hollywood billionaire

Chapter 486 Yongle Blue and White Porcelain
"Okay, okay, no problem!"

Hearing Xu Yiru's agreement, Han Yi's tone and expression became more enthusiastic.

"Let's start with this blue and white porcelain plate. I'll tell you all the information I can recall and see how good my memory is."

"First of all, this plate is quite big."

"Oh, I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't told me." Xiaoru burst out laughing, "Thank you, Dr. Han."

"You're welcome, please don't interrupt me. I'm racking my brains to recall the past." Han Yi waved his hand, then stroked his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "The Buddha statue I saw just now is 37 centimeters, and the diameter of this blue and white porcelain plate is one centimeter more. It is considered a very precious and rare large porcelain plate of that era."

"The middle of the plate is painted with blue and white, which is a grape vine. So the full name of this cultural relic is called Blue and White Grape Pattern Folded Edge Plate. The vines are lush and curled, guarding three bunches of plump grapes. Then you can see the folded inner wall, which is painted with twined flower patterns. It is said that there are a total of twelve different flowers and buds, but I can't remember which twelve they are."

"Lily, asters, lotus, camellia, chrysanthemum, and morning glory... I can't recognize the others." Facing Han Yi's surprised eyes, Xiaoru shrank her neck and hid the little pride between her eyebrows very well. "My grandmother likes to grow flowers. I learned a little from her."

"You really are...a lady from a noble family." Han Yi sighed, and then continued to explain to Xiaoru, "Let me finish quickly, so I won't forget it later. Grapes were brought back from the Western Regions by the envoy Zhang Qian during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. They were used to make wine during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. By the Yuan Dynasty, grape planting and winemaking had become quite mature. Therefore, in the 14th century, craftsmen began to use grapes as patterns on porcelain plates."

"However, it was not until the early 15th century, during the Yongle and Xuande periods, that the grape pattern really became popular and became a popular decorative pattern. The plate I bought was from the Yongle period. The large blue and white grape-patterned porcelain plates of that period are mainly divided into two types. One type has a rim and cracks and notches on the edge, and the other type has a smooth inner wall without notches and petals. The second type is rarer than the first type, and there are fewer of them in existence."

"You should have bought the second type." Xiaoru's finger made a circle on the top of the porcelain plate. "This one is very smooth, without any dents... if dents are what I understand, right?"

"Yes, this is the second type. People at Christie's said that if it is a porcelain plate with a smooth inner wall, it is usually identified as being from the Yongle period."

"why?"

"They talked about it, but I can't remember it." Han Yi answered truthfully, "I saw a lot of things that day."

"The day you went to London and bought the Klimt?"

"Yeah, their internal purchasing department showed me everything they could. There was too much information, so I can't remember some details now." Han Yi scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, "Oh, but I remember this - this kind of porcelain plate is not only popular in Europe, but also in the courts of Persia, India and Ottoman Turkey. The Iranian National Museum in Tehran has a collection of five porcelain plates of this style. It was said before that they seemed to be the property of a temple. The bottom of those porcelain plates are all printed with the mark of Karachagai Khan. I was curious about this Karachagai Khan later, so I specifically looked it up. He is an Armenian, and is said to be a general under Abbas I, with a relationship like Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da."

When talking about history, Han Yi spoke with great interest and Xu Yiru also listened with great interest.

In this regard, the two can be said to be like-minded.

In fact, before the window paper was broken, many of their interactions were carried out through sharing books, borrowing and returning books, and making plans to have meals together.

"In the 1960s, Sotheby's in London sold a porcelain plate of the same shape, which even had an inscription on the back from Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor of India."

"Shah Jahan?" Xiaoru thought for a moment, and her eyes suddenly lit up, "Is he the one who built the Taj Mahal?"

"Correct."

“Wow,” Xiaoru exclaimed softly, “It would be nice if the piece you bought also had Shah Jahan’s inscription.”

