“I know what it looks like. I went over it with a fine tooth comb in New York. I have the photograph from the Molesworth and Cox catalog, and I also have very good photographs from all angles of the box already in Dory’s possession, or her estate’s, that is. I think I’ll be okay on that score. I’m worried about language, however.”
“Both Ruby and I will be there with you to translate.”
“You may have to translate fast,” I said. “These things can really move along if there’s a lot of bidding.”
“We’ll manage,” she said. “We’ve translated for some pretty big deals here. We know what’s at stake. I’m fairly fluent, but I can’t read Chinese. Ruby, of course, can. So she’ll help with any text we need to deal with, and she’s faster than I am on the numbers. Now, once you get the box, in the happy event that you do, we will take it from there. We’ll see it is properly presented to the museum in Xi’an. You can’t take it out of the country, anyway, given that it’s much older than what’s allowable. You probably know that China is clamping down on exports of antiquities.”
“I’m wondering why someone who already had an object legally out of China would bring it back to sell it,” I said.
“Because of the prices they’re getting? There is a lot of money here now, in certain circles, and people want the best. I mentioned the Ming drawing. It fetched in the range of four million yuan. Right now you get about eight yuan to the U.S. dollar. I’m told that is more than it would have sold for outside of China.”
“I suppose that might also explain why the person who owned the box withdrew it at the last minute in New York.”
“I suppose it might. The preview is tomorrow afternoon. Are you up for it?”
“I am,” I said.
“Good. Both Ruby and I will be there.”
To reach Cherished Treasures House, you enter a rather sterile office tower just off Jianguomenwai Dajie, or what we would call Jianguomen Street. “Dajie” is a term for a street or avenue. The “wai” part of the name indicates that this street would have been outside the original city walls that enclosed the ancient city. Jianguomenwai Dajie is essentially a section of the major east-west axis of Beijing, often referred to as Chang’an Avenue, although it changes its name a few times, which runs right in front of the Forbidden City, between it and Tian’anmen Square. The north-south axis of ancient Beijing was, and still is, the Forbidden City itself, which is oriented north-south.
Cherished Treasures House was on the second floor, reached by a long escalator to the left of the building entrance. The glass doors to the room were open. There was a desk just inside the door, at which sat a man in a blazer with the auction house logo on the pocket, who was peering at a computer and generally ignoring us. The room was empty of other visitors with the exception of two. I was disappointed, if not surprised, to see that Burton Haldimand was one of them. He was conversing in what sounded to my ears to be fluent Chinese to a rather attractive young man. I don’t know why I would be surprised that Burton spoke Chinese. After all, this was his field. Why wouldn’t he learn the language? But it made me feel at a disadvantage for the coming bidding war. “We meet again, Burton,” I said, by way of warning my fellow visitors that the enemy was very near. Mira nodded very slightly to indicate my message had been received, and gently nudged Ruby in the ribs.
“Indeed, we do,” he said. “This is perhaps your client?” he said, indicating Mira.
“No,” I said. “Mira, meet Burton Haldimand of the Cottingham Museum. Burton, this is Mira Tetford. She’s helping me with the purchase.” I decided that was all Burton needed to know. “And this is Ruby, Mira’s assistant.”
“How do you do, ladies,” Burton said. “And may I introduce Liu Da Wei. He is assisting me while I’m in Beijing.”
“Please call me David,” he said, shaking hands all ‘round.
Da Wei, David, I thought. I suppose that’s how they choose their English names, something close to their Chinese one. David and Ruby obviously knew each other, and I thought that might be a subject for some discussion when Mira and I were alone, just to size up the opposition, as it were.
The formalities dispensed with, I decided to have a look around. There were a number of contemporary paintings, rather attractive ones, up for sale, as well as much older pieces. There were several folios for sale. I didn’t have a clue what they were, but they were attractive. I didn’t stand a chance of understanding the catalog, so Ruby explained that one of the folios was by a renowned seventeenth century poet and scholar.
It was all very informal. People just came and went. The man at the desk carried on peering at his computer. He didn’t even look up when I was a few feet away. That was because he was playing a game on his computer. It was as if we weren’t there. The silver box was there, however. It looked okay to me.
Burton was taking a cursory look, as I was, at everything else in the room, and sidled up to me when I found myself alone for a minute. “Will you tell me who your client is this time?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “You’re getting tiresome on this subject.”
“I wonder who was on the telephone that night,” Burton chattered on. “Now, it could have been one of the Matthews. Or it could have been Xie Jinghe.”
“Who is Xie Jinghe?” I said. I knew perfectly well, but I can never resist the temptation to tweak Burton’s nose, metaphorically speaking. He’d be annoyed I didn’t appreciate the fact he knew Xie Jinghe. While I’d never met the man, I did know Xie was wealthy and a philanthropist, having donated a quite spectacular collection of Shang bronzes to the Cottingham. He had a fabulous home in Vancouver, featured in a design magazine I tend to favor, and an Asian art collection that was regularly referred to in magazines on that subject.
Burton looked pained and began to explain, just as, in true speak-of-the-devil fashion, a tall, thin man entered the room. Burton looked startled for a moment, but regained his composure, and went over to talk to this new visitor. He even shook his hand. A minute or two later, Burton beckoned me over as well, although he looked reluctant to do so.
“Lara, Xie Jinghe would like to meet you,” he said. “Dr. Xie is head of Xie Homeopathic, as I’m sure you know. I use his company’s products on a regular basis. He is a great scholar and arts patron as well. You will find him a delight to talk to. Lara McClintoch is an antique dealer from Toronto, Dr. Xie.”
While I knew of Dr. Xie, I didn’t know much about Xie Homeopathic, but then I didn’t spend as much time on my health as Burton did. What I did know was that Burton’s fawning introduction of Xie was making me nauseous. Perhaps it was making my qi disharmonious again. I wondered how Dr. Xie himself felt about it. I was soon to find out. “Burton had no luck convincing George Matthews and his firm to sponsor his soon-to-be restored Asian galleries,” Xie said. “He has therefore turned his attention to me, as you have no doubt already surmised, Ms. McClintoch.” I tried not to smile. “I believe you knew my late friend, Dory Matthews.”
“I did,” I said. “I miss her.”
“As do I,” he said. Burton looked really uncomfortable. He couldn’t possibly have been surprised that George Matthews wouldn’t donate to the Cottingham, given their treatment of his wife. Perhaps, though, Burton was unaware of Xie’s friendship with Dory. That comment should have told him in an instant that all this sycophantic posturing of his had been for naught.
I had a pleasant chat with Dr. Xie, who, it turned out, supplied various brands of homeopathic remedies throughout the world, including North America. Dr. Xie had homes in both Beijing and Vancouver. He also had an office in Toronto. “You are surprised, perhaps, that I and George and Dory Matthews are friends. George and I are competitors of a sort, I suppose, but not really. His company and mine both manufacture products to make people well, but we take completely different approaches. He holds patents on drugs I suppose you would consider traditional, while I supply products that stem from a long tradition of Chinese medicine, treatments that 7 would call traditional. We often have heated discussions on the relative merits of our approaches, but we remain friends nonetheless.”