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

赵合俦画作 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.

盛宁斋主捡漏记

文/刘益善

盛宁斋主盛茂柏是我多年的朋友。他命运多舛，坐了5年牢，后来平了反，回到原单位。上世纪90年代初，盛茂柏从黄石大冶的工作单位提前退休，到武汉来，开了一家不大的书画店，取名盛宁斋。开画店就是收画卖画，其高明处在于你会收会卖。我是盛宁斋的常客，一次酒足饭饱之后，他给我们讲了他收画时捡漏的故事。

木质画轴

一天早上，他步行去附近的银通旧货市场。突然，身后传来“让一下”的声音，待避到巷边，一个挑着破烂担子的拾荒者随声而到。擦身而过的瞬间，盛茂柏被一件硬物杵了一下。他定睛一看，破烂担子中歪躺着一根木质画轴。

他忙喊住拾荒者，让那人把担子停下，他要看看这卷画。

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

拾荒者把担子停在路边，说：“这是要送到废品收购站的，你看看，要还是不要，抓紧时间。”

盛茂柏打开那轴画，认得是赵合俦的六尺整纸紫藤八哥大中堂。画上腾跃的老藤、万朵浓淡深浅紫花和十余只八哥，营造出一片勃勃生机。

赵合俦是湖北黄冈人，早年肄业于北平艺专的徐悲鸿门下。经过简单讨价还价之后，盛茂柏30元人民币买下了这轴画。因随身只带了一张50元的钞票，他全部给了拾荒者。5块钱买的东西，一下子翻了十倍，拾荒者接过钱，感激不尽。盛茂柏给他一张名片，让拾荒者收到画后先卖给他。

这是盛茂柏到武汉投身书画收藏业后，捡到的第一件珍品。

有天傍晚，盛茂柏正和家人围桌吃晚饭，拾荒者打来电话，说他在老城区拆迁的地方，收到十多幅旧书画，有人追着他买，他不肯，一定要先给盛茂柏看了再说。……