"Why?" Han Yi was confused. "It's just a good plate. Why do you give it an Indian tattoo?"

"What a mess." Xiaoru glared at him coquettishly, "What I mean is that I should put a plate that Shah Jahan used in my home to remind you all the time that men who treat their wives well will have good luck."

"But he... was arrested by his son and put under house arrest for five years. He couldn't even drink a sip of water. His son also said that he had wasted money and manpower building the Taj Mahal, and that he deserved to be driven off the throne. In the end, he died of depression. It is said that at the end of his life, he could only drink ink to quench his thirst."

"You have such a big mouth!" Xiaoru raised her arm and was about to block Han Yi's organ that could only say unlucky things, "Pooh, pooh, pooh!"

"Why am I saying 'pooh pooh'?" Han Yi wondered, "I wasn't the one who built the Taj Mahal."

"I don't care, hurry up, bah, bah."

"Pfft." "Touch wood."

"Touched."

"Let you touch the real wood."

“It’s real wood.”

"I'll be really angry if you touch my head again."

"Touch it, touch it."

"That's pretty much it."

Xu Yiru's stern face relaxed again. She really liked the look in Han Yi's eyes just now. Helpless doting is the best proof of liking someone.

"Then... the one you bought doesn't have any other country's words engraved on the back, right?"

"Yes." Han Yi nodded slightly. "So the cultural relics experts at Christie's believe that this should not have been exported... at least not exported at the time it was made."

“When did it leak out?”

"It's hard to say. Christie's doesn't have particularly detailed records. The first owner that can be found is John Sparks Ltd. in London. Founded in 1914, it was engaged in the sales of Chinese, Japanese and Middle Eastern cultural relics worldwide until the end of the last century. This porcelain plate was one of the last transactions before it closed in 1991."

"The buyer is the Waring Gallery in Connecticut, USA. The owner is the famous Asian art dealer, Peter L. Rosenberg. Peter inherited the gallery from his mother Josephine, who loved Asian art. After Peter passed away a few years ago, his widow and descendants no longer wanted to continue to operate the gallery, and the collections gradually flowed into the market. I bought this porcelain plate directly from the Waring Gallery through Christie's internal purchasing department, so it can appear in Los Angeles in such a short time - because it has always been in the United States."

"What was the final transaction price?"

"This one is not expensive. It's cheaper than the previous one." Han Yi's tone was quite relaxed, just like he just brought back a bottle of Head & Shoulders shampoo for Xiaoru from Target supermarket. "They are very sincere. I didn't bargain much. 53 euros."

"Oh, that's it."

Xiaoru nodded, not knowing how to respond for a moment. Her threshold was rapidly raised by the stimulation and shock again and again, and now she felt that 500,000 euros was not expensive, and even a bit cheap.

It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, it is just like this.

"I don't know the market price, but I have heard that blue and white porcelain from the Yongle period is extremely precious, and there are not many of them that have survived to this day. If you take any piece out for auction, it will be sold at a sky-high price."

"That's right. The ones that are bigger, more complicated in craftsmanship, and more unique in shape can easily be sold for tens of millions in Hong Kong... I'm talking about Hong Kong dollars." Han Yiying said, "There are more of these blue and white porcelain plates... compared to other Yongle porcelains, so the price will definitely not reach that high, but it's pretty good to be able to get more than 500,000 euros."

"I see." Xiaoru memorized the information carefully, trying to absorb it. "Then, the last thing... this piece of jade should be more expensive, right? Judging from its condition, it should be much older than this porcelain plate and that Buddha statue, right? At least before the Tang Dynasty."

"Of course you can tell by the red rust on it. It has a long history."

As he spoke, Han Yi carefully opened the cabinet and held the wooden box lying on the far right under the transparent glass in front of Xu Yiru.

"In fact, this collection is the gift that I most want to give you."

"This is a gray-white jade pendant with a dragon and phoenix pattern carved into it."

"The time it was made..."

"It was from the late Warring States period to the early Western Han Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)