China
See also : Northern Song Southern Song and Yuan Early Ming Later Ming Qianlong Modern China Buddhism Chinese calligraphy Chinese art Mountains in China Textiles Chinese porcelain Qing porcelain Abstract art II Zao Wou-Ki Dragon Animals Bird Landscape
Chronology : 1000-1300 14th century 15th century 1400-1429 17th century 1610-1619 18th century 1740-1749 20th century 1920-1929 1925 1940-1949 1946 1955 1980-1989 1985
Chronology : 1000-1300 14th century 15th century 1400-1429 17th century 1610-1619 18th century 1740-1749 20th century 1920-1929 1925 1940-1949 1946 1955 1980-1989 1985
Northern Song - The Tree of the Calligrapher
2018 SOLD for HK$ 460M including premium
Under the Song, the literati are philosophers and humanists who sometimes have the audacity to oppose imperial politics. Their supreme mode of expression is calligraphy, which conveys to their readers the firmness and rhythm of their thought.
In 1071 CE, Su Shi had been expelled from the capital, starting at the age of 34 a second career as a provincial servant with increasingly mediocre missions despite his immense talent. He died in 1101. His younger friend Mi Fu escaped political persecution by his reputation for eccentricity. They were the two best calligraphers in their lifetime.
A nine-character autograph message on a 28 x 9.5 cm sheet sent by Su Shi to the governor of a locality that he was leaving was sold for $ 8.2M including premium by Sotheby's on September 19, 2013.
Graphic art is exceptional in their works. The movement of the artist's hand is the same as for calligraphy. The rare drawings by Su Shi translate emotions too deep to be expressed in words. Mi Fu will only paint in the last years of his life, mostly after Su Shi's death.
On November 26 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells as lot 8008 a 26 x 50 cm ink on paper painted by Su Shi. This piece is extended by many colophons including an appreciation calligraphed by Mi Fu, and includes many seals. Please watch two videos shared by the auction house.
The image consists of two elements that join together : a leafless tree twisted into several undulations and a bulky rock. The dryness of the tree expresses the desolation of the artist in his exile while at the opposite edge on the left flank of the rock the sparse bamboos bring the hope of a new vitality.
In 1071 CE, Su Shi had been expelled from the capital, starting at the age of 34 a second career as a provincial servant with increasingly mediocre missions despite his immense talent. He died in 1101. His younger friend Mi Fu escaped political persecution by his reputation for eccentricity. They were the two best calligraphers in their lifetime.
A nine-character autograph message on a 28 x 9.5 cm sheet sent by Su Shi to the governor of a locality that he was leaving was sold for $ 8.2M including premium by Sotheby's on September 19, 2013.
Graphic art is exceptional in their works. The movement of the artist's hand is the same as for calligraphy. The rare drawings by Su Shi translate emotions too deep to be expressed in words. Mi Fu will only paint in the last years of his life, mostly after Su Shi's death.
On November 26 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells as lot 8008 a 26 x 50 cm ink on paper painted by Su Shi. This piece is extended by many colophons including an appreciation calligraphed by Mi Fu, and includes many seals. Please watch two videos shared by the auction house.
The image consists of two elements that join together : a leafless tree twisted into several undulations and a bulky rock. The dryness of the tree expresses the desolation of the artist in his exile while at the opposite edge on the left flank of the rock the sparse bamboos bring the hope of a new vitality.
Christie’s Announces 1000-year-old $50m Su Shi Scroll https://t.co/eVdovdYFyr pic.twitter.com/XpeTTOdBby
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) August 30, 2018
1095 Ancient Chinese Calligraphy
2010 SOLD 436 M RMB yuan including premium
The East Asian calligraphy can be interpreted as a means of linking poetry to graphic art. In fact, it is a form of art by itself, although not available and rarely commented on the Western market. Come directly to Beijing.
Exactly one year ago, Poly sold a fine collection of Qing calligraphy made in very large letters by the emperors themselves in order to spread moral slogans. Such imperial calligraphy is a very ancient tradition as some writings by the second Tang emperor are known.
