These disappointments had told upon Mme. de Marville, who, moreover, had formed a tolerably correct estimate of her husband. A temper naturally shrewish was soured till she grew positively terrible. She was not old, but she had aged; she deliberately set herself to extort by fear all that the world was inclined to refuse her, and was harsh and rasping as a file. Caustic to excess she had few friends among women; she surrounded herself with prim, elderly matrons of her own stamp, who lent each other mutual support, and people stood in awe of her. As for poor Pons, his relations with this fiend in petticoats were very much those of a schoolboy with the master whose one idea of communication is the ferule. The Presidente had no idea of the value of the gift. She was puzzled by her cousin's sudden access of audacity.
Then, where did you find this? inquired Cecile, as she looked closely at the trinket.
In the Rue de Lappe. A dealer in second-hand furniture there had just brought it back with him from a chateau that is being pulled down near Dreux, Aulnay. Mme. de Pompadour used to spend part of her time there before she built Menars. Some of the most splendid wood-carving ever known has been saved from destruction; Lienard (our most famous living wood-carver) had kept a couple of oval frames for models, as the ne plus ultra of the art, so fine it is.—There were treasures in that place. My man found the fan in the drawer of an inlaid what-not, which I should certainly have bought if I were collecting things of the kind, but it is quite out of the question—a single piece of Riesener's furniture is worth three or four thousand francs! People here in Paris are just beginning to find out that the famous French and German marquetry workers of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries composed perfect pictures in wood. It is a collector's business to be ahead of the fashion. Why, in five years'time, the Frankenthal ware, which I have been collecting these twenty years, will fetch twice the price of Sevres pata tendre.
What is Frankenthal ware? asked Cecile.
That is the name of the porcelain made by the Elector of the Palatinate; it dates further back than our manufactory at Sevres; just as the famous gardens at Heidelberg, laid waste by Turenne, had the bad luck to exist before the garden of Versailles. Sevres copied Frankenthal to a large extent.—In justice to the Germans, it must be said that they have done admirable work in Saxony and in the Palatinate.
Mother and daughter looked at one another as if Pons were speaking Chinese. No one can imagine how ignorant and exclusive Parisians are; they only learn what they are taught, and that only when they choose.
And how do you know the Frankenthal ware when you see it?
Eh! by the mark! cried Pons with enthusiasm. "There is a mark on every one of those exquisite masterpieces. Frankenthal ware is marked with a C and T (for Charles Théodore) interlaced and crowned. On old Dresden china there are two crossed swords and the number of the order in gilt figures. Vincennes bears a hunting-horn; Vienna, a V closed and barred. You can tell Berlin by the two bars, Mayence by the wheel, and Sevres by the two crossed L's. The queen's porcelain is marked A for Antoinette, with a royal crown above it. In the eighteenth century, all the crowned heads of Europe had rival porcelain factories, and workmen were kidnaped. Watteau designed services for the Dresden factory; they fetch frantic prices at the present day. One has to know what one is about with them too, for they are turning out imitations now at Dresden. Wonderful things they used to make; they will never make the like again—"
Oh! pshaw!
No, cousin. Some inlaid work and some kinds of porcelain will never be made again, just as there will never be another Raphael, nor Titian, nor Rembrandt, nor Van Eyck, nor Cranach.... Well, now! there are the Chinese; they are very ingenious, very clever; they make modern copies of their 'grand mandarin' porcelain, as it is called. But a pair of vases of genuine 'grand mandarin' vases of the largest size, are worth, six, eight, and ten thousand francs, while you can buy the modern replicas for a couple of hundred!
You are joking.
You are astonished at the prices, but that is nothing, cousin. A dinner service of Sevres pate tendre (and pate tendre is not porcelain)—a complete dinner service of Sevrespate tendre for twelve persons is not merely worth a hundred thousand francs, but that is the price charged on the invoice. Such a dinner-service cost fifteen thousand francs at Sevres in 1750; I have seen the original invoices.
But let us go back to this fan, said Cecile. Evidently in her opinion the trinket was an old-fashioned thing.
You can understand that as soon as your dear mamma did me the honor of asking for a fan, I went round of all the curiosity shops in Paris, but I found nothing fine enough. I wanted nothing less than a masterpiece for the dear Presidente, and thought of giving her one that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, the most beautiful of all celebrated fans. But yesterday I was dazzled by this divine chef-d'oeuvre, which certainly must have been ordered by Louis XV himself. Do you ask how I came to look for fans in the Rue de Lappe, among an Auvergnat's stock of brass and iron and ormolu furniture? Well, I myself believe that there is an intelligence in works of art; they know art-lovers, they call to them—'Cht-tt!'
