The server led everyone into a private room, poured each person a cup of tea, and then excused himself.
Knowing that Chu Chen and the others were short on time, Peng Fangyue gestured to everyone before taking the painting out of the brocade box.
This painting was also an Er Xiang Tu, but it conveyed a different artistic conception. Leaves filled the paper, drifting in the wind, near or far, gathered or scattered, slowly fluttering down. The two ladies stood gracefully, taking delicate steps among them. Their expressions were solemn and resolute, tinged with sorrow. All this highlighted the bleakness of autumn and the theme of the work.
At a careful glance, the painting did indeed qualify as a rare masterpiece. However, judging from the several points Professor Gao had previously identified, it was undoubtedly a forgery. Even if the painting had been created before Fu Baoshi had fully established his own style, the conclusion would remain unchanged.
Even if Fu Baoshi had not yet formed his own style at the time, his brushwork and other aspects would still have displayed certain distinctive characteristics. Yet this painting had errors in those areas. Could such a thing possibly be an original?
There was also one most crucial flaw in the painting...
After Chu Chen lowered the magnifying glass in his hand, Peng Fangyue hurriedly asked about the result. His nervousness was perfectly understandable, since he had paid no small sum for the painting.
As the "blue-chip stock" of China's calligraphy and painting market, Fu Baoshi's works had entered circulation as early as the 1940s. In 1984, a set of Fu Baoshi's Tang Ren Shi Yi album leaves auctioned in Xiangjiang sold for 1.6 million Xiangjiang dollars, setting a record for the highest auction price for modern Chinese painting at the time.