【Event Review】 On September 24, 2020, at the special auction of Christie's "Treasure of the Sacred Saints - James and Marilyn Arsdorf Collection" in New York, a Tang Dynasty white-glazed rabbit once again subverted the aesthetic concept of perfectionism, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 US dollars, and finally fell for 400,000 US dollars (about 2.6 million yuan). The shape is round, the eyebrows are low and the ears are smooth, the image is cute, the two cheeks are bulging, and the brakes are cute. A handshake is very pleasing. As soon as this rabbit was exposed, it gained a large number of fans and was called "net red rabbit".
▌Guests of this issue
Bian Yiwen: I like Christie's white glazed rabbit very much, and I struggled repeatedly before the auction to make a written commission. I was told that there were many buyers of favor and suggested that I set a price in writing. I thought about it for half a day, made a price, and now I don't see enough of this rabbit's final transaction commission. A few years ago, J. J. Lally) published a catalogue of sales catalogues, one of which was perfect for auction, and the white-glazed rabbit of the same period was auctioned. But artistic expression is slightly inferior to this one.
▌[Tang] Gongxian kiln white glazed rabbit 2020 New York Christie's Spring Auction Lot
Dai Dai: This kind of rabbit is often a lying rabbit, and this one taken by Christie's is a standing rabbit.
Bian Yiwen: Yes, Lan Lijie's rabbit is also particularly cute, and we sometimes describe people as "little white rabbits", which is that look, indescribably cute. At that time, I also sent him an email inquiry, and the other party offered $28,000, and then the price was not negotiated, and it was stopped. After that, the theme of rabbits appears on the auction floor, and I will be very concerned.
Dai Dai: The one that Lan Lijie can see should be the best sleeping rabbit that can be seen in the market. Because after Christie's rabbit was filmed, the circle of friends began to brush the screen, and many people sent their collections up, basically all lying rabbits, standing rabbits are very few.
▌[Tang] Porcelain Rabbit Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing
Yan Xu: The zodiac is the subject of Chinese ten minutes of love. A pig that Huang Yongyu had previously photographed in Beijing Kuangshi had been served as a tip in a red envelope for waiters at the Lu Yu Tea House. At that time, the reserve price of the commission was very cheap, about 20,000 yuan, and sold for 550,000 yuan. After filming, we also joked that the pig itself represents wealth, and people who belong to pigs have money, and the clients of this work are almost all pigs.
▌ Huang Yongyu's "Fat Year" 1995 Beijing Kuangshi Spring Auction 2013 Auction
Bian Yiwen: Why is this painting at the Lu Yu Tea House?
Yan Xu: Lu Yu Tea House was a Cantonese-style tea house where many literati and gentlemen in Hong Kong gathered at that time, and celebrities came and went, and tipping was a habit. Mr. Huang arrived in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year, may not be financially satisfactory, or do not have this habit, but also probably every New Year's Holiday, and just caught up with the Year of the Pig, he stuffed a painting in the red envelope and gave it to the waiter. The collector of the painting later tipped the waiter at the time 1,000 yuan and accepted the work. After years of preservation, in order to take care of me, I took it for shooting. Before the shooting, I sent a circle of friends, it was sensational, everyone said that it would definitely be able to pay a high price, but I was still very surprised to be able to shoot so high. Zodiac culture is implicitly in the psychology of collectors, and they will pursue it. Including this rabbit, I believe so.
Dai Dai: In 2017, Hong Kong Christie's Yangde Tang Treasures Ancient Chinese Jade Special Session One, there is a jade pig from the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty that is also auctioned at a good price (estimate: 100,000 Hong Kong dollars to 150,000 Hong Kong dollars, transaction price: 6.1 million Hong Kong dollars), and in the end, two pig guests are bidding, and they are determined to buy it. People's pursuit of pigs is traditional, and the Neolithic ancients buried pig mandibles and pig skulls with them to show the wealth of the tomb owner before his death.
▌【Western Zhou】Jade Pig 2017 Hong Kong Christie's Autumn Auction
Bian Yiwen: I belong to the rat, and I will pay attention to this theme in my calligraphy and painting works. Personally, mr. Qi Baishi's painting of rats, I am the most eye-catching, can understand people. But the collection categories are indeed interlaced like mountains, and every time I encounter a favorite painting, I can only ask a friend who understands calligraphy and painting. If the door is wide open and the publication of the bibliography is particularly good, it is particularly expensive, and I can only look at the rat and sigh.
