Chapter 65: Zwiebelmuster (3)
The symbol that represents Meissen is crossed swords. Two crossed sticks. It is a very simple but impressive symbol.
It became Meissen’s symbol because crossed swords used to be Sachsen’s symbol.
This very symbol had been cunningly added to one of the dozens of Xian on cloud patterns.
Instead of holding fan or staff like other Xians, this Xian was carrying a huge vase that had crossed swords pattern. It looked like the pattern of the vase itself.
“Can you see this?”
“Oho…. Meissen’s crossed swords. You have good eyes. It would have taken a long time for me to find it.”
“Yes. But you would have found it eventually.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I think it is too unnatural. Judging from its shape and pattern, it was made in 1700s…. But it feels like someone has slightly touched it. Actually, there was no need to put in the crossed swords in this place…”
“To think about it, I’ve never seen the crossed swords symbol being so carefully hidden in Zwiebelmuster. Normally, it is drawn on the bottom of the dish or very openly.”
“That’s what I’m saying. It is too much. Plus, at the time, Augustus locked up B?tteger and forced him to work. So it is unlikely he could have afforded to put in such effort in a dish like this. He wasn’t making porcelains because he wanted it…”
Eric stroked his chin and nodded.
“Hmm…. It makes sense. He tried to escape twice. Why would he draw the crossed swords and honor Sachsen? So your conclusion is it’s fake?”
“I think it is. Writing JFB on a dish is also strange…. In addition, B?tteger couldn’t produce white hue like this one at first. His early porcelains were red, like tin. But how much is this?”
Eric looked at the old man who was still eating and asked the price in Cantonese. Then he took his eyes off the rice bowl and showed five fingers.
“Fifty thousand Hong Kong dollar?”
Haejin asked in Cantonese out of curiosity. The old man shook his head.
“Five hundred thousand?”
The old man nodded. Five hundred thousand Hong Kong dollar. That’s about seventy million won.
For an antique that could be both cheap and expensive. But seventy million won for this…
“Hu…. I was going to give a good gift to my mother, but I guess I can’t.”
Eric shook his head. It wasn’t because the price was too high, but he couldn’t but a fake in exchange of that amount of money.
“Actually, it can be B?tteger’s. Unlike our guess, he might have had sudden surge of artistic spirit and painted the crossed swords and engraved his name.”
“I know. But I also know the probability of that being the truth is extremely small.”
“There is no Zwiebelmuster that was made by B?tteger alone, so there’s no sample to compare with. This might be real.”
“It means he never did something like engraving his name in dishes he made.”
“Aren’t you being too negative?”
“You are being too optimistic. Fine. If you want to avoid the responsibility, that’s enough. The choice is up to me anyway, and I’ve decided not to buy it.”
“Your mother will be disappointed.”
Eric’s face turned dark for the first time.
“Hmm…. Well, I’ll have to find something else.”
“Okay. With uncertain things like this, you should take time to think.”
They were about to leave, but the old man finished his meal and grabbed Eric’s arm.
He looked around. The old man pulled him, as if he was offering to show them something else.
“Let’s follow him. We should see what he wants to show us.”
Eric got excited as if he had never been disappointed. The old man drew down a ladder from the ceiling and started to climb.
It showed he was about to show them something great.
So Eric didn’t hesitate to climb after him.
Haejin also followed them. The ladder led to an attic that was being used as storage. The old man groped a side of a wall to turn on light.
“Ooh….”
Eric looked around and exclaimed. The old man’s attic storage was full of valuable things, far better than what he had shown at the entrance of the shop.
“He is about to show us real.”
Now Haejin thought coming to Hong Kong had been a good choice.
The old man struggled to bring a huge vase that was standing at a corner. It was about 80cm tall and the ample shoulder was about 70cm wide.
The white porcelain was covered with radiant pomegranate flower patterns of cobalt blue. It was delicate Zwiebelmuster, beyond comparison with the dish they saw earlier.
“Blue Flower White Porcelain.”
It was good enough to call Blue Flower White Porcelain instead of Zwiebelmuster.
The old man crossed his arms and sat down. Now he was smaller than the porcelain, but he was confident, like a wrestler showing his best move.
“Luxurious. But it isn’t from China or japan. Right?”
“Yes. Its pattern shows a lady wearing traditional princess costume of Europe. Even though Europe ordered many porcelains from China, this wasn’t made it China. It feels different.”
“Then it was made in Meissen. When was it made? Early 20 th century?”
Eric’s guess was very close to the truth.
“Late 19 th or early 20 th century. Anyway, this is good.”
Eric smiled at this.
“But it is less good great porcelains of China and Korea.”
