Jianbao life

Chapter 415 Market
Inside the tower behind the White Tower is the Treasure Hall, where many royal jewels are on display.Among them are royal scepters, horns and imperial swords, coronation robes, crowns, scepters and balls with crosses on top, royal crowns covered with precious gemstones specially made for Queen Victoria, and so on. rare treasures.

These jewels are displayed in bright glass cabinets in the exhibition room. Visitors can only slowly pass through the automatic passage, and photos are strictly prohibited. Fortunately, the distance between them is just enough for Chu Chen's Lingbao Eye to be used. Otherwise, such a good opportunity can only be missed in vain.

"Ah Chen, why are you smiling so happily?" Walking out of the treasure house, Wu Ke saw Chu Chen's smiling face, so he couldn't help asking curiously.

Chu Chen chuckled and said, "It's nothing, it's just that I'm very happy to see so many foreign treasures all of a sudden."

Of course, the real situation is that the upgrade progress of his ability has increased by nearly ten points. One must know that ten points represent an antique treasure worth one billion. It can be achieved in a short while, but now it's just a lap, how can this not make him happy.

With the experience of visiting the Tower of London this time, Chu Chen felt that 100 billion is really nothing. After returning to China to visit the Forbidden City, it is estimated that more than half of it can be completed. From this point of view, 1000 billion is actually not much. If you want to come to the world There are so many museums, after visiting all of them, it should be completed.

However, if you really want to visit all the museums in the world, it will not be completed in a short while, and you can only do it slowly. Chu Chen thinks that it is better for Wu Ke to start after graduation, and play together Also more interesting.

There are many flea markets in London, and there are fixed times every week. They are specialized antique markets, such as Greenwich Market on Friday, Notting Hill Antique Market on Saturday, Liverpool Street Market on Sunday, Monday Covent Garden Antiques Market.

Today happened to be Friday, after hearing what Chu Chen said, Wu Ke suggested with a smile: "Ah Chen, since this is the case, let's go to Greenwich Market for a while."

Chu Chen nodded in agreement and said, "Okay, but before we go, we have to fill our stomachs. I just heard someone's stomach growling!"

"Hate it!..."

Unlike the lackluster local cuisine, foreign restaurants in London are well developed, where you can easily find dishes from all over the world.

Needless to say, the world-famous Chinese cuisine, French, Italian, Indian, and Turkish restaurants are all over the streets of London.What surprised Chu Chen in particular was that the Chinese restaurants here can actually subdivide different cuisines.

Moreover, the taste of some Chinese restaurants is quite authentic, which makes Chu Chen almost think that he is not in a foreign country. Of course, the authentic dishes also make Wu Ke eat heartily and enjoy them.

After enjoying a very hearty lunch, the two took a taxi to Greenwich Market.

The location of the market is actually not far from the place where the two eat, and it takes less than 10 minutes to get there by taxi.

In the eyes of Chinese people, the market often gives people the impression of cheap and low-quality gadgets on the simple stalls, but this is not the case here in England. For example, the handicrafts on every stall here are full of personality and Features, these are some masterpieces containing the creator's creativity and inspiration.

In addition to these carefully crafted handicrafts, other things such as paintings and photographs, antiques, skin care products, souvenirs, jewelry, delicacies from all over the world, etc., are available in this market. For Wu Ke, it is like shopping here. Paradise in general.

Seeing so many things of interest, Wu Ke instantly forgot the purpose of coming to the market, look here, look there, Chu Chen is happy to see her, as long as she is interested, he is ready to buy it, but this was Wu Ke declined, and finally just bought a few pieces of essential oil soap, a brand-name handbag, and some small jewelry.

There is a gourmet area in the market, where delicacies and snacks from all over the world are gathered. Tired of shopping, the two went to the food area to rest for a while and ate some delicious snacks.

Looking at the handbags on the side, Wu Ke said with some embarrassment: "I came here to see antiques, but in the end you couldn't buy what you wanted, but you bought so many for me."

Chu Chen said with a smile: "What does it matter, I came to England to see you, I'm sure everything is based on you!"

Hearing what Chu Chen said, Wu Ke's heart was full of sweetness, she fed the cake in her hand to Chu Chen, wiped it with a paper towel, then stood up and said, "Let's go, let's go to the antique shop here next!  … ..."

After visiting several antique shops, Chu Chen didn't find anything she wanted, but Wu Ke finally found a Hermès 60s perfume bottle with the original box. The price was not expensive, which made her very happy. I was pleasantly surprised.

Then, the two came to a small shop specializing in carvings. Although the small shop is not big, there are quite a lot of things, and they are all arranged in an orderly manner, making people feel very clean and refreshing.

And here, although there are not many domestic carvings, there are also many. There are more than 30 carvings, some of which look like high-quality goods, which made Chu Chen interested.

But, things from foreigners may not always be true. After carefully observing a few of them, Chu Chen found that they were either modern handicrafts or fakes made by modern times, which was really quite boring.

But what he saw next was a bamboo sculpture subduing the dragon, which made Chu Chen's eyes light up.

This image is made of bamboo roots, and the arhat has a wide forehead and a smile.Wearing Zen clothes, sitting on a futon, holding a pearl in his right hand and playing with a dragon.The dragon sits on its left knee, looking up at the arhat. The proportion of the dragon is small, and its expression is docile, which shows the power of Buddha and God of the arhat.

Arhat subduing the dragon is one of the eighteen arhats, intended to embody the boundlessness of Buddhism, and has become a frequent theme for sculptors.The Arhat sculpture is in good condition, ingenious in conception, simple yet soft in knife technique, and although small in size, it shows the Buddha's world within a square inch, which is a typical Qing Dynasty Arhat style.

What surprised Chu Chen even more was that the statue of Arhat actually had the title of Shi Tianzhang's seal carving.

Shi Tianzhang was a famous master of bamboo carving in the Qing Dynasty. Wang Mingshao commented on Shi Tianzhang in "Bamboo People Record": "I practiced it since I was a child, and I am the most skilled bamboo root figure, the position of the hands and feet, the chic clothes, and the spirit of the face. They are all very vivid. The old man The chicken skin and white hair, the bones of the ribs, the throat and teeth, can be counted; the laughter is happy, if there is a sound."

No wonder Chu Chen felt that the style of this portrait was a bit familiar just now. It turned out to be a work carved by Shi Tianzhang, which was really a surprise.

Chu Chen looked at the price, but it was only 13 British pounds, which was only [-] RMB. Buying it at this price was equivalent to picking up a big mistake.

When he entered the door just now, Chu Chen saw the sign of the small shop saying that no bargaining is allowed. He had been reminded by Wu Ke before, and he also understood the rules here, so he simply asked the clerk to wrap up the things.

After picking up a leak, Chu Chen's spirit immediately became high, and he continued to read with great interest.Although the following items are not as high-quality as before, I still bought a bamboo carving pen holder and a mahogany carving Ruyi. The price is also very cheap, which is equivalent to picking up two small leaks.

Although the quality of these two items is not too high, such items would not be collected by Chu Chen himself, but they are very popular in the domestic market, and they can be used as items in his antique shop.

The last two carvings are ivory carvings and horn carvings.

Among them, the ivory carvings are made of ivory, using the technique of multi-layer relief to carve the picture of Canglong Jiaozi.This device can be described as ingenious in conception, exquisite in carving, dense in decoration, clear in layers, and should be a masterpiece.

But what makes Chu Chen sigh is that this ivory carving is a modern handicraft that has only been completed in recent years.

As the saying goes, if there is no business, there is no killing. Chu Chen can't control others, but at least he can control himself. If it is an ancient ivory or horn carving, he can accept it, but since it is a modern ivory carving, it is considered a price tag. It's cheap, and you can sell it at a high price when you buy it back. Thinking about the elephants that have been poached, he still doesn't appreciate it.

The last piece of horn carving is a lychee cup carved with rhino horn in the style of the early Qing Dynasty.

The round sculpture of the cup is in the shape of a tree stump, with an open mouth, a retracted belly, and a concave bottom. The high relief around the cup is vividly twisted branches, turned leaves and plump lychee fruits, showing the good and vigorous growth of lychees.

Careful observation reveals that the undulating opening and closing of branches, the turning of leaves, the growth state of small branches, and even the subtle growth structure at the junction of petioles and branches are all vividly and vividly expressed by the author with simple knife techniques. .

Moreover, the author engraves a different brocade on each lychee, which is extraordinary in its simplicity, which can be described as ingenuity.

Looking at this cup, it is full of natural taste, the decoration is simple and delicate, the knife is sharp and relaxed, and the artistic appeal exuded makes Chu Chen can't help but admire secretly.

But what surprised Chu Chen was that this rhino horn cup was also made by a famous artist, and the author was the famous craftsman You Tong during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. You must know that he invented the rhino horn carving and dyeing process.

It is said that once, Youtong’s father borrowed a beautifully carved rhinoceros horn cup from a relative’s house, and Youtong imitated an almost identical cup according to this cup, but the fly in the ointment was that the color of the imitated cup was lighter. a little.

So Youtong thought of a way, picked some impatiens (also known as nail grass), smashed them and carefully dyed the new rhinoceros horn cup like nails, and even his relatives couldn't tell the difference Which one is the original and which one is the imitation.

Moreover, You Tong carved rhino horn cups in the name, and was conscripted into the court, known as "You Rhino Cups".The Rhinoceros Horn Immortal Cha Cup collected by the Palace Museum is his masterpiece, and its ingenious craftsmanship can be said to amaze the court.

(End of this chapter)