Chapter 1167: The Spirit of Louvre (4)

Almost every museum and scenic spot on the planet will launch its own style of souvenirs.

Of course, the Louvre also has its own souvenir shop, which is located between the glass pyramid and the inverted pyramid, selling multilingual guides, reproductions of artworks, and derivatives of the collection.

Mona Lisa bag, Mona Lisa eye box, Mona Lisa t-shirt, Mona Lisa socks.

Pomona bought a yellow rubber duck with a Roman helmet and uniform on its head.

This kind of rubber duck is also sold in the British Museum, but what she bought in the souvenir shop of the British Museum was the Anthony and Cleopatra Day Lover perfume jointly branded by the museum and Bing Xili.

Severus quit it after using it a few times, and now he wears a bespoke Venetian perfume.

The French hate the glass pyramid because they think it is incompatible with the surrounding buildings. Similarly, people in other countries also feel that the houses with European aesthetics are incompatible with the surrounding buildings when they are placed on their land.

Westerners like to conquer, such as Caesar and Antony, but they were all conquered by the "Eastern" Egyptian Queen Cleopatra.

Antony was so confused that he gave Rome's eastern province to the queen, not just because he was deluded by the queen's methods.

The city of Rome is full of intrigues, murders and plots. Relatively speaking, Egypt is a place of freedom.

When Anthony and the queen were boating on the Nile, he could not only enjoy the breeze on the river, but also see the slaves and civilians on the distant bank kneeling towards the queen's boat from a long distance away.

He didn't need to think about the conflicts of interests between nobles, nor did he need to think about the tragedy after Caesar was assassinated.

Dividing the rich eastern part of Rome to the Queen of Egypt, and her and Antony's children can inherit it in the future. This is a very good deal for Antony personally, but it is extremely stupid for the Roman soldiers who laid down this land by shedding blood .

Anthony suddenly became a national traitor and dictator. He regarded the Roman Empire as Anthony's own property, and he could distribute it to whoever he wanted.

What's so good about being a soldier? On the Queen's Dream Boat, there are not only refreshing fruit wines, but also drowsy Nile ditties. Silk may be colder for keeping out the cold, but it is very comfortable to lie on and sleep on when it is hot.

The gilded boat is surrounded by blooming lotus flowers. The fragrance of this flower is accompanied by the benzoin and frankincense burning in the censer on the boat. When inhaled into the nose, people don't want to smell the stinky smell in the military camp.

So, who conquered whom?

A scholar once wrote that in trade with the East, Westerners are very dependent on Eastern silk and tea box porcelain, while Easterners have no interest in Western products. For a long time, the West has exchanged precious metals for silk and spices, and precious metals seem to be concentrated in the hands of the East.

In 1680, silver was once very scarce. The colonies belonging to Spain produced about 100,000 to 130,000 tons of silver, of which 80% were exported to regions outside the Americas, and half of the silver flowed into China.

At that time, China was in the Ming Dynasty. Compared with Westerners who love to spend money, Easterners prefer to hide money. A lot of silver is stored, waiting to be buried as a funeral object in the future, or left for their descendants.

Silver mines are not inexhaustible. When the silver mines in Peru were exhausted and precious metals were shipped to the East, the silver shortage caused the price of silver to soar.

The Spaniards believed that the Chinese emperor could build a palace with silver bars brought from Peru.

Some people think that Eastern and Western civilizations are complementary and can make up for each other's major flaws and shortcomings.

But in fact, European conquerors prefer to move over other people's palaces, regardless of whether this civilization has the same root as itself, or it grows from other roots.

There is a famous painting called "Grand Ladies" in the Louvre, and many souvenirs of this painting are sold in shops. The maid in the painting is dressed as a Turk, and this is what most people in the West thought of as the East at that time.

However, this painting is an "Oriental" painting according to Western aesthetics. The face of the court lady in the painting is completely copied from the face of the Madonna in the chair painted by Raphael, and it is not a real Turkish woman.

In order to pursue the smooth beauty of the picture, the painter made the woman's upper body much longer than normal, which does not conform to anatomy. For the sake of beauty, people become unrealistic.

The kingdom of heaven is beautiful, but it is no good to indulge in vain dreams and forget reality. Anthony just forgot, and the nobles who were singing and dancing in the Palace of Versailles, they all lost everything in the end.

"Beep!!!"

Pomona pointed the rubber duck she had just bought at Severus, making it squeal.

He frowned and backed away as if he saw some terrible creature.

She smirked when she saw him.

"What's interesting?" Severus asked impatiently.

"It's so cute." Pomona turned the duck to herself. "I'm going to put it in the tub next time I take a bath."

"How old are you? Still playing with this kind of children's toys." Severus said stiffly.

"No matter how old I am, you can't stop me from liking the little yellow duck." Pomona said happily, "I want to build a little yellow duck museum."

"Are you drunk?" Severus asked.

"I'm going to form a fleet of ducks. Have you seen the mother duck swimming in the water with her ducklings? It's so cute. The seas of the world are actually connected, like a big bathtub..."

Before she could finish speaking, Severus directly led her to Apparate in an unobtrusive place.

They returned to the auction house a few hours later than agreed, the old goblin had already left, and Conseil was still appraising in his cubicle.

"Where's the goblin?" Severus asked.

"It has already returned," said Conseil. "How much did it charge you?"

"None of your business," Severus said unkindly.

"Can that crystal ball be repaired?" Pomona asked.

"It was indeed an alchemy item." Goncey rubbed his hands and said hesitantly, "It is not something ordinary people can do to completely repair it. If it loses its original function, it will be a very ordinary ornament."

Pomona was about to ask as planned, but Severus secretly pinched her.

"I've only heard it can sing, what else can it do?" Severus asked.

Conseil did not speak.

"What do you want?" Severus asked.

"We are all human beings." Gonseil said, "The goblin is very greedy. I can't tell it some news. If it becomes suspicious, it won't give us that topaz ball so easily."

Severus didn't speak.

"I'll tell you the story after you get that ball back." Goncey picked up the magnifying glass again to look at the jewelry box on the table. "The premise is that what you get back is the real thing."

"Us?" Severus curled his lips and smiled playfully. "Is that what you want?"

"I knew you were much smarter than many people I met, sir." Gonceil looked at the magnifying glass and said, "I know there is a very good oyster shop on Montgil Street. How about we go there for dinner?"