Christie's and Sotheby's are transliterated, because Hong Kong was previously a British colony, so in many cases, Hong Kong still continues to be called by foreign countries.
Sotheby's and Christie's both implement chain operations, which not only set up branches locally, but also develop cross-border auction businesses, relying on chain operation mechanisms and means, and quickly occupying a large share of the world auction market.
As of the end of the last century, a statistic shows that Sotheby's has chain auction agencies or offices in 39 countries and regions and 109 cities around the world, while Christie's has chain auction agencies or offices in 34 cities in 46 countries or regions around the world.
It can be said that the two major auction houses of Sotheby's and Christie's are worthy of being the hegemons of the international art auction market, even people like Ye Tian who have nothing to do with the auction house have heard of their names.
"Ye Tian, I don't know much about Taoist classics, this time I have a batch of scriptures to shoot, you can see if they are useful, if they are useful, I will definitely help you take pictures!"
Tang Wenyuan is an old-school businessman, although he may not feel sorry for the money, but he is unwilling to spend money in vain.
After hearing Tang Wenyuan's words, Ye Tian took his eyes off the catalog book, looked up and smiled: "Old Tang, you can sort out the expenses for the first few shots for me, and I will ask Xiaotian to call you when I come back."
"Don't, aren't you slapping me in the face?"
As soon as he heard Ye Tian's words, Tang Wenyuan's eyes suddenly widened, and at the same time, he also regretted in his heart, why did he do this, Ye Tian needed to take pictures, his health was far from being measured by this little money.
"Old Tang, I'm not short of this little money, you help me find this news, even if it's the rent here, you naturally can't pay for things."
Ye Tian laughed when he heard this, not long ago, Song Weilan gave him a card with 100 million US dollars in it, but Song Weilan was afraid that her son would give her all the money and she would not use it, so she set aside 100 million US dollars.
Coupled with the four or five billion US dollars lent to his mother, Ye Tian is now very confident, just 100 million Hong Kong dollars, he doesn't pay attention to it at all.
"Okay, no need to say anything, I have received my heart, and I still have to give you the money."
Seeing that Tang Wenyuan still wanted to explain, Ye Tian waved his hand, and his eyes were suddenly attracted by a page on the table of contents, "Old Tang, is this the scripture you are talking about?"
Although Christie's is also a large auction house with a history of one or two hundred years, it was established 22 years later than Sotheby's, and the limelight is slightly inferior to it.
The competition between the two companies in the market is very fierce, and even the lot catalogue used for promotion is also very beautifully printed, and there are enlarged recent photos under the corresponding lot list.
Ye Tian's eyes at this time were attracted by a set of photos, these are three volumes of linear books arranged in a fan shape, the paper of the scroll is yellowed, there are traces of insects in the corners, and the quality is not very good.
But the cover of the classic book placed at the top was prominently written the four words "Kaiyuan Daozang", and below these four words, there were also the two small characters "Dongzhen".
The so-called "Taoist Collection", like the "Shuzang" inherited in Ye Tian's mind, is a collection of Taoist scriptures, which is a large-scale Taoist series that arranges many classics according to a certain compilation intention, collection scope and organizational structure, including Taoist books from the Zhou and Qin dynasties and Taoist classics since the Six Dynasties.
From the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Lu Xiujing's Taoist "Catalogue of Three Cave Scriptures" compiled in 471 AD was the earliest prototype of "Taoist Collection".
The official compilation of Taoist books into "Tibet" began during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, and since then, the Song, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties have compiled the "Taoist Collection", and the Qing Dynasty has compiled the "Taoist Collection".
The content of the Taoist collection is very complex, including a large number of Taoist classics, treatises, precepts, talismans, spells, fasting rituals, praises, palace and mountain records, immortal genealogies, and biographies of Taoist figures.
In addition, it also includes the works of various philosophers, some of which are ancient books that have been lost outside the Taoist collection, and there are many works on ancient Chinese science and technology, such as books on medicine and health preservation, works on internal and external alchemy, works on astronomical calendars, etc.
In fact, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he also compiled books such as "Tibetan Taoist Books", "Dunhuang Taoist Collections", and "Chinese Taoist Collections", all of which Ye Tian had read during this time.
However, what disappointed him was that the content of these modern Taoist classics was plain and insignificant, and there was no difference from ordinary Taoist scriptures.
But Ye Tian knew that the "Kaiyuan Daozang" in this photo was far from being comparable to the modern "Taoist Collection", because it was the first Taoist collection in the history of Chinese Taoism.
On this basis, in the Kaiyuan era, he sent envoys to search for Taoist scriptures everywhere, plus the original collection in Beijing, and compiled it into the "Collection".
However, according to relevant records, by the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, these precious classics were destroyed by swords and soldiers, and no one in later generations could see the truth.
"Old Tang, are there only three copies of this batch of lots? Where did they come from?"
