Ink-wash painting sells for US$4.3m

A TRADITIONAL ink-wash painting (left) jointly created by Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi, two important figures in China's modern art history, fetched 27.5 million yuan (US$4.3 million) at auction in Shanghai yesterday.

The first sale in the city by Beijing-based Rongbaozhai, a 300-year-old art dealership, raised 742 million yuan on the first day of a two-day event at the Four Seasons Hotel.

The choice of Shanghai for the sale surprised many in the art world as the auction market in Shanghai has been sluggish in recent years compared to the booming scene in Beijing.

"The total amount raised at art auctions in 2010 in Beijing exceeded 35 billion yuan, while only 4 billion yuan in Shanghai," said Ma Wuyi, general manager at Rongbaozhai. "But Shanghai, the center of international economy, finance and trade, is of huge potential in the area of art."

The first-day success of Rongbaozhai restored some confidence in the market after the China Guardian Auction House reported that proceeds from its autumn sale had decreased almost 30 percent.

"Some even said that the winter of the art auction market was about to arrive," said Zhan Hao, a veteran art critic. "But the truth is that 'the best of the best' could never disappoint both sellers and buyers."

A highlight of the Rongbaozhai auction is a copy of "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" by Chen Peiqiu which will go under the hammer today.

The original painting created by Huang Gongwang (1269-1354) was burnt in 1650 by an owner who wanted to take it with him in the afterlife. His nephew rescued the burning painting, but it had already been torn in two.

The landscape has been recreated by a number of Chinese masters. Recently, Wu Hufan's "Imitation of Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountain" sold for 98.9 million yuan.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

40,000 hairy crabs released in Yangtze

Image
THE city government yesterday freed 40,000 hairy crabs into the mouth of Yangtze River near the Qingcaosha Reservoir, the first step in a five-year campaign to repair the ecosystem to improve the water quality in the reservoir that provides tap water for millions of residents. The hairy crabs will help establish a complete food chain in the river to help more fish and other aquatic animals survive in the river, Zhuang Ping, deputy director of the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. The released crabs, about half female and half male, will eat plankton while some of their offspring will become food for meat-eating fish higher in the food chain, said Zhuang, who is leading the water-improvement program. "The better ecosystem the water has, the better its water quality will be," he said. With a capacity of 438 million cubic meters, the reservoir is providing tap water to about 10 million
Keep reading

Shanghai port consolidates its position as world's busiest

Image
SHANGHAI, the world's busiest container port, will consolidate its title this year and leverage its record throughput to become a multi-faceted provider of port services. The city, which overtook Singapore as the world's biggest container handler last year, saw its annual container traffic volume surpass 30 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) yesterday. The figure hits an unprecedented level in the world's port history and marks a new leg in Shanghai's voyage to become a global shipping center by 2020. China's remarkable trade boom is reflected in the Shanghai port numbers, which went from 7,951 TEUs in 1978 to 29.05 million TEUs in 2010. The city's customs oversaw a total of US$790 billion worth of imports and exports in the first three quarters of this year - a 19.3 percent year-on-year increase. And its port handled 23.9 million TEUs over the first 10 months, ahead of that of 23.56 million TEUs at Singapore Port. Shanghai International Port (Group) Co,
Keep reading

Praise, scorn for teacher's odd command

Image
A middle school math teacher has stirred controversy after forcing 20 of his students to slap their own faces for three minutes because they made noise in class and scored poorly on exams. Angry local residents are demanding that the teacher resign and asking the school to announce a punishment. But some of the teacher's students, including some who were forced to slap themselves, are calling for leniency. The incident occurred in a class at Donglu Middle School in Pudong on Tuesday when the math teacher surnamed Yang ordered 20 students in his class to slap their faces after he was irritated by them making noise in class. The students said Yang was known as a very strict teacher, so almost all the students obeyed his order and started slapping themselves in the face for about three minutes. Those who slapped too lightly were told by the teacher to slap harder, students told the Oriental Morning Post. Yang's behavior has sparked anger among local residents, especially so
Keep reading