Chen Qiang really doesn't know anything about antiques, although he has a car and a house in later generations, he has no worries about food and clothing, but there is still a long way to go from playing antiques. People who play antiques are either rich and tyrants, and they go directly to the auction without blinking an eye; Either it is a real connoisseur, who can distinguish between the real and the fake, and the goods are sold all over the country.

However, the fame of the 12 zodiac animal heads in the Old Summer Palace is too great, and even Jackie Chan specially filmed a movie with the 12 incense animal heads. As a Chinese, how could Chen Qiang not know the zodiac beast head.

Although Chen Qiang has never seen the authenticity of the 12 zodiac animal heads, he has seen a lot of imitation pictures on the Internet, so Chen Qiang recognized it at a glance, and the dog head placed on the shelf was one of the 12 zodiac animal heads.

In the future, eight of the 12 zodiac animal heads have returned to China, namely the Zi Rat, the Ugly Ox, the Yin Tiger, the Mao Rabbit, the Chenlong, the Wu Ma, the Shen Monkey and the Hai Pig, except for the Chenlong preserved in Taipei, the other seven are collected in the Poly Art Museum. The whereabouts of the snake, the sheep, the rooster and the dog are unknown.

In 2009, someone in the American media reported that someone spent $1,000 to buy a bronze statue of a dog's head, which was likely to be one of the twelve beast heads based on its appearance, size and material, but in the end this news was not confirmed.

And because of the age, and the zodiac animal head did not leave any image data, the appearance of the zodiac animal head in later generations, just stay in the written record, until the real cultural relics appeared, people did not see the true face of the zodiac beast in Lushan.

Also because the dog has never appeared, when you go to the Internet to search for the bronze statue of the dog, there will be a lot of different styles of pictures, some of the dog bronze statue ears are very drooping, some of the dog bronze ears are slightly drooping, some have long mouths, some have short mouths, and even some of the bronze statues of the dog are completely like a Labrador.

Probably because the 12 zodiac beast heads in the Old Summer Palace are too famous, there are many fakes copied, and because the real dog head looks like, everyone doesn't know, so there will be a strange "dog".

In the forties, the Zodiac Beast Head was not so famous, and no one would copy this kind of thing, so Chen Qiang was almost certain that the dog head he saw now was true.

This is a cultural relic lost by China, and Chen Qiang naturally does not intend to let this thing fall into the hands of foreigners, so Chen Qiang stepped forward and asked, "How much is this bronze statue of a dog's head?" ”

"Sir, you have a good eye, this bronze statue is a good thing." A middle-aged man with glasses walked over, and he was in charge of the sale of antiques in the area.

Chen Qiang smiled slightly, and then said, "Can you introduce me to this bronze statue of a dog's head?" ”

"Of course, sir, this bronze statue of the dog head comes from distant China, I think you should be Chinese, so I am interested in this bronze statue." The middle-aged man spoke.

Chen Qiang nodded: "Yes, I am Chinese." ”

"Sir, your country has a very long history, so there are many beautiful works of art, this bronze statue of the dog head is one of them, when we bought this artwork, the seller told me that this bronze statue of the dog head has a history of 1,000 years, which is older than the works left over from the European Renaissance! For $500, you can take this thousand-year-old piece of art. The middle-aged man with glasses said with a smile.

Chen Qiang is not short of the $500, and from the perspective of future generations, it is quite cost-effective to buy the head of the dog for $500. However, Chen Qiang could feel that this middle-aged man probably regarded himself as a wronged man!

Antiques sellers are like this, they will deliberately exaggerate their goods, and then quote a very high price, if the customer does not understand, they can get a lot of money.

Chen Qiang saw the middle-aged man's routine, so he said: "This thing comes from a building called the Old Summer Palace in China, which was built in the eighteenth century, and it is only more than a hundred years ago!" If you go to some old houses now, you should be able to easily find something from a hundred years ago. ”

"Hehe......" The middle-aged man with glasses smiled awkwardly, and then continued without a red heart: "This gentleman is right, although the seller told us that this bronze statue of the dog head is a thousand years old, but our appraiser soon found out that this bronze statue of the dog head is only a work made more than a hundred years ago. ”

"So you're going to sell me this bronze statue of a dog's head from more than a hundred years ago for $500?" Chen asked emphatically.

