Yang Jing coughed and said, "Four masters, and Mr. Huang, in fact, this painting by Mr. Daqian is not the highlight today. When I went to Jinling some time ago, I bought a painting in Jinling. At that time, the seller said that this painting was painted by Zhao Lingrang of the Song Dynasty, and he swore that his family was the descendant of Zhao Lingrang. But I think there seems to be something fishy in this painting, but I dare not find it myself, so today we brought this painting together. It happens that Mr. Huang is here too, so can you help me take a look at what is fishy in this painting?"
Hearing what Yang Jing said, Old Xiao smiled and said, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and bring it up for us to see. Zhao Lingrang's paintings are rare nowadays."
Yang Jing looked around the room, shook his head and said, "Master, do you have any extra tables here? This table is too short, and the painting I bought is too long to fit on this table."
Upon hearing this, the eyes of several old men lit up. Liu Minghan, the eldest son of Mr. Liu, had not left yet, and immediately pulled Yang Jing to carry the tables. Fortunately, when the decoration was done, the specifications of the furniture were customized according to a unified style, so in a short while, the two of them carried out five tables. Put together, it was more than seven meters long.
Liu Minghan wanted to move it again, but Yang Jing waved his hand and said, "Enough, enough, this length is enough." As he said that, he took out the unnaturally thick scroll of "A Picture of the Jiangning River" from his other pocket.
Although the painting has not been opened yet, several old men nodded in agreement when they saw the appearance of the painting. Old Xiao even said, "Oh, it's still a silk painting. Not bad, not bad. Although we haven't seen the painting inside, this painting should be an old painting. Forgery can't create such a heavy sense of history."
Mr. Xiao is the leading expert in the appreciation and collection of ancient calligraphy and painting in the Palace Museum and even in the whole of China. He has seen a lot of ancient paintings and can tell whether a painting is an imitation with an accuracy based on his feeling alone.
That's the experience!
This painting was not a fake, but a genuine work by Zhao Lingrang of the Northern Song Dynasty. How could it be a copy? Yang Jing knew this very well.
Wearing white gloves, Yang Jing carefully opened the painting that was about to collapse.
The painting was more than six meters long and more than thirty centimeters long. After it was opened, the eyes of the five old men were all attracted to it. Mr. Xiao even put on white gloves and reading glasses, first stood far away to look at the painting as a whole, and then picked up a magnifying glass and came close to start to examine it carefully.
To be honest, this painting is very ordinary. Yang Jing had already felt this when he received the painting from Zhao Zheng.
At first he was also puzzled about this matter. Although Zhao Lingrang was not as famous as his cousin Song Huizong Zhao Ji or Zhang Zeduan, he was also a famous artist in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was particularly good at painting landscapes, which was well known. The Palace Museum in Taibei still treasured his "Orange, Yellow, Tangerine and Green", the Boston Museum of Fine Arts also has his "Lake Village in Summer", and his "River Village in Autumn Dawn" is even collected in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
However, when Yang Jing used the holy ring to see the trick in the scroll of "Jiangning Dajiang Tu", he completely understood why Zhao Lingrang painted such a poor quality painting at that time. It was purely to cover up the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" hidden in the scroll!
But Yang Jing knew the trick, but others didn't.
Therefore, Yang Jing brought this scroll today in order to have the original painting of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan hidden in the scroll discovered in front of the five highly respected masters...
Sure enough, after seeing the signature and seal on the scroll of "Jiangning River", Mr. Huang said in surprise: "This scroll was painted by Zhao Lingrang? It's unlikely, right? This scroll is not at the level of Zhao Lingrang."
Although Mr. Liu and his friends were not experts in calligraphy and painting, they had seen a lot and nodded in agreement with Mr. Huang's doubts.
However, despite their doubts, Mr. Xiao, who is most proficient in ancient calligraphy and painting, has not yet expressed his opinion, and their doubts are just guesses.
After a long time, Mr. Xiao finally put down the magnifying glass in his hand, took off his reading glasses and said, "Yes, if I am not mistaken, this scroll of "Jiangning River Map" should be the authentic work of Zhao Lingrang. But I am not sure. With Zhao Lingrang's level, he should not have painted such a low-quality painting!"
Hearing what Mr. Xiao said, Mr. Huang asked with some disbelief: "Mr. Xiao, are you sure this is Zhao Lingrang's authentic work?"
"Yes." Mr. Xiao nodded affirmatively. "Some time ago, the graduate students I taught me about Northern Song Dynasty paintings did some special research on Zhao Lingrang. So judging from the seal, the handwriting of the signature, and most importantly, the brushwork, this is indeed Zhao Lingrang's authentic work. But I don't understand how he could create such a painting..."
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