Slave and Lion, a very rare work of Xu Beihong, a Chinese artist famous for his paintings of horse, will be auctioned next month, Christie's Hong Kong said Monday.

Christie's estimated the final price of the work may exceed 33 million HK dollars (US$4.24 million), the record set by Xu's another painting in summer's auction.

According to the auction company, Slave and Lion is one of the very few so far discovered that dated from the artist's early 1920's, when he stayed in Berlin. The auction company believed the picture may draw much attention of collectors because of the unique subject and Xu's realistic technique of combining western sense of form and Chinese line of drawing.

The painting pictures a story of a slave and a lion in Roman Empire. The slave who gave aid to a lion with a thorn in its paw later met the same lion in the cruel game of human-animal battle in Roman amphitheater. The emperor moved by the touching reunion and thus gave the slave his freedom.

Christie's said its 20th Century Chinese Art and Asian Contemporary Art Auction to be held on Nov. 26 will put around 400 pieces of art works under the hammer, including Tiananmen Square, a very much favored picture by a contemporary Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang, whose picture is closely connected with modern life and culture.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)