Ancient Chinese masterpieces to go under auction's hammer in Beijing

A collection of ancient Chinese of ink-wash paintings and calligraphy masterpieces will go under hammer at the autumn auction of Prospect House on December 3 at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang.

Some of the works were previewed early this week at the Suning Art Museum in Shanghai.

As one of China’s leading auction houses, focusing on Chinese ancient ink-wash paintings and calligraphy, Prospect House recently changed its strategy from original investment collection to collection with a special taste.

Nearly 300 ancient works of art will appear at the autumn auction and some of them are rare, both in artistic value and uniqueness.

For example, a long scroll painting titled “There is a Tiger in the West Mountain,” created by Shen Zhou (1427-1509), is considered a legendary piece, because Shen, one of the four most renowned Ming Dynasty painters, had never painted a tiger on rice-paper. Furthermore, Shen, a literati painter, sketched his tiger in a cute and leisurely way rather than as a ferocious beast.

Another highlight is an ink-wash painting created by Dong Qichang (1555-1636), a painter, scholar, calligrapher and art theorist in the late Ming Dynasty period. His work favored expression over formal likeness. 

He also avoided anything he deemed to be slick or sentimental, which led him to create a landscape with intentionally distorted spatial features.

The painting “Boat Anchored at Shengshan Lake,” with a clear provenance, was previously collected by Wu Hufan (1894-1968), a famous painter and collector in the Republic of China. 

It is said that this painting, although drawn with no details and a bit spontaneity, is one of Dong’s favorite works, which even today appears with a modern aesthetic taste.

Preview

Date: December 1-2

Auction

Date: December 3

Venue: 3/F, the Westin Beijing Chaoyang

Address: No. 7 Dongsanhuan Rd