The Success Story of Sheng Maobai

By Liu Yishan

Sheng Maobai, the owner of the Shengning Store,is an old friend of mine.He has experienced vicissitudes of all kinds throughout his life;he spent five years in prison and after being rehabilitated, he returned to his former workplace.In the early 1990s, Sheng Maobai retired early from his previous employment in Daye County,Huangshi, a city in Central China’s Hubei Province, and then came to Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei, where he opened up the Shengning Store, a small painting and calligraphy shop.His business was engaged in collecting and selling paintings,which required the unique ability of collecting the right items and selling them at the right price. I was a frequent visitor to his shop.Once, after a full meal, I had the pleasure of hearing some of his stories about collecting paintings.I have included a few of my favorites below.

A Wooden Scroll Painting

趙合儔畫作 Painting by Zhao Hechou(1902-1982, traditional Chinese painter)

One morning when he was walking to the flea market near Yintong, someone behind him called out, “Excuse me!” He withdrew to the roadside to give way, and a junkman with a ragged load on his shoulders passed by.As he brushed past, Sheng Maobai was poked by a hard object.When he looked closer, he found a wooden scroll painting lying in the man’s ragged basket.

He hastily stopped the junkman, saying he wanted to have a look at the scroll.

The junkman set down his load on the roadside and said, “This is to be delivered to the waste collection station. Have a quick look and see what you want.”

Sheng Maobai opened the scroll and recognized Zhao Hechou’s painting of wisteria and starlings on a full six-chi(about 6.6 foot) paper scroll. The picture was vivid and vibrant with bursting old vines, thousands of flowers in subtly different shades of purple, and more than ten striking starlings on it.

Zhao Hechou was born in Huanggang, Hubei Province, next to Huangshi. In his early years he had learned from Xu Beihong in Beiping Art College. After a little bargaining, Sheng Maobai bought the scroll for 30 yuan. Since he only had a 50-yuan bill with him,he gave it all to the junkman, who was overjoyed since he’d only spent 5 yuan on buying the scroll and had now sold it for ten times that. Sheng Maobai also gave him a business card, telling the man to come to him when he got more paintings in future.

盛寧齋主撿漏記

文/劉益善

盛寧齋主盛茂柏是我多年的朋友。他命運多舛，坐了5年牢，后來平了反，回到原單位。上世紀90年代初，盛茂柏從黃石大冶的工作單位提前退休，到武漢來，開了一家不大的書畫店，取名盛寧齋。開畫店就是收畫賣畫，其高明處在于你會收會賣。我是盛寧齋的常客，一次酒足飯飽之后，他給我們講了他收畫時撿漏的故事。

木質畫軸

一天早上，他步行去附近的銀通舊貨市場。突然，身后傳來“讓一下”的聲音，待避到巷邊，一個挑著破爛擔子的拾荒者隨聲而到。擦身而過的瞬間，盛茂柏被一件硬物杵了一下。他定睛一看，破爛擔子中歪躺著一根木質畫軸。

他忙喊住拾荒者，讓那人把擔子停下，他要看看這卷畫。

郭沫若及其書法作品 Guo Moruo (1892-1978, Chinese author, poet, historian, and archaeologist) and his calligraphy

拾荒者把擔子停在路邊，說：“這是要送到廢品收購站的，你看看，要還是不要，抓緊時間。”

盛茂柏打開那軸畫，認得是趙合儔的六尺整紙紫藤八哥大中堂。畫上騰躍的老藤、萬朵濃淡深淺紫花和十余只八哥，營造出一片勃勃生機。

趙合儔是湖北黃岡人，早年肄業于北平藝專的徐悲鴻門下。經過簡單討價還價之后，盛茂柏30元人民幣買下了這軸畫。因隨身只帶了一張50元的鈔票，他全部給了拾荒者。5塊錢買的東西，一下子翻了十倍，拾荒者接過錢，感激不盡。盛茂柏給他一張名片，讓拾荒者收到畫后先賣給他。

