Yunding Ranch

Chapter 8 The Real Thing
Sitting in the spacious and bright reception hall, there is a hint of warmth in the tranquility. The golden sunlight penetrates the entire three-story glass wall and falls. The ivory white space exudes a soft halo, which is comfortable And harmony always gives people an illusion that they are in New York but not in New York.

Lu Li sat quietly on the light gray soft sofa. His muscles unconsciously wanted to relax, but he immediately realized that there was still a heavy responsibility ahead of him, so he straightened his back again.

Sotheby's auction house, the oldest auction house in the world, is also one of the most famous auction houses in the world today. Its reputation and reputation are absolutely guaranteed. It has two headquarters in the world, one in London and one in New York.Lu Li weighed it and chose the former between it and Christie's, another auction giant.

"Sir." A black woman with dreadlocks came in. A well-groomed black suit with a pair of black-rimmed glasses showed her professionalism. Her explosive hairstyle showed her personality. She wore big red high-heeled shoes Diagonally opposite Lu Li, he stopped, "Follow me to the appraisal room, please."

Lu Li picked up the cloth bag at his feet. Inside were the Chrysler Building and Degas.In fact, this cloth bag is a laundry bag, which is convenient to stuff all the dirty clothes of the week into it, and then take it to the laundry room to wash together; but he couldn't find a suitable backpack for a while, so he stuffed both picture frames in it, so it was convenient Just picked up the bag.

At this time, in the elegant and peaceful environment of Sotheby's, this laundry bag really looked a little funny, which made Lu Li want to laugh.

Along the milky white steps to the second floor, the sound of footsteps echoed gently in the corridor, with a hint of rigor in the solemnity.Fortunately, as an intern reporter, Lu Li has seen many big scenes. Last year, because of the group project, he entered the World Trade Center for in-depth interviews. Otherwise, nervousness would be unavoidable at this time.

Walking into the room on the right hand side, there is a long table in front of it, with various utensils on it, among which the slide-like machine on the left hand side is the most prominent.The black woman led Lu Li to a long table near the door, and the two sat down respectively.

"Sir, welcome to Sotheby's. I am Jennifer, the manager on duty today, and I will provide the service next." She smiled and introduced politely, without slighting Lu Li's youth, "Just now My colleague has received you, now I need to confirm with you again, you have a Degas that has not been authenticated and you want to auction it?"

After receiving Lu Li's affirmative answer, Jennifer kept smiling and continued, "Let me explain to you some specific procedures. We will first conduct the identification of the paintings. The cost of the identification is not certain, because paintings of different eras, different types The identification methods for the paintings are different, but we will conduct a preliminary inspection first, and then estimate a number."

Lu Li nodded. He searched for relevant information impromptu. He knew that the pigments of different eras are different, and the chemical reactions produced after contact with air are also different, and the temperature, humidity, brightness, etc. all have an impact on the pigments. .This is why every painting in a museum needs to be sealed and protected.

Naturally, the identification is also very complicated.

"After the appraisal, if all the details are confirmed, our auction house will conduct a simple valuation of the painting, and inform the relevant publicity process and auction details. You can choose to complete the auction at our auction house. Of course, you can also If you can choose another auction house, then we will provide an official identification certificate." Jennifer's simple explanation guaranteed enough information, clear and clear, and immediately made Lu Li understand, she was really professional.

Lu Li nodded, "No problem!" I chose a large auction house like Sotheby's because I trusted their reputation, didn't I?

"Very good, so may I ask where the painting is now?" Jennifer looked around, and then saw Lu Li lift up the big bag next to him, a distressed expression immediately appeared on Jennifer's face, "This is not protection The correct method for authentic works." The tone was not harsh, which made Lu Li scratch his head and laughed.

Jennifer first walked to the side, put on a pair of dustproof gloves, then opened the cloth bag, and carefully took out the painting.Noticing that there were two paintings inside, Jennifer wasn't too surprised. Instead, she placed the two paintings on the table and looked at them carefully.

