Auctioneers battle for remarkable Chinese paintings

Beijing (CNS) – The painting "Jiu Zhou Wu Shi Le Geng Yun" sold for the record price of 266 million yuan through a Beijing auction house as part of the Beijing's Seasonal Auctions; the sale was followed by another eyebrow-raising sum paid for Fu Baoshi's painting album called "Chairman Mao's Poetry", that for 230 million yuan.

The first of Beijing's Seasonal Auctions held in 2007 represented only 15 companies, but this year the number is 103, noted the deputy president of the Beijing Association of Auctioneers Wu Chun. In a statement released on December 30, he added that only 54 auctions were executed in 2007 with a turnover of 2.31 billion yuan, but 405 auctions were run this year, with a turnover of 17.7 billion yuan.

Other highlights in this series included Qi Baishi's landscape painting album which went for 194 million yuan, the Qianlong Emperor's seal for 161 million yuan and painter Wu Guanzhong's work "Yangtze River" which sold for 149.5 million yuan.