After seeing this photo, Ye Tian could no longer calm down, because "Kaiyuan Daozang" is also called "Three Caves Qionggang", which is divided into three caves and thirty-six parts, namely Twelve Cave Truths, Cave Xuans, and Cave Gods.
The cave is the sutra spoken by Tianbao Jun, which is the Mahayana, the sutra spoken by Dongxuan Lingbaojun is the middle vehicle, and the sutra spoken by the divine treasure lord is the Hinayana.
The people who transmit the scriptures corresponding to the three caves are Yuanshi Tianzun, Shangqing Lingbao Tianzun and Taiqing Moral Tianzun, who are the ancestors of Taoism Sanqing.
According to ancient legends, the Cave True Sutra has a method of ascension and feathering during the day, but it has not been passed down, and no one in future generations knows whether it is true or false.
So after Ye Tian saw the word Dong Zhen, his eyes immediately turned red, what he needed most at this time was to cultivate the exercises, and the realm of refining the god and returning to the void, and becoming an immortal, that was not far off, and it could correspond to the Dong Zhen scripture.
"I heard that there are six volumes in total, and these three volumes are for publicity."
Seeing Ye Tian's anxious look, Tang Wenyuan smiled and said: "I also inquired about their origin, and they were collected from a descendant of a British family, it seems to be called ...... What is Stan's name, that person is an archaeologist!"
Knowing that Ye Tian was concerned about this kind of thing, Tang Wenyuan really asked someone to inquire, but he was old and his memory was not very good, and he couldn't remember that person's name after thinking about it for a long time.
"British, archaeologists?"
After hearing Tang Wenyuan's words, Ye Tian had a sneer on his face, "I know, the Englishman you mentioned is called Stein, a fart archaeologist, that person is a robber!"
"Yes, it's Stein." Tang Wenyuan nodded, and then asked strangely: "Why is he a robber?"
Ye Tian shook his head and asked without answering: "Do you know where this scripture is?"
"I don't know, is there still a lot of things that have flowed out of our country in the past hundred years?"
Tang Wenyuan was a little dissatisfied with Ye Tian's words, because a large number of cultural relics are smuggled into Hong Kong every year, and to be honest, most of the bronzes in his collection were bought from these channels.
"Alas, if I'm not mistaken, this "Kaiyuan Daozang" should have flowed out of Dunhuang, and this Stein was the first person to steal the cultural relics of the Tibetan scripture cave from Dunhuang!"
Ye Tian sighed, in modern times, Buddhism and Taoism have declined, and there are certainly many factors in this, but the loss of classics is undoubtedly the biggest blow to the two religions.
After Li Shanyuan heard about this in the twenties, he rushed to Dunhuang, but most of the scriptures there had been lost, and he gritted his teeth in an old way.
In 1906, in the name of archaeology, Stan deceived 24 boxes of scriptures and 5 boxes of carefully wrapped silk paintings and embroidered works of art from Wang Daoren, the caretaker of the Dunhuang Sutra Cave at the time, with only four horseshoe silver.
In 1914, when Stein came to China for the third time for an archaeological "expedition", he came to Dunhuang again and obtained 5 large boxes of manuscripts through Wang Daoist and others.
Although most of the documents had been transported away by the Bo Xihe Expedition, the Otani Expedition and the BJ government at that time, most of the documents obtained by Daoist Wang had already been taken out and transferred to a safe place to hide, thus Stein became the person who obtained the most documents from the Sutra Cave.
So as soon as Ye Tian heard the word Stan, he naturally knew the origin of this "Kaiyuan Daozang".
Although most of the Buddhist scriptures collected in the Dunhuang Sutra Cave are Buddhist classics, there is also no shortage of Taoist scriptures, especially the second generation of the Sui and Tang dynasties, which was the best period of Dunhuang's development.
Although most of the cultural relics Stein stole from China are now stored in the British Museum, he has obtained so many scriptures that his descendants must have commissioned Christie's to auction them after seeing the popularity of Chinese art.
"Ye Tian, don't worry, I will definitely help you take pictures of these six volumes of scriptures!" Seeing that Ye Tian attaches so much importance to it, Tang Wenyuan patted his chest.
"Is the auction tomorrow? Old Tang, you should have an invitation in your hand, right?"
Ye Tian's eyes took away from the album, looked at Tang Wenyuan and said: "I am going to participate in this auction tomorrow, Old Tang, it's not that I can't trust you, these things can no longer fall into the hands of others!"
Not to mention that these volumes of "Kaiyuan Daozang" are likely to have the cultivation techniques that Ye Tian needs, just for the master's wishes, and they cannot be allowed to continue to be lost abroad.
And during this time, Ye Tian has been bedridden, but he has been suffocated, and after getting up and walking today, he feels in good shape, and he also wants to go out and let the wind go.
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PS: The second update, in order not to be at the bottom of the list, I ask for recommendation votes, which are refreshed every day, and I ask my friends to support the physiognomist!
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(End of this chapter)