Chinese Art & Antiques

Auction: 21/05/2013, 17:00

h2. GALERIE ARCIMBOLDO SELLS MOST EXPENSIVE CHINESE PAINTING IN CZECH AUCTION HISTORY

Galerie Arcimboldo held its ninth specialized auction of Asian art - Chinese Art and Antiques - on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Prague’s Kaiserstein Palace. The sale, featuring 146 lots, brought a total of CZK 56,876,000 (€2,181,000 / $2,821,000), over twice the pre-sale estimate of CZK 28 million, and Galerie Arcimboldo’s best auction result to date.

Galerie Arcimboldo offered for sale a truly exceptional collection of masterpieces of Chinese painting, antiques and porcelain, primarily from the collections of Czech sinologists, artists and diplomats. Interest was high and the auction results exceeded all expectations.

Headlining the auction was the Qi Baishi scroll painting “Lotuses and a Dragonfly”, which reached CZK 8,700,000 on an estimate of CZK 2,900,000, becoming the most expensive Chinese painting sold in Czech auction history. Other highlights include the painting “Running Horse” by Xu Beihong which sold for CZK 5,800,000 and two Qi Baishi paintings: “Morning Glories”, which also sold for CZK 5,800,000; and “Six Shrimp”, which reached CZK 5,100,000. The evening’s biggest surprise was a private letter from Xu Beihong, which reached CZK 430,000 – over 60 times the CZK 7,000 opening bid.

Also of special interest is the sale catalogue, which maps not only the history of Chinese art, the development of Czech collecting and the relations between China and Czechoslovakia in the 20th century, but also the often dramatic stories of the people from whose collections the works on offer came.