After a delay of several months because of the SARS outbreak in Beijing, eight auctions were held on Saturday and Sunday at Beijing's Kunlun Hotel. The auctions included lots of paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, porcelain, ancient books and stamps.

The auctions registered a record sale of 194 million yuan (US$23.46 million) -- the highest in the 10-year history of the leading Chinese auction house. That amount is also the highest on the Chinese mainland and exceeds most overseas auctions of Chinese art.

"While ancient paintings and porcelain continue to enjoy popularity, oil paintings by 20th century artists turned out to be new highlights at the auctions," said Hu Yanyan, manager of China Guardian's Calligraphy and Painting Department.

A copy of Song Dynasty ink painter Ma Yuan's Eight Scenes of Xiaoxiang (today's Hunan Province) by Dong Bangda was sold for 3.63 million yuan (US$438,900) -- the highest for a painting at the auction.

A porcelain container of the Qianlong Period in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) sold for 3.35 million yuan (US$405,000).

A Chinese guqin (a stringed musical instrument) of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) was auctioned for 3.46 million yuan (US$418,300) -- the highest for a Chinese guqin at auction.

Among the surprises were a large landscape oil painting by Wu Zuoren from 1977 and two figure paintings by contemporary artists Gao Xiaohua and Chen Danqing from the early 1980s.

Wu's Fragrant Yellow Flowers in Battlefield portrayed poetic images in a ci (a kind of Chinese poetry) by Chairman Mao Zedong (1893-1976) to mark the one-year anniversary of Mao's death. The painting (118 by 175.5 centimeters) is one of Wu's few landscape paintings and probably one of the largest oil works he painted. The work was sold for 3.52 million yuan (US$425,600) -- the highest price of a single work by Wu who was the former president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Chinese Artists Association.

Artist Gao Xiaohua's work Catching the Train and Chen Danqing's Tibet Series -- Shepherds were sold for 3.63 million yuan (US$438,900) and 1.87 million yuan (US$226,100) respectively.

The only disappointment was that the heavyweight lot -- a piece of calligraphy by Jin Dynasty master Suo Jin (AD 239-303 ) -- did not appear at auction on Sunday night.

There was controversy about whether the scroll was an original Jin Dynasty piece or just a copy by a later calligrapher. Despite this, the scroll was valued at more than 20 million yuan (US$2.43 million) by China Guardian.

After appearing at a preview at the hotel last week, it was bought by the Palace Museum in Beijing for 22 million yuan (US$2.67 million) in a privileged deal immediately prior to the auction.

According to Liu Ying, a spokeswoman from China Guardian, the Palace Museum bought the piece after careful research and appraisal by experts from the National Relics Evaluation Committee and the Palace Museum itself.

"The purchase was made with the support of the government in accordance with the new Cultural Heritage Protection Law. The transfer was also permitted by the former owner who entrusted China Guardian to auction the work," said Liu.

Despite losing the opportunity to bid for the work, most collectors understood the privileged deal and believe such agreements are necessary to avoid the sale of another national treasure abroad.

"That's understandable. Not long ago, the Palace Museum also had the privilege of collecting a masterpiece by Song Dynasty (960-1279) calligrapher Mi Fu. That was a 29 million yuan (US$3.52 million) deal," said Wang Ruizhang, a collector from Beijing.

(China Daily July 15, 2003)