A scroll of paper from Song period is for sale at Beijing by Poly International Auction on June 3. 37 cm high with a length exceeding 8 meters, it is completely covered with characters drawn in ink by Huang Tingjian, one of the most famous master calligraphers of his time. It is a fine example of his art consisting of semi-cursive letters in an energetic and accentuated style. Depending on location, this text includes from 4 to 15 characters within the height.
This artwork seems being very well maintained despite its age: Huang died 905 years ago. The online catalog does not provide information on the contents of the text. Unlike most lots of this important sale, the estimate is not published.
POST SALE COMMENT
It is a triumph for culture. It was registered in China on a Chinese piece, by a Chinese auction house: 390 million RMB hammer price, RMB 436 million including premium. The buyer has paid the equivalent of U.S. $ 63.8 million.
After this success, I found some additional information on the lot itself.
Completed around 1095 of our calendar, it contains 600 characters of which some examples are presented in the article shared by China Daily. Titled Di Zhu Ming, it is a copy of a Tang poem.
It was originally a little over 8 meters long, and was enlarged to 15 meters by comments. It includes a small portrait of the calligrapher artist.
Exactly one year ago, Poly sold a fine collection of Qing calligraphy made in very large letters by the emperors themselves in order to spread moral slogans. Such imperial calligraphy is a very ancient tradition as some writings by the second Tang emperor are known.
A scroll of paper from Song period is for sale at Beijing by Poly International Auction on June 3. 37 cm high with a length exceeding 8 meters, it is completely covered with characters drawn in ink by Huang Tingjian, one of the most famous master calligraphers of his time. It is a fine example of his art consisting of semi-cursive letters in an energetic and accentuated style. Depending on location, this text includes from 4 to 15 characters within the height.
This artwork seems being very well maintained despite its age: Huang died 905 years ago. The online catalog does not provide information on the contents of the text. Unlike most lots of this important sale, the estimate is not published.
POST SALE COMMENT
It is a triumph for culture. It was registered in China on a Chinese piece, by a Chinese auction house: 390 million RMB hammer price, RMB 436 million including premium. The buyer has paid the equivalent of U.S. $ 63.8 million.
After this success, I found some additional information on the lot itself.
Completed around 1095 of our calendar, it contains 600 characters of which some examples are presented in the article shared by China Daily. Titled Di Zhu Ming, it is a copy of a Tang poem.
It was originally a little over 8 meters long, and was enlarged to 15 meters by comments. It includes a small portrait of the calligrapher artist.
1244 Six Sons of the Dragon King
2017 SOLD for $ 49M including premium
The dragons, symbols of the emperor and his family, know how to confront the forces of nature. Their sinuous bodies sail like in weightlessness amidst clouds and waves. The varied expressions of their faces are always vigorous.
The hand scroll is an art much more refined than a mere drawing. The image is read from right to left as it is unfolded, offering the scene of a real action. The paper should also be exquisite in the touch.
Towards the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the artist Chen Rong pushed his ink pictures of dragons to the rank of masterpieces. His scrolls were much admired by the Qianlong emperor who commented on the colophons and stamped his seals.
The drawing of the fabulous beast by Chen Rong is sharp and detailed, in contrast to its wet surrounding realized by an original method of ink spraying. In the Taoist tradition, such a scene is a magical summon to rain.
The Boston Museum retains a scroll starring nine young sons of the Dragon King, 46 cm high for 15 m long, including on the painting two autograph inscriptions that provide an estimate of the date of the artwork at 1244 of our calendar.
On March 15 in New York, Christie's sells a scroll featuring six dragons in a style similar as in the Boston specimen. Signed by one seal of the artist, it is 35 cm high with a length of 4.40 m for the image and 83 cm for the calligraphy. De-accessioned from the Fujita Museum in Osaka, this artwork is estimated $ 1,2M, lot 507. It is handled for our pleasure in the video shared by the auction house.
The hand scroll is an art much more refined than a mere drawing. The image is read from right to left as it is unfolded, offering the scene of a real action. The paper should also be exquisite in the touch.
Towards the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the artist Chen Rong pushed his ink pictures of dragons to the rank of masterpieces. His scrolls were much admired by the Qianlong emperor who commented on the colophons and stamped his seals.
