In Paris, not far from the Arc de Triomphe, there is a beautiful park called "Parc Dei Monceau". In the corner of Monceau Park, there is a Chinese-style red building, which is divided into five floors, with glazed tiles, mainly wooden buildings, and the surrounding French neoclassical bungalows stand side by side, which seems to stand out from the crowd, out of place, and extremely eye-catching. In front of the gatehouse, there is a small sign with only a few simple words "Loo C. TetCompagnie", which is known at a glance to be the old-fashioned Chinese pinyin. This is Lu Qinzhai's Lu Wu Company.
The Red House in Paris
Mr. Chen Chongyuan mentioned in "Antique Talk Spring and Autumn", one of the "Liuli Factory", that the "Lu Wu Company" that specializes in selling antiques to Europe and the United States is this 'LOO'. Lu Qinzhai's name is "C.T.LOO" known in the European and American antique circles. Although he died in 1957, in the circles of playing antiques in Europe and the United States, as long as you mention C.T. LOO, everyone knows and knows. It can be said that Lu Qinzhai's ancient cultural relics of modern Chinese history flowed overseas to handlers and witnesses.
Born in 1880 in Lujiadu, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, Lu Qinzhai (also known as Qinzhai) was a wealthy family with a huge business for 16 consecutive generations. Most of the people in the village are surnamed Lu, and every spring festival, people in the clan gather in the ancestral hall to burn incense, prostrate their heads, and worship their ancestors. There are many families in the clan who are high-ranking officials, as well as businessmen who do business and ordinary people. In 1851, the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" swept through Jiangsu and Zhejiang, especially Huzhou. The Lu family's centuries-old inheritance was destroyed, the family took refuge in Shanghai, and after the military turmoil passed, they returned to their hometown, leaving only a fragment of debris. The Lu family has since collapsed.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Lu Qinzhai was sent by his family to France in search of business opportunities. No one expected that this young man, who was far away from his homeland and less than 20 years old, would become an internationally renowned antique dealer in just a few years. A perfect opportunity to bring his genius to light.
In 1902, at the Qing Empire's embassy in Paris, he met Zhang Jingjiang, a dashing and capable young man. Zhang Jingjiang is also a native of Zhejiang, born into a rich family, and a good warrior. He was a close friend of Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek later became brothers with him. At this time he was doing business at the embassy. At a banquet, seeing Lu Qinzhai, the two saw each other as before. He suggested that Can Jai practice trade and open an antique shop where he could participate in the assistance. Although Lu Qinzhai was inexperienced, he was full of pride and decided to try his hand. Soon he opened an import company in the 8th district of Madeiran Square called "Dong Ying Lou".
Unluckily, his first sale was smashed, and he had to sell a warehouse antique that had been shipped. Lu Qinzhai re-experienced the mystery of this business, and he had an innate business acumen and a high level of appreciation. He knew how to combine the two, he learned quickly, was extremely sensitive and knowledgeable about what he got started, and it wasn't long before he became a master of antiques trading. In a sense, Lu Qinzhai is the enlightener and teacher of Western Chinese antiques.
At that time, the Western understanding of China's history was very shallow and crude, and there were no decent sinologists, who were only interested in which antiques that looked valuable at first glance. However, the value of ancient jade and bronze ware that is old, looking tattered and dirty on the surface, is not understood.
Lu Qinzhai gradually conquered the taste of Paris with his exquisite cultural expertise and genius business vision. Many of the antiques he handled changed from dead to alive, from cold to hot. Lu Qinzhai's status in the antique shop is to call the wind and rain, and to say nine words. He gradually became friends with the most famous Sinologists and antique collectors in France, such as Sai Jialan, La Tigue, Chavan, Bai You, etc.
In 1908, he abandoned the Dong Ying Lou and founded another company called Lai Yuan Lou. At this time, Lu Qinzhai bought and sold the number of antiques, just like ordinary people buying and selling furniture and porcelain. In China at that time, the Qing Dynasty collapsed and national treasures were scattered in all directions, which was the most prosperous period for the antique market. Many palace nobles and the children of the Eight Banners have lost their source of livelihood and have sold antiques left by their ancestors or stolen from the palace. Near the City God Temple in Shanghai, it is the largest antique market in China, which is large and busy, followed by Beijing Liulichang, Tianjin and Hong Kong.
