HONG KONG.- Christie’s will bring together centuries of Chinese painting and calligraphy this October in Hong Kong, with two sales drawing on works from prominent private collections in Asia, Europe and the United States. The auctions, scheduled for October 27 and 28 during Hong Kong Asian Art Week, range from Yuan and Ming dynasty masters to some of the defining figures of 20th-century Chinese ink painting.

The first sale, Fine Chinese Classical Paintings and Calligraphy, takes place on October 27 and is led by Bada Shanren’s Flowers and Birds, a 1699 album of twelve leaves estimated at HK$12 million to HK$18 million. The work comes from a distinguished American private collection and was formerly part of both the Tingfanlou Collection and the Dafengtang Collection.

Bada Shanren, one of the most distinctive individualists of the early Qing period, is represented here through an intimate sequence of ink studies in which birds, flowers and vegetation are reduced to remarkably spare forms. Reunited as an album, the twelve leaves provide an unusually concentrated look at the artist’s economical brushwork and highly personal pictorial language.

Another major classical work is Shen Zhou’s Pine Trees and Calligraphy, dated 1498. The monumental handscroll, formerly in the Qing imperial collection, carries an estimate of HK$10 million to HK$18 million. The painting section stretches nearly eight meters, while its calligraphy extends more than four and a half meters. Christie’s notes that the work was also recorded in the imperial catalogue Shiqu Baoji.

The classical sale also includes Wen Zhengming’s Poems in Running Script, an exceptionally long 1541 handscroll estimated at HK$8 million to HK$12 million, and Wang Duo’s Six Verses in Cursive Script from 1642, estimated at HK$5 million to HK$7 million.





An album by Peng Yuanrui, containing poems composed for Emperor Qianlong’s eightieth birthday celebration, is estimated at HK$4.5 million to HK$6.5 million. Also appearing is the much earlier Birds and Flowers by the 13th-century artist Wang Liben, a pair of hanging scrolls in ink and color on silk that Christie’s estimates at HK$1.6 million to HK$3 million.

The focus moves decisively into the modern era on October 28 with Fine Chinese Modern and Contemporary Ink Paintings. Leading that auction is Li Keran’s Sailing in River Li, painted in 1972 and estimated at HK$6.5 million to HK$8.5 million. The large ink-and-color landscape depicts boats moving through the steep peaks of the Li River, a subject closely associated with the artist’s exploration of the Chinese landscape tradition through a distinctly modern visual language.

Several works by Zhang Daqian trace different moments in the artist’s career. Longevity Cypress, dated 1961, carries an estimate of HK$5.5 million to HK$8.5 million, while Secluded Dwelling in the Hills, painted in 1942, is estimated at HK$3.5 million to HK$5 million.

A particularly evocative work in the modern section is Fu Baoshi’s The Song of the Pipa Player from 1945. Formerly in the Fu Baoshi family collection, the vertical composition shows a seated musician framed by foliage and is estimated at HK$4 million to HK$8 million.

The sale also turns to one of Xu Beihong’s best-known subjects with Galloping Horse, painted in 1940 and estimated at HK$3.5 million to HK$5.5 million. The work comes from an important Singaporean private collection and was formerly in the collection of Huang Menggui. Christie’s is presenting a group of Xu’s horse paintings in advance of the Lunar Year of the Horse.

Rounding out the highlights is Lin Fengmian’s Opera Figures – A Fisherman Kills a Family, an expressive composition combining Chinese ink traditions with the artist’s engagement with Western modernism. The work, from a distinguished French collection, is estimated at HK$2.8 million to HK$5 million.

Together, the two auctions offer a compressed survey of Chinese art across more than seven centuries, but their emphasis on provenance gives the sales another dimension. Many of the works have passed through imperial, family or long-established private collections, bringing histories of collecting into conversation with the paintings themselves.

The Hong Kong preview will run from October 22 through 27 at Christie’s Asia Pacific headquarters at The Henderson in Central. A preview will also be held in Taipei on October 17 and 18. The live auctions take place in Hong Kong on October 27 and 28.

The sales form part of Christie’s 40th-anniversary year in Asia, which the auction house is marking with a program of sales, exhibitions and events across the region. During the Hong Kong season, Christie’s will also present the special exhibition “The Royal Academy International Exhibition of Chinese Art 1935–36: A Commemorative Tribute,” on view from October 22 through November 6.