A painting by Chinese artist Xu Beihong, entitled "Ode to Spring", fetched a price of 3.465 million yuan (about 417,470 US dollars) at an auction held here on Sunday.

The price tag was the highest of Sunday's auction.

The painting, which had been owned by Xu Boyang, the painter's son, had a starting price of 2 million yuan (some 240,960 dollars) and was eventually sold after 29 rounds of bidding, said a spokesman for the auction organizer, Rongbao Auctions Company of Beijing.

The painting was created in 1935.

Xu Beihong, famous for drawing horses, was born in 1895 died in1953. Liao Jingwen, Xu Beihong's wife, donated many of Xu's paintings to the state upon the painter's death. Xu's son later reclaimed some of the donated artistic works with the approval of state departments.

Also at Sunday's auction, a 12-page calligraphy and painting album, created by Lu Yanshao (1909-1993), in accordance with poems from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), was sold for 2.2 million yuan (about 265,060 dollars).

(People's Daily December 16, 2003)