這是盛茂柏到武漢投身書畫收藏業后，撿到的第一件珍品。

有天傍晚，盛茂柏正和家人圍桌吃晚飯，拾荒者打來電話，說他在老城區拆遷的地方，收到十多幅舊書畫，有人追著他買，他不肯，一定要先給盛茂柏看了再說。

盛茂柏不敢怠慢，放下飯碗，急急忙忙地趕到拾荒者住的地方。看完那十多幅書畫后，興奮地對拾荒者說：“謝謝你的守信和對我的關照。這幅郭沫若的字、呂鳳子的畫，還有這四幅小名家的畫、五副進士的對聯，都是真跡。”

盛茂柏給拾荒者交了底，拾荒者聽了，喃喃自語：“難怪那個人愿出五萬塊錢。”

盛茂柏問：“我把這批書畫買下，你出個價吧。”

拾荒者說：“別人出五萬我不賣，你給五萬拿去吧。”

盛茂柏給了他六萬塊錢，成交。

紅酸枝木箱子

一個夏天的傍晚，吃過晚飯，天色尚早，盛茂柏從武昌租住的地方去不遠處的武泰閘舊家具市場，想去淘個木箱子裝書畫。

It was the first “treasure” Sheng Maobai obtained after he came to Wuhan and engaged in the field of painting and calligraphy collection.

One evening, Sheng Maobai and his family were having dinner when he got a call from this junkman, who told him that he had received more than ten old paintings in the old town. Some people were eager to buy those paintings, but he refused to sell,since he promised Sheng Maobai to check them out first.

Sheng Maobai immediately put down his bowl and rushed to the place where the junkman was.After inspecting the dozens of paintings and calligraphy, he told the junkman excitedly, “Thank you for your trust and kindness,these were all authentic works,including a calligraphy piece by Guo Moruo, a painting of Lyu Fengzi, four paintings of four less famous artists, and five couplets from a Jinshi.”1

Having heard the truth from Sheng Maobai, the junkman muttered to himself, “No wonder that man was willing to pay 50,000 yuan for them.”

Sheng Maobai said, “I would like to buy all of them, give me a price please.”

To which the junkman replied,“I didn’t want to sell them to that man for 50,000 yuan, but you can have them for this price.”

呂鳳子及其畫作 Lyu Fengzi (1886-1959, contemporary Chinese painter and calligraphy master) and his painting

Sheng Maobai gave him 60,000 yuan, and the deal was done.

A Red Rosewood Box

On a summer evening after dinner, Sheng Maobai left for the old furniture market in Wutaizha,which was not far from his rented place in Wuchang. He wanted to find a wooden box in which to put his paintings and calligraphy.

He went in and out of several stores to no avail.

Just when he was ready to go home, he found a large wooden box in a store at the end of the west corner, which had copper plaques on all four corners and a vintage old lock on its holder.After careful inspection, he was sure that this wooden box was made of red rosewood, a wellpreserved piece of furniture from the late Qing Dynasty (1636-1912).

The owner noticed his interest in the wooden box, came over and said with enthusiasm that the material of this box was mahogany, and its price was 10,000 yuan.

Sheng Maobai did not reply.Instead he asked the owner to open the box for him to check inside for possible fake wood material at its bottom. The owner opened the lock and uncovered the lid. Inside the box scattered dozens of broken and moldy scrolls. Worrying this unpleasant scene might ruin his business, the owner hastily tried to explain why the box was not cleaned up.

他進出了幾家店，都未看中。

正當他不抱什么希望，準備回家時，在西頭最末一家店里發現了一只四角包著鏤花銅片、鋪首上橫著一把老式舊鎖的大木箱。細看之后確定，這木箱是紅酸枝木做的，實屬保存得比較好的晚清家具。

任伯年畫作 Painting by Ren Bonian (1840-1896, painter born in Zhejiang Province,noted for his bold brushstrokes and use of color)

見他在打量木箱，店主踱了過來，熱情地笑著說，這箱子的用料全是紅木，要價一萬塊。

盛茂柏沒有搭話。為了防止箱底有濫竽充數的雜木，他要店主把箱子打開看看。店主打開鎖，揭開箱蓋，里面滿是橫七豎八的卷軸，殘破不堪，霉氣撲鼻。店主怕砸了生意，慌忙向他解釋沒清理的原因。

