Chapter 89 Ghostwriting

  Seeing the boss's complacent expression, Zhao Qirui shook his head and smiled: "If this person takes this white jade tripod back and doesn't know how to restrain himself, he will definitely cause trouble sooner or later. Let's ignore him and settle the bill, then go back."

  The four of them finished settling the bill and were about to leave when they ran into Yu Guangjie and others at the entrance.

  Yu Guangjie waved his hand with a smile and said: "Uncle Zhao, you must like this painting too. Do you want me to lend it to you for a few days?"

  Zhao Qirui shook his head and smiled: "This is not necessary, Xiao Yu. When you have time, you should read more books and learn more things, so that you can distinguish between good and bad."

  After finishing speaking, he left with Chu Chen and others.

  Yu Guangjie was stunned after hearing this, what does this mean? Is this piece of work a fake? Unlikely, the inscription, signature and seal are all correct!

  Zhao Qirui originally said this sentence just to slightly mock Yu Guangjie for being unlearned and unskilled, but when it reached Qian Changxing's ears, it made him think of something, and his face suddenly turned pale.

  Yu Guangjie saw this situation and knew that something was wrong. He furiously shouted at Qian Changxing: "If things don't go well, I'll make you pay!"...

  In the car, Zhao Qirui couldn't help but ask Chuyan, "Little Chu, what's going on with that painting?"

  "This painting should be a substitute work of Shen Zhou. If you're interested, Zhao, you can go and take a look at the ancient calligraphy and painting catalog published by the Cultural Relics Publishing House. There's a 'Rainy Mountain Picture' by Shen Zhou in it. The two are almost identical. This is impossible for Shen Zhou."

  "Some people may say that the fake one is real, but a comparison will reveal the truth. Let's just take the promotion of famous people as an example, which can prove the authenticity. On that work, I remember there are promotions by Cao Shiming, Dong Qichang and others, and also collections of various famous people. Just based on these, it's not necessary to say more about the authenticity."

  Moreover, judging from the brushwork of this painting, it should be a work by Shen Zhou when he was over 70 years old. At that time, Shen Zhou's brushwork had become quite mature and his style had taken shape. His style at that time could be described as strong and gentle in harmony, emphasizing

  "The momentum" refers to "quality", and these aspects are not reflected in that work, so the painter is another person.

  In fact, there are records of Shen Zhou's substitutes in history. Shen Zhou was gentle and generous, never refusing others' requests for paintings. As a result, his Hut among the Bamboos became a bustling inn, with people coming and going constantly to ask for calligraphy or paintings, and papers and silk fabrics piled up on his desk and in his baskets.

  Some artists, who were not acquainted with Shen Zhou, would ask him to paint multiple pieces in exchange for a small gift such as a handkerchief. Once the agreed-upon time had passed, they would come to his door demanding payment, causing Shen Zhou great annoyance.

  He helplessly said: "As long as I am here, this debt will not be repaid; when I die, it will be over."

  To avoid such harassment, Shen Zhou entered Gusu, but he did not dare to go to the bustling streets and could only temporarily live in a secluded temple, seeking temporary peace. However, later on, even this temporary peace was unattainable, for before he had even disembarked from his boat, those meddlesome people were already waiting for him at the temple gate.

  A friend, Liu Bangyan, once wrote a poem for him: "Sending paper to knock on the door and asking for paintings frequently, there is no place in the monk's building to avoid the red dust. Returning east, he repaid his debts from his southern tour, and he must have transformed into a golden immortal with a hundred billion bodies." Wang Xian's "Epitaph for Shi Tian" says: "From the capital to the distant Fujian, Sichuan, Guangdong, there is no place that does not seek out his works, considering them precious treasures. His elegant and refined writings illuminated the era, and he was indeed flourishing."

  In response to those who asked him for paintings, Shen Zhou adopted two methods: dragging and ghostwriting. For those who were far away and urged him to paint with letters, he did not reply and just dragged on. For those who came in person, he let his students ghostwrite, so many fake Shen Zhou paintings have been passed down through the ages.

  Chu Chen smiled and said, "This painting should be done by Shen Zhou's student or someone else, and then Shen Zhou promoted it and stamped his seal on it. The painter's skills are still good, but this may also be related to Shen Zhou's later retouching, so the painting still has some value. However, its value is not even 4 million, let alone 40 million."

  Zhao Qirui was stunned, he had heard of ghostwriting before, but he had never encountered it, so he didn't take it seriously. However, he did not expect that a famous painter like Shen Zhou would also have ghostwriters, let alone others?

  "Isn't this cheating? And aren't these painters afraid that their reputation will be damaged?"

  Chu Chen smiled and replied, "Actually, the phenomenon of calligraphers and painters asking others to 'forge their works' has a long history. Just like in ancient times, Wu Daozi had his works forged by Zhai Yan and Zhang Cang, while Dong Qichang had his works forged by Shen Shichen and Zhao Zuolun. Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming also did such things. Even in modern times, Zhang Daqian and Qi Baishi both had their own forgers."

