A dusty history, a twisted and bizarre treasure story.
In the eleventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (1307), Emperor Chengzong of Yuan fell ill and died, and Emperor Chengzong's only son died prematurely, and the throne was vacant. The nephews began to compete for the throne, and the second prince, Aiyu Li Bali Bada, was the first to lead an army into Beijing, taking advantage of the opportunity. But he did not occupy the throne, but welcomed his brother Haishan back and made Haishan emperor.

Yuan Renzong
Haishan was Emperor Yuanwuzong, who was very touched by his brother's abdication, so he promised that the throne would be inherited by his younger brother after his death. Four years later, Emperor Yuanwuzong died, and his younger brother ascended the throne as promised by his brother to serve Emperor Yuanrenzong.
After Emperor Yuanrenzong succeeded to the throne, he issued a holy decree that after his death, he would return the throne to his brother's son, and let Emperor Yuanwuzong's son inherit the throne. However, in his later years, Emperor Yuanrenzong was provoked by his ministers to pass the throne to his son.
Territory of the Yuan Dynasty
Emperor Yuanrenzong went against his original intention, causing his nephew and son to start a decades-long battle for the throne, and the decades-long civil war made the people miserable and caused great damage to the country.
In this context, the great painter Ren Renfa painted a painting of the "Five Kings Drunk Returning", which painted 5 drunks, these 5 drunks were five brothers of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, and the five were drunk and rode back to the palace on horseback.
Emperor Yuan's throne
The reason why Ren Renfa painted this painting is to use it to reflect the history of this struggle for the throne. Tang Xuanzong's brother Li Xian once ceded the throne to him, just as Emperor Yuanrenzong gave way to his brother Haishan, but in the later period, he violated his original intention and caused civil unrest.
Ren Renfa's "Map of the Drunken Return of the Five Kings" is to borrow the story of Tang Xuanzong to warn the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty to keep his promise and practice the covenant of benevolence and righteousness.
Painter Ren Renfa
After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, this ancient painting was lost to the people, and was collected by Zhu Shangbin, Wang Yongji, Liang Qingbiao, Geng Zhaozhong and others of the Ming Dynasty, and was circulated for hundreds of years.
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the painting was included in the palace by Dolgun, and after Dorgon's death, it was included in the imperial palace collection. During the Qianlong period, this painting was compiled into the "Shiqu Baodi", and the emperors of Qianlong, Jiaqing, Xuantong and other emperors all stamped their collection seals on it.
Emperor Puyi
In 1912, Emperor Xuantong abdicated and the Qing Dynasty collapsed. In 1922, Emperor Puyi quietly stole the treasures in the palace in the name of rewards, and this "Picture of the Drunken Return of the Five Kings" was taken out of the palace by Puyi's younger brother Pujie.
In 1934, Puyi became the emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo in Changchun, with the era name Kant. Puyi built a small white building in the puppet Manchu Palace, and this famous painting was collected in the small white building.
The White House of the Puppet Manchurian Palace
In 1945, the Japanese Kwantung Army was defeated, Puyi fled to the Great Chestnut Ditch, and the guards left behind in the puppet Manchu Palace began to steal the treasures in the Small White Building, and the "Five Kings Drunk Return Map" has been lost to the people ever since.
At the end of the same year, the painting was lost to the Beijing Liuli Factory, and was successively collected by the antique shop owners Hao Baochu and Lu Qinzhai. Subsequently, Lu Qinzhai gave this painting to her daughter as a dowry, which was treasured by her daughter and son-in-law.
Collector Lu Qinzhai
On the eve of liberation in 1949, Lu Qinzhai's daughter and family moved to the United States. To raise money for his livelihood, his son-in-law, Du Boqiu, sold the painting to German collector Walter Houstay for $100,000.
Hou Shitai was very fond of this painting, and no one was allowed to take pictures or borrow it, and regarded it as life. In 2007, Hou Shitai was seriously ill, and before he died, he confessed to his grandson: "This painting is worth a lot, a rare treasure, don't sell it!" ”
Christie's auction
However, Hou Shitai's grandchildren did not pay any attention to the words of the old grandfather, and as soon as Hou Shitai died, the grandchildren began to betray his lifelong treasures, and in the end, this "Picture of the Drunken Return of the Five Kings" was not spared.
In 2009, Hou Shitai's grandson took the painting to Christie's Hong Kong for auction, with a starting price of HK$10 million. In the end, the painting sold for HK$46.58 million.
Big brother Li Xian
In 2016, the painting was auctioned again. Unexpectedly, this auction has appreciated by 200 million because of the painter's name. The painter's name Ren Renfa, harmonically pronounced "RenrenFa", this coincidence coupled with the legendary experience of ancient paintings, made his value increase by nearly 10 times in an instant.
Old Third Li Longji (Xuanzong)
At that time, the starting price was 68 million Hong Kong dollars, and the auction price reached 110 million yuan in the first round. After more than 50 rounds of competition, the painting was finally sold for HK$264 million, plus a total commission of 303.6 million. The person who took this picture is Zhang Guiping, ceo of Suning Group.
Fourth brother Li Fan
After the appraisal master Xu Bangda, this painting is indeed authentic, and its standard exceeds the collection of paintings in the Palace Museum.
The "Map of the Drunken Return of the Five Kings" depicts the scene of the five brothers of Tang Xuanzong returning to the palace drunk, at this time Tang Xuanzong and others were still princes, the eldest brother Li Chengqi (Li Xian), the second brother Li Chengyi (Li Xian), the second brother Shen Wang Li Chengyi (Li Huan), the fourth brother Li Fan the Prince of Qi, and the fifth brother Xue Wang Li Ye.
Fifth brother Li Ye
The five brothers each rode a horse, accompanied by 4 guards. Li Longji was dressed in crimson and was the most drunk. Two guards helped him forward, and then dressed in pale yellow clothes was the eldest brother Li Xian, who was slightly red in the face and rode behind him on a black horse. Gu looked forward to riding Li Fan, the king of the jade flower mane, and Li Ye, the king of Xue, riding the yellow horse.
Dynamic graph
The second brother Li Chengyi, the king of Shen, was not lightly drunk, lying on the back of the horse to make a vomiting, a guard followed by the side to roll up his sleeves and prepare to come to help, it seems that the second brother has signs of falling off the horse, the guards are deeply afraid that one person can not help, quickly turn around and ask the guards behind the palace to hurry up and take the handle. The guards behind the palace quickly stepped up and hurried to catch up.
"The Five Kings Drunk"
Maybe on the weekend of a certain day, the five brothers went to the outside of the city for a picnic, and during the banquet, the second and third old Li Longji fought wine, and as a result, Li Longji was invincible, drunk, and the second brother was slightly better, but it was enough to choke.
The eldest Li Xian was calmer and slightly drunk. The fourth and fifth elders may have considered that they only brought 4 guards, and if all 5 of them were drunk, the guards would be caught off guard, so they only drank a little. The whole painting is exquisite and vivid, and it can be called a national treasure.
Palace museum
As a result, the legendary experience of a national treasure finally came to an end, ending more than 600 years of upheaval and displacement.