After placing the brocade box on the table, Uncle Mao untied the ribbon on it and slowly lifted the lid.

A gilt bronze seated statue of Shakyamuni Buddha with a halo slowly appeared before me.

This Buddha statue is about half a meter tall and is exquisitely crafted. What is most remarkable is that, despite being passed down through generations, the gold paint on it has not peeled off.

This Buddha statue has an oval face, narrow eyes, a small mouth, large ears, a high nose bridge, and wide nostrils. Its hands are in the abhaya and varada mudras, and it sits in the lotus position. The halo is a pointed arch shape with flame patterns on the edges, and the base is a lotus pedestal carved with sacred beasts and patterns.

It is in excellent condition; at a glance, it is clearly not taken from underground, but a family heirloom passed down through generations.

When I saw what Mr. Leng was about to give away, I knew he was truly angry. I reminded him, "Mr. Leng, your Buddha statue and that jar are both very valuable. If we barter, we will not only not gain anything, but we will probably suffer a loss."

Mr. Leng was still angry: "It doesn't matter. As long as I can get the goods and prevent Lin Jianghao from winning, I'm not afraid of suffering losses."

Just as I was about to offer further advice, Old Mao, who was standing next to Mr. Leng, shook his head slightly at me, signaling me not to say anything out of turn.

As Mr. Leng's personal butler, Lao Mao must know his temperament better than I do. Seeing that he had already spoken up to remind me, I immediately stopped the conversation.

Although I felt that Mr. Leng's deal was inappropriate, the item was, after all, his. Even he, the rightful owner, didn't feel he was at a disadvantage. If I continued to persuade him, I would seem too insensible.

After Lao Mao showed me the Buddha statue, he closed the box again. At that moment, the staff pushed the jar to Mr. Leng's booth.

Mr. Leng stood up from his chair, smiled at me, and said, "Take a look."

I looked at the large jar in front of me, worth tens of millions, and walked over to begin a thorough inspection.

This dragon-patterned jar has a small mouth, full shoulders, a rounded upper belly, a sloping lower belly, and a tall, round lid topped with a jewel.

The entire piece is decorated with doucai (enamel overglaze) patterns, with a five-petaled flower on the knob of the lid, water droplet patterns and floral patterns on the lid surface, and a band of scrolling floral patterns along the rim of the lid.

The neck of the jar is also decorated with flowers, while the body is decorated with colorful auspicious cloud and dragon patterns, which are quite dynamic.

Tilt the jar over and you'll see the six-character inscription in regular script, "Made in the Chenghua Reign of the Great Ming Dynasty," within a double blue-and-white circle on the bottom.

Although Mr. Leng was a collector of bronze artifacts, he was also a major collector. He nodded in satisfaction after taking a quick look: "This thing looks to be in pretty good condition. However, I don't know much about doucai porcelain. From your perspective, what do you think of this thing?"

"That's right. Doucai porcelain was first fired during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. Chenghua Doucai porcelain is one of the most precious varieties in the history of ceramics due to its exquisite painting. However, in terms of the development and mature techniques of Doucai porcelain, Yongzheng Doucai porcelain should be the first choice. Although Yongzheng reigned for only thirteen years, the development of ceramic handicrafts made significant progress on the basis of Kangxi."

Since I was appraising Mr. Leng's work, I naturally had to let him know what made this piece stand out. I explained, "The 'dou' in doucai means to combine or put together. Doucai is a combination of underglaze blue and overglaze colors. There are two types: underglaze doucai and overglaze doucai."

Overglaze decoration is fired on the surface of the glaze, and its firing temperature is much lower than that of underglaze decoration. It only needs to be fired until the product is red-hot. Its properties are almost unaffected by the composition of the glaze. The colorants in overglaze decoration are often mixed in easily molten materials, and after firing, they are firmly bonded to the vessel.

As for underglaze decoration, a certain high temperature must be reached to produce the desired effect. Its colorant does not need to be mixed in the molten material, but it needs sufficient refractoriness to meet its requirements, and often requires very high temperatures for firing.