The drawing of the fabulous beast by Chen Rong is sharp and detailed, in contrast to its wet surrounding realized by an original method of ink spraying. In the Taoist tradition, such a scene is a magical summon to rain.
The Boston Museum retains a scroll starring nine young sons of the Dragon King, 46 cm high for 15 m long, including on the painting two autograph inscriptions that provide an estimate of the date of the artwork at 1244 of our calendar.
On March 15 in New York, Christie's sells a scroll featuring six dragons in a style similar as in the Boston specimen. Signed by one seal of the artist, it is 35 cm high with a length of 4.40 m for the image and 83 cm for the calligraphy. De-accessioned from the Fujita Museum in Osaka, this artwork is estimated $ 1,2M, lot 507. It is handled for our pleasure in the video shared by the auction house.
Six Dragons handscroll attributed to Chen Rong, from the Fujita Museum sold for $48,967,500 against high estimate of $1.8m #AsianArtWeek pic.twitter.com/rbMbIyub5P
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 15, 2017
1350 The Story of Ge Hong
2011 SOLD for RMB 400M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2020
The Chinese culture comes from a very strong literary tradition mixed with mysticism. In the 11th century CE, Mi Fu opened the way to the themes of the literate landscape, and for several centuries the graphic arts were often devoted to these ancient stories.
On June 4, 2011, Poly sold for RMB 400M including premium a hanging scroll painted in ink and wash circa 1350 CE by Wang Meng on the theme of the migration of Ge Hong to the sacred mountains. The provenance of this artwork has been established over six centuries. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Born into a family of artists, Wang Meng is considered as one of the four literati masters of the Yuan dynasty. His graphic style is very dense, with the energy of a calligrapher.
Ge Hong, also named Ge Zhichuan, lived 1000 years before Wang in the Eastern Jin dynasty. Nicknamed the Little Immortal Old Man, he was an alchemist, a doctor and above all a Taoist master. He was going to study the secrets of immortality in the Luofu mountains. He stayed there for eight years. The image by Wang shows Ge and his suite passing through a valley under a very rocky landscape. Seven poems have been added.
The Palace Museum in Beijing has a 139 x 58 cm scroll by the same artist on the same theme, dated around 1360, with another landscape in an oblique perspective, showing in the best Chinese graphic tradition the smallness of a great sage in the immense nature.
On June 4, 2011, Poly sold for RMB 400M including premium a hanging scroll painted in ink and wash circa 1350 CE by Wang Meng on the theme of the migration of Ge Hong to the sacred mountains. The provenance of this artwork has been established over six centuries. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Born into a family of artists, Wang Meng is considered as one of the four literati masters of the Yuan dynasty. His graphic style is very dense, with the energy of a calligrapher.
Ge Hong, also named Ge Zhichuan, lived 1000 years before Wang in the Eastern Jin dynasty. Nicknamed the Little Immortal Old Man, he was an alchemist, a doctor and above all a Taoist master. He was going to study the secrets of immortality in the Luofu mountains. He stayed there for eight years. The image by Wang shows Ge and his suite passing through a valley under a very rocky landscape. Seven poems have been added.
The Palace Museum in Beijing has a 139 x 58 cm scroll by the same artist on the same theme, dated around 1360, with another landscape in an oblique perspective, showing in the best Chinese graphic tradition the smallness of a great sage in the immense nature.
The Buddhist Legitimacy of the Yongle Emperor
2014 SOLD for HK$ 350M including premium
Hongwu had founded the Ming Dynasty by relying upon Buddhist sects. His fourth son, the Prince of Yan, was an able and competent general. Too competent indeed : the old emperor found a subterfuge for removing him from the rule of succession.
The Prince took power in a coup four years later, 1402 in our calendar. His nephew, who perished in the fire of the imperial palace after having revived the feudal war, was scholar minded and supported by the Confucians. The new emperor erased from the annals the reign of his predecessor of whom he massacred the followers, took the name Yongle meaning Perpetual Happiness and immediately began to prepare for the transfer of the capital from Nanking to Beijing.
