An embroidered silk tapestry and a Chinese calligraphy work, both bearing marks of Chinese emperors, set a world auction record for any Asian textile and for Chinese calligraphy respectively at Christie's sale on Monday.

The tapestry, commissioned by the Emperor Yongle (1402-1424), the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty, achieved HK$30,874,100 (US$4,013,633).

It was sold to a private buyer by telephone after fierce bidding, three times over its estimate.

It also smashed the record of US$1 million that it made at Christie's New York sale in June 1994.

The tapestry is intricately worked with varied colored silk threads, and some threads are enriched with fine strips of gold foil, to give an array of tonality to the depiction.

The album of the Huayan (Buddha Avatamsaka) Sutra written by the Southern Song Dynasty calligrapher Zhang Jizhi (1186-1266) realized HK$8,874,100 (US$1,137,705).

The album became part of the imperial collection in the Qing dynasty, containing an astounding total of 13 of the collection seals of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795).

It was subsequently given as an imperial gift to Prince Zheng (Wu'er Gong'e), and later came into the collection of the important late Qing connoisseur, Chong En (19th century).

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2002)