Mme. de Marville shrugged her shoulders and looked at her daughter; Pons did not notice the rapid pantomime.
I know all those sharpers, continued Pons, "so I asked him, 'Anything fresh to-day, Daddy Monistrol?'—(for he always lets me look over his lots before the big buyers come)—and at that he began to tell me how Lienard, that did such beautiful work for the Government in the Chapelle de Dreux, had been at the Aulnay sale and rescued the carved panels out of the clutches of the Paris dealers, while their heads were running on china and inlaid furniture.—'I did not do much myself,' he went on, 'but I may make my traveling expenses out of this,' and he showed me a what-not; a marvel! Boucher's designs executed in marquetry, and with such art!—One could have gone down on one's knees before it.—'Look, sir,' he said, 'I have just found this fan in a little drawer; it was locked, I had to force it open. You might tell me where I can sell it'—and with that he brings out this little carved cherry-wood box.—'See,' says he, 'it is the kind of Pompadour that looks like decorated Gothic.'—'Yes,' I told him, 'the box is pretty; the box might suit me; but as for the fan, Monistrol, I have no Mme. Pons to give the old trinket to, and they make very pretty new ones nowadays; you can buy miracles of painting on vellum cheaply enough. There are two thousand painters in Paris, you know.'—And I opened out the fan carelessly, keeping down my admiration, looked indifferently at those two exquisite little pictures, touched off with an ease fit to send you into raptures. I held Mme. de Pompadour's fan in my hand! Watteau had done his utmost for this.—'What do you want for the what-not?'—'Oh! a thousand francs; I have had a bid already.'—I offered him a price for the fan corresponding with the probable expenses of the journey. We looked each other in the eyes, and I saw that I had my man. I put the fan back into the box lest my Auvergnat should begin to look at it, and went into ecstasies over the box; indeed, it is a jewel.—'If I take it,' said I, 'it is for the sake of the box; the box tempts me. As for the what-not, you will get more than a thousand francs for that. Just see how the brass is wrought; it is a model. There is business in it.... It has never been copied; it is a unique specimen, made solely for Mme. de Pompadour'—and so on, till my man, all on fire for his what-not, forgets the fan, and lets me have it for a mere trifle, because I have pointed out the beauties of his piece of Riesener's furniture. So here it is; but it needs a great deal of experience to make such a bargain as that. It is a duel, eye to eye; and who has such eyes as a Jew or an Auvergnat?"
The old artist's wonderful pantomime, his vivid, eager way of telling the story of the triumph of his shrewdness over the dealer's ignorance, would have made a subject for a Dutch painter; but it was all thrown away upon the audience. Mother and daughter exchanged cold, contemptuous glances.—"What an oddity!" they seemed to say.
So it amuses you? remarked Mme. de Marville.
The question sent a cold chill through Pons; he felt a strong desire to slap the Presidente.
Why, my dear cousin, that is the way to hunt down a work of art.You are face to face with antagonists that dispute the game with you. It is craft against craft! A work of art in the hands of a Norman, an Auvergnat, or a Jew, is like a princess guarded by magicians in a fairy tale.
And how can you tell that this is by Wat—what do you call him?
Watteau, cousin. One of the greatest eighteenth century painters in France. Look! do you not see that it is his work? (pointing to a pastoral scene, court-shepherd swains and shepherdesses dancing in a ring). "The movement! the life in it! the coloring! There it is—see!—painted with a stroke of the brush, as a writing-master makes a flourish with a pen. Not a trace of effort here! And, turn it over, look!—a ball in a drawing-room. Summer and Winter! And what ornaments! and how well preserved it is! The hinge-pin is gold, you see, and on cleaning it, I found a tiny ruby at either side."
If it is so, cousin, I could not think of accepting such a valuable present from you. It would be better to lay up the money for yourself, said Mme. de Marville; but all the same, she asked no better than to keep the splendid fan.
It is time that it should pass from the service of Vice into the hands of Virtue, said the good soul, recovering his assurance. "It has taken a century to work the miracle. No princess at Court, you may be sure, will have anything to compare with it; for, unfortunately, men will do more for a Pompadour than for a virtuous queen, such is human nature."