The ambitious Yongle could not appear as a usurper : he offered to himself a Buddhist legitimacy. He invited the Karmapa, who was one of the most important sages of Tibetan Buddhism and got his power through reincarnation.
The trip of the Karmapa from Tibet to Nanking lasted four years, during which Yongle organized the Buddhist tribute to his deceased parents and prepared lavish gifts. The stories of miracles performed by the Karmapa were propagated and contributed effectively to assure the power of Yongle, now firmly established as Hongwu's heir.
On November 26 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells a wonderful silk thangka embroidered with silk and gold threads, lot 3001. This monumental piece 3.35 x 2.13 m is in perfect condition with bright colors of great beauty.
According to the concerns of Yongle, its theme is the victory over death. The central character with a bright red head is Raktayamari, the Conqueror of Death, who embraces his wife and mercilessly tramples the blue body of Yama the Lord of Death lying on the back of a buffalo. The top and bottom of the image display some deities inviting to Buddhist devotion.
This piece includes the presentation mark of Yongle. The existence of two thangkas of same quality in a monastery in Lhasa along with the fact that the thangka for sale was in Sikkim in the 1940s reinforces the assumption that it had actually accompanied the Karmapa in his return trip.
The Prince took power in a coup four years later, 1402 in our calendar. His nephew, who perished in the fire of the imperial palace after having revived the feudal war, was scholar minded and supported by the Confucians. The new emperor erased from the annals the reign of his predecessor of whom he massacred the followers, took the name Yongle meaning Perpetual Happiness and immediately began to prepare for the transfer of the capital from Nanking to Beijing.
The ambitious Yongle could not appear as a usurper : he offered to himself a Buddhist legitimacy. He invited the Karmapa, who was one of the most important sages of Tibetan Buddhism and got his power through reincarnation.
The trip of the Karmapa from Tibet to Nanking lasted four years, during which Yongle organized the Buddhist tribute to his deceased parents and prepared lavish gifts. The stories of miracles performed by the Karmapa were propagated and contributed effectively to assure the power of Yongle, now firmly established as Hongwu's heir.
On November 26 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells a wonderful silk thangka embroidered with silk and gold threads, lot 3001. This monumental piece 3.35 x 2.13 m is in perfect condition with bright colors of great beauty.
According to the concerns of Yongle, its theme is the victory over death. The central character with a bright red head is Raktayamari, the Conqueror of Death, who embraces his wife and mercilessly tramples the blue body of Yama the Lord of Death lying on the back of a buffalo. The top and bottom of the image display some deities inviting to Buddhist devotion.
This piece includes the presentation mark of Yongle. The existence of two thangkas of same quality in a monastery in Lhasa along with the fact that the thangka for sale was in Sikkim in the 1940s reinforces the assumption that it had actually accompanied the Karmapa in his return trip.
1610 Lingbi Stone by Wu Bin
2020 SOLD for RMB 510M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2021
The gongshi is the rock of the literati. The erosion of the limestone has created strange shapes, simulating twisted columns rising to the sky. The larger ones are beloved ornaments in Chinese gardens. Lingbi, in Anshan province, is one of the three main deposits.
Mi Wanzhong, a painter and calligrapher, is a passionate collector whose artist name is Youshi, the friend of stones. Around 1610 CE he acquires an extraordinary Lingbi stone 50 cm high, simulating a forest with spectacular shrinkages and branches. He considers his artistic skills to be inadequate and calls his friend Wu Bin.
Wu Bin studies the stone for a month. His ten drawings display the specimen from all angles, with great precision of line and beautiful contrasts providing a superb texture effect. Each image is flanked by text.
Each of the ten elements measures 55 x 115 cm, for a total uninterrupted length of 11.5 m. The handscroll also includes two introductions respectively 26 x 112 cm and 48 x 143 cm and an epilogue 55 cm x 11.3 m with colophons.
Ten Views of a Lingbi Stone was sold for RMB 510M including premium by Poly on October 18, 2020, lot 3922, after nearly an hour of bidding. It is illustrated with some enlarged details in the post sale report published by The Value. Please watch the much detailed video shared by Norton Museum of Art.
The Lingbi stone which served as a model only survived the ravages of time for a few decades.