For example, the large jar in front of us is a typical underglaze painted product. This production method involves directly outlining the colors on the porcelain body and then covering it with a layer of transparent glaze. Its outstanding advantages are that it is not easy to wear, never fades, is lead-free and non-toxic, smooth and flat, and easy to operate. After firing, the pattern is covered by a layer of transparent glaze film underneath, and the surface is bright, soft, smooth and not protruding, making it appear crystal clear.

The blue and white porcelain, underglaze red porcelain, blue and white underglaze red, underglaze tricolor porcelain, underglaze polychrome porcelain, etc. that we usually see are all subcategories of underglaze colored porcelain. This large jar in front of us, it…”

I was stroking the large doucai jar in front of me, explaining the relevant knowledge to Mr. Leng, when I suddenly paused.

Seeing that I had fallen silent, Mr. Leng asked, "What's wrong?"

Seeing that no one was watching us, I lowered my voice and said, "Mr. Leng, there's something wrong with this jar."

Mr. Leng raised an eyebrow: "Oh? What's the problem?"

"It doesn't seem appropriate for us to say this here."

With my back to Lin Jianghao, I pointed behind me and said, "If we waste too much time, Mr. Lin might get suspicious."

Mr. Leng nodded, signaling the staff to take the jar away, and returned to his seat: "In your opinion, what would be a suitable exchange for this large jar?"

I glanced at the edge of the table and pointed to a rosewood pen holder inlaid with precious stones and plum blossom patterns: "Mr. Leng, did you exchange this item for something, or did you buy it?"

Uncle Mao replied without hesitation, "This item was purchased at the Federal International Hong Kong Auction. It cost HK$150,000, which is a little over RMB130,000."

"It's a bit undervalued."

I then turned my gaze to a Qianlong-era cloisonné enamel brush washer with the Eight Immortals figure: "How much did you buy this brush washer for?"

Mr. Leng recalled: "I can't remember where this thing came from. It was probably a gift from a friend. Three years ago, someone appraised it and said it was worth 6.5 million yuan. But I'm not very interested in porcelain. This thing has been stored in the warehouse. Lao Mao found it when he was cleaning out the warehouse a while ago."

Hearing this flippant reply, I was immediately ashamed.

Although people are divided into different classes and meat has different layers, Mr. Leng's wealth is too abundant. He can keep things worth tens of millions in the warehouse for several years.

Fortunately, I've traveled all over the country in the past six months and have gained some experience. I tapped the brush washer lightly with my finger and said, "Let's trade this for it. The value of that big jar is about the same as that brush washer."

"I've seen these kinds of jars at some major exhibitions. Your estimate isn't even a fraction of what it is, is it?"

Looking at the brush washer I had chosen, Mr. Leng couldn't help but ask, "What exactly did you notice about that doucai jar? Was it a fake?"

"It's not exactly an old imitation, but the jar is a flawed piece. The dragon on it was added later with overglaze decoration, and an extra layer of glaze was applied on the outside to maintain its gloss. Most importantly, the workmanship of the jar is also incorrect."

I paused for a moment and said in a low voice, "That jar should have originally been a cloud-patterned jar, and it was made in the imperial kiln. But the dragon was added later by a folk kiln. In ancient times, the dragon was the exclusive domain of the emperor and was forbidden to be used by the common people as a symbol of absolute power. However, the dragon totem is a pattern that is popular among the people. If the government strictly enforces this ban, it will definitely cause friction between the government and the people."

Therefore, governments throughout history, when enforcing this ban, would handle it leniently. As long as the dragons used by commoners weren't the two-horned, five-clawed dragons exclusive to the emperor, they would turn a blind eye. Thus, folk artisans would avoid this taboo. The dragon mentioned earlier was made by a folk artisan. Of course, the saying "four toes make a python, five claws make a dragon" refers not to five claws, but toes. How could a folk dragon appear on an official kiln jar?