In the long river of history, there are many precious cultural relics handed down, becoming an important material for the study of history in the current era, in today's cultural relics and antiques market, a precious circulating cultural relics, often can be auctioned for tens of millions of dollars, and even worth more than 100 million cultural relics and antiques, not a few.
In 2005, Mr. Qin auctioned an antique auction for 90,000 yuan for a robe, which was originally intended to be a private collection, but after expert identification, the robe was identified as a Dravidian quilt.
More importantly, it is from Qianlong's mausoleum, which was covered by Qianlong when he was buried, and the value of this sutra was doubled, and at a later auction, this sutra was auctioned for 130 million yuan.
10,000 yuan to buy robes, but it was identified as a "shroud"
Mr. Qin, a citizen from Beijing, is a senior cultural relics and antiques enthusiast, he has been dealing with different antiques for many years, Mr. Qin is also employed in a cultural enterprise, almost every day with the company of antiques, deeply influenced by the atmosphere, but also gradually formed a hobby of collecting antiques.
In 2005, Mr. Qin participated in an antique auction.
Before attending the meeting, Mr. Qin did his homework and made a detailed understanding of the exhibits that will be auctioned at the auction, and the exquisite antiques made him feel admired by the experienced.
Finally, after measuring his economic strength, Mr. Qin had to give up and turn his attention to "cheap" antiques.
At the auction, a series of exquisite and shocking antiques were on the stage, and were competed for by the collectors present at a high price, which made Mr. Qin present feast his eyes, after all, this was his first time to participate in the auction, which was also an eye-opener.
After the exquisite antiques were auctioned, an inconspicuous lot caught Mr. Qin's attention.
The auctioneers placed a dark yellow robe on the stand, which had been dilapidated and had turned a dull yellowish-gray color in the passage of time.
For such a robe, not only the collectors present were not interested, but even the auctioneer in charge of the introduction did not look at it, but simply introduced it according to the procedure.
Although Mr. Qin was very interested in this robe, because the reserve price of the robe was 90,000 yuan, Mr. Qin was forced to give it up because he did not have sufficient funds.
In the end, the robe could only end up in a stream auction because no one participated in the bidding.
After the auction, Mr. Qin's mind was still touched by the robe.
After returning home, Mr. Qin was restless, always occupied by the robe, after careful consideration, Mr. Qin decided to pool the money to buy this robe.
After collecting enough 90,000 yuan from relatives and friends, Mr. Qin came to the auction site again.
Since only Mr. Qin had the intention to buy this robe, the whole process was quite smooth, and after completing the formalities, Mr. Qin returned home with the robe.
Mr. Qin spread the robe on the table and carefully observed it, and found that the robe was not as simple as it seemed on the surface, there seemed to be a layer of interlayer in the middle, and it was not so much a robe as it was a quilt, and it seemed to be covered with something.
Soon after, Mr. Qin came to a professional cultural relics appraisal institution with his robes.
After some identification by experts, this robe initially revealed its true face.
Originally, in the mezzanine of the robe, there was a piece of satin hidden, which was densely covered with symbols, which looked like scriptures, and experts also said that this kind of satin was covered on the corpse, and the ancient royal nobles would be wrapped in this kind of sutra when they were buried, in layman's terms, this is a shroud.
At the same time, the expert also told Mr. Qin that this kind of sutra represents unlucky due to its use, so it is difficult to circulate in the market, and he is willing to help Mr. Qin resell this quilt at twice the price.
Hearing this, Mr. Qin realized that this piece of scripture was affirmed to be worth money, otherwise the experts would not have asked for trouble and helped themselves to resell it, so he politely refused.
After Mr. Qin returned home, he recalled the words of the experts that the scriptures that could be used by the ancient royal family and nobles as a posthumous thing should have a certain value, even if it was unlucky.
So Mr. Qin found another appraisal agency, and this time, the appraisal results not only amazed Mr. Qin, but even the experts present.