Mi Wanzhong, a painter and calligrapher, is a passionate collector whose artist name is Youshi, the friend of stones. Around 1610 CE he acquires an extraordinary Lingbi stone 50 cm high, simulating a forest with spectacular shrinkages and branches. He considers his artistic skills to be inadequate and calls his friend Wu Bin.
Wu Bin studies the stone for a month. His ten drawings display the specimen from all angles, with great precision of line and beautiful contrasts providing a superb texture effect. Each image is flanked by text.
Each of the ten elements measures 55 x 115 cm, for a total uninterrupted length of 11.5 m. The handscroll also includes two introductions respectively 26 x 112 cm and 48 x 143 cm and an epilogue 55 cm x 11.3 m with colophons.
Ten Views of a Lingbi Stone was sold for RMB 510M including premium by Poly on October 18, 2020, lot 3922, after nearly an hour of bidding. It is illustrated with some enlarged details in the post sale report published by The Value. Please watch the much detailed video shared by Norton Museum of Art.
The Lingbi stone which served as a model only survived the ravages of time for a few decades.
1743 Qianlong reticulated vase
2010 UNPAID at £ 43M plus a buyer's premium of £ 8.6M, at Bainbridges
In 1728 CE, Tang Ying is appointed by the Yongzheng emperor as the Superintendent of the Imperial porcelain produced at Jingdezhen. He spends several years observing the best practices of the potters. One of his first major successes is the development of the yangcai, offering a less expensive substitute to the Imperial City's falangcai that remains the high end.
These first years are experimental, with pieces of all shapes. Qianlong who succeeds Yongzheng in 1735 CE is just as demanding as his father. To please him, they must constantly bring novelties that match his ambitious role as Son of Heaven, accumulating the styles of all dynasties and integrating the new European trends.
In the early 1740s Tang Ying's expertise in Jingdezhen has no limits. The most complicated pieces are technological syntheses that require a long succession of firings at the risk of a low yield.
In a memorandum submitted to Qianlong in 1743 CE, Tang Ying apologizes for the small amount of units produced in the new style of double vase, only nine. The inner part is enclosed in the outer vase with a distance of about 3 to 4 cm between their walls. The outer vase is pierced by large holes of various elegant shapes that allow the peeping to the inner part. The exterior is decorated with the same profusion as more classical imperial pieces.
Qianlong does not request the impossible. He authorizes to complete in pairs those models that had been produced in single pieces before suspending this technique sine die.
A reticulated vase with pairs of fishes surfaced in Middlesex in 2010. 40 cm high, it mixes archaic, Song, Buddhist and rocaille inspirations, juxtaposing the classic celadon and the modern yangcai in a yellow ground with sgraffiato. The inner wall is a blue and white in Ming style. After 30 minutes of bidding, Bainbridges's hammer fell at £ 43M, £ 51.6M including the premium, but the payment failed and the sale was cancelled. Here is the link to the 2012 report by The Telegraph before the sale was cancelled.
In 2010 nobody had considered the catalog of the exhibition in New York in 1905 of a Japanese collection where its pairing piece had been photographed and described. This vase has resurfaced. It was sold for HK $ 150M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on October 3, 2018, lot 3001. It differs from the Middlesex specimen by a rarer variant of the reign mark and so may be the master item produced for that pair.
These first years are experimental, with pieces of all shapes. Qianlong who succeeds Yongzheng in 1735 CE is just as demanding as his father. To please him, they must constantly bring novelties that match his ambitious role as Son of Heaven, accumulating the styles of all dynasties and integrating the new European trends.
In the early 1740s Tang Ying's expertise in Jingdezhen has no limits. The most complicated pieces are technological syntheses that require a long succession of firings at the risk of a low yield.
In a memorandum submitted to Qianlong in 1743 CE, Tang Ying apologizes for the small amount of units produced in the new style of double vase, only nine. The inner part is enclosed in the outer vase with a distance of about 3 to 4 cm between their walls. The outer vase is pierced by large holes of various elegant shapes that allow the peeping to the inner part. The exterior is decorated with the same profusion as more classical imperial pieces.
Qianlong does not request the impossible. He authorizes to complete in pairs those models that had been produced in single pieces before suspending this technique sine die.