"Of course not, what I just meant is that if this statue is really a thousand years old, then it will be worth $500, and this statue is only more than a hundred years old, so you only need to spend $100 and you can take it away, and we can give you a beautiful gift box." The middle-aged man with glasses said immediately

The price has dropped to one-fifth of the original, but Chen Qiang can still feel that the $100 is also full of water, and the price will definitely be able to drop again.

Chen Qiang picked up the head of this dog and looked at it carefully, this thing was made of copper, and it was quite heavy in his hand.

Then Chen Qiang then asked, "Do you know what this bronze statue of the dog's head is used for?" ”

"It's certainly a great work of art! This dog's head bronze statue uses the highest quality materials and the most exquisite craftsmanship, which is definitely the pinnacle of Oriental bronze casting, and such a work of art is perfect for home decoration! The middle-aged man with glasses immediately boasted.

The 12 zodiac animal heads of the Old Summer Palace are made of red copper like the bronze crane bronze statue of the Summer Palace, with a deep color on the outside and a fine light inside, which will not rust even after one or two hundred years, which is definitely the pinnacle of copper smelting technology at that time. The casting process of the twelve beast heads is indeed very sophisticated, and the subtleties such as folds and fluff on the animal heads are carefully forged one by one, which is very clear and realistic. Therefore, the material and craftsmanship of this dog head are indeed worth bragging.

However, Chen Qiang didn't care about the middle-aged man with glasses boasting, Chinese his own things, how could Chen Qiang not count in his heart, and he still needed this foreigner to brag!

I saw Chen Qiang pointing to the water hole on the bronze statue and said: "Home decoration will earn a hole like this?" ”

"It's for hanging or installing holes." The middle-aged man with glasses said immediately.

"Is it necessary to attach the hole to the mouth for hanging and mounting? Is it intended to use a rope, pass it from behind, thread it out of the dog's mouth, and hang it on the wall? Are you sure this is how to hang the ornaments? Chen Qiang said with a smile.

"Well...... this" The middle-aged man with glasses suddenly had nothing to say, Chen Qiang's question, he really couldn't come back.

The 12 zodiac animal heads of the Old Summer Palace were originally the water outlets of the fountain, and naturally water entered from below and sprayed from the mouth, so there are holes below and at the mouth, and they are connected. It is true that this design cannot be explained simply by using the suspension installation as an excuse.

Seeing that the middle-aged man with glasses had nothing to say, Chen Qiang explained: "The reason why there is such a design is because this thing is not a home decoration, but is used to spray water, and the water enters from the back and squirts out of the dog's mouth." ”

Chen Qiang said as he gestured with his hand on the bronze statue of the dog.

"I see. Thank you for your advice, if it weren't for you, I would have always thought it was a home décor item. The middle-aged man with glasses spoke.

"So, it's just a shower head spraying water. Are you going to sell me a shower head for $100? Chen Qiang asked with a smile.

"Well, sir, how much are you going to pay?" The middle-aged man with glasses asked compromisedly.

"I can give you $30. It's just a shower head! Chen Qiang replied.

"No, no, no, absolutely impossible, at least $70! It's made of copper! ”

"$40! There's no way you're going to let me put a shower head in my home as a decoration, are you? The guests will laugh at me. ”

"$60! Although this is a shower head, the craftsmanship level of this bronze statue of the dog head is really good. ”

"$50, a fixed price! I don't think anyone but me would be interested in a shower head. ”

"Well, deal, sir, you're really good at bargaining. I'll find someone to wrap it up for you. ”

The thing that originally cost 500 US dollars was talked about by Chen Qiang to 50 US dollars, although Chen Qiang is not bad for the difference of 450 US dollars, but this does not mean that he wants to be cheated, and when buying antiques or artworks, bargaining is actually a happy process.

The middle-aged man with glasses asked his subordinates to wrap the dog's avatar, while Chen Qiang continued to look at other antiques. The middle-aged man with glasses saw that there was still follow-up business to do, and he followed Chen Qiang directly.

"Do you have any other Chinese artworks here?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Sir, please look here, these two are Chinese artworks, and this one is too, and there is the second one below." The middle-aged man with glasses opened his mouth to introduce.

What he introduced to Chen Qiang was a large blue and white porcelain bowl, a porcelain vase with peonies, and a bronze kettle.

Chen Qiang didn't know what antique appraisal was, he didn't know what age this porcelain was, and he didn't know what kiln it was fired in. After all, porcelain is a thing, in ancient times, there were people who imitated the fakes of official kilns, and the water of porcelain antiques was too deep, and you had to find professionals to identify the value of antiques.