After this appraisal, this sutra was confirmed to be a Dravidian quilt, and more importantly, it was from the tomb of the Qianlong Emperor, and it was the Dravidian quilt used by Qianlong when he was buried, and the value was staggering.
Such a result made Mr. Qin secretly happy, and he couldn't imagine that the broken robe bought for 90,000 yuan was actually a valuable quilt.
More than 70 million were sold, doubling the value of 130 million for a sky-high price
After that, Mr. Qin collected this sutra as a treasure knot, and before he transferred it, Mr. Qin also consulted a large amount of information about the Dravidian sutra, and as he deepened his understanding, he also felt the value of this sutra more and more.
At the end of 2007, three years after the purchase was made, Mr. Qin decided to put the economy on the auction floor.
On January 6, 2008, at an auction held in Beijing, this sutra was used as a large axis and the last one appeared.
As soon as it appeared, it triggered a bidding contest among many collectors present, and the price of the warp showed the high value of this quilt.
Finally, after 11 rounds of bidding, this piece was purchased by a lady for 65.5 million yuan, and if the commission is added, the total transaction price of this piece is 72.05 million yuan.
72.5 million, compared with the 90,000 that Mr. Qin spent when he bought it three years ago, is more than 800 times the original price.
At the same time, the auction of this quilt has also brought great benefits to Mr. Qin, before that, Mr. Qin almost all relied on salary income, the 90,000 yuan of the purchase of the quilt was collected from the east and west, and the resale of more than 70 million yuan was obtained, if you rely solely on Mr. Qin's salary, I am afraid that you will have to save until the Year of the Monkey, which is really a true portrayal of "seeking wealth and wealth in danger".
Although the fate of this sutra and Mr. Qin has ended, the sutra itself is still circulating in the collection world.
Just two years after it was sold for 72.5 million yuan, in 2010, the quilt appeared at another auction, and the final transaction price almost doubled, at a sky-high price of 130 million yuan.
The sky-high price of 130 million yuan is enough to rank among the best in the auction history of cultural relics and antiques in the mainland, and this is the auction price in 2010, and now 12 years have passed, if this piece is auctioned again, its price may reach a new high.
The transaction was made for 130 million yuan, allowing the lady to nearly double her earnings in just two years.
In fact, it is not very surprising that this Dravidian sutra can be auctioned for such a high price.
Because according to the data, there are only a few surviving quilts on the mainland that are intact and have been confirmed to be used by the ancient royal family.
One is the sutra quilt used by Cixi when she was buried, which is now in the Qing Dongling Museum and is a non-circulating cultural relic; one is the Kangxi Dravidian Sutra, which was flowed overseas in the early years and later bought back by patriots at a high price; and the other is the Qianlong Dravidian Sutra that was circulated among the people.
In addition, this sutra was specially customized for him on the 80th birthday of Qianlong, which was specially customized for him at the time of the 80th birthday of Qianlong, with a specification of 2 meters in length and 1.38 meters in width, and was enlightened by several masters, which means that "no matter how great the sin is committed, after death, all sins will disappear."
Therefore, this piece of warp is already worth a lot, coupled with more than 200 years of precipitation, its value is also naturally rising.
I don't know if Mr. Qin regretted that he easily auctioned it off when he learned that this sutra was dropped for 130 million yuan, but carefully collected it as an heirloom.
But if so, how can we get a glimpse of this rare treasure?
Sun Dianying stole the imperial tomb, and the Dravidian Sutra was flowed out
After this auction, the Dravidian sutra also aroused the interest of many collectors, causing them to focus on places that had been neglected before.
Moreover, there were also a group of experts who began to study the origin of this quilt, how did this quilt, which should have been stored in the coffin of Qianlong, flow out and then go to the people?
After a detailed study by historical experts, the reason for the outflow of this piece of scripture was unanimously determined to be caused by Sun Dianying's wanton excavation of the tomb of the Qing Emperor during the Republic of China period.
