And after the nineties, major overseas auction companies. Began to increase the number and proportion of gilded Buddha statues in auction year by year.

At last year's Sotheby's auction, a Ming Dynasty gilt bronze Guanyin sold for HK$1.32 million, while a Ming Dynasty gilt Buddha statue sold for HK$2.2 million at Christie's auction not long ago.

The gilded Buddha statues of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang dynasties are slightly worse than the Buddha statues of the Ming and Qing dynasties in terms of shape and craftsmanship, but as the two dynasties with the most developed Buddhist culture, they have their unique representatives.

If this seated statue of Sakyamuni is really a bronze gilt Buddha statue from the Northern Wei Dynasty, then with its current integrity and exquisite craftsmanship, it will definitely sell for millions of dollars if it is auctioned.

Moreover, this price will continue to increase with the appreciation of the art market, after all, the Northern and Southern Dynasties have been 15600 years ago, and it is too rare to be able to preserve such a complete Buddha statue. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a national treasure.

"Since someone has already identified this Buddha statue for you before, why didn't you sell it to him for 200,000 yuan at that time?" After listening to the middle-aged man's words, Yang Shang couldn't help but roll his eyes and said angrily.

Hearing this, the embarrassed look on the middle-aged man's face flashed, this Buddha statue is indeed his family heirloom, but since the old man in the family passed away, plus he does not believe in Buddhism, so this statue of Shakyamuni Buddha has lost its worship.

This time, the two sons in the family are in a hurry to get married and buy a house, which needs more than 200,000 yuan. How can he, a person who has been laid off and only relies on setting up a roadside stall to sell snacks to make money to subsidize his family, can come up with so much money.

Later, when I was cleaning the house and turning this Buddha statue out again, I remembered that before my mother died, she had told him that this Buddha was their family heirloom, so that he could worship it well and pass it on to his children and grandchildren.

Fortunately, this middle-aged man is also a filial person, after the death of his mother, although he did not believe in Buddhism very much, but the Buddha statue was well preserved. Originally, he didn't realize it was an antique.

It wasn't until the old neighbor who originally lived in the same tube building with him made a fortune with antiques that the middle-aged man who was so worried about the money to buy a house for his son's marriage that he wanted to hit the wall remembered that he had such an heirloom at home, which seemed to be an antique.

However, today's information is not as developed as in the later Internet era, and there are no treasure appreciation programs on TV, so although most people know that antiques are valuable, they don't know much about this industry.

But fortunately, this middle-aged man has a neighbor who understands this, so he tried to show him the Buddha statue. However, his neighbor is not a master of antiques. In the antique city, he is just a stall owner, and the last time he made money, he was all hit by luck.

However, although this person's identification skills are sparse, there are always so many catties of nails in the rotten ship, and his neighbor has been in the antique shop for a few years, so he also knows a little about Buddha statues.

From the shape and ornamentation of this Buddha statue, he judged that this was the early Buddha casting style of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and it was worth millions if it was auctioned, of course, if it was true.

Obviously, though, this is a bit unlikely, because this Buddha statue is so complete and so new!

Moreover, with the passage of more than 1,000 years, there are too few Buddha statues in the Northern Wei Dynasty that can be handed down, basically in the hands of major museums and large collectors in the world, and few will flow to the market. To say that ordinary people should have such a complete Buddha statue of the Northern Wei Dynasty in their hands, no matter who it is replaced, the first reaction is fake.

However, among these people, Liu Dong was not included, and the yellow orb in his mind began to beat violently when he saw this Buddha statue for the first time just now. And it clearly conveys a longing idea.

This is also the reason why Liu Dong was shocked when he saw this Buddha statue for the first time just now.