盛茂柏順手揀了一卷展開，僅看題款，就認定是任伯年的真跡。他不敢再去打開其他卷軸了，順手將任伯年的卷軸放回箱中。他抑制住心跳，苦苦還價，誰知店主一分不讓。

就在盛茂柏準備接受店主的要價時，冷不丁傳來個女人的聲音：“算了，就給八千八吧。”

原來是老板娘，盛茂柏最終八千元把木箱買到手。

盛茂柏從木箱中，清點出二十多幅字畫，幅幅同一上款，都是真跡。這些字畫使他大賺一筆，購置了一套三室一廳的商品房，一家人結束了租客的生活。

我也賺了

這天早上，盛茂柏從家里出來，走進小巷不久，被堆壘的雜物堵住。一年輕女子連連向過往行人致歉：“對不起，一會兒就來車拖走。”

盛茂柏正想從雜物旁側身擠過去時，看到一個舊衣柜，小櫥柜門上的玻璃破了，里面鑲的是一幅國畫。那熟悉的筆觸，那使用花青的獨到風格，無一不在自報家門：這是張肇銘先生的手澤。

盛茂柏雙眼一亮，提出要買這幅畫。不想，畫主人贊他慧眼識寶，不愿談錢，只愿相贈。他堅持無功不受祿，非要送點東西給物主作為交換。物主屬虎，得知盛茂柏是個畫家后，便請盛茂柏畫了五只虎。

一周后，盛茂柏將一幅八尺水墨虎畫，按物主所留地址送去。物主看了盛茂柏畫的五只虎，贊不絕口地說：“五虎五福，好，好。我一張破畫換了你這么大一幅新畫，我賺了。”

盛茂柏說：“我也賺了。”

（摘自《黃河文學》2018年第3期）

Note:

1. Jinshi: a title for the successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations in ancient time.

Sheng Maobai randomly picked up a scroll and unfolded it. As soon as he saw the title, he knew it to be an authentic work by Ren Bonian. He refrained himself from opening more reels and put Ren Bonian’s scroll back into the box. Trying his best to appear calm, he had a hard haggling with the owner who was reluctant to budge on the price.

Just when Sheng Maobai was about to accept his price, a woman called from the back, “Forget it.Make it 8,800 yuan.”

As it turned out this was the wife of the owner. Sheng Maobai eventually got this wooden box for eight thousand yuan.

Back home Sheng Maobai cleared out more than 20 calligraphy works and paintings from the wooden box, which were all as authentic as the first one he had seen. He made a big fortune out of them, which bought him a three-bedroom commercial apartment and lifted his family out of their position as tenants.

A Win-Win Deal

One morning Sheng Maobai left home and walked into an alley,only to find himself blocked by a pile of debris. A young woman was standing there apologizing to the pedestrians. “Sorry, I will have these cleaned away very soon,”she said.

Sheng Maobai was trying to squeeze his way through when he saw an old wardrobe from the sundry. The glass on the small cabinet door was broken,and a Chinese painting was showing from inside. The familiar brushstroke and the unique style of color application made it all too obvious to him that this was a work crafted by the hands of Mr.Zhang Zhaoming.

Sheng Maobai was stunned and immediately proposed to buy the painting. The owner of the painting praised his artistic insight, but did not mean to sell it.She’d like to give it to him for free.Sheng Maobai insisted on giving something back in exchange, for he didn’t want to take something so valuable for nothing. Since the owner was born in Tiger Year according to the lunar calendar,after knowing that Sheng Maobai was a painter, she asked him to draw five tigers for her.

One week later, Sheng Maobai painted an eight-foot long piece of ink and washing painting of five tigers to the address left by the owner. Impressed by the tigers,the owner commended happily,“Five tigers mean five blessings,this is great. I got a brand new painting for a faded old picture!I’m so lucky.”

To which Sheng Maobai replied: “I’m lucky too.”

(FromThe Yellow River Literature, March 2018.Translation: Lu Qiongyao)

張肇銘畫作 Painting by Zhang Zhaoming (1897-1976, artist from Hubei Province)