Chapter Eighty-Seven Antique Black Market (7)

  Chu Chen's mood at this time was also extremely tense. In fact, according to his intention, Yu Guangjie had already raised the price to 3.9 million, but Zhao Qirui wanted to avenge the afternoon and reported 4.3 million.

  What he's worried about now is what if Yu Guangjie doesn't answer? If he doesn't answer, the loss will be huge. The money is a small matter, but it will be embarrassing, and this was his idea in the first place, so he has to take some responsibility.

  Yu Guangjie was about to let it go, but seeing Zhao Qirui's ambiguous smile, his heart suddenly ignited with anger.

  He actually had a deep grudge against Zhao Qirui in his heart. His parents were about to arrange a marriage for him, but it was ruined by Zhao Qirui. Every time he thought of the beauty leaving him far away, his inner heart would always be secretly painful, which made him resentful all along.

  But Yu Guangjie didn't dare to do anything to Zhao Qirui, after all, Zhao Qirui had a strong background and was much more powerful than him. However, at the auction this afternoon, Zhao Qirui unexpectedly gave him a surprise, which made him feel that it was really too good.

  "This gentleman has bid 4.3 million, is there anyone else who will bid? If not, then..."

  "Wait, I'll give you 44 million!"

  Yu Guangjie still felt that he had given in at this critical moment and lost face, but he was still very conflicted in his heart. He wanted Zhao Qirui to continue bidding so that he wouldn't lose the ability to bid in a while, and he also wanted to buy the painting himself, which would be a capital to show off to Zhao Qirui.

  Zhao Qirui actually wanted to raise the price even more, but after all, this was a black market for antiques. If it were an official auction, he really would have liked to play around some more.

  The auctioneer asked two questions according to the rules and quickly announced the deal. Seeing this situation, Chu Chen also let out a breath of air, until now, he just found that his forehead had already oozed out some sweat beads.

  "Gentlemen, pay attention! The following items are quite substantial in quantity. I hope you won't miss out." The auctioneer reminded with a smile.

  As soon as this was said, it immediately boosted the enthusiasm of the buyers on the scene. Just now it was a work by Shen Zhou, what other treasure is going to appear?

  This time, there should be a pair. Only two ceremonial ladies were seen, one of whom elegantly carried a brocade box to the stage, placed it on the table, and then opened it together with the other lady. They carefully took out what was inside and put it on the table, revealing a pair of exquisite flower-patterned bowls in front of everyone.

  "A pair of Qing dynasty Yongzheng famille rose porcelain flower patterned bowls!"

  Zhao Qirui gazed at the projected image on the wall, his mind seemingly drawn to it, and muttered: "This is really good stuff, this time it must be genuine!"

  "It's really good stuff, I think this enamel is the real deal now, the organizer wouldn't keep bringing out fake stuff, especially something as expensive as this." Chu Chen said with a smile.

  Zhao Qirui smiled slightly and said, "This group of people can't be sure what they're saying, but I still hope it's the real deal. If it is, I'll definitely take them down, and then I'll leave it to you, Little Chu."

  Chu Chen nodded and walked onto the stage.

  Chu Chen first looked at the identification, and saw that this pair of bowls were both double-rimmed "Yongzheng Nian Zhi" blue material, with a font similar to imitation Song style. From the way it was written and the method used, it can be seen that this pair of bowls should be a work from this dynasty and this kiln.

  Chu Chen quickly observed other characteristics, both bowls are open-mouthed, arc-shaped abdomen, and ring-foot. The inner wall is smooth, the foot end is rounded, the shape is regular, the embryo quality is dense, and the embryo body is even. The inside and bottom of the vessel are applied with transparent glaze, the glaze surface is moist and clean, white with a slight flash of blue. The embryo glaze also conforms to the characteristics of the Yongzheng period.

  The outer wall of the bowl is painted with enamel. One side depicts blooming flowers such as roses, osmanthus, poppies, chrysanthemums and crabapples, with bright and eye-catching petals, tender green leaves, sturdy tree trunks, transparent stones, exquisite patterns, and smooth lines.

  On the other side, a five-character poem in ink and three seal script Zhu Wen Xian chapters are inscribed. The five-character poems and idle chapters on both bowls are also different. Because this pair of enamel bowls uses Gongbi painting, although the subject matter is the same, there are still some subtle differences. Of course, from the brushwork, it can be seen that this pair of bowls should come from the hands of the same painter.

  From the characteristics of color, painting, and decoration, Chu Chen can determine that this pair of enamel flower and bird bowls are indeed works from the Yongzheng period. However, since the value of these bowls is relatively high, he still used his special ability, and his special ability also confirmed his judgment.

  Cloisonné originated in the late Kangxi period and flourished during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods.

  During the Yongzheng period, enamel painting was relatively mature, with breakthroughs in craftsmanship and richer colors. Most enamel paintings were painted on a white background, with floral patterns on the abdomen of the bowl borrowing from the style of Song Dynasty calligraphy and painting, vividly depicting realistic scenes, which differed greatly from the large-branch-and-large-leaf flower-and-bird pattern painting style on Kangxi enamel wares.

