唐詩
The first half year on the antique art auction market seemed peaceful, but there was a breaking news which stirred up everybodys nerve. Tianminlou, the Hong Kong private collection institution which was famous for its stand in buying only, started to release its collections to the market for the first time. Tianminlous best collections were its rare blue and white porcelains from Yuan Dynasty. Tianminlou was regarded as the largest collector of blue and white porcelains in the world. It was shocking for all to see it broke its rule and auctioned out 166 pieces of porcelains on three auctions held by China Guardian and Hong Kong Sothebys first half of this year. There was an unlucky reason for this unusual behavior. The master of Tianminlou, 85 years old Ge Shike got into a financial fraud and lost HKD 580 million. Mr. Ge once said, “ For a real collector, every piece of collection was chose only after careful consideration and true love, and every piece cannot be separated from a true collector”. Now as a true collector, how sad must he feel.
2019年上半年,文物藝術(shù)品拍賣市場上似乎沒有什么大的波瀾,但就陶瓷領(lǐng)域而言,著實有一件震動市場的大事——向來只買不賣的天民樓藏瓷首次釋出、進(jìn)入市場。在中國嘉德和香港蘇富比的春季拍壇上,天民樓所藏瓷器驚艷亮相。雖然并非其最珍貴的庋藏,但足以成為陶瓷市場上的焦點。
天民樓在陶瓷收藏界可謂大名鼎鼎。它由鐘情于瓷器的葛士翹1987年在香港創(chuàng)辦,后由其子葛師科繼承,是為天民樓第二代主人。在父子兩代人的努力搜羅之下,天民樓的藏品日益豐富,成為瓷器私人收藏領(lǐng)域的翹楚。
“天民樓”最著名的庋藏是極為稀罕的元青花。目前公認(rèn),天民樓乃全球范圍內(nèi)私人收藏元青花最多的單位。即使將公有收藏單位也算在內(nèi),天民樓也僅次于土耳其托普卡比博物館和伊朗阿德比爾清真寺,位列全球第三。此外,天民樓所藏明清官窯瓷器也頗具規(guī)模。
早在上世紀(jì)90年代,上海博物館舉辦的“天民樓青花瓷特展”便轟動滬上。其中元代青花24件,明代青花57件,清代青花46件。公立博物館都不禁驚嘆,私人藏瓷竟然能有如此實力。
作為瓷器領(lǐng)域的頂級私人藏家,天民樓向來有一個規(guī)矩,即“只藏不賣”。然而,這一貫穿兩代主人的原則,卻在今年春季被首次打破。3月23日嘉德四季拍賣“天民樓藏瓷”專場,共上拍115件藏品,悉數(shù)成交,總成交額5472.275萬元;4月3日,香港蘇富比“天民樓藏御瓷選萃”專場,共計18件藏品,再度斬獲“白手套”,總成交額1.9359億港元;5月30日,香港蘇富比“天民樓:歷代華瓷萃集”專場,上拍總計35件拍品,其中33件成交,總成交額1182.875萬港元。
事實上,此次雖密集推出3個專場,但自帶光環(huán)的天民樓始終保持低調(diào),并未大肆宣傳。一則因為釋出藏品在天民樓珍藏中并非頂級;其二,此番打破原則出售藏品,實屬無奈之舉,背后緣由令人唏噓。
今年初,即有消息稱天民樓第二代主人、已85歲高齡的葛師科身陷金融騙局,損失金額高達(dá)5.8億元。隨后天民樓藏品即首次現(xiàn)身拍場。
葛師科在接受媒體采訪時說:“對于收藏家來說,賣東西只有兩種可能:一是生意失敗,不得不賣,這樣的例子不少;再有是喜歡的人不在了,下面也沒人接手,底下要分家,這些東西賣成錢是最方便的。對真正的收藏家,這些東西都是千挑萬選自己喜歡的,個個舍不得?!?/p>
對藏品“個個舍不得”的葛師科,在如今的情形下無奈出售藏品,難以想見是怎樣的心境。