Sitting in the spacious and bright reception hall, with a hint of warmth in the quiet, the golden sunlight spills through the entire three-storey glass wall, and the ivory white space exudes a soft halo, comfortable and peaceful, always giving people the illusion of being in New York but not in New York. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Lu Li sat quietly on the light gray soft sofa, his muscles unconsciously wanted to relax, but he immediately realized that he still had a heavy responsibility today, so he straightened his waist again.

Sotheby's, the oldest auction house in the world and one of the most famous auction houses in the world today, has two headquarters around the world, one in London and one in New York. Lu Li weighed it and chose the former between it and another auction giant, Christie's.

"Sir. A black woman with dreadlocks curled up, her regular black suit and a pair of black-rimmed glasses showed her professionalism, her explosive hairstyle showed her personality, and her big red high heels stopped diagonally opposite Lu Li, "Please follow me to the laboratory." ”

Lu Li carried the cloth bag at his feet, and there was the Chrysler Building and the Degas in it. In fact, this cloth bag is a laundry bag, which is convenient to stuff all the dirty clothes of the week into it, and then take it to the laundry room to wash it together, but he couldn't find a suitable backpack for a while, so he stuffed both picture frames into it, so he picked up this bag easily.

At this time, in the elegant and quiet environment of Sotheby's, this laundry bag really looked a little funny, which made Lu Li feel the urge to laugh.

Walk up the milky white steps to the second floor, and the footsteps echo softly in the corridor, solemn with a hint of rigor. Fortunately, Lu Li has seen a lot of big scenes as an intern reporter, and last year he entered the World Trade Center Building for in-depth interviews because of the group's topic, otherwise he was afraid that tension would be inevitable at this time.

Walking into the room on the right-hand side, there is a long table in front of it, with a variety of utensils, the most notable of which is the slide-like machine on the left-hand side. The black woman led Lu Li to a long table near the door, and the two of them sat down separately.

"Sir, welcome to Sotheby's, I am Jennifer, the Duty Manager today, and I will be the next to provide my services. She smiled and politely made an introduction, not slacking off at all because of Lu Li's youth, "My colleague has already received you just now, and now I need to confirm with you again, you now have an unauthenticated Degas in your hand that you want to auction?"

After receiving Lu Li's affirmative answer, Jennifer kept smiling and continued, "Let me explain to you some specific processes, we will first conduct the appraisal of the paintings, and the cost of appraisal is not very certain, because the appraisal methods are different for paintings of different eras and different types of paintings, but we will conduct a preliminary test first, and then estimate a number." ”

Lu Li nodded, he temporarily searched for relevant information, he knew that the pigments of different eras are different, and the chemical reactions produced after contact with the air are also different, and the temperature, humidity, brightness, etc. all have an impact on the pigments. That's why every painting in the museum needs to be sealed and protected.

Naturally, identification is complex.

"After the appraisal, if all the details have been confirmed, our auction house will make a simple valuation of the painting and inform you of the relevant publicity process and the details of the auction. You can choose to complete the auction at our auction house, but you can also choose to go to another auction house, and we will provide you with an official certificate of authenticity. Jennifer's simple explanation ensured enough information, clear and clear, and immediately made Lu Li understand, and it was really professional.

Lu Li nodded, "No problem!" I chose a large auction house like Sotheby's because I trusted their reputation, didn't I?

"Very good, so may I ask where the painting is now?" Jennifer looked left and right, and then saw Lu Li lifting the big pocket next to him, Jennifer immediately showed a distressed expression on her face, "This is not the right way to protect the authenticity." The tone was not harsh, which made Lu Li scratch his head and laugh.

Jennifer walked to the side, put on a dust-proof glove on both hands, and then opened the bag and carefully took out the painting. Sensing that there were two paintings inside, Jennifer was not too surprised, but placed the two paintings on the table, and then looked at them carefully.

Standing next to him, Lu Li couldn't help but hold his breath, are these two paintings genuine? Especially that Degas!