  And this pair of bowls is a masterpiece of Yongzheng's cloisonné enamel porcelain, which combines poetry, calligraphy and painting. Even if it were to be counted as a single piece, it would still be much more valuable than the Qianlong period cloisonné enamel bowl that Chu Chen had obtained earlier.

  Seeing such a beautiful enamel bowl, Chu Chen naturally wanted to take another closer look, but the auctioneer beside him politely reminded: "Boss, time's up."

  Chu Chen frowned, this antique black market has a drawback, that is, the appraisal time for each person is too short, only three minutes. However, there are reasons for saving time, and the bigger reason is that with less time, it's definitely not possible to make a better appraisal, so the organizer can also take advantage of the situation.

  Like the work of Shen Zhou just now, Qian Changxing may not be a good person, but his eyesight is quite good according to Wu Shu and others. If there was more time, he might have discovered some of the problems with it.

  "How is it?"

  Chu Chen returned to his seat, and Zhao Qirui couldn't wait to ask him.

  "They are all genuine and in good condition."

  Zhao Qirui heard this and suddenly became excited, saying: "This is great, today I finally have a real gain."

  The time is almost up, the auctioneer on stage said: "Ladies and gentlemen, due to some special reasons, this pair of bowls will start at a price of one million. Please begin bidding!"

  A starting price of one million may have caused a stir, but for those who love it, this is not affected. Moreover, in terms of quality, genuine products are worth more than one million each.

  "One million!" As soon as the auctioneer's voice fell, someone shouted out a bid.

  "One hundred and fifty thousand!" A fat man who looked wealthy directly added fifty thousand.

  As soon as this price came out, the scene suddenly fell silent. After all, the appraisal time was too short, and it's really hard to say whether it's genuine or not. If it's real, then this price is definitely a profit, but what if it's fake?

  "Brother Zhao, aren't you going to bid?" Chu Chen asked in surprise. Just now, Zhao Qirui seemed to like the pair of bowls very much, how could he change his mind in just a short while?

  Zhao Qirui smiled and said, "Xiao Chu, the bidding at the auction, the most taboo is impatience. Moreover, when there are many bidders, it's easy to drive up the price too high. If the price doesn't reach a certain point, it's also a waste of words."

  Chu Chen nodded after hearing this, and indeed, there was some truth to what he said. When there are many people, the atmosphere becomes more intense, and it's easy for people to lose their calm.

  The price of 15 million made many people retreat, and afterwards, including the fat man, only four were bidding, and the increase in price was not high, only 5.1 million. When the fat man's bid reached 19 million, the scene suddenly became quiet.

  "One hundred ninety-one thousand!" Zhao Qirui began to exert himself.

  This price made the fat man a bit entangled, although it was only an increase of 10,000 yuan, but it also made him sober up from his previous excitement. After all, the appraiser he brought with him couldn't be 100% sure about the authenticity of this pair of bowls, and there were still risks involved, which were not small either.

  But he was reluctant to give up bidding, so he quoted another price: "One million nine hundred and ninety-five thousand!"

  "1.96 million!" At this moment, if you really want to bid for the bowl, it's better not to quote a price that is too high, or people will think that it might be a genuine product and get suspicious, so the best way is to patiently grind on.

  As expected, Fatso was barely holding on, cold sweat dripping from his forehead, gritting his teeth and saying: "One hundred ninety-seven million!"

  Zhao Qirui saw that the fat man's price increase had also come down, and he knew it was almost there. He still looked patient and said leisurely: "One million nine hundred and ninety-eight thousand!"

  This price made Fatso lose his composure, and he also knew in his heart that if things continued like this, he wouldn't be able to hold on, so it was better to surrender early.

  Zhao Qirui took out the pair of porcelain flower-patterned bowls and began to carefully appreciate them. Although the lighting was a bit dim, he still looked at them with great enthusiasm and exclaimed: "This trip is a complete success!"

  Next, Chu Chen originally thought there was something good, but unexpectedly it was a bamboo carving pen holder, and it was the second to last item in this auction, which was really disappointing.

  But thinking about it, I couldn't come to the black market for the first time and not buy anything. And the last thing would definitely be something good. In that case, let's go take a look at this pen holder. If it's good, I'll buy it as a souvenir of the black market.

  Then he and Zhao Qirui greeted each other and came onto the stage.

  This pen holder looks pretty good, the mouth and base are made of wood, the whole body uses a deep carving technique, the knife work also has some skill, looking at the packaging and other characteristics, this should be a work from the late Qing dynasty, worth around 2-3 thousand.

  However, as he looked at it, Chu Chen suddenly discovered a detail that gave him an idea. Unfortunately, his ability was already used up and couldn't be verified, but anyway, the price of this thing shouldn't be high, so he might as well buy it first.