A reticulated vase with pairs of fishes surfaced in Middlesex in 2010. 40 cm high, it mixes archaic, Song, Buddhist and rocaille inspirations, juxtaposing the classic celadon and the modern yangcai in a yellow ground with sgraffiato. The inner wall is a blue and white in Ming style. After 30 minutes of bidding, Bainbridges's hammer fell at £ 43M, £ 51.6M including the premium, but the payment failed and the sale was cancelled. Here is the link to the 2012 report by The Telegraph before the sale was cancelled.
In 2010 nobody had considered the catalog of the exhibition in New York in 1905 of a Japanese collection where its pairing piece had been photographed and described. This vase has resurfaced. It was sold for HK $ 150M from a lower estimate of HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on October 3, 2018, lot 3001. It differs from the Middlesex specimen by a rarer variant of the reign mark and so may be the master item produced for that pair.
1925 Twelve Landscapes by Qi Baishi
2017 SOLD for RMB 930M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2020
The traditional Chinese graphic art is an uninterrupted series of imitations of the old masters. Bada Shanren's eccentric approach at the very beginning of the Qing dynasty is a rare exception.
Born in Hunan province into a family of poor peasants, Qi Baishi was self-taught. Settled in Beijing at the age of 53 in 1917, he drew inspiration from Bada Shanren to develop a vigorous and spontaneous line, reaching poetry through a free realism. His greatest innovation is the use of inks in very bright colors.
His themes are varied while being ordinary and peaceful : landscapes, trees, countless small things. He paints according to his own observations, is not interested in symbols and allegories and does not follow Bada Shanren in the rebellion. Far away from politics, he will never be threatened.
On December 17, 2017, Poly sold in Beijing for RMB 930M including premium, worth US $ 144M at that time, a monumental suite of twelve screens 180 x 47 cm each. They were painted by Qi in 1925 in light blue, gray, brown and pink on the theme of mountains, villages and blossoming trees.
This result rewards a major work from the seminal period of modern Chinese art of which Qi was one of the greatest influencers. It is to date (2020) the highest price recorded at auction outside New York and the highest price for Chinese art.
The twelve panels are illustrated side by side in the CTV News article announcing their display at the Poly Culture Art Center in Vancouver in October 2017 with an estimate of US $ 100M.
There is only one other similar set by Qi. Painted in 1932, it is kept in a museum in Chongqing.
Born in Hunan province into a family of poor peasants, Qi Baishi was self-taught. Settled in Beijing at the age of 53 in 1917, he drew inspiration from Bada Shanren to develop a vigorous and spontaneous line, reaching poetry through a free realism. His greatest innovation is the use of inks in very bright colors.
His themes are varied while being ordinary and peaceful : landscapes, trees, countless small things. He paints according to his own observations, is not interested in symbols and allegories and does not follow Bada Shanren in the rebellion. Far away from politics, he will never be threatened.
On December 17, 2017, Poly sold in Beijing for RMB 930M including premium, worth US $ 144M at that time, a monumental suite of twelve screens 180 x 47 cm each. They were painted by Qi in 1925 in light blue, gray, brown and pink on the theme of mountains, villages and blossoming trees.
This result rewards a major work from the seminal period of modern Chinese art of which Qi was one of the greatest influencers. It is to date (2020) the highest price recorded at auction outside New York and the highest price for Chinese art.
The twelve panels are illustrated side by side in the CTV News article announcing their display at the Poly Culture Art Center in Vancouver in October 2017 with an estimate of US $ 100M.
There is only one other similar set by Qi. Painted in 1932, it is kept in a museum in Chongqing.
1946 Qi Baishi's Eagle
2011 SOLD 425 M RMB yuan including premium
China Guardian, in Beijing, is preparing its great spring auctions. 32 items of top prestige are grouped on the evening of May 22.
The press release highlights a drawing by Qi Baishi showing an eagle standing in a pine tree, and indicates that it is knowingly the largest work of the artist.
The composition is bold: the bird is completely surrounded by branches, but its proud look makes it the focal point of this image of 266 x 100 cm, flanked by two stripes 66 cm wide. Each stripe includes a poem in four huge calligrams .
