Riding the wind of rebirth

Since McGeoff had classes in the afternoon, they couldn't chat for long. After sending him back to the college, Zhou Zhi asked Mai Xiaomiao to turn the car around and head to the Manhattan Apartments at 62 Fifth Avenue.

The fact that An Siyuan handled things so neatly and efficiently was enough to show how influential he was in the ancient art business in New York. Zhou Zhi had to pay a visit since he had received the benefit.

By the way, I strolled around New York City, passing through the most prosperous areas from south to north, all the way to Central Park.

Fifth Avenue is the road east of Central Park. It is the best port in New York and the place with the most expensive housing prices.

There are luxury cars everywhere around the Manhattan apartment, and the Beetle with Mickey Mouse ears that Mai Xiaomiao drives is simply an outlier here.

The old man was still wearing a luxuriously patterned silk robe and holding a desert ironwood pipe. When he saw Zhou Zhi, who was led in by his assistant, he smiled and said, "Elbow, you have always been lucky enough to have Curly Coat. It seems that New York is really your blessed place. Why do you still carry Egon wine with you? Did you intend to send it to the auction? Who is this beautiful oriental girl?"

"Hello, Mr. An." Zhou Zhi asked his assistant to place the blue and white porcelain jar on the table. "This is my girlfriend, Lily. She is American, but she has been working with me in China recently."

After saying that, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head: "Originally, that bottle of wine was a gift for Lily's father, but we saw this jar when we were having dinner together. In the end, Lily's father just looked at the bottle of wine for a while. It's really embarrassing to talk about it."

"Hehehe... Many of my friends also have precious daughters. I can tell you responsibly that what they value is the knowledge and character of their daughter's boyfriend, and of course, some financial strength. So don't worry, you haven't lost any points in this matter."

"But you need to make up for it. Fortunately, there are many boutiques downstairs on Fifth Avenue. You will definitely be able to pick out the right gift." After that, An Siyuan said to Mai Xiaomiao: "Lily, thank you for coming with Elbow to visit an old man like me. Seeing you reminds me of the beautiful girl I saw under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in China."

The old man had stayed in Xi'an for a long time and collected Shi Lu's paintings and Yaozhou kiln porcelain, so what he said about the beautiful girl under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda might be true.

At that time, most Chinese people dressed very simply. The girl who could leave such a deep impression on the old man must have been a naturally beautiful girl.

"Thank you, Grandpa." Mai Xiaomiao expressed his gratitude to the old man: "Elbow likes this jar very much. If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have been able to get it so easily."

"I admit that I made a mistake on this jar," said An Siyuan. "While dining at Le Bernadin, I discussed with old Andre, the owner of the restaurant, that Longqing itself was not an era that produced good porcelain. Compared with the blue characteristic of the Longqing period, this jar is too light and belongs to a typical folk kiln. Although the painting is excellent, its value is still greatly discounted. At that time, I estimated the price to him to be 20,000 US dollars. Compared with the 500 US dollars that old Andre received, he was already very happy."

"When I received your call today, I knew I might have made a mistake, so I called old Andre to apologize and provided him with an Igon wine collector as compensation." At this point, An Siyuan winked mischievously.

"Thank you, Mr. An." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "You are not mistaken. This jar is most likely a work of 'official and civilian production'. If the Pingdengqing and Longqing era marks were not present on this jar at the same time, it would not have this extra premium. It is very close to the price you estimated."

"You don't have to cover up for me. You don't want Lily to laugh at you. What's the Chinese saying? If you know, you know. If you don't know, you don't know." An Siyuan's porcelain collection specializes in Song Dynasty porcelain. He has quite a number of collections from Jun Kiln, Ding Kiln, Cizhou Kiln, Yaozhou Kiln, Yuezhou Kiln, and Longquan Kiln, and they are all very exquisite.

In his hands, he had a Jun kiln blue-glazed purple-spotted saucer and a Jun kiln sky-blue-glazed bowl that made Zhou Zhi salivate, both dating back to the Northern Song Dynasty.

The most recent Jun kiln porcelain in Zhou Zhi's hands is from the Jin Dynasty, which is far from the two pieces collected by An Siyuan.

Moreover, although the colors of these two pieces of porcelain by An Siyuan are only similar, and one has kiln changes while the other does not, they can still be put together to form a set of Song Dynasty tea sets. It has to be said that when An Siyuan was looking for these porcelains, he paid a lot of attention to details.

Although Zhou Zhi helped An Siyuan plan the auction list, which was sold in four seasons for a year, these fine products were not included. Zhou Zhi guessed that if he wanted to get them, he might have to participate in the auction after the old man went to meet God.

The old man's Yaozhou kiln collection is even more amazing. Various glaze colors and shapes almost make up a complete series. The special ones are the celadon lion incense burner covers, which are the only ones of their kind in public or private museums around the world. Even the Shaanxi Museum, which is home to the Yaozhou kiln, does not have such exquisite items.

However, the old man did not have such in-depth research on Ming Dynasty porcelain and had to listen to Zhou Zhi's lessons.

"Although the items are very good and large in size, they are still not comparable to the dozen or so small cups I found last time." An Siyuan said with a smile, "But I can say that I did not lose out by finding a special piece of evidence that fills a gap in the history of porcelain."

"Of course I didn't lose out." Zhou Zhi knew that An Siyuan was talking about the relics of Li Fopan that he found in New York last time. They were twelve small cups from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Those things could be described as priceless treasures. Of course, this big jar couldn't compare to them. He said, "Plus, we don't drink alcohol, so it's a good deal."

One great advantage of being a regular at a private museum is that you can get your hands on countless valuable items.

An Siyuan is known as the "King of the Ming Dynasty", referring to his furniture collection, and he and Mr. Wang are two monuments.

So the furniture and chairs in this room are all from the Ming Dynasty, the carpets on the floor and the tapestries on the walls are from the Qing Dynasty, the paintings on the walls, the ink paintings are from modern and contemporary painters, and the fine brushwork paintings are from ancient painters, and some small exhibits are porcelain, jade, and bronze wares from famous kilns in the Song Dynasty. In addition, there are many stone carvings from the Five Dynasties, as well as decorations on the walls using Ming and Qing door and window paintings.

The chair that Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao are sitting on now is a rosewood armchair from the mid-Ming Dynasty. According to Zhou Zhi's estimated value based on overseas market conditions, it is worth about 8 million US dollars.

The coffee table is a large bronze drum from the ancient Dian Kingdom. Unlike the bronze drums in general museums that are covered with green rust and have no reflective properties, this bronze drum has a layer of black patina on its body, and some raised parts, such as the frog around the drumhead, have a bright copper patina. Obviously, this bronze drum is different from the unearthed cultural relics in the museum, but is a heirloom.

Mai Xiaomiao had broadened her horizons today. Many of these things could be picked up and played with at will. As An Siyuan watched Zhou Zhi introduce these things to Mai Xiaomiao with an envious tone, he only bit his pipe and smiled with a smug look. (End of this chapter)