Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 75: Louvre Abu Dhabi (4)

“You mean there is a way to find the real painting?”

Mat Vellin was startled. Then, he looked around and came closer.

“If the forger painted with the real painting, then the real painting is at the place where this fake was made. Look, I think the blue in Jesus’s cloth is using lead white and ivory black mixed with pure ultramarine. I’ll have to do some tests to find out the exact proportion… but anyway, the forger would not have used the ultramarine sold in the markets now.”

Mat clapped. He realized what Haejin was talking about.

“Yes. If he used old-fashioned pure ultramarine instead of the artificial ultramarine, there must be traces of that.”

“He couldn’t have produced this quality in a couple of tries. He must have practiced at least ten times, only then he drew on this walnut wood plate, so he must have spent quite a lot of paint.”

The word ultramarine means ‘over the ocean’. It’s because ultramarine is made of crushed lapis lazuli, and this jewel is mainly mined in the Indian Ocean, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.

Because of that, pure ultramarine used to be and still is the most expensive paint of all. The best pure ultramarine is worth more than ten thousand dollars per kg.

In conclusion, Haejin was thinking if someone had bought a large amount of pure ultramarine, they must have left traces.

“Then, shouldn’t we also look for the source of this 16 th century walnut wood plate?”

“You can do that, but wouldn’t it be hard? Wood plates do not have a designated production area like paint factories.”

“Hmm… of course.”

Mat Vellin was usually not this stupid, but when you are too shocked, you can lose your senses.

“Oh, and…”

Haejin didn’t finish that sentence and looked away. Mat frowned.

“And? It’s okay. Please tell me, even if you think it is nothing.”

“Maybe… what if this fake had been sent instead of the real painting in the first place?”

Actually, this is what he really wanted to say. What he had said about the pure ultramarine paint was true, but he said that because he had to give proof as an expert.

What he really wanted to talk about was the things he had seen through magic. The painting that came here had never been real.

“That, that’s…”

Mat started to sweat. He thought about it and then ran to somewhere. It was probably to tell Prince Sahmadi about Haejin’s theory.

Haejin watched him as he ran out and then stood up. He had verified the fake Salvator Mundi, so he thought he had done enough.

He left Louvre Abu Dhabi and went back to his lodging. Eric was swimming with a very beautiful white woman.

Judging from her looks, she was a model.

Haejin recalled Eric moaning about not being able to play with the ladies at the lodging provided by the royal family a few days ago, so he was shocked.

“Don’t you know that Prince Sahmadi will be disappointed if he finds out about this?”

Haejin yelled. Eric spotted him and smiled.

“Why don’t you join us?”

“No, thank you. How are you going to handle this if they get to know this?”

“What? I can’t swim with my cousin?”

“What? Really?”

Haejin couldn’t believe it. Why would Eric’s cousin suddenly appear in Dubai?

However, the blonde lady came out of the pool and offered Haejin a hand as she put on her robe.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ramela Holton. I am an attorney of Jack&Rowling law firm, in New York.”

“Oh… nice to meet you.”

“Your English is very good. Eric told me so much about you. He said you are a great appraiser.”

“Well, I cannot say I am great…”

“Eric doesn’t really compliment others often. I guess you feel obliged to refuse compliments because you’re an Asian. It is called modesty in Asia, right?”

She was even stronger than Yaerin.

“Well, I… khmm… anyway, thank you for thinking so.”

“I said Eric thinks so, not me…”

“Oh, okay.”

Haejin’s face turned red in embarrassment. Eric laughed in the pool at seeing this. Haejin turned to him.

“You should stop laughing and come out. I’m finished, so we will have to leave this place soon.”

“You’re finished? Already?”

Surprised, Eric hurried to come out of the pool. Then, he came to Haejin.

“Yes. They will probably tell us something today or tomorrow.”

“Which was it? Which painting has been switched?”

Eric was eager to know the answer, but Haejin couldn’t tell him.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot tell you this. This is about the royal family.”

At this, Eric immediately looked at Remela. She was looking at Haejin with her arms crossed. She was very interested.

“You can’t say it because of her, right?”

“No. Even without her, I cannot tell you this. This one is way too important.”

“It’s not about me.”

Ramela was relieved. She shrugged at Eric.

Haejin made it clear that he had to keep the secret, but it aroused Eric’s curiosity even more.

Eric tried to make Ramela leave for a while, but eventually, he gave up. He sat next to Haejin.

“The matter is too big, I guess it means there’s a problem with a painting that is worth at least tens of million dollars, right?”

“I cannot say anything.”

Actually, Haejin did wonder if he should tell Eric but, for some reason, he felt like he shouldn’t. It was about a political relationship, so leaking the secret could be a problem.

However, Eric stroked his chin and muttered as if he had heard nothing.

“Of course. They had no reason to make a fuss about a few-million-dollar painting. Well, you don’t have to tell me exactly what it is. However, let me ask you one thing; is it connected to Anton Baret Auction?”

“Probably not. Though I don’t know for sure…”

“Hmm… in fact, Ramela is not here just to go sightseeing. She’s been helping me to track Anton Baret Auction, and when I told her I was in Dubai, she came here and told me something. She didn’t have to come here, but she insisted to…”

Ramela interrupted.

