In addition to the highly skilled enamel craftsmen invited from abroad, there were also some domestic workers who were also employed by the Imperial Glass Factory, and it is recorded that they probably came from two famous glass-making centers in China, Boshan and Lingnan in Shandong Province, of which Boshan began to produce glass during the Yuan Dynasty.

Moreover, the archives of the Kangxi Qing Palace also record the names of two Lingnan craftsmen in the imperial glass factory, who were Cheng Xianggui and his apprentice Zhou Jun, who entered the palace in 1709 and returned to Lingnan in 1715.

The Qing court archives also record that two other European missionaries contributed to the glass factory: the French Jesuit Giwen, who came to China in 1740 and was already a glass and crystal craftsman before entering the seminary.

He came to China as a watchmaker and glassmaker, and was commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor to work in the Old Summer Palace Glass, specializing in the production of glass of different colors and materials, European-style glass, and ornate decorative glass for use and furnishing in the court.

Another Jesuit glazier, Tang Zhizhong, was also from France, he was born in Rouen, entered the convent of Paris in 1727, traveled to Canada in 1730, returned to China in 1735, and left for China in 1740.

He worked in the glassworks of Rouen, probably a royal workshop, and was skilled in the manufacture of glass sheets. When he arrived in China in 1741, he was ordered to work in the Silkworm Chikou Glass Factory for more than two years.

According to the archives of the Qianlong period, the glassware should have been fired and blown at the factory at Silkworm Chikou, and then painted in the workshop of the Old Summer Palace. The Old Summer Palace workshop is the place where the most exquisite glassware is made, and it was also supervised by the emperor himself.

Now, Chu Chen can be sure of a number of related surviving glassware, including the pen holder in his hand. It is believed that they were painted and decorated by the workshop of the Old Summer Palace during the peak of the Qianlong Dynasty between 1736 and 1758.

This is the case with several pieces of enamel from the collection of Sir David of England. You can see it.

For example, the pen holder in his hand. Compared with the few pieces of landscape painting materials in David's collection, in terms of painting skills, there is basically not much difference in the style of painting. It can also be seen that although these pen holders are not from the same painter, they should be painted in the same workshop.

In addition, the enamel ware of the material tire painting in Davide's collection is polished out of the four-character block script on both sides, and some of the inscriptions have blue traces. And the same is true of the pen holder in Chu Chen's hand.

Playing with and appreciating the pen holder in his hand, Chu Chen has been amazed in his heart, judging from the whole break. Although the height of this pen holder is only 7.2 cm, the landscape on the pen holder is vividly and vividly.

Among them, the brushstrokes are also excellent to show a variety of techniques, the layers of the brushes of the mountains and rocks are clear, and the trees are clustered with dots or with clips of leaves according to different types. The combination of color and ink, with the ink pen as the backbone, with green as the main tone, mixed with a little bright red, because of the glaze, the color is more bright and bright than the painting.

Its composition is dense and decent, and the layers are clear. The scenery is scattered, quite orderly, the brushstrokes are natural and flexible, and the rendering is rubbing. The style is fresh and artistic, and the overall style of painting is rich in the rigor and richness of Qing Dynasty court landscape paintings. The characteristics of elegance and subtlety are pleasing to the eye. There's no end to it.

In addition to the superb skills reflected in the material tires and paintings, because of the historical reasons of the time. It also adds a lot of value to this kind of material tire enamelware.

In that year, with the death of two foreign experts, Tang Zhizhong and Ji Wen, in 1757 and 1758, the technique began to decline after 1758. In the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, that is, after 1760, the output of Yuguang plummeted, and the craftsmen no longer had the same innovative ideas as in the early days, nor did they produce fine products like the pen holder in Chu Chen's hand.

And because of the enamel painting of the material tire, this technical requirement is extremely high, and during the peak period of making zuò between 1736 and 1758, Chu Chen's hand did not produce many pieces of such fine products. In this way, such a rare boutique, if not priceless, can be regarded as a treasure that many collectors can not find.

And such a valuable treasure, Chu Chen is a little puzzled now, why did Warren put it on the Bogu shelf like this, could it be that he regarded this pen holder as a fake?

That's not right! Even if he didn't invite other experts to identify it in the past two days? Could it be that such a treasure with an eye would be regarded as a fake by experts?

"Is it?"

