Chapter 9 Unexpected Discovery

  These two chairs are already impressive just by looking at their workmanship, but it's still necessary to verify whether they were indeed made of purple sandalwood.

  The first thing to observe is the color and texture. We know that the surface of purple sandalwood furniture has a noble purple-red or purple-black color, with no messy texture, very few or almost no grain patterns, and visible golden stars, golden threads or dense S-shaped curly cow hair patterns.

  Under 60-100 times magnification, the pores of the pipe are filled with golden sandalwood powder, like a starry sky with twinkling stars.

  Although these two chairs are both works of the Qianlong period, from their condition it can be seen that each generation of owners has preserved them fairly well. Although the surface has already become a bit greyish white, the characteristics mentioned above can still be vaguely made out.

  The delicate and smooth texture of the zitan furniture, with its curly grain like silk and a tactile sensation like skin, cannot be replaced by other types of wood. Therefore, it can be basically concluded that both five-screen-style armchairs are made of zitan.

  In this way, whether it is the pear flower wooden table or the purple sandalwood five-screen armchair, they can be said to be valuable, let alone the three pieces of furniture that form a set, and their value will increase even more.

  At this time, Old Man Li came back with two brocade boxes of different sizes in his arms. He smiled and said to everyone: "How is it? Do you all like this set of furniture?"

  Everyone looked at each other, and the thing was very good, but Old Man Li wouldn't sell them separately, which made things a bit difficult.

  At this time, Zhao Qirui coughed and said with a smile to the others: "Don't mind me, I'm not interested in furniture and so on this time, you discuss among yourselves."

  As soon as the words fell, the atmosphere between the crowd suddenly relaxed, and it was easy to deal with afterwards. Zhao Xueyi was a puller, so he didn't need to be considered. As for Wu Shu, although he liked it, first of all, he couldn't come up with that much money at once, and secondly, he was a ceramics expert himself, so when competing with others, he lacked a bit of confidence.

  So it was no surprise that this set of furniture ended up belonging to Zhu Dafu.

  However, during this time, Chu Chen also saw a twist. After Zhao Qirui finished speaking, Qian Changxing next to him seemed to have the intention of buying it too, but was stopped by Zhao Qirui's glare.

  Afterwards, Qian Changxing felt somewhat indignant, although the expression flashed by in an instant. However, Zhao Qirui was after all the boss of a large company, with a shrewd gaze that still caught the look in his eyes. Afterwards, the gaze he directed at Qian Changxing became even more dissatisfied. But this point, Qian Changxing seemed to be unaware of.

  Chu Chen sneered in his heart: "This Qian Changxing is really a fool, too self-righteous, no wonder he was disliked by Wu Shu and others."

  Afterwards, while they were discussing prices, Chu Chen took a closer look at this room.

  This room should be the place where Mr. Li specially stores antiques, and it is very clean after sweeping. However, except for the three pieces of furniture just now, it can be said that there is nothing left, which should be what Mr. Li said before, being taken away by other collectors.

  As his gaze swept over the corner of the wall, Chu Chen discovered that there was actually a Buddha statue placed there, which made him somewhat curious. However, because the lighting there was somewhat dim, Chu Chen stood in place and couldn't see very clearly, so he walked over to take a closer look.

  However, upon closer inspection, Chu Chen felt extremely disappointed. The Buddha statue was less than 40 centimeters tall and had a common lotus pedestal shape, carved from ordinary camphor wood with ordinary craftsmanship. Judging by the patina and carving techniques, it should be an item from the late Qing or early Republic period, no wonder it was placed in this corner of the wall.

  However, since he had already looked at it, he decided to take a closer look. When Chu Chen thought of turning the Buddha statue around, his mind suddenly moved. It turned out that his left hand had suddenly felt something unusual - there were two strands of breath inside the Buddha's body.

  One was undoubtedly from the Buddha statue itself, and another aura that made Chu Chen wonder if there was something hidden inside the Buddha statue.

  Thinking of this, Chu Chen didn't hesitate and immediately activated his ability. As expected, two auras were absorbed into his left hand. One aura was short and very weak, while the other aura was long and extremely strong, it could be said that it was the strongest aura he had ever felt so far.

  This suddenly made Chu Chen's spirit shake, and he began to carefully examine the Buddha statue. However, no matter how he looked at it from the inside out, front and back, he couldn't find anything wrong with it. This was normal; if it were that easy to spot, it wouldn't still be here.

  However, at this time the price on one side had almost been agreed upon. If they saw their current behavior, they might guess that there was a problem with the Buddha statue, so they had to speed up their actions. If they still couldn't find the problem, they could only get the Buddha statue in hand first.

  Perhaps it was good luck, Ma Shangchu used his magnifying glass and at the junction of the Buddha statue and lotus pedestal, he saw a very fine seam that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. This should be where the problem lies. He took a deep breath, calmed down, picked up the Buddha statue and walked towards the crowd.

  At this time, Zhu Dafu had already discussed the price with Li Dage, and finally, Zhu Dafu got this precious furniture at a price of 450,000. This price should satisfy both parties, as can be seen from the smiles on their faces.