In 1928, the warlord Sun Dianying was stationed in the area away from Jixian County, and it was here that the Qing Tombs were built.
There are five tombs of Qing Emperors in the Qing Dynasty, namely the Xiaoling Tomb of Shunzhi, the Jingling Tomb of Kangxi, the Yuling Tomb of Qianlong, the Dingling Tomb of Xianfeng and the Huiling Tomb of Tongzhi, in addition to 15 tombs of empresses, 136 tombs of concubines, 3 tombs of Brothers and 2 tombs of princesses.
These tombs have a large number of precious funerary items, and Sun Dianying has an unjust heart for this, intending to excavate the expensive burial items and prepare for military pay.
In order to hide people's eyes, Sun Dianying sent people to post notices everywhere, claiming that the troops were about to conduct military exercises and began to plan tomb robbery.
This tomb robbery is also the most serious theft of imperial tombs in the modern history of the mainland.
After everything was ready, Sun Dianying led his troops into the Qing Tombs, and he aimed his first target at the Tomb of Cixi.
Because the tomb door was carved from a single piece of boulder, Sun Dianying sent soldiers to blow up the tomb door with explosives, and then rushed in and stole all the burial items in the tomb.
After entering the underground palace, Sun Dianying sent his men to pry open Cixi's coffin, and all the gold and silver jewelry and agate jewelry in it were taken away, and even the night pearl in Cixi's mouth was forcibly taken away.
The most infuriating thing is that after looting, they randomly abandoned Cixi's corpse in the underground palace, unabashedly greedy in their hearts, and the rampantness of tomb robbers can be seen.
After the excavation of Cixi's mausoleum, Sun Dianying targeted the Yuling Tomb in Qianlong.
Different from Cixi's tomb, Qianlong's Yuling tomb was built in the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, when it was built to take the treasures of the world, the mausoleum was extremely luxurious, and the funerary items were innumerable.
After Sun Dianying and his gang entered the Yuling Underground Palace, they were shocked and speechless by the scene in front of them: where is the underground palace, it is clearly a strange world, the stone door is carved with bodhisattvas, the four directions have four heavenly kings guarding the four directions, and the walls are full of scriptures carved in Sanskrit, which is not difficult to understand why this sutra appeared in the Qianlong Tomb.
After opening the last stone door, the bandits came to the place where the coffin was placed.
Sun Dianying ordered the coffin to be pried open and the internal body was taken away with the burial goods, and Qianlong's remains were also thrown out of the coffin by them, mixed with the bones of the other two coffins.
This Dravidian sutra was found in Qianlong's coffin.
It was just that Sun Dianying regarded it as a bland shroud, casually threw it aside, and was later taken out by his soldiers, and then wandered into the people, going back and forth.
For nearly a hundred years, this sutra has been in the hands of different people, during which, perhaps to hide the eyes and ears of the people, or perhaps by the Manchu Qing remnants, it was sewn into a robe and circulated in a false face.
It was not until 2005 that Mr. Qin pocketed it for 90,000 yuan, and after identification, the true face of this Dravidian sutra was revealed.
More importantly, this sutra has become the only sutra circulating in the folk collection circle, and another Cixi sutra has been included in the museum as a historical relic, so its value is self-evident.
The Dravidian Sutra is covered by past lives and present lives
In ancient times, the Dravidian Sutra has always been a funeral article used by the royal family, only the royal family above the prince can use it, and some ministers who have been deeply respected by the emperor have been given the royal sutra after death to be buried, but the number is very rare.
Moreover, the Dravidian sutras are not uniform, but are divided into six levels according to the identity of the tomb owner.
The highest grade quilt is Cixi's Weaving Gold Dravidian Quilt, which is 2.8 meters long and 2.74 meters wide, close to a square.