As the tiger by the same artist, which had been discussed in this group in April 2010, the animal is a political symbol. This eagle was made in 1946 to celebrate the birthday of Jiang Jieshi (pinyin for Chiang Kai-shek) after the defeat of Japan.
The calculations issued by Artprice are significant: Qi is an artist of the highest level. Gifted and prolific, his importance in the global art market in 2010 joined those of Picasso or Warhol.
POST SALE COMMENT
China Guardian had understood that this was one of the most important works of one of the most valuable artists on the market.
The result is exceptional: RMB 425M including premium. According to the current exchange rate, this price is € 46.5 million and U.S. $ 65M.
This is the highest price recorded since the beginning of the year for an artwork at auction.
Its picture is shared post sale by Paul Fraser collectibles.
The image below is shared by Wikimedia :
The press release highlights a drawing by Qi Baishi showing an eagle standing in a pine tree, and indicates that it is knowingly the largest work of the artist.
The composition is bold: the bird is completely surrounded by branches, but its proud look makes it the focal point of this image of 266 x 100 cm, flanked by two stripes 66 cm wide. Each stripe includes a poem in four huge calligrams .
As the tiger by the same artist, which had been discussed in this group in April 2010, the animal is a political symbol. This eagle was made in 1946 to celebrate the birthday of Jiang Jieshi (pinyin for Chiang Kai-shek) after the defeat of Japan.
The calculations issued by Artprice are significant: Qi is an artist of the highest level. Gifted and prolific, his importance in the global art market in 2010 joined those of Picasso or Warhol.
POST SALE COMMENT
China Guardian had understood that this was one of the most important works of one of the most valuable artists on the market.
The result is exceptional: RMB 425M including premium. According to the current exchange rate, this price is € 46.5 million and U.S. $ 65M.
This is the highest price recorded since the beginning of the year for an artwork at auction.
Its picture is shared post sale by Paul Fraser collectibles.
The image below is shared by Wikimedia :
1955 The Ultimate Ink of Huang Binhong
2017 SOLD for RMB 345M including premium
Chinese graphic art was not a monopoly for the professional artists. The literati had other occupations and did not need to sell their art. Still better : they have contributed by their appreciation of ancient cultures to the remarkable homogeneity of Chinese art throughout the historical period and almost to present day. In this sense the old man who brought to an unprecedented perfection in the early 1950s the very traditional landscape in ink on hanging scroll was not an artist.
Native from Zhejiang province, Huang Binhong had many passions centered on letters and ancient arts including calligraphy. He collected and carved seals, practiced fencing and played guqin. He made drawings since his youth and his favorite theme was the sublime Huangshan mountains which he visited nine times from 1883 to 1935.
Huang worked as an editor and illustrator and also as an art professor. In 1948, aged 85, he settled in Hangzhou where his teaching activity certainly left him more free time. It was from that point that he perfected the art of landscape.
He no longer travels in the mountains and works with memory and imagination, favoring the expression instead of the realism. Like the greatest masters, he does not need a preparatory drawing and does not erase. His full mastery of the width of the line generates superb contrasts enhanced by a skillful use of the voids to show mist and brook. The density of the lines reminds the Dürer hare and the overall composition is well balanced.
Huang had the nice practice of dating some of his works by his age. A view in Huangshan is dated to his 92 years, corresponding to 1955 just before his death. This 171 x 96 cm scroll is estimated RMB 80M for sale by China Guardian in Beijing on June 19, lot 706.
Another scenery realized in the same year, 178 x 74 cm, was sold for RMB 63M including premium by China Guardian on May 18, 2014. It remembers the emotion of the artist comparing in an earlier trip the real view of the mountain with its interpretation by an artist of the Yuan period. The lower estimate that had been announced at RMB 12M attests a posteriori that the extreme quality of the ultimate art of Huang was rediscovered at that sale.
Native from Zhejiang province, Huang Binhong had many passions centered on letters and ancient arts including calligraphy. He collected and carved seals, practiced fencing and played guqin. He made drawings since his youth and his favorite theme was the sublime Huangshan mountains which he visited nine times from 1883 to 1935.
