When Wang Shixiang passed by an antique store, he took a look at the case, he couldn't wait to go forward to look at it and look at it, the surprise in his eyes could not be hidden, if he was not mistaken, this was a valuable rosewood. He found the boss, and after some bargaining, he left with a satisfied face and the happiness he bought for 80 yuan.
1. The clumsy boy of his youth
As a "top player" in the antique industry, Wang Shixiang's vision is not generally accurate. Therefore, many people say that Wang Shixiang is an "artistic ghost". Wang Shixiang has been obsessed with collecting antiques all his life, and his collection experience is even more legendary, once relying on his discernment to see treasure, he used 80 yuan to accept a valuable rosewood case.
As we all know, rosewood has the title of "king of wood", and "non-thousand years can not be made of wood" No matter which dynasty it is in, it is a very valuable wood, and basically exclusive to the royal family. Therefore, most of the rosewood cases were only enjoyed by ancient emperors.
Wang Shixiang's ability to buy rosewood for 80 yuan can be called a great thing that fell from the sky. However, Wang Shixiang's ability to have such a powerful vision is inseparable from his experience. Wang Shixiang was born into a famous family, his mother was a famous fish and algae painter, and his grandfather also worked as a Shangshu of the Ministry of Works.
Such a good family situation coupled with the death of his eldest brother made him an only son, so the pampered Wang Shixiang gradually became a clumsy disciple. The older he gets, the more he plays, raising pigeons, catching cockroaches, what is interesting he plays.
These things seemed to open a window for Wang Shixiang, who was not very old, and let him see a different world. So gradually, Wang Shixiang was no longer satisfied with playing with these small things, he wanted to play something more exciting, so his preferences began to shift to raising eagles and training dogs.
However, after all, it is a big family, although it will not interfere with his hobbies, but it will not just look at him like this. Although indulgent, education is also becoming more and more strict. Because it was popular to study abroad at that time, many large families with good families would send their children abroad to be coated with gold, learn some advanced knowledge and then come back.
The Wang family is naturally no exception, after all, Wang Shixiang is the only son in the family, and the family still expects him to take responsibility in the future, so he was thrown out of the country. Probably playing crazy in China, so Wang Shixiang, who went abroad, did not restrain his personality because of this, and only went out not long after he broke the arm of a foreign classmate.
However, this kind of small matter did not affect his study abroad process, after a few years of staying abroad, Wang Shixiang, who returned to China, was admitted to Yenching University in one fell swoop. It can be seen that although he loves to play some, he still has nothing to do.
Second, to protect cultural relics
After studying in the department of Chinese of Yenching University for several years, Wang Shixiang obtained a master's degree with his own skills, and after graduation, he entered the China Construction Society as an apprentice, specializing in ancient architecture and traditional furniture.
From here, it can be seen that Wang Shixiang is really interested in antique play. It was also at this time that Wang Shixiang decided to turn to the antiques profession. Because of the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, many of China's antiques were either lost or damaged in this war, which is undoubtedly piercing his heart for Wang Shixiang, who has loved antiques since he was a child.
Therefore, after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wang Shixiang took the initiative to look for those cultural relics lost in the war. As a member of the Cultural Relics Loss Committee, Wang Shixiang is dedicated to his duties, and in order to quickly retrieve those valuable antiques, he has traveled to many countries.
After more than a year of hard work, he finally recovered more than 2,000 cases. The following year, he retrieved more than a hundred boxes of books from Japan. After the founding of New China, Wang Shixiang served as the director of the exhibition department of the Forbidden City and continued to spend time with his favorite antiques.
Three · 80 dollars to buy the happiness
If there is one of the most proud things about his treasure hunt, it is not how much effort he put into antiques, but the rosewood case he bought for 80 yuan. When it comes to the rosewood case, its origin is not ordinary.
For Wang Shixiang, who has worked in the Palace Museum for many years, what is valuable and rare cultural relics he has not seen, so when he first saw this rosewood case, what attracted him may not be the value of this case, but its content.
The two owners of this case have extraordinary histories and are very high-status. First of all, Pu Dong, one of the "Four Princes of the Republic of China", must be familiar with the name. Pu Dong's original name was Ai Xin Jue Luo Pu Dong, and his father was the great-grandson of Qianlong's 11th son, named Ai Xin Jue Luo Zaizhi.
Pu Dong because he studied in the study room when he was a child, so he was almost proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, plus he especially liked opera, and he was known as the "owner of the red bean restaurant". As the former owner of the rosewood case, he naturally couldn't bear to mention a word on the case. It is precisely because of his words that Wang Shixiang saw the true value of this rosewood case.
The other owner of the rosewood case is also from an extraordinary background, his name is Song Jie, and many people must be very unfamiliar with this name. During the Shunzhi period, Song Xi entered the palace as a son of the chancellor's family and served as a bodyguard, which was common at the time.
Later, the Shunzhi Emperor disappeared, the Kangxi Emperor succeeded to the throne, and Song Xi rose all the way from Yuanwailang to the position of prince and young master. Because he was very decent during his tenure, he was called "the first inspector of the world" by Kangxi after his death, and later had the title of "Ten Talents during the Kangxi Period".
With these two famous masters in history, this rosewood case is difficult to think of as worthless. And Wang Shixiang himself said that he bought this case is definitely the biggest bargain he has ever picked up in his life.
This big bargain is probably to compensate Wang Shixiang for leaving the cultural relics post for ten years. In 1957, Wang Shixiang was classified as a "rightist" because he had opinions on the "three antis."
Therefore, he could not continue to work at the Palace Museum, and Wang Shixiang, who was forced to leave his beloved cultural relics, did not really give up studying antiques because of this. At home, he still insisted on studying, recording some antique documents and enriching his knowledge reserves, so that one day he could return to his beloved profession.
Fortunately, ten years later, his identity was explained, and he returned to his job after a decade-long absence on the same day to continue his research. In the past ten years, Wang Shixiang has a deeper achievement in the study of cultural relics, and at the same time, he has also gone to many places to participate in cultural relics symposiums and impart knowledge, and his series of studies have also had a very great impact on the world.
His life is also a legend, from a clumsy boy who everyone does not look favorably to a cultural relics researcher admired by everyone today, and has made great contributions to the protection of cultural relics, he deserves our admiration.