Shanghai police said yesterday that 13 pieces of painted porcelain by recently deceased artist Chen Yifei have been stolen from his pottery studio.

Chen's wife, Song Meiying, reported the theft yesterday morning -- just four days after his death -- and though the value of the works is unknown, it is expected to be high based on previous sales.

One of his paintings featuring the scenery of east China was auctioned in Hong Kong for HK$1.37 million (US$162,000) in 1991, then the highest price under any auctioneer's gavel for a contemporary Chinese painter's work.

Detectives are investigating and declined to provide further details.

Local media have been told that Chen's eldest son, Chen Lin, would continue his business. Another son from his second wife Song Meiying, a former model, is only five years old.

The pottery studio, located along a quiet side street off Shanghai's Taikang Road, has been closed since Sunday, when Chen died of a stomach disorder aged 59.

The black wooden gate of the warehouse-turned-studio remained barred yesterday, but holes and scratches on it suggested that someone had pried it open.

Two police officers were stationed outside and said the studio was unlikely to reopen.

The pottery studio was opened in 1999, when local government planners' ideas for developing the once factory district into an art street caught Chen's imagination.

Chen started making movies in 1993, and was admitted to hospital with gastroenteritis on April 6 while filming his latest movie The Barber.

The film's investor and Chen's family announced on Wednesday that Hong Kong director Ng See-yuen, Chen's friend, will complete the work.

(China Daily April 15, 2005)