Lu Qinzhai formed a circle with the big traders of the Beijing-Shanghai antique shop, similar to the current Chamber of Commerce, and soon established the Lu Wu Company, the most famous private cultural relics import and export company in modern Chinese history. Lu Qinzhai was stationed in Paris, Uncle Yao, who was good at English, was stationed in New York, Wu Qizhou in Shanghai, and Zhu Xuzhai in Beijing gave them goods, shipped them to Shanghai, and sent them from Wu Qizhou to Paris or New York. This is the earliest, largest and longest-running cultural relics export company. Every year he takes a train back from Siberia to see and order goods, and to learn about the latest domestic market.
Every year, when looking at goods, people in the circle bring the most expensive goods on hand to an elegant tea house specially booked, and then watch the goods trade. There is a set of special hand styles and secret languages for negotiating prices. The hands of the two men were hidden in long sleeves. The difference between the goods that cannot be seen is sometimes too large, and it is necessary to ask clearly while comparing, shaking hands and saying: a thousand business is enough. The goods can be taken away on the spot, the money will be paid off when the time comes, the antique shop has never seen a written testimony, and it is impossible for anyone to stand in this circle from now on.
The "Lu Wu Company" is very rich, and the goods that are on the look are generally not contested with him, such as Yi Ding, bronzeware, ancient jade, porcelain calligraphy and painting, and Tang Sancai are all within the scope of the transaction. As long as there are rare and ancient goods in the world, they will be transferred to the hands of this circle of people. The reason is that many large goods are extremely expensive, often tens of thousands of silver dollars, and ordinary traders are simply unable to ask for money. And this era was a time of prosperity for Europe. Oriental fever has become a fashion, and playing with Chinese antiques has become a symbol of status and education. In China, the purchase price is expensive, and it is ridiculous to be cheap in Paris, so there are huge profits to be made in the far building. Because this is the largest distribution center of Chinese antiques in Europe, every year when Lu Qinzhai returns, someone immediately hears the news, and people who come to the far building come in and out, and the guests are like clouds.
Lu Qinzhai is a studious and tireless businessman. He was a merchant, much taller than the average antique dealer. There is a kind of Jiangnan literati's bookish temperament, but there is no ordinary scholar's stupidity. The business is very lively, let it go, have the courage, and be very generous. Sometimes even the people who bought it are embarrassed. But when it is time to earn, it is also very fierce, sometimes an antique can be put for a few years, more than ten years without a shot, just quietly release the wind, and when the time comes, the market is prosperous. The scene of coaxing is tens or even hundreds of times the profit of the purchase price.
One of Lu Qinzhai's "missing hands" was an ancient piece of jade. In 1912, the famous Senucci Museum hosted an exhibition that brought more people to love Chinese antiques. One of them, Gisseide of the Northern Railway Company, began to entrust Lu Qinzhai to collect ancient jade for him, and once Lu Qinzhai "looked away" and sold a piece of ancient jade to a doctor for a minuscule price of 320 francs, while at that time a piece of Ming kiln porcelain in the United States could be sold for 120,000 francs. The doctor thus came from far away every year to buy a lot of goods, and in his old age, Lu Qinzhai was still grumpy about this "small matter", and when he saw this doctor, he mentioned this matter, and the doctor laughed proudly every time he listened.
After World War I, Lu Qinzhai understood that the United States had become the center of the antique market, and he decided to open one of the largest antique shops in the United States with Wu Qizhou, a Shanghainese, on the corner of Madison and 57th Street in New York. His fame and connections soon made him a supplier and consultant to many private museums. He is involved in the sale of valuable Chinese antiques.