Very well, Mme. de Marville said, laughing, "I will accept your present.—Cecile, my angel, go to Madeleine and see that dinner is worthy of your cousin."
Mme. de Marville wished to make matters even. Her request, made aloud, in defiance of all rules of good taste, sounded so much like an attempt to repay at once the balance due to the poor cousin, that Pons flushed red, like a girl found out in fault. The grain of sand was a little too large; for some moments he could only let it work in his heart. Cecile, a red-haired young woman, with a touch of pedantic affectation, combined her father's ponderous manner with a trace of her mother's hardness. She went and left poor Pons face to face with the terrible Presidente.
遭到這些不如意的事,對(duì)丈夫的才具又認(rèn)識(shí)得相當(dāng)清楚,庭長太太的苦悶不知不覺地把精力消磨完了,使她肝火旺得不得了。潑辣的性子,一天天地變本加厲。她年紀(jì)沒有老,人已經(jīng)老悖,有心做得冷酷無情,像刷子一般渾身是刺,教人為了害怕不得不對(duì)她予取予求。兇悍狠毒,朋友極少,她可是聲勢(shì)浩大,因?yàn)橛幸慌愿裣喾隆⒈舜嘶刈o(hù)的老虔婆替她助威??蓱z的邦斯見了這個(gè)巾幗魔王,素來像小學(xué)生見了一個(gè)動(dòng)不動(dòng)就用戒尺的老師。所以那天庭長太太很奇怪舅舅怎么敢一下子這樣大膽,因?yàn)樗耆恢蓝Y物的價(jià)值。
“這個(gè)你在哪兒找來的?”賽西爾仔細(xì)瞧著那古董,問。
“在拉北街上的一個(gè)古董鋪里。你知道,特灤鎮(zhèn)附近有所奧南別墅,從前曼那別墅沒有蓋起的時(shí)候,蓬巴杜夫人在那兒住過。最近別墅給拆掉了;其中有最精美的木器,連木雕大家李哀那都保留著兩個(gè)橢圓框子做模型,認(rèn)為天下無雙的精品……別墅里頭好東西多得很。這把扇子,便是我那個(gè)古董商在一口嵌木細(xì)工的柜子里找到的。我要是收藏木器,一定會(huì)買那個(gè)柜子;可是甭提啦……一件列斯奈制造的家具,要值三四千法郎!十六、十七、十八世紀(jì),德、法兩國嵌木細(xì)工的專家做的木器,簡直跟圖畫沒有分別:這一點(diǎn)巴黎已經(jīng)有人知道了。收藏家的長處就在于開風(fēng)氣。你們等著瞧吧,我收藏了二十年的法朗肯塔爾瓷器,再過五年,巴黎的價(jià)錢一定要比塞夫勒軟坯高過兩倍?!?/p>
“什么叫作法朗肯塔爾?”賽西爾問。
“那是巴拉提那選侯的官窯;它比我們的塞夫勒窯更早,就像有名的海德爾堡園亭比凡爾賽園亭更古老,因?yàn)楦爬?,所以被我國的丟蘭納將軍給毀了[1]。塞夫勒窯好些地方都模仿法朗肯塔爾……說句公道話,德國人在薩克森和巴拉提那兩郡,在我們之前早已做出了不起的東西?!?/p>
母女倆互相瞪著眼,仿佛邦斯在跟她們講外國話。巴黎人的無知與偏狹,簡直難以想象;他們什么事情都得有人教了才知道,而且還得在他們想學(xué)的時(shí)候。
“你怎么辨得出法朗肯塔爾的瓷器呢?”
“憑它的標(biāo)記呀!”邦斯精神抖擻地回答,“那些寶貝都有標(biāo)記的。法朗肯塔爾的出品有一個(gè)C字和T字(巴拉提那選侯Charles Théodore的縮寫),交叉在一起,上面還有選侯的冠冕為記。薩克森老窯有兩把劍,還有一個(gè)描金的數(shù)目字。文賽納窯的圖案是個(gè)號(hào)角。維也納窯有個(gè)圓體的V字,中腰加一畫。柏林窯加兩畫?,敁P(yáng)斯窯有個(gè)車輪。塞夫勒窯有兩個(gè)L,王后定燒的那一批有個(gè)A字,代表Antoinette,上面還畫一個(gè)王冠。十八世紀(jì)各國的君王,都在制造瓷器上面競(jìng)爭(zhēng),把人家的好手拉過來。華多替德累斯頓官窯畫的餐具,現(xiàn)在價(jià)值連城??墒钦嬉銉?nèi)行,因?yàn)榈吕鬯诡D近來出了一批抄襲老花樣的東西。嘿,當(dāng)年的出品可是真美,現(xiàn)在再也做不出了……”
“真的?”