  "However, generally speaking, they also ask others to write on their behalf out of helplessness. After all, one person's energy is limited, and when they become famous, there are too many people asking for their works, or they have special tasks, so they can only ask others to write on their behalf. Moreover, the ghostwriters are also recognized by them, and they won't be too bad in terms of level, so ordinary people can also understand."

  Zhao Qirui nodded after hearing this and said:

  "This indeed has some reason, but as business people, we don't agree. It's like I ordered a batch of TVs and required all the parts to be genuine, but he only gave me a TV with a genuine picture tube. Would I be satisfied? I think even if the reason for ghostwriting is good, it still carries a certain degree of deceit."

  Chu Chen smiled and replied, "I think this matter should be discussed separately. I think it's understandable for ancient people to ask others to write on their behalf. After all, they had no choice but to ask someone to write for them when they were in a difficult situation. Generally speaking, they could withstand moral scrutiny and had a bottom line. If the artistic level of the ghostwritten work can withstand scrutiny, then it's acceptable."

  However, ghostwriting for commercial purposes is indeed an unhealthy trend. These painters often produce works in bulk and after gaining some fame, they let their apprentices ghostwrite for them. As a result, these commercially produced paintings, which are mixed with numerous ghostwritten works, have strong concealment properties while also lowering their artistic value.

  Zhao Qirui shook his head, he still couldn't accept this kind of ghostwriting behavior. As for calligraphy works, he could make some judgments, but when it came to painting, he could only see the general idea, so in his heart, he had a deep hatred for this kind of ghostwriting behavior.

  "I think it's better for me to stay away from buying national artworks in the future, or else one day I might end up buying a ghostwritten piece." Zhao Qirui sighed and said.

  Chu Chen smiled and didn't say much more. Although he could understand the ghostwriting of ancient people, in his heart, he thought that this actually fostered a culture of deception.

  In ancient times, painters were relatively easy to say, their moral character and integrity constraints, in terms of interests are better. But in modern times, some painters often out of economic needs, in order to cash in on other people's bulk orders, they find someone to ghostwrite for them, this point is completely devoid of morality, at the same time it is also a kind of harm to the dissemination and development of calligraphy and painting culture.

  After discussing the ghostwriting matter, Zhao Qirui thought for a moment and suddenly became happy. He didn't know what kind of expression Yu Guangjie would have when he found out that this was a ghostwritten work, especially since Yu Guangjie had paid an extra 500,000 yuan, which made him secretly pleased, as if avenging the arrow from that afternoon.

  "By the way, Little Chu, that pen holder you took a picture of earlier, is there something unusual about it? Won't you have picked up another bargain?" Zhao Qirui suddenly thought of the bamboo carved pen holder that Chuyan had bought and became somewhat curious.

  "I also feel a bit of a problem with this thing, but I'm not very sure if it will be picked up or not."

  This pen holder, Chuyan had also carefully studied before, and indeed found a problem, but whether it is what he thought it was, can only be known after verification.

  "Oh, Xiao Chu, hurry up and tell me, what's going on?"

  Chu Chen handed the pen holder to Zhao Qirui and smiled: "Brother Zhao, you can tell the depth by comparing it with your finger."

  Zhao Qirui curiously took over the pen holder, then used his fingers to poke inside the pen holder, unexpectedly, his fingers reached the bottom in a short while. Then he took out his fingers and compared them with the outside of the pen holder, surprisingly, they only reached halfway up the pen holder.

  "Little Chu, are you saying there might be something in here?" Zhao Qirui returned the pen holder to Chu Chen with a somewhat stunned expression.

  Chu Chen picked up the pen holder, smiled and said: "I really think so. If there's nothing inside, it doesn't match the style of the pen holder at all. And if there's nothing inside, don't you think it's a bit heavy?"

  Chu Chen turned the pen holder over and found nothing unusual at the bottom, just a wooden base wrapped around it.

  "Mr. Zhao, do you have a small knife here?"

  "Here." Ah Chao opened a box in front of him, took out a fruit knife from inside and handed it to him.

  Chu Chen used a knife to scrape the joint between the base and the pen holder, scraping out a layer of something that looked like wax, which should have served as an adhesive and sealant. Gradually, the more he scraped with the knife, the looser the entire base became until it finally started to come loose.

  It seemed that the scraping was almost done. Chu Chen applied a bit more force and removed the base, but when he looked inside, his expression became somewhat strange.

  "What's inside?" Zhao Qirui asked with some curiosity.

  Chu Chen poured out what was inside, but it was something that looked like a round box.

  The box is about 7 or 8 centimeters high, roughly half the height of a pen holder. The box looks black and dull, and it's unclear what material it's made of. It feels somewhat smooth to the touch, but it doesn't seem like jade. Chu Chen thinks it's probably some kind of metal product with something else applied to its surface.