His guests were bankers, arms dealers, tycoons such as Morgan J.P. Morgan, Samuel Peters, and many more. For example, the Freer Museum, which went from an insignificant shop named Charles Freer, which was later transformed into Washington, D.C., became famous because of its collection of The Northern Dynasty Sarcophagus Bed (with quaint beaded patterns on it). It is safe to say that more than half of the antiques that flowed out of China overseas were through Lu Qinzhai's hands.
Since 1915, Lu Wu Company has exported cultural relics to the United States for 30 years, countless national treasures, how much money has been made, Lu Qinzhai himself is unknown, only as a minority shareholder, Zhu Xuzhai can get more than 100,000 yuan of silver dollars per year, and the annual flow of an antique shop in LiuliChang is not so much! Mr. Lin Yutang borrowed money everywhere because of the research and development of Chinese typewriter, and then with the financial support of Lu Qinzhai, the prototype of the typewriter came out with difficulty.
One of Lu Qinzhai's most criticized businesses was the resale of the Zhaoling Liujun "Salu Zi" and "Fist Hair". The Six Horses of Tang Zhaoling is a stone sculpture of the six mounts that Emperor Taizong of Tang took when Li Shimin defeated Qunxiong and established the Tang Dynasty. They are placed between the east and west walls of the Zhaoling Beique Sanyao Stone Chamber, and are a set of monumental high-relief masterpieces. These six horses were originally Li Shimin's most beloved mounts during his lifetime, and they made great achievements in his great cause of unifying China, and some of them even saved his life. During the construction of the Zhaoling Tombs, Li Shimin ordered them to be carved into stone and erected monuments, which will be with him forever. Tang Taizong also personally composed six poems to praise his style, and ordered the great calligrapher Ouyang Ton to copy them and engrave them on this six-horse stone stele. These six stone sculptures are one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of Chinese art, and their historical and artistic value are very high, and they have long been well-known at home and abroad. Mr. Lu Xun praised it as "unprecedented".
In the winter of 1914, when Lu Qinzhai first came to North America to explore business, he met the director of the Penn Museum at the time, Gordon, who was preparing for the opening of the museum. At the opening exhibition in February 1916, Gordon specially invited antique dealers from various countries in the world, including Lu Qinzhai, who was in Lu's hands at that time. In March 1918, Gordon was so excited to see the two horses that Gordon first transported the two reliefs to the museum by "borrowing". The final purchase was achieved by way of borrowing, which became a common method of cooperation between Lu and Gao in the future. In May, the two horses were transported by train from New York to Philadelphia and arrived at the Penn Museum the next day. Lu Qinzhai's offer to Liangjun was $150,000, which was not a small amount at the time.
After negotiation, the Penn Museum successfully reduced the purchase price of the two jun to $125,000. In 1921, the last balance was paid. At this point, the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania has "legally" taken this world-class Chinese national treasure from The Chinese antique dealer Lu Qinzhai. Although the two horses in Zhaoling were stolen and transported ( Lu Qinzhai said that the two horse statues were purchased from the Chinese "central authorities", there is a proof) but after several changes in the middle, the penn museum in the United States when purchasing the two horses procedure is legal, today this has greatly increased the difficulty of the return of the two horses.
Lu Qinzhai vigorously maintained his hegemony in the antique world and did not allow anyone to touch it. One year, Zhangde, Henan Province, unearthed bronze weapons from the Shang Dynasty, and some people wanted to export these things to the United States. Lu Qinzhai held a press conference in New York to entertain famous Archaeologists, Connoisseurs and Associated Press reporters in the United States. At the banquet, he announced: Many weapons have been unearthed in Henan, and some people have imitated fake or broken and repaired them into instruments, and they will be transported to the United States for business, please pay attention to them. When people came to the United States, they thought they were genuine, but the cultural relics shown were indifferent and uninterested after several celebrities looked at them. After a few months, I had to buy this set of national treasures cheaply and make up enough money to return home.