“Enough of these useless talks, and I’ll explain from now. I followed the hosts of Anton Baret Auction, and I found a very small illegal act. So, I used it as a clue to dig deeper, and then I found something strange.”

“What? What was it?”

“I coincidentally found out a not-so-big local bank in California which loaned a lot of money with antiques as collaterals. It was like the bank was specialized in that kind of loan. However, what was even stranger was that it seemed to be working on all kinds of artifacts, not just western paintings but eastern paintings as well.”

“Is that strange?”

Haejin was confused as eastern paintings were also worth a lot of money, but he was shocked at her next answer as if someone hit his head from behind.

“Yes, it is strange enough. The Anton Baret Auction never sells eastern artifacts through auction. It just sucks them in like a black hole.”

“Why would they do that?”

“That is what I want to know. There’s nothing we know clearly yet. Thankfully, Anthony Goldberg left us a hint this time, so I’m going to dig deeper when I return. However, there’s no problem with examining western artifacts as there are many experts, but things are difficult for eastern artifacts. For example, I practically can trust only Asians when it comes to Chinese porcelains…”

Haejin could see where this was going.

“You mean you want my help?”

“I’m not asking you to come to the U.S. You know Eric anyway, so I want you to help me from time to time when I ask you questions via mail or SNS.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem. I do wonder the identity of those people Eric is after, too.”

“Thank you. My trip to Dubai was worth it.”

She was very professional when it came to business.

“Then, we are supposed to wait until Prince Sahmadi calls us?”

“Yes. He will contact us soon.”

However, contrary to Haejin’s assumption, they didn’t get any calls after one, two-three days.

Ramela left after a few days of sightseeing with Eric. Just when Eric and Haejin were about to wonder if they had been forgotten, the doorbell rang.

Ding dong!

It was Mat Vellin.

“We thought you would call us very soon, but it took you a long time.”

Haejin opened the door for him. He quickly came in.

“Yes. It took a little long. The prince wants to see you.”

“Okay. We’ve been waiting. Let’s go.”

On their way, Haejin looked at Mat. Judging from his tightly closed lips, things were not good.

“What did the prince say?”

“After you told me about Salvator Mundi, I had some of the workers shoot ultraviolet light on it.”

Haejin didn’t think about it… it was a very wise method.

“You were trying to see the underdrawings.”

“Correct. If the forger imitated the real painting right next to it, he would have painted right away without underdrawing. The prince said we should wait for the test result and the next day, we found out that there was no underdrawing.”

“However, didn’t you tell me you had done all the basic scientific tests?”

“We never thought of ultraviolet light. You know how it is. There are dozens of scientific tests, how could we run all that in such a short time?”

He was right.

“Hmm… if you had found out about the painting earlier with the ultraviolet light, it would have been better.”

“Actually, discovering it a little faster wouldn’t have made much of a difference, if Saudi Arabia had sent a fake in the first place like you said.”

“What did the prince say after that?”

“First, we notified the royal family of Saudi Arabia immediately. They must be in chaos as well by now.”

“I heard Saudi Arabia is ruled by the House of Saud. Are the House of Saud and the House of Abu Dhabi on bad terms?”

“I would say the relationship between the two families is neither bad nor good. There have been territorial disputes, but I do not know why they would do such a thing.”

Judging from his expression, he wasn’t lying. However, the car was not going in the direction of Prince Sahmadi’s workplace.

“But this is not the road we took before.”

“We are going to the palace today.”

Mat Vellin’s car passed through the main gate of the palace. They went through the great hall with the white marble floor. Prince Sahmadi was waiting for them alone in a room that was big enough for hundreds.

“You’re here.”

The prince was in a better mood than Haejin had thought.

“Did everything go well?”

“As you must have heard, the situation got a little complicated. What is good is that when we mentioned the probability of the painting being fake in the first place instead of being switched, the Saud Family was clearly surprised. And fortunately, the place where a massive amount of pure ultramarine had gone turned out to be the Saud Family. So, we asked them about it, and they told us there’s been a mistake and they would get back to us checking again. I think they will sacrifice someone to bury it.”

“That would be good. Actually, I’ve been very worried. Salvator Mundi is a great legacy of mankind, apart from being worth a lot.”

“Yes. Anyway, we got over a huge crisis with your help. I think it was Allah’s will for you to come to Abu Dhabi. I wish I could make you stay to talk more, but I know it can’t happen. I’ve told people in charge of museums about the artifact trade you wanted. Trade exhibition between museums will take place without problems.”

“Thank you. But why would the House of Saud do such a thing?”

“I think I know the reason. However, I cannot tell you as it is about my wife. I am sorry.”

“Oh, then you don’t have to tell me.”

Haejin’s spontaneous trip to Hong Kong brought him much more than he had expected.

“I was going to pay you well for your help, but I decided it would be better to help you in my own way for us to be on even closer terms in the future.”

“Excuse me? I don’t…”

The prince smiled and clapped twice.

Clap clap!