“當(dāng)然真的!現(xiàn)在造不出某些嵌木細(xì)工,某些瓷器,正像畫不出拉斐爾、提香、倫勃朗、凡·艾克、克拉納赫!……便是那么聰明那么靈巧的中國人,如今也在仿制康熙窯、乾隆窯……一對(duì)大尺寸的真正康熙、乾隆的花瓶,值到六千、七千、一萬法郎,現(xiàn)代仿古的只值兩百!”
“你這是說笑話吧?”
“外甥,這些價(jià)錢你聽了出驚,可不算稀奇呢。全套十二客的塞夫勒軟坯餐具,還不過是陶器,出廠的價(jià)錢就得十萬法郎。這樣一套東西,一七五〇年已經(jīng)在塞夫勒賣到十五萬。我連發(fā)票都看見過?!?/p>
“那么這把扇子呢?”賽西爾問,她覺得那古董太舊了。
“你聽我說,承你好媽媽瞧得起我,問我要把扇子以后,我就各處去找,跑遍了巴黎所有的鋪?zhàn)?,沒有能找到好的。為庭長夫人,非弄一件精品不可,我很想替她找瑪麗·安多納德的扇子,那是所有出名的扇子中最美的一把??墒亲蛱?,一看到這件妙物,我簡直愣住了,那一定是路易十五定做的。天知道我找扇子怎么會(huì)找到拉北街,找到一個(gè)賣銅鐵器、賣描金家具的奧弗涅人那里去的!我相信藝術(shù)品是有靈性的,它們認(rèn)得識(shí)貨的鑒賞家,會(huì)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地招呼他們,對(duì)他們叫著:喂!喂!來呀!”
庭長太太望著女兒聳聳肩,邦斯卻并沒發(fā)覺這一剎那間的動(dòng)作。
“這些精打細(xì)算的舊貨鬼,我全認(rèn)識(shí)。那古董商在沒有把收進(jìn)的貨轉(zhuǎn)賣給大商人之前,總愿意讓我先瞧一眼的。我便問他:‘喂,莫尼斯特洛,近來收了些什么呀?有沒有門楣什么的?’經(jīng)我這一問,他就告訴我,李哀那怎樣地在特灤圣堂替公家雕刻些很了不起的東西,怎樣地在奧南別墅拍賣的時(shí)候,趁巴黎商人只注意瓷器和鑲嵌木器的當(dāng)口,救出了一部分木雕。——‘我沒有弄到什么,可是靠這件東西,大概收回我的旅費(fèi)是不成問題的了?!f著給我看那口柜子,真是好東西!布歇畫的稿本,給嵌木細(xì)工表現(xiàn)得神極了!……叫人看了差點(diǎn)兒要跪在它前面!他又說:‘哎,先生,你瞧這個(gè)抽斗,因?yàn)闆]有鑰匙,被我撬開了找出這把扇子來!你說,我可以賣給誰呢?……’他拿給我這口檀香木雕的小匣子。‘瞧,這是那種跟后期哥特式相仿的蓬巴杜式?!一卮鹫f:‘哦!匣子倒不壞,我可以要!至于扇子,莫尼斯特洛,我沒有什么邦斯太太好送這種老古董;并且現(xiàn)在有的是新出品,非常漂亮,畫得挺好,價(jià)錢還很便宜。你知道嗎,巴黎有兩千個(gè)畫家呢!’說完了,我漫不經(jīng)心地打開扇子,一點(diǎn)不露出驚嘆的表情,只冷冷地瞧了瞧兩邊的扇面,畫得多么輕靈,多么精細(xì)!嗬,我拿著蓬巴杜夫人的扇子呢!華多為此一定花過不少心血。我問他:‘柜子要賣多少呢?’——‘哦!一千法郎,已經(jīng)有人出過這價(jià)錢了!’——我對(duì)扇子隨便給了個(gè)價(jià)錢,大概等于他的旅費(fèi)。我們彼此瞪了瞪眼,我看出他是給我拿住了。我趕緊把扇子放進(jìn)匣子,不讓奧弗涅人再去細(xì)瞧;我只裝作對(duì)匣子看得出神,老實(shí)說,那也是件古董呢。我對(duì)莫尼斯特洛說:‘我買扇子,其實(shí)是看中匣子。至于那口柜子,決不止值千把法郎,你瞧瞧那些黃銅鑲嵌的鏤工吧,夠得上做模型……人家拿去大可以利用一下,外邊絕對(duì)沒有相同的式樣,當(dāng)初是專為蓬巴杜夫人一個(gè)人設(shè)計(jì)的……’我那個(gè)家伙一心想著柜子,忘了扇子,我又給他指點(diǎn)出列斯奈木器的妙處,他就讓我三錢不值兩文地把扇子買了來。得啦,就是這么回事??墒且龀蛇@樣的買賣,非老經(jīng)驗(yàn)不可!那是你瞪我一眼,我瞪你一眼,和打仗一樣,而猶太人、奧弗涅人的眼睛又是多厲害的喲!”