In 1925, the French sinologist Paul Bai Leyou published a catalogue of ancient jade owned by Lu Qinzhai. From then on, he began to travel between Europe and the United States. French tastes are different from those of Americans. The French people love: Kangxi Sancai, glazed porcelain with red, eggplant purple, peacock green and other glazed colors, bronze ware, stone carving, Tang Sancai and Ming and Qing Dynasty flower ware. Americans prefer Northern Song Dynasty Jun kiln porcelain, Kangxi Lang kiln red, three generations of bronze, ancient jade, unearthed artifacts, Northern Wei reliefs, calligraphy and painting jade carvings.... And the appetite is very large, it is ancient is a treasure. The price was very high, and Lu Qinzhai made more money and popularity in the United States. Comparatively speaking, he prefers Europe more: perhaps because of its cultural taste and cultivation earlier, or perhaps because it is his birthplace. The older you get, the less you go back, and the homesickness is increasing day by day when you are in a foreign country or miss the landscape of your hometown.
One day, he suddenly decided to build a completely Chinese house in Paris. The decision shocked those around him, and many advised him not to do such an impossible thing. The difficulty is that in 1926, China was still a weak and poor China, and many people were still very discriminatory against Chinese. Even more difficult than that is the strict municipal planning of Paris, especially in the 8th arrondissement, where the rich gather. Between the Arc de Triomphe and the Parc Des Desir Monceau, many places are buildings with historical value, and the architectural style and appearance are of paramount importance, and no example of violation is allowed.
Lu Qinzhai still did not compromise after thinking about it, and decided to complete his wish! I don't know how much money he used, what kind of magic he used, and how the Paris municipal government operated flexibly.... In the end, Lu Qinzhai bought an old hotel, completely demolished, and with the assistance of French designers, at the intersection of Rembrandt and Gussell Streets--- now Peru Square, was built in 1926-1928 to become this unique Chinese building. This is probably one of the most authentic Chinese buildings in The city of Paris! A completely Chinese-style loft appeared in the heart of Paris and became the center of his collection of antiquities. At the same time, he built a factory on the outskirts of Paris, specializing in the manufacture of antique furniture, which were antique and at the same time improved according to the habits of modern people, at a suitable price and very popular.
After the liberation of New China, the government began to secretly return to the loss of overseas national treasures and cultural relics with only a little foreign exchange and gold. Lu Qinzhai has many orphans, treasures and fine products in the world, which are extremely valuable. Zhang Daqian had lived in Shanghai for a long time before, and due to the relationship between buying and selling ancient calligraphy and paintings, he was also very familiar with Wu Qizhou and Lu Qinzhai, and his personal friendship was good.
Minister of Culture Zheng Zhenduo once wrote to a friend: "... After returning to Hong Kong, please contact Zhang Daqianduo, all the famous paintings in the United States, as well as Japan, it is best to get them back through his relationship. That's a big deal. I hope he can try a little harder. The "Map of the Restoration of the Jin Dynasty" and the collection of Lu Qinzhai are both hoped to return to China. This matter is important and must be confidential. "In his later years, Lu Qinzhai was contradictory to his life. He admitted that he had lost many national treasures overseas, and felt fortunate that these national treasures were protected from war.
In his preface to a famous catalogue of cultural relics, he wrote: "This catalogue is the most detailed catalogue of modern Chinese sculpture I can collect. Unfortunately, we must admit that many of the cultural relics that are accessible were damaged and shattered when shipped out of China.... These famous Buddhist masterpieces - the painstaking efforts and inspiration of more than 400 years ago! • Damaged or destroyed in these four decades of unfortunate circumstances. I do feel very humiliated because I was one of the sources of the loss of these national treasures, and the only thing we can take comfort in is that none of these artifacts were not obtained in the open market by bidding with other buyers. Lu Qinzhai became French (and possibly American at the same time), married a French wife, and participated in the French referendum. He died in Europe in 1957 at the age of 78.
Today's Red Chamber still exhibits Lu Qinzhai's antiques and later lacquerware furniture, many of which are very outstanding Qing Dynasty masterpieces: The Red Chamber is run by his descendants. In 2003, when the Paris municipal government took stock of the old buildings, it officially listed the building as a cultural heritage, that is, a building that cannot be demolished forever, but can only be repaired.
-END-