Huang worked as an editor and illustrator and also as an art professor. In 1948, aged 85, he settled in Hangzhou where his teaching activity certainly left him more free time. It was from that point that he perfected the art of landscape.
He no longer travels in the mountains and works with memory and imagination, favoring the expression instead of the realism. Like the greatest masters, he does not need a preparatory drawing and does not erase. His full mastery of the width of the line generates superb contrasts enhanced by a skillful use of the voids to show mist and brook. The density of the lines reminds the Dürer hare and the overall composition is well balanced.
Huang had the nice practice of dating some of his works by his age. A view in Huangshan is dated to his 92 years, corresponding to 1955 just before his death. This 171 x 96 cm scroll is estimated RMB 80M for sale by China Guardian in Beijing on June 19, lot 706.
Another scenery realized in the same year, 178 x 74 cm, was sold for RMB 63M including premium by China Guardian on May 18, 2014. It remembers the emotion of the artist comparing in an earlier trip the real view of the mountain with its interpretation by an artist of the Yuan period. The lower estimate that had been announced at RMB 12M attests a posteriori that the extreme quality of the ultimate art of Huang was rediscovered at that sale.
1985 Pei and Zao at Raffles City
2018 SOLD for HK$ 510M including premium
The architect I.M. Pei has considerably influenced the style of the great modern cities. When his fame becomes international, he revisits his native China. In the 1970s the Far East no longer wants its urbanism to follow the West. They always desire higher, more spectacular, more functional. Pei is building an office skyscraper 198 meters high in Singapore.
Zao Wou-Ki also made his own return to his sources. In the 1980s the originality of his abstract paintings inspired by East and West met with great success in the Far East.
Pei is creating in Singapore a complex named Raffles City based on a tower and two hotels, and incorporating a shopping center and a convention center. In 1985 the project is advanced enough to anticipate the interior design. Zao is traveling in the Far East. Pei makes him visit the Raffles site and commissions him a gigantic painting for adorning the grand lobby of the main building alongside abstractions by Ellsworth Kelly and Kenneth Noland in the minimalist taste of the architect.
Back in France, Zao prepares this work with a passion comparable to Monet opening with the Grandes Décorations the ultimate phase of his career. The result is a triptych of oils on canvas, 2.80 m x 10 m overall, which is installed in 1986 as planned and will remain there until 2005. Contrary to Zao's usual practice, the title is not a mere date but a period, Juin-Octobre 1985, thus confirming the prolonged attention given by the artist in its execution.
Juin-Octobre 1985 is the most monumental artwork in Zao's entire career. According to his inspiration in that decade, it evokes the mystical unicity between nature and the infinite. The incandescent center is seen beyond a dark curtain accented by strident blue. It will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on September 30, lot 1004. The press release of September 7 indicates that this painting is expected beyond HK $ 350M.
Zao Wou-Ki also made his own return to his sources. In the 1980s the originality of his abstract paintings inspired by East and West met with great success in the Far East.
Pei is creating in Singapore a complex named Raffles City based on a tower and two hotels, and incorporating a shopping center and a convention center. In 1985 the project is advanced enough to anticipate the interior design. Zao is traveling in the Far East. Pei makes him visit the Raffles site and commissions him a gigantic painting for adorning the grand lobby of the main building alongside abstractions by Ellsworth Kelly and Kenneth Noland in the minimalist taste of the architect.
Back in France, Zao prepares this work with a passion comparable to Monet opening with the Grandes Décorations the ultimate phase of his career. The result is a triptych of oils on canvas, 2.80 m x 10 m overall, which is installed in 1986 as planned and will remain there until 2005. Contrary to Zao's usual practice, the title is not a mere date but a period, Juin-Octobre 1985, thus confirming the prolonged attention given by the artist in its execution.
Juin-Octobre 1985 is the most monumental artwork in Zao's entire career. According to his inspiration in that decade, it evokes the mystical unicity between nature and the infinite. The incandescent center is seen beyond a dark curtain accented by strident blue. It will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on September 30, lot 1004. The press release of September 7 indicates that this painting is expected beyond HK $ 350M.