Dai Dai: Mr. Qi Baishi belongs to the observation of animals is particularly meticulous, he is good at drawing animals, like rats, insects, many of which are not elegant, but they are particularly vivid in his pen.
Yan Xu: His protégé once told me that Mr. Qi really did not paint what he had not seen with his own eyes, and even when he painted eagles, he really hunted an eagle, observed it first and then painted it.
▌ Qi Baishi's "Aquarium Animals" four screens one of the 2010 China Guardian auctions
Dai Dai: This is very similar to some antique artifacts now, porcelain, jade, sculpture will feel different, that is, we are too far away from that thing, we rely on photos or publications to copy, you do not get along with it day and night, lack of face-to-face fun, vividness.
Bian Yiwen: Just now Yan Xu said that Qi Baishi only paints what he has seen, which is the real sense of casting magic naturally, and I believe that the painter must have feelings for what he paints.
Yan Xu: Later generations will enlarge the motivation of the author when they look at these works, in fact, when the painter faces nature, that kind of observation must be very sincere and subtle.
Bian Yiwen: From the white rabbit to Mr. Qi Baishi's paintings, I suddenly thought of something worth exploring. Before Qianlong, great collectors specializing in the collection of calligraphy and paintings and passing them down to the world abounded, but in the private collection of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it seems that few people engaged in porcelain collections have heard of it.
Dai Dai: In the early Ming Dynasty, there are comments on the porcelain of the Hongwu Period and the early Ming Dynasty, and it can be seen from Gao Lian's "Zunsheng Eight Notes" in the Wanli Period that the collection at that time was mainly Song porcelain, and then in the late Ming Dynasty, there began to appear appreciation collections of porcelain from this dynasty, and Yongxuan and Chenghua porcelain were recommended. Since the Ming Dynasty, there have been folk records of official kiln porcelain, but there is no clear record of who collected a certain artifact, but only combed some information. For example, Liu Tingjie in the "Garden Magazine" about the imitation porcelain of lang kiln, saying that it is "antique and dark, and true"; it can also be seen that it respects the ming Dynasty official kiln porcelain. In the late Qing Dynasty, the concept of Western collection began to enter, both at home and abroad, and porcelain collection as the theme abounded. But before that, the biggest collector of porcelain should be said to be Qianlong, or Yongzheng Kangxi, the so-called court collection.
In addition to the palace collection, the emperor will also reward the ministers, and some court porcelain thus enters the royal palace, which can also be seen in the list; for example, some sporadic records, Qing dynasty epigrapher and archaeologist Wu Dayi, mainly collect Song Dynasty porcelain, Gu Tinglong compiled the "Annals of Mr. Wu Yizhai" record, Guangxu fifteen years (1889), Wu Dayi once purchased 21 pieces of Ru kiln porcelain in Beijing Liulichang Debaozhai, and several Ru kiln plates in the Shanghai Museum are in his old collection. Coupled with the things that appeared in the auction, it can be traced back to the source of its earlier collection, which can also help us sort out a collection situation in the late Qing Dynasty. However, in contrast to calligraphy and painting, it is true that private collectors of porcelain have not published similar bibliographies and paintings.
Bian Yiwen: A private collection outside the court, I can also give an example, which is the Cao family of Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber". Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin, had a close personal relationship with Kangxi and managed Jiangning weaving. In Cao Yin's "Neem Pavilion Poetry Copy", there is a note that Kangxi gave to the Cao family in his later years, writing: "Recently, your family has done a lot of errands, such as magnets, fashu and the like. First there is a number of will pieces, and after arriving in Beijing, it is sent to the imperial front to finish reading, and then burned. Now I don't know how many magnets have been deceived, but I don't know. "Saying that their supervision of caoyun is unfavorable, how many good porcelain and enamel have been deceived by your family in the past two years, don't think that you don't know."
Here is just a correction of a concept, this historical material has also been quoted, as the Kangxi Dynasty porcelain tire enamel production of historical evidence, ancient times there is no punctuation, here "magnet, fa shu", in my understanding, there should be a Dun number, referring not to the enamel porcelain, should still be copper tire enamelware, or filigree enamelware.
This article is based on the editor and collation of the Article "Zodiac Internet Celebrity on the Auction Field" of the Zhonghan Jinbao Night Talk, and the original article was published in the 2021 "Collection" 02 issue
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