The passage of time seemed to become extremely slow, Jennifer first took a cursory look, then brought a magnifying glass, and checked a few details, finally she stood up straight and took off her gloves, but what she brought to Lu Li was not the final result, "I just did a preliminary test, the whole painting is better preserved than expected, although the corners are a little faded, but we need to further examine, it is very likely that it is only caused by the passage of time." Now, I will invite our experienced professional appraisers to come and test in person. ”

The ups and downs were like a roller coaster, and in the end, Lu Li still didn't hear a definite answer, "So, this is just the beginning." ”

Listening to Lu Li's joking words, Jennifer couldn't help laughing, "The conventional appraisal takes about fifteen to thirty minutes, and we can only judge whether it is the painter's own handwriting or someone else's copying from the painting style, brushstrokes, details, etc." However, if it is a pigment and time test, it will take at least 48 hours to get the results. ”

Lu Li caught the hidden message in Jennifer's words, "You mean, I passed the first level of testing?" This means that, at least in terms of style, it is indeed Degas! Now, what they need to test is whether it is Degas's real handiwork or a high-quality fake!

Jennifer's smile grew brighter, but she did a tai chi, "After being tested by a professional appraiser, we will report back to you in detail." After all, she is only a duty manager, no matter how good her vision is, she is still not a professional, so she is naturally unwilling to jump to conclusions before there is no result.

Just waiting for a few minutes, a casually dressed middle-aged uncle walked into the room, Jennifer greeted him, briefly explained the situation, and then the uncle didn't pay attention to Lu Li at all, and walked straight to the table, looked at it briefly, put on dust gloves, took the painting Degas and walked to the long table in front of him, and put the painting on the machine that looked like a slide projector, and the gentle movements were incompatible with the rough outside, looking like he was caressing the skin of an eighteen-year-old girl, cherishing and worshipping。

"This is Alan Smith, the chief appraiser at our auction house who specializes in appraising European paintings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jennifer whispered an introduction to Lu Li, and then smiled, "In front of the appraisal painting, he was more focused, so he didn't greet you, please forgive him for his rudeness." ”

I have to say that Jennifer's methods of dealing with the world are very clever and wise enough. Since entering the auction house, they have not neglected Lu Li's dress and youth at all, and even took the initiative to apologize.

The two men stood in the distance and talked in a whisper, leaving most of the space to Allen. This time, maybe it was because of the mental preparation, maybe it was because the conversation was distracting, and the waiting was no longer difficult, and even the emotions of nervousness and anticipation were calmed down a lot.

After about twenty minutes, Alan raised his head and beckoned, "Young man, this is your painting? ”

Lu Li was a little surprised, but he still walked over quickly, standing next to Allen, he pointed to the mirror in front of him, and motioned for Lu Li to take a look. When I looked closer, I found that it was actually a magnifying glass, magnifying every detail of the painting to the extreme, and you could clearly see the trajectory of the brush gliding across the canvas, which was really amazing.

Chronologically, this is consistent in that the original painting was created during a period of transition when Degas boldly replaced his usual dark tones with color. Alan stood next to him and began to explain directly, and he even pointed out different areas with his fingers in the air, guiding Lu Li's line of sight, "The pen is slightly to the right, Degas's eyesight begins to decline in his later years, and the brushstrokes will be slightly blurred, but for this painting, the paint is the key." In order to make the painting look more vivid, the paint is often mixed with linseed oil, which takes about 50 years to dry, and when the oil is dry, the paint will gradually evaporate, and small cracks will appear on the surface of the painting. ”

Following Allen's instructions, Lu Li saw the slight cracks on the surface of the painting, and even somewhat destroyed the beauty of the whole painting, "You mean, these cracks prove...... Is this painting real? No, is it real?"

Lu Li raised his head, and then he saw Allen's approving smile. In Lu Li's opinion, isn't it a sign that the painting has been destroyed? But now it seems that it is a sign of authenticity.

I don't know when, Jennifer also walked over and stood next to her, and Alan continued, "Next, we need to do a series of tests, including paint, paper, etc., which need to go into the chemistry lab. But ......," Allen paused, then patted Lu Li on the shoulder, "If nothing else, we can be sure that this Degas is real." Moreover, this painting is very well preserved, it is the pinnacle of Degas's later years, and the preciousness is far beyond imagination. Alan smiled widely, "Little one, those old fellows in France are going to be very excited." ”

Really, this painting is real! Degas is real!