After a heated bidding battle that went on for a record-breaking 95 minutes, a 700-year-old handscroll fetched over $32 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong final Thursday, April 10, significantly surpassing presale estimates that had projected the work to promote for as much as $1.29 million (20,000,000 HKD).
Created by 14th-century calligrapher Rao Jie, the handscroll noticed greater than 200 provides earlier than the hammer went down throughout a sale of classical Chinese language portray. Steven Zuo, the division’s head for Sotheby’s Asia, instructed Hyperallergic {that a} non-public collector who bid through phone snagged the work, which is now probably the most worthwhile piece of Chinese language calligraphy that the public sale home has offered. (The customer’s title has not been made public.)
However what was behind the bidding frenzy to start with? Because it seems, the reply stretches again centuries, as Rao’s calligraphy has lengthy captured the eye of artwork collectors.
The scene finally week’s historic 95-minute bidding
A local of the southeast Jiangxi province, Rao lived and labored amid the tumultuous transition between the Yuan and Ming dynasties. His type attracts from a mix of each the classical type related to the “Two Wangs” — the fourth-century “calligraphy sage” Wang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi — and the energetic pace that defines the Wild Cursive custom of the Tang Dynasty, as pre-modern Chinese language calligraphy scholar and Indiana College assistant professor Yan Weitian defined.
“The styles of the Two Wangs are best known for their fluent, spontaneous, and highly gestural movements of brushstrokes,” Yan instructed Hyperallergic.
The scroll’s contents comprise transcriptions of two Tang dynasty-era essays — Tune Meng Dongye Xu (Preface on Seeing off Meng Jiao) (801–2) by scholar Han Yu and Zi Ren Zhuan (Biography of a Carpenter) (798) by thinker Liu Zongyuan. Yan defined that the replica of well-known writings is a standard observe amongst Chinese language calligraphers.
“It is basically a way for calligraphers to borrow established literary work to express themselves,” Yan mentioned.
However content material apart, the handscroll options greater than 100 added postscripts, which traditionally supply particular person assessments of a given work and, by extension, add to its general cultural significance. Postscripts, in any other case often known as colophons, may also present worthwhile perception into a piece’s provenance, which on this case traces throughout the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and consists of one in all China’s most important artwork collectors, Qianlong Emperor.
The fourth and longest dwelling ruler of the Qing dynasty, Qianlong Emperor was identified for his ardour for portray and calligraphy, exhibited not solely in his private artwork observe but additionally in his huge holdings, which as we speak comprise nearly all of work and calligraphic works within the collections of the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Taipei Palace Museum.
The hand scroll options greater than 100 added postscripts, which doc its provenance and underscore its historic cultural significance.
For this handscroll, the emperor not solely added a postscript, but additionally created a distinguishable frontispiece for the work and documented it in his catalogues, “an honor reserved only for Qianlong Emperor’s most cherished calligraphy,” Zuo mentioned.
A bit of the hand scroll
Final week’s public sale of traditional portray and calligraphy adopted the success of an October sale that totaled $11.47 million. The latter, which additionally drastically exceeded the excessive finish of its $4.28 million pre-sale estimate, centered on 113 imperial portray and calligraphy works. The star was an undated gold paper fan leaf that offered for $648,700 (5,040,000 HKD).
“We have also observed a growing number of young collectors this season, drawn by a deep reverence for their cultural heritage,” Zuo added, noting that final 12 months throughout Sotheby’s public sale facilities, specifically Hong Kong, 32% of bidders had been 40 years outdated and youthful.
“This season’s Classical Chinese Paintings sales further underscore the trend, with the number of young buyers more than doubling compared to last season,” Zuo mentioned.
However the success of the record-breaking handscroll might have extra to do with the present second. Collectors, Matteini mentioned, have just lately been expressing elevated curiosity in works affiliated with the Chinese language imperial courts.
“There’s a peculiar nostalgia for court life fueling the imagination of buyers these days,” Matteini mentioned.