  Chu Chen put the Buddha statue on the ground, touched the back of his head, and smiled foolishly at Old Man Li: "Old Li, my mother believes in Buddhism. Usually I don't have money to buy her a better Buddha statue. This time I saw this one here, I think she should like it. Can I take it home and fulfill my filial piety?"

  Everyone was stunned at first, especially Wu Shu's eyes flashed a strange look, and Zhao Qirui looked somewhat disappointed. Later, everyone began to size up the Buddha statue. It turned out that the material of this Buddha statue should be ordinary camphor wood, and the carving is also ordinary. Fortunately, it is an item from the late Qing dynasty, which can be considered an old object, and it's not bad for ordinary families to worship.

  Mr. Li looked at the Buddha statue, then looked at Chu Chen, and said: "This Buddha statue was obtained by my grandfather in those years." When he said this, he paused for a moment, looking at Chu Chen, but Chu Chen still had a silly smile on his face, and didn't notice anything unusual, suddenly feeling a little disappointed, thinking that he must have been overthinking.

  Then he smiled and said: "However, no one in our family believes in Buddhism now. Since you are so filial, let's just let you take it back."

  Chu Chen let out a sigh of relief in his heart, earlier when Old Man Li stared at him for that moment, he was so nervous that he almost showed his emotions on his face, fortunately he controlled it in the end. Suppressing his excited mood, Chu Chen smiled foolishly and thanked Old Man Li with gratitude, finally getting the Buddha statue for 1,000 yuan.

  At this time, Qian Changxing on the side spoke disdainfully: "Wu Ziping, your nephew has a very low taste, even such an ordinary Buddha statue would be wanted, is it that you haven't seen the world at all? Do you want me to introduce one for you?"

  As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere on the scene was suddenly awkward, and a thread of anger rose in everyone's heart.

  Chu Chen and others didn't need to say, they originally had a bad impression of him. First of all, this remark offended Li Dage, he had just said that the Buddha statue was obtained by his grandfather, so if you say it like that, isn't it saying that his grandfather has no taste? How can this not make Li Dage angry!

  But Zhao Qirui is talking nonsense, not distinguishing between occasions. You and the other party are not on the same level, change the occasion and you can fight at will. However, now you are the appraiser I invited, representing my standpoint. Speaking like this, aren't you deliberately causing trouble for me?

  Qian Changxing realized he had become the target of public criticism, and immediately reacted to the problem with his previous words. He was also filled with regret in his heart. How could he not calm down the fire in his heart after not seeing Wu Ziping for several years? Wasn't Wu Ziping incompatible with himself? It's really unlucky.

  Seeing this situation, Qian Changxing's face turned awkward and he retreated to one side.

  Zhao Qirui coughed, breaking the awkward atmosphere, and said to Li Dage: "Hehe, Old Li, what treasures are in these two boxes of yours? Let's take a look!"

  Li Lao smiled and exchanged a few pleasantries before opening the box. As soon as everyone saw what was inside, they let out a collective gasp of amazement.

  These two large and small boxes, with a Doucai bowl inside the smaller one.

  Doucai, also known as toucai, is a type of porcelain decoration that combines underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome. Doucai porcelain originated in the Chenghua period of the Ming dynasty and was first fired at Jingdezhen kilns. It is renowned for its novel patterns and elegant colors, and is considered one of the major achievements in China's ceramic art history.

  It combines underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome to decorate the same piece of porcelain, forming an artistic expression of underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome competing with each other in beauty, with strong artistic appreciation.

  This Doucai bowl, the inner mouth and outer mouth are decorated with Qinghua painted Sanskrit and cloud dragon playing bead borders. The center of the bowl and the outside wall are painted with Doucai lotus pond mandarin duck pattern. The accurate name should be called Doucai Lotus Pond Mandarin Duck Pattern Bowl.

  Its glaze, body, painting and enameling should be a piece of Qianlong period imitation of Ming dynasty Doucai porcelain - a Doucai bowl.

  But in that large brocade box was a beautiful and exquisite white jade Ruyi with eight auspicious patterns, which was the very Ruyi that caused everyone's astonishment.

  Ruyi is an ancient Chinese symbol of good fortune, derived from the ceremonial scepter used in ancient China. The earliest known ruyi had a handle shaped like a finger, indicating that it was used to scratch parts of the body that could not be reached by hand. Later, it evolved into a sceptre called a "hu" (also known as a "court hu"), and eventually became a purely decorative object, becoming the modern-day ruyi.

  This Ruyi is about 40 cm long, made from a whole piece of Hetian white jade, with a large body, smooth and lustrous texture, soft and curved shape, exquisite carving, polished to perfection, making it a rare treasure.

  The Ru Yi is shaped like a lingzhi mushroom, with edges that rise and fall in a natural curve. In the center, a shallow relief of the character for "longevity" is surrounded by four treasures: a treasure umbrella, lotus flowers, a coiled dragon, and goldfish.

  The Ruyi handle has a hollow opening at the top, inside which are three treasures: a white canopy, a treasure vase, and a Buddhist conch shell. At the end of the handle is another opening with a Buddhist wheel and a bat inside. The front and back sides of the handle feature cloud patterns in alternating intervals, flowing freely and luxuriantly. This Ruyi is intricately carved with clear and distinct decorations, embodying auspicious meanings, and is truly a model for imperial utensils. (Seeking collection and recommendation!)