“Isn’t Zwiebelmuster from Meissen what you are looking for now? It isn’t B?ttegers, but it is from early 20 th century Meissen and thig big. Wouldn’t your mother like this enough?”
“You’re right. Excuse me, how much is this?”
This time, the old man showed eight fingers.
“Eight hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars?”
Haejin worried it might mean eight billion, but thankfully, the old man nodded. It was about thirteen million in Korean. He thought it was reasonable price.
“Good. I thought he was asking for eight million.”
Eric had thought the same thing.
“Haejin, I need your help. I cannot carry this alone.”
Haejin looked back at the old man. His thin arms and legs wouldn’t be much of help. How on earth had he put it in the attic….
“I will lower it down. You take it at the bottom.”
“Your guts are smaller than I thought. Are you afraid of dropping it?”
“I don’t want to break a ten million won porcelain. Just go down. I will lower it with this man here.”
“Okay… Be careful.”
Eric went down first, and Haejin worked with the old man to lower the huge Zwiebelmuster. It wasn’t that heavy, but its price made Haejin’s arm shake.
“Hu…. I am sweating.”
Eric’s arm also shook. When he managed to put the porcelain down on the floor, sweat was dropping from his forehead and chin.
The old man went down after Haejin. Eric patted his shoulder.
“Tell me your account number, and I’ll send you the money now.”
The old man smiled, took out a piece of paper from his pocket, and gave it to Eric. However, Eric slightly frowned to see the old man’s account number.
“Huh? Cultural Revolution? Isn’t this Jason Chang’s company?”
The old man sat down on the chair on which he had had his meal earlier.
“Yes. That porcelain belongs to Jason Chang. And it also belongs to me.”
The old man was a little different now. It was like he was revealing his true self after testing Haejin and Eric.
“Huh… Then what’s that B?tteger’s Zwiebelmuster? The one you tried to sell at five hundred million!”
Eric was shocked. The old man raised his arms.
“When did I tell you was B?tteger’s Zwiebelmuster? I never said that.”
It was absurd, but the old man was right.
“Then Jason Chang lied to me?”
“I don’t know. But Jason Chang never sells things through lies. Don’t you know that?”
“Yes, but…”
“I think you have misunderstood Jason Chang. He never makes an assurance that would blow back on his face. That is how he keeps his place at the top. Oh, may I have a smoke?”
Without hearing Eric’s answer, the old man took out a cigarette and lighted it.
“What the… Fine. I got a good thing anyway, so I’ll just let it go. This is why I cannot let my guard down even for a second.”
Eric sighed as he sent money to Jason Chang’s account with his phone. As Haejin watched it, he wondered how they were supposed to move that heavy Zwiebelmuster, but then the old man talked to him.
“But aren’t you going to buy anything?”
“I’m an appraiser. And there’s nothing I should buy here…”
It wasn’t because the antiques here were not good, but because Haejin couldn’t feel the need to buy one from here.
Unless there was something great here, something worth one or two thousand million wouldn’t draw much attention and would just leave Haejin with less cash.
However, the old man didn’t take it that way. He took it as kind of a challenge. His face turned red.
“My shop doesn’t have things?”
“No…. I didn’t mean it doesn’t have things. I meant there’s nothing that catches my attention.”
However, after saying that, Haejin realized that was all the same. He thought he had made a mistake and tried to make excuses, but the old man jumped to his feet.
“Huh! Arrogant. You think I am only that good because of that lame Zwiebelmuster I showed you first.”
“That’s not it. It’s just there’s nothing I must buy now. It’s not like I am rolling in money, so I cannot buy everything I like.”
Only then did the old man buy it. He sat down.
“Khmm…. That’s right. Not having enough money is different. Of course there are good things here.”
Haejin had tried to make the old man feel better, but now he felt bad himself.
Then, Eric poked his side.
“Remember I said I’ll give you a gift? Buy one.”
“That gift is buying me something here?”
“I didn’t mean that earlier, but paying you with buying one here would be fine for me.”
“No, thank you. Let’s just go. But how are you going to move this?”
“Hum? Wouldn’t it be safe to ship it off through Hong Kong Port?”
They were talking about the way to transport the porcelain, but then the old man rubbed his cigarette at the ashtray to put it out and stood up.
“Wait for a second.”
He went up back to his attic storage and came back with a scroll. He offered it to Haejin.
“You’re Korean, right? Then you cannot just leave after seeing this painting.”
“What is it?”
“If you want to know, unroll it.”
However, as the old man came, he knocked out the ashtray with the scroll.
“Oh…”
The ash inside fell. The old man mumbled and put it back on the table. Then he looked up.
That moment, Haejin quickly looked away.
That ashtray…. The old man clearly didn’t know.
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