Just as Chu Chen thought of one of these possibilities, Warren, who was standing next to him, said with a smile: "Chu, this pen holder is beautiful, isn't it?" ”

"Pretty good!" Chu Chen nodded with a smile, and then asked, "Mr. Warren, take the liberty of asking, I don't know where you got this pen holder?" ”

Warren smiled and replied, "This is a once, I did a friend a favor, and the other party gave it to me. Isn't it like the real thing from Sir David David's collection? I tell you, not only you, but one of the experts I invited the day before yesterday was very surprised at first when he saw this pen holder, and then he looked at it carefully before he said that it was a fake, but he still praised it and said that it was a very good imitation......"

Speaking of this, Warren immediately reacted, and smiled at Chu Chen with some embarrassment, although both parties knew about his invitation to experts, but saying it to his face was somewhat disrespectful to Chu Chen.

Chu Chen smiled slightly, he didn't care about this matter, after all, Warren didn't have any malice in his heart.

In addition, from Warren's introduction, Chu Chen understood the reason why this pen holder was placed on the Bogu shelf. Warren thinks the pen holder is a fake because he doesn't believe that a friend would give him a precious artifact worth millions of pounds, and the expert Warren asked said that it was a fake, and the meaning of this is self-evident.

In order to confirm the conjecture in the collection, Chu Chen asked with a smile: "Mr. Warren, didn't the expert you invited say that he wanted to buy this pen holder at that time?" ”

"He did, but he offered it for less than two thousand pounds, and he offered very low prices for my other things, so I said I would consider it......"

Anyway, Warren also generously said that the price given by the other party was too different from what Chu Chen gave, so he rejected the other party's offer at that time, but the other party did not give up, and told Warren that he would come to Warren's house again this Sunday, that is, tomorrow.

Chu Chen smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Warren, I have to tell you a piece of news that may surprise you, I can be 100% sure that this pen holder is genuine!" ”

In fact, for Chu Chen, he can completely say that this thing is a fake, as long as the price he offers is right, Warren will definitely agree, but in that case, his conscience is really unbearable.

Some people may say, since Chu Chen thinks so, then when he picked up the leak before, how could he buy the real thing at the price of a fake?

This thing seems to be a bit contradictory, but in fact, the situation is not the same, picking up leaks is a business, one is willing to fight and one is willing to suffer, and making money is all based on their own eyesight. But now it is against his professional ethics to make him like the unknown expert who wants to make huge profits by presenting things that are obviously real as fakes.

Moreover, there is an old saying, if you don't want people to know unless you do it, if Chu Chen really has to buy things back at the price of a fake at this time, then Wu Ke, Mina and the others will know, what will they think? It is estimated that Chu Chen will feel that Chu Chen doesn't even care about morality for the sake of money!

Of course, there is one last reason that Chu Chen is not short of money at all now, if it was when he didn't have any abilities 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 benefit.

Warren was immediately stunned when he heard Chu Chen say this, and after half a sound, he came back to his senses and said dumbfounded: "But...... But, Chu, if that's the case, why hasn't this pen holder been recorded? ”

Chu Chen smiled and said, "Mr. Warren, you must know that not every Chinese antique has been recorded. ”

Warren also knows that there are countless antiques in China, and some of them have been secretly collected by private individuals, so it is certainly impossible for every antique to be recorded, but since it is genuine, why would the expert he invited deliberately say that it is a fake?

"Chu, how much can this pen holder be worth now?" Warren hurriedly asked.

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

After all, it is only 2002, and judging from the condition and workmanship of the pen holder in front of him, the price given by Chu Chen is still very in line with the market conditions at that time. Of course, after the price of Chinese porcelain in the auction market was hyped, the value of fine material enamel like Warren's pen holder rose geometrically.

Specifically, in 2007, Crest auctioned a Qing Qianlong imperial tire painting Silk Western mother and son picture pen holder, and 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 about the same as that of the Western mother and son picture pen holder.

Of course, neither Chu Chen nor Warren had the ability to predict the future, and when Warren heard the price given by Chu Chen again, he was already shocked, and after a while, he came back to his senses and said with a stammer: "Chu, do you mean it really?" ”

Chu Chen replied with an affirmative face: "Don't worry! I also want to ask you to buy this pen holder, I don't always joke with my own money, right? ”

"That'...... Then why did he say it was fake before, is it ......?"

Seeing Warren's reaction, Chu Chen nodded and said, "Yes, that's what you think, the expert you invited is probably trying to say that the truth is fake, and then buy it back at a very low price, so as to make a huge profit." ”

"How could he do this!" Warren said with a look of shock and anger: "He is a well-known expert, does he not even care about a little work ethic?" (To be continued......)