However, the bronze kettle surprised Chen Qiang again, Chen Qiang in his previous life had seen an almost identical bronze kettle-like cultural relics at an exhibition, but that thing was not called a kettle, but called "Ying".

"Ying" is a kind of bronze ware. Some studies believe that unlike the bronze vessels that were generally used as sacrifices, in the Zhou Dynasty, "ying" was a practical utensil used to hold water, similar to today's kettles. In the future, there will only be seven "Ying" in the world! There is no doubt that this thing is a national treasure level of civil and military authenticity.

"This thing should be Ying, I have to buy it!" Chen Qiang said secretly in his heart.

……

Chen Qiang purchased several items in this hall, most of them bronze. As for pottery, porcelain or jade, although there are also them here, Chen Qiang did not buy them because he did not understand this.

Chen Qiang plans to go to Chinatown in Los Angeles to see if there are any antique connoisseurs, and then take the connoisseurs to identify the authenticity of antiques.

Then Chen Qiang came to the hall on the left, which is the exhibition area of the auction goods, each product has an introduction, and the reserve price of the auction is marked, and the lowest price of several antiques, the reserve price is also four figures. Obviously, the antiques here are much higher than those in the hall on the right.

Chen Qiang saw precious cultural relics from all over the world here, and even some of them were considered national treasures in the future, and now they are all being sold. Looking at the whole world, probably only Britain can have the ability to sell the national treasures of all countries in the world.

"The head of the Egyptian pharaoh is made of gold, and I don't know which pyramid it was dug from."

"Nigeria's sculpture slate, this thing was brought from Africa, such a large stone, it's quite troublesome to carry!"

"The golden glove of the Arab Empire was worn by a certain caliph! This thing can be used as a holy relic in the future Arab countries! ”

"The Persian Empire's pure gold bull pattern container, this horn is protruding, and it must be very troublesome to cast."

"This is the idol of a god in India, right? Although it is a little less worn, the workmanship is really exquisite. ”

"This is a Chinese, such a big bronze horse! Two thousand years ago, it should be a cultural relic of the Western Han Dynasty! ”

Chen Qiang stared at the bronze horse in front of him, although this horse is not as big as the real horse, but it is also one meter high, the most important thing is that it is very well preserved, such a large antique cultural relic, if it is really something preserved in the Western Han Dynasty, it is definitely a top national treasure.

"I've got to take a picture of this horse! Such a large object is estimated to be not much smaller than Simu Wu Fangding, and it can stand in the C position in any museum. Chen Qiang said secretly in his heart.

Later, Chen Qiang saw a lot of precious Chinese cultural relics in this hall.

A large part of these cultural relics were looted in China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and some were even snatched from the Old Summer Palace. After all, the Old Summer Palace is a royal garden, and the things collected by Emperor Lao Tzu are naturally the best of the best, and each one is a rare national treasure in the world.

The Eight-Nation Coalition was also very purposeful when robbing the Old Summer Palace, first of all, the gold and silver utensils would definitely not be let go, that thing was already valuable, and then there were bronzes, Tang Sancai, porcelain and other antique cultural relics, in the eyes of foreigners, exquisite Chinese porcelain, are also very valuable. The best products produced by the official kilns of the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty collected in the Old Summer Palace were also snatched away by the Eight-Nation Alliance.

As for the calligraphy and painting of celebrities, they are not very popular with these robbers, foreigners play oil painting, they do not understand the art of Chinese ink calligraphy and painting, do not know the value of this thing, so most of the calligraphy and painting collected in the Old Summer Palace were destroyed in the fire, and only a small number survived. In the future auctions of cultural relics held in Europe and the United States, ancient Chinese calligraphy and paintings are also uncommon, but Hong Kong will sell more.

The same is true for today's auction site, where most of the Chinese cultural relics are fine porcelain, and there is not a single calligraphy or painting.

Looking at these Chinese cultural relics that were snatched by the British, Chen Qiang suddenly had a new goal.

Chen Qiang plans to buy Chinese antiques that have been scattered overseas, not only those that appear in today's auction, but also those Chinese national treasures in the entire United States and even far away Europe, Chen Qiang will also take them back!

China's national treasures should not be placed in the Louvre Museum or the British Museum in France! The treasures left by the ancestors of the Chinese should be returned to China!

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