他提到略施小計(jì)把沒有知識(shí)的古董商騙過了的時(shí)候,那種眉飛色舞的表情,老藝術(shù)家的興致,大可給荷蘭畫家做個(gè)模特兒,可是在庭長太太母女前面,一切都白費(fèi)了,她們冷冷的,鄙夷不屑地彼此眨巴著眼睛,仿佛說:“瞧這個(gè)怪物!……”
“你覺得這些事情好玩嗎?”庭長夫人問他。
邦斯一聽這句話心就涼了,恨不得抓著庭長夫人揍一頓。他回答說:
“哎,好外甥,覓寶就像打獵一樣!你追上去吧,劈面又來了敵人要保護(hù)那些珍禽異獸!這一下大家都得鉤心斗角了!一件精品加上一個(gè)諾曼底人,或是猶太人,或是奧弗涅人,不就像童話里的公主由一些妖魔給看守著嗎?”
“你又怎么知道那是華——華什么?”
“華多!我的外甥!他是十八世紀(jì)法國最大的畫家之一。瞧,這不是華多的真跡是什么?”他指著扇面上那幅田園風(fēng)光的畫:縉紳淑女扮著男女牧人在那兒繞著圈子跳舞?!岸嗷顫?!多熱烈!何等的色彩!何等的功夫!像大書家的簽名似的一筆到底!沒有一點(diǎn)斧鑿的痕跡!再看反面:畫的是客廳的跳舞會(huì)。一邊是冬景一邊是夏景,妙不妙?零星的裝飾又多么講究!保存得多好!瞧,扇骨的梢釘是金的,兩頭各有一顆小紅寶石,我把積垢都給刮凈了?!?/p>
“既然如此,舅舅,這么貴重的一份禮,我就不敢收。你還是留著去大大地賺筆錢吧。”庭長夫人嘴里這么說,心里只想把精美的扇子拿下來。
“寵姬蕩婦之物,早該入于大賢大德之手了,”好好先生這時(shí)非常鎮(zhèn)靜,“直要一百年之久,才能實(shí)現(xiàn)這個(gè)奇跡。我敢擔(dān)保,現(xiàn)在宮廷里決沒有一個(gè)公主,能有什么東西比得上這件精品的??蓢@古往今來,大家只為蓬巴杜夫人一流的女人賣力,而忘了足為懿范的母后!”
“那么我收下了?!蓖ラL太太笑著說,“賽西爾,我的小天使,你去瞧瞧瑪特蘭納,叫她把飯菜弄得好一點(diǎn),別虧待了舅舅……”
庭長夫人想借此還掉一些情分。可是非常不雅地當(dāng)著客人吩咐添菜,好比在正賬之外另給幾文小賬,教邦斯面紅耳赤,像小姑娘被人拿住了錯(cuò)處一樣。這顆石子未免太大了一點(diǎn),在他心里翻上翻下地滾了好一會(huì)。紅頭發(fā)的賽西爾,那種儼然的態(tài)度,一方面學(xué)著父親法官式的威嚴(yán),一方面也有母親的肅殺之氣。這時(shí)她走出客廳,讓可憐的邦斯自個(gè)兒去對(duì)付可怕的庭長太太。
注解:
[1] 海德爾堡為日耳曼名城,宮堡園亭之美,見稱于史。一六七三年被法將丟蘭納摧毀一部分,爾后屢遭兵燹,終于一七六四年被雷擊焚毀。凡爾賽宮在一六七三年時(shí)方在興建,至一六八二年方始竣工。
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