Artist: Mastermind of an Auction House

Zhao Zheng, our staff reporter

Some people compare Jiang Pin to a dark horse in auction business in Zhejiang. Others admiringly describe him as a tornado. They have a reason to speak highly of Jiang Pin, for he is the man behind Zhejiang Haohan International Auction Company, founded in July, 2002. It is success itself. The company auctioned things worth 260 million yuan in its first year. The total amount topped 500 million in the second year.In 2004, the sales jumped to 1.02 billion yuan.

Jiang was inspired by an auction he witnessed in Hong Kong while visiting as a tourist. As a preeminent calligrapher, Jiang became aware of the significance of auction business. Back in Hangzhou, he discussed the auction idea with a few friends and set up an auction company called Haohan International.

Jiang Pins knowledge of masterpieces and artists has accumulated over the past decades. He is from Changkou, a small rural town in Fuyang City near Hangzhou. Upon graduation from senior high school, he worked as a mailman during the day and dedicated his evenings to the practice of calligraphy at home. He remembers wearing large envelops on his legs and feet to hold mosquitoes at bay. One evening he used up all the writing paper and found he wanted to practice more. He looked around and finally satisfied his burning calligraphic desire by writing on a white shirt. At that time, he worked under the guidance of Jiang Beigen, an experienced calligrapher. When Jiang Pin entered Shanghai-based East China University of Political Science and Law, he went to visit Professor Hong Pimo, a prominent scholar in Shanghai, with a referral from Jiang Beigen. After examining Jiangs works, Hong said he needed to change in big ways. Jiang worked hard for a year and made fast progress. Hong was pleased with Jiangs diligence and miraculous progress. Jiangs calligraphy was awarded a first prize at a national exhibition of calligraphy by college teachers and students.

The four college years in Shanghai gave Jiang more opportunities to visit master calligraphers and painters such as Liu Haisu, Xi Zhiliu, Cheng Shifa and Qian Juntao and Heng Tianheng. The contact with these masters enabled Jiang to learn in more ways than one. Jiang paid a visit to Qigong in Beijing once. The master calligrapher was so pleased by Jiangs calligraphy that he made an inscription for the young calligrapher.

His contact with masters has opened doors to many private collectors. In the early spring of 2006, Jiang Pin went to Suzhou to make the sixth visit to a private collector in his 80s. The previous five visits enabled Jiang to know that the old man had very precious artworks in his collection. But the old man only showed him one or two during each visit and was most reluctant to let Jiang put his precious paintings on auction. Jiang hoped the old collector would change his mind. This time, the collector really changed his mind after hearing Jiangs convincing argument. He showed Jiang some more artworks from his collection. Jiang noticed a painting of ink lotus. It did not have a postscript to indicate who the painter was. The old man asked if Jiang could tell who painted the ink lotus. Jiang searched his memory of all the ink lotuses he had studied. Then bingo! He had an answer. It was by Badashanren, an art name used by Zhu Ta, a famous artist (1626-1705). The old man brightened and revealed that someone from another auction company dismissed the painting as a fake because it did not have a post-script. As a matter of fact, the name of the artist was cut off deliberately during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) to avoid being recognized as something valuable.

Jiang knew the painting was authentic, but he sent the painting to Shanghai and Beijing for further evaluation. The authenticity was confirmed by experts at the Shanghai Museum and the Beijing National Palace Museum. In the spring auction of 2006, the Ink Lotus started at 1.2 million and was sold for 3.7 million.

Authentication is always Jiang Pins first priority in auction business. Early this year, he was invited to visit a collector who said he had a family treasure that had been handed down for generations. Jiang examined the painting. The construction was great, but the inscription by the artist looked slightly suspicious in terms of calligraphy. Jiang was under the impression that Tang Bohu, a major artist of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), did not write that way. There were telltale signs that indicated that it was a fake. But the painting had been examined by many celebrated modern master painters who confirmed the authenticity of the painting by inscribing upon it. Jiang photographed the painting. Back in Hangzhou he studied the painting carefully and checked it against an encyclopedia of ancient Chinese painting masterpieces. He finally traced the painting and found out where it is now. The original is now in the collections of Shanghai Museum. What the collector had in the family possession was a practically perfect fake. He visited the old man again, showing him an album entitled “Paintings and Calligraphy in the Collection of Shanghai Museum”. The collector was convinced.

Now, Jiang Pin is engaged by the Higher Peoples Court of Zhejiang as an expert examiner of paintings and calligraphic works. The only one expert examiner in Zhejiang province, Jiang has examined, for various courts, more than 100 paintings and calligraphic works in legal disputes. Fully backed by evidence, his appraisals are authoritative and indisputable.

As an appraiser, he sometimes runs into bad requests. On one occasion, he was offered 200,000 yuan in cash if he was willing to say a fake was a real painting. The owner had planned to use the fake as a security to get an 8 million loan from a banking company. Jiang turned the offer down.

Jiang Pin is a philanthropist. In recent years, he has conducted charity auctions to raise money for education undertakings and for physically challenged people. He has donated generously. He ponied up 800,000 while visiting poverty-stricken disabled people in Hebei Province. He donated 150,000 on a visit to Qingyuan County in southern Zhejiang.□