The center of the four sides of the sutra is decorated with stupas, and the scriptures embroidered on it are more than 25,000 words, plus 820 pearls, which is extremely luxurious.
The weaving quilt was so complex that it took five textile craftsmen to work together for several months.
At the center of the whole quilt is a pagoda made of scriptures, and at the top of the tower is written the words "Cihang Dufu", because its production process is so complex that it cannot be perfectly restored to this day, so it is considered to be the best of the Dravidian sutras.
Kangxi's imperial weaving quilt contains seventy-two incantations in addition to the scriptures.
Many of the meanings of these incantations have become puzzles that can no longer be examined.
Since it was bought back at a high price by patriots, this sutra has been preserved in the mainland, and it is still well preserved and is a treasure in the royal quilt.
In fact, in addition to the historical and cultural value of the Qianlong Dravidian Sutra, from the perspective of production technology, this Qianlong Sutra quilt itself is a beautiful handicraft.
The whole body of the sutra is made of the "silk" process that has been passed down for thousands of years, plus the scriptures embroidered on it, and then opened by several masters, and the value of this sutra quilt is immeasurable, even if it is not a Qianlong royal object.
Since the Song Dynasty, silk has been one of the royal fabrics, and in ancient times, silk was often used to make empress costumes, portraits of emperors, and celebrity paintings and calligraphy.
The silk reeling process has always been regarded as a treasure because the weaving process is extremely delicate, and the surviving works that have survived are extremely rare.
And in the world of antiques and auctions, "silk paintings" and silk crafts have always been the focus of a collector's rush to buy.
In addition, silk has also become the "four major weavings" of the mainland together with Hangzhou weaving painting, Yongchun paper weaving painting and Sichuan bamboo curtain painting, and in 2009, it was selected as a world intangible cultural heritage, which shows its status.
In recent years, silk crafts and silk paintings have also become the focus of attention on the auction floor.
In the spring of 2021, at the Poly Spring Auction, there was a silk painting, breaking the global auction record for silk works.
This silk painting is called "Lanting Tu Paste Silk Complete Volume", it was born in the Qianlong period, this work is 17 meters long, the main body around the Lanting assembly, before the auction began, it was already the focus of outside attention.
At the auction, as soon as the work began, it immediately caused a climax in the bidding in the venue, and various sky-high price figures rose and fell.
The starting price of 80 million yuan, in just a few seconds, was raised to more than 100 million, after 19 rounds of fierce robbery, this silk work fell at a sky-high price of 210 million yuan, if you count the commission and other costs, the total transaction price is as high as 241.5 million yuan, this price also refreshed the global auction record of silk works.
It is worth mentioning that this work has been auctioned once in 2004, and the transaction price at that time was 35.75 million, which was a record price at that time.
After 17 years, the value of this work has increased by as much as 200 million, which is staggering.
The value of the Sutra may be limited to some extent, after all, its use in the traditional concept of Chinese is indeed very unlucky, which makes it less popular.
However, as a precious cultural heritage, the Dravidian sutras still have irreplaceable value, such as the scriptures on them, which are important materials for the study of ancient sects.
Some of the scriptures were written in Sanskrit, which also provides valuable material information for the study of ancient Sanskrit.
Therefore, from a comprehensive point of view, although it is a shroud, the Dravidian sutra is still a precious cultural relic, with great research value and cultural value.
Nowadays, the Dravidian sutra has long ceased to be a royal object, since the Republic of China, the scope of application of the sutra has been expanded, many sacrifices and other occasions will also use the sutra, and in modern society, many ordinary people will also use the sutra after death, just for the sake of peace after death.
Although from the source, this Qianlong Sutra can be called a "stolen object", after all, it has been wandering in the folk for nearly a hundred years, and finally shined in the hands of Mr. Qin.
If it were not for Mr. Qin's discernment, this precious cultural relics might continue to float and sink in the folk and would not reappear in the world so early.