Riding the wind of rebirth

"Uh... the hemp paper produced in the capital of Shu in the Tang Dynasty was the best in the world. Nearly a hundred papermaking workshops were concentrated by the Huanhua River. In addition to being used as royal tributes, princes and nobles spent a lot of money to buy Shu paper from the capital of Shu." Zhou Zhi Said: "Shu paper in the Tang Dynasty was made of hemp as the main material; it was dyed yellow with drugs to increase the ancient meaning and at the same time prevent insects. It was called 'yellow paper'. It is known as 'hard yellow' because of its moist and beautiful features."

"The hard yellow paper is thin and translucent, and can be used to make copies of calligraphy and painting works. The Tang Dynasty began to use the famous double hook method to copy the calligraphy of the predecessors, which is inseparable from the hard yellow Shu paper."

"But because it is too transparent, when it is mounted, it is often necessary to use other famous papers at that time, such as the 'Yunlan' created by Duan Chengshi, a famous fantasy novelist in the Tang Dynasty, or the 'Kuijichu' that Han Yu once praised. .”

"As an ancient high-tech papermaking industry, in the Tang Dynasty, Shu had already taken the lead in the country and occupied an irreplaceable central position. The Institute of Ancient Book Restoration of Shu University has collected some samples of paper from the Tang Dynasty, so I am familiar with it."

"I see." Wang Limei said with a smile: "Elbow is very knowledgeable about ancient paper. Even if you don't know the author, you can already determine the dynasty, which is a masterpiece."

Li Qiyan smiled and said: "This Kukai is a monk from an island country, so it's not surprising that he didn't study the elbow."

"Kukai was an eminent monk at the turn of the Nara period and the Pinghai period. He was not satisfied with the method he had practiced before, so he sent Tang envoys to Chang'an to learn and practice the esoteric method."

"During the time of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Tianzhu Tantra had already declined, and the eminent monk from Tianzhu, Master Bukong, came to Chang'an from thousands of miles away and passed on the mantle of Tantric Buddhism to Zen Master Huiguo."

"It is said that in the same year that Master Fukong passed away, Kukai was born in a wealthy family in Kagawa County, an island country. After coming to Chang'an, he studied under Huiguo."

"Before Huiguo passed away, he told Kukai that he was the reincarnation of Buku. He was Huiguo's master in the previous life, and Huiguo has become his master in this life."

"In this way, Kukai was able to spread Tantric Buddhism to the east again and bring it to the island country to flourish."

"So he occupies a very important position in the history of Buddhism in the island country. The significance of crossing the sea with a boat is no less than that of Master Bodhidharma who crossed the river with a reed. It is of great significance to Chinese Buddhism. Later generations of island countries will follow him as the 'Master of Propagation'"

"In addition to being a great master, he is also a talented 'art monk'. During the Tang Dynasty, he did his best to collect Buddhist relics and asked his friends to help."

"It was his determination and perseverance to learn Buddhism that made it possible that even though Buddhism was exterminated by Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, there are still many Chinese Buddhist cultural relics that were introduced to the island country through the air and sea. Many of them were listed as national treasures and have been passed down to this day."

"After returning to China, Kukai compiled "Wen Jing Mi Fu Lun", which included many theoretical works on poetry in China from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Mid-Tang Dynasty, and made great contributions to the spread of Chinese culture and the prosperity of its upper Sinology. "

"Besides that, Kukai is most praised for his calligraphy."

"Kukai has a very high level of attainment in calligraphy. He is a master in seal script, official script, regular script, running script, cursive script, etc. He directly created a line of calligraphy in the island country."

"Look at Elbow, he was deeply influenced by Chinese Tang books. His brushwork combines Yan Zhenqing's skeleton momentum, with the bold and unrestrained elegance of the two kings, and his skill is very profound."

"Da Nikkei" is a fragment of cursive script, and there are only a hundred or so characters left in total, but judging from the more than 100 characters, although this person is a monk from an island country, his calligraphy skills can even beat a thousand Song and Ming dynasties.

"This is a great master. Calligraphy can be called a model of Tang Shu. Except for turning the pen, I haven't learned it. Others can be called the pinnacle..."

"Some people call him Xizhi, the king of the island." Li Lehai said, "What do you think of the elbow?"

"I think it's a little less agile than the two kings. The writing is like Tang Dynasty, but the style of writing is similar to that of some Song Dynasty calligraphers." Zhou Zhi stared at the fragmented scroll: "Of course, except for Mi Fu, the Song Dynasty except Mi Fu would turn the pen When used to the extreme, other calligraphers prefer to use subtraction besides being able to attack from all sides."

"This one is no exception, so he lacks agility and change compared to the second king. Of course, even so, he has already surpassed most of the descendants. I didn't know that there are such people in the island country before."

After finishing speaking, he bowed his hands to Li Qiyan: "Mr. Li's collection of postcards is really amazing..."

Li Qiyan smiled and said: "When Wanqiu comes back, I want to entrust her to take this scroll out, what do you think?"

Zhou Zhi gave Li Qiyan a thumbs up, and said with a smile, "Old Li is very skilled!"

Even if Zhou Zhi didn't know much about Kukai, he knew it was a famous artist just by looking at the word, and he knew it was the real thing just by looking at the paper.

This is a Dharma book from the Tang Dynasty, the time when the island nation Nara and Pinghai were handed over. It seems that there is a post by Zhang Zhi or Huai Su in the domestic market. You can imagine how crazy the collectors will be.

In the past, An Siyuan and Anzhai Eiichi both had the idea of ​​"Chunhuakaku Tie". Now that the fragments of Kukai's "Dai Nikkei" are published, Anzhai Eiichi will definitely compete at all costs. Before it is too late to consider "Chunhuakaku" post".

As far as An Siyuan is concerned, the value of fragmented calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty is naturally higher than the value of the double hook copy in the Song Dynasty, and the most unique thing is that he is from the United States. In his eyes, there is only the value of artworks. Whether it is an island country or an island country, they are all the same.

Therefore, one can imagine An Siyuan's attitude towards this fragment.

"Now it's the turn of the islanders to be worried and anxious." Zhou Zhi nodded with satisfaction, "We will also have a foot in it when the time comes. After all, the second king of Shangzong has all the good things that Tang people want, so we should also be interested. That's right."

Li Lehai looked at Zhou Zhi with a contented smile on his face, half-believed about this kid's nonsense.

Zhou Zhi will have tens of millions of dollars in cash right now. If he really wants to snatch it, it's really hard to say who will get this post in the end.

At least so far, no calligraphy works worth tens of millions of dollars have been auctioned in the world auction market.

Li Qiyan also imitated the way Zhou Zhi handed over to him just now, and also joked about Zhou Zhi handing over: "Then thank you Guidong for carrying the sedan chair for me."

It was already past noon, so Li Qiyan arranged another lunch for the guests. After the meal, Li Lehai and Li Leshui accompanied Zhou Zhi and Director Wang to visit Li Qiyan's collection.

As one of the best collectors on Hong Kong Island, Li Qiyan has a lot of high-quality goods here. His hobbies are concentrated in three categories-the first is various rubbings of Buddhist scriptures and rare ancient books; the second is porcelain; the third is jade.

In the first two cases, Zhou Zhi can now be said to be an expert, but in the third case, except for those who are relatively recent, he can tell some clues, and the others are not enough.

Li Qiyan's jade wares have been collected into a series from Hongshan and Yangshao in ancient times to the end of Qing Dynasty.

Among them, the topaz pig dragon and topaz column-shaped rings of Hongshan culture are not only very precious works of the pinnacle of handicraft art in the new era, but also the quality of jade is also high, which is rare in the entire Hongshan period.

The Xuanyu Yuyue Yue and Xuanyu Ring of the Yangshao Culture directly broke the academic prejudice that "Yangshao does not use jade" back then, and they are even more valuable.

As for the ritual vessels of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, the seals of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the royal supplies of the Tang Dynasty, the aristocratic utensils of the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties, and various miscellaneous items of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the collection is so rich that it can fully support a jade museum.