Standing by the side, Lu Li couldn't help holding his breath. Are these two paintings authentic?Especially that Degas!
The passage of time seemed to be extremely slow. Jennifer first took a rough look, and then brought a magnifying glass to check a few details. She finally stood up straight and took off the gloves, but brought them to Lu Li. But it is not the final result. "I just did a preliminary test, and the preservation of the whole painting is better than expected. Although the corners are a little faded, we need further inspection. It is very likely that it is only caused by the passage of time. .Now, I will invite our senior professional appraisers to come and test in person.”

The ups and downs were like a roller coaster, and in the end Lu Li still didn't hear a definite answer, "So, this is just the beginning."

Hearing Lu Li's joking words, Jennifer couldn't help laughing, "It takes about 10 to 48 minutes for a normal appraisal, and we can only judge whether it is the artist's handwriting from the aspects of painting style, brush strokes, details, etc. It’s someone else’s copy. But if it’s a paint and time test, it will take at least [-] hours to get the result.”

However, Lu Li caught the hidden information in Jennifer's words, "You mean, I passed the first test?" This also means that, at least in terms of style, it is indeed Degas!Now, what they need to test is whether it is an authentic Degas work or a high imitation fake!
Jennifer's smile became brighter, but she did a Tai Chi, "After being tested by a professional appraiser, we will report the details to you." After all, she is only the manager on duty. No matter how good her vision is, she is still not a professional , so before there is no result, I am naturally unwilling to draw conclusions easily.

After waiting for a few minutes, a middle-aged man in casual clothes walked into the room. Jennifer greeted him and briefly explained the situation. Afterwards, the man ignored Lu Li and walked straight to the table. After a brief look, he put on dust-proof gloves, took the Degas painting and walked to the long table in front of him, and put the painting on the machine that looked like a slide projector. The outside is out of place, it looks like she is caressing the skin of a girl, cherishing and adoring her.

"This is our auction house's chief appraiser, Alan Smith, who specializes in authenticating European paintings from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century." Jennifer introduced Lu Li in a low voice, and then smiled, "In Before appraising the paintings, he was more focused, so he didn't greet you, please forgive his rudeness."

I have to say that Jennifer's way of dealing with the world is very clever and wise enough.Since entering the auction house, they have not neglected Lu Li because of his appearance and youth, and even offered to apologize.

The two stood in the distance talking in a low voice, leaving most of the space to Allen.This time, maybe it was due to psychological preparation, or maybe it was distracted by the conversation, the waiting was no longer difficult, and even the intertwined emotions of tension and anticipation calmed down a lot.

About 10 minutes later, Allen raised his head and greeted, "Young man, is this your painting? Come here, come here."

Lu Li was a little surprised, but he walked over quickly and stood next to Allen. He pointed to the mirror in front of him and motioned Lu Li to take a look.When I took a closer look, I found that it was actually a magnifying glass, which magnified every detail in the painting to the extreme, and I could clearly see the trajectory of the brush sliding across the canvas, which is really amazing.

"In terms of age, this is consistent. The original painting was created in the transition period when Degas boldly used colors to replace the usual dark tones." Alan stood by and began to explain directly. The block guides Lu Li's line of sight, "Slightly turn the pen to the right. Degas' eyesight began to decline in his later years, and the strokes will be slightly blurred. But for this painting, the paint is the key. In order to make the painting look more vivid, The paint is often mixed with linseed oil, which takes about 50 years to dry, and when the oil dries, the paint starts to evaporate and tiny cracks appear on the surface of the painting."

Following Allen's instructions, Lu Li saw the slight cracks on the surface of the painting, which even damaged the beauty of the whole painting, "You mean, these cracks prove... that this painting is real? No, this one Is the age of the painting true?"

Lu Li looked up, and then saw Alan's smile of approval.This is really amazing. From Lu Li's point of view, isn't the crack in the painting a sign of destruction?But now it seems that it is a sign of authenticity.

At some point, Jennifer also came over and stood by. Allen then introduced, "Next we need to do a series of tests, including paint, paper, etc. These tests need to enter the chemical laboratory. But..." Allen paused, then patted Lu Li on the shoulder, "If there is no accident, we can be sure that this Degas is real. Moreover, this painting is very well preserved, it is Degas The pinnacle work in his later years is far more precious than imagined." Allen showed a big smile, "Little guy, those old guys in France will be very excited."

Wow, this painting